Things that left you baffled

[Lonewolfm16]

How teachers at my Catholic primary school would teach us about the likes of Norse mythology or the Greek pantheon like they're just kids stories but when I'd ask why they're god is real and the Norse weren't they couldn't give me a straight answer and would say something along the lines of "Because God is real and they aren't". I became an atheist around that point in my life, made Catholic school rather irritating I must say.

So to sum up, it baffles me how people who worship their god of choice can completely disregard all other deities.

I had a similar experience in church. When I was 9 I got really into world religion, especially Greco-Roman paganism. I was baffled that anyone could believe in it. Did someone one day just declare that the Gods and Goddesses existed, and made up a bunch of stories about them, and everyone just went along with it even though they had never seen the Gods? Then I realized how hypocritical I was being. So I asked my Sunday school teacher (in the middle of a lesson) how we knew our God was real, and not Buddha or Allah (I still didn't know Allah is just Arabic for God) or Odin or Zeus or Amaterasu or Vishnu or Baal. Dead silence, followed by stammering and a demand that I pray more. As you can probably guess, atheist now. Though one with a immense interest in Odinism/Norse Paganism (see: my avatar.)

 

[Harlemura]

X-Blade's main character's design makes me really, really confused.
I mean, I know it's just to try and make her sexy because the game sucked super hard and they needed it to sell, but I've been playing the game and want to get this off my chest.

Spoiler: The culprit.

Okay, so she fights in a very quick, dash around, need-to-manoeuvre kind of way. That's why I'd let it slide that she'd have no protection on her top. But she's clearly wearing armour on her legs and feet. She is being weighed down already. So why would one try and alleviate that by leaving their bottom exposed? Just completely defend your lower half if you're going to be weighed down or don't protect nothin' and free yourself up with a pair of pants.
Geez lady.

 

[Madman123456]

Trolls and even more so, anti trolls on the internet.
Enter the "Troll" this weird possibly halfway functional human being can be characterized as an asshole.

If only for loading his or her own misery onto others.
Oddly, i can somewhat understand those people; shittalk to relieve your own misery to someone on the internet who probably doesn't and most definitely shouldn't care.
These emotionally cripples live all around us and frankly i'm glad that they unload their shit onto people who elected to take on the internet, of which they know consists of mostly morons, rather then beings around them which could lead to felonies.

I find the "Anti trolls" even weirder. Some People will give your crap, kinda like trolls, if you criticize other people on the internet. Basically they put you in the same category as the trolls and then troll you for being a troll.
You can formulate your criticism as nicely and carefully as you want, as long as it can be still identified as criticism people will give you crap for that. In some communities this has gotten so weird that forum moderators are in on that and will ban you for even the slightest bit of criticism.

 

[Trivea]

How teachers at my Catholic primary school would teach us about the likes of Norse mythology or the Greek pantheon like they're just kids stories but when I'd ask why they're god is real and the Norse weren't they couldn't give me a straight answer and would say something along the lines of "Because God is real and they aren't". I became an atheist around that point in my life, made Catholic school rather irritating I must say.

So to sum up, it baffles me how people who worship their god of choice can completely disregard all other deities.

This; if you change "Catholic" to "non-denominational Christian" and "atheist" to "agnostic", you have my childhood as well.

OT: People who are proud of the fact that they've never read a book in their lives. Seriously, my mom's a high school English teacher and she has kids who very happily state "oh, I don't read". I love reading, as long as the book is good.

Modern fashion, particularly girl's fashion. I mean, seriously, what the hell?

People who think the film industry is dying.

A lot of this list would be political stuff, and I really, really, really don't want to start that, so I'm not going to; let's just say that many points of American politics (or, more aptly, the level of willful ignorance of the American people in regards to politics) also baffle me and leave it at that.

 

[Johnny Wishbone]

The people I work with every day constantly leave me baffled....

In the words of Forrest Gump: "I'm not a smart man..." Really. I'm not a genius or anything. But I apparently do have something that it seems like everyone else around me lacks: common fucking sense. Every day, these idiots come to me with the massive, earth-shattering, unsolvable problems they have. I apply a little common sense to the issue, and *poof*, problem solved. It astounds (and confounds) me that these people survived to adulthood, much less found gainful employment in any field outside of the housekeeping or food service industries.

 

[Mr F.]

Currently?

The Government.

Just about every move they have done in the last year has left me a mixture of full of rage and utterly, utterly confused. Even as a student of political theory, NONE OF IT MAKES SENSE.

"We want to improve the economy!"
"Ok, so I assume that you are going to invest a fucktonne in infrastructure and increase spending across the board?"
"No, we are going to slash spending to everything. Austerity ftw!"
"But Austerity has never been shown to work. It decreases economic growth. Spending is supposed to follow the ebb and flow of the market, with increased spending in times of downturn and decreased spending in times of growth. The greater the inequality in wealth, the shallower the economic growth."
"AUSTERITY FTW!"
"But... Why?"
"Because its all the fault of the poor."
"But it isn't"
"AUSTERITY FTW."

(I hope you enjoyed my reductionist summary of all political debate within the United Kingdom.)

Actually, I would like to throw the Opposition in there with the current government. Because despite my stating that that was all the political debate, nobody important is speaking out against austerity.

 

[Saltyk]

I once encountered a person who did not believe that fish were animals.

She would not be convinced otherwise, come hell or high water.

"A fish is not an animal, it's a fish!"

I mean, how does someone like that survive to reach adulthood? It's like denying that leaves grow on trees.

Okay, that's a good one. And to address you follow up post, there's like a dozen holes in her bird/fish aren't animals because they don't live on the ground. Penguins, for example.

I find it baffling that a bunch of people on my Facebook talk about how proud they are to be a redneck. Now all these people posting it are kids who don't even live in the country, they live in the suburbs. Also, I dont think they understand that 'redneck' has a negative connotation behind it.

Well, that really depends on your definition and thoughts. Living in the South, redneck is not really offensive here. It's more of a style or air people have. One of my friends is a redneck, but that's just who he is. Here's another way to think about it. Is it offensive to say someone is goth or a jock? Not unless you intend it to be.

You could blame this on Jeff Foxworthy and all the years he spent making redneck jokes. What once was an insult is now more of a badge of honor. And as he says.

My personal definition of redneck is the glorious absence of sophistication. And let me tell you, I've been all over the country. There are rednecks all over the place. And most of us are guilty of it at least some of the time.

Spoiler: Some of Jeff's comedy

 

[Dirge Eterna]

How teachers at my Catholic primary school would teach us about the likes of Norse mythology or the Greek pantheon like they're just kids stories but when I'd ask why they're god is real and the Norse weren't they couldn't give me a straight answer and would say something along the lines of "Because God is real and they aren't". I became an atheist around that point in my life, made Catholic school rather irritating I must say.

So to sum up, it baffles me how people who worship their god of choice can completely disregard all other deities.

My early childhood was spent getting dragged to freaky cult christian groups like the Shakers and people who spoke in tounges or "got" the holy spirit and acted all crazy and snake handlers. Yes these idiots thought handling poisonous snakes was somehow proof that they were holy and free of sin. Scared the crap out of me and is part of why I detest organized religion. Believe what you want but there is no need for these massive churches and structure other than to make more and more money and control people.

I think its funny when people can dismiss every other religion but theirs as wrong and fake yet freak out when someone calls them on it and shows them the hypocrisy.

 

[The Funslinger]

I once encountered a person who did not believe that fish were animals.

She would not be convinced otherwise, come hell or high water.

"A fish is not an animal, it's a fish!"

I mean, how does someone like that survive to reach adulthood? It's like denying that leaves grow on trees.

Are you sure she didn't just mean a fish is not a mammal?

Although, according to QI she's on the right lines. There's no such thing as a fish, they do not have a common ancestor.

No, she meant animal.

I asked her if birds were not animals as well.

"Of course not, they're birds."

Apparently something is only an animal if it lives on the ground. I asked her where flightless birds fit in this plan and she got offended and accused me of trying to embarrass her. Which, to be fair, I kind of was.

She's probably the sort of person who would claim to go vegetarian and continue devouring fish and fowl.

Those morons are irritatingly common, it'd seem.

 

[Zhukov]

[snip]

She's probably the sort of person who would claim to go vegetarian and continue devouring fish and fowl.

That's actually how the conversation started.

She'd recently got together with a vegetarian boyfriend and she was complaining about his refusal to eat fish.

Oh, that reminds me, I once met a guy who claimed to be "a vegetarian, but I still eat sausages." That was pretty damn baffling.

 

[Something Amyss]

Which I'm pretty sure is a crime in some countries.

No civilised country.

Miley doing that song is kind of weird, though. Watching her run her hands all over herself and remembering the original singer was a douchebag in hand-me-down Indigo Girls attire....

Yes, I dislike Nirvana. COME AT ME, BROS!

(no, really, don't)

What actually baffles me here the most isn't Miley herself, but that fact that this is the third or fourth teen pop sensation I've seen cover SLTS. I think freaking Avril Lavine covered it too (and I'm not confusing it with Fuel, and it baffles me that people make THAT leap, too). There's a trend for teen (or formerly teen) female pop stars to cover this song, and I don't get the connection. Is there a secret girl power meaning to which I'm not privy?

What baffles me overall is more varied, but I'll just go with anti-intellectualism. Not just hating smart people, but what seems like a borderline systemic wipe of anything even remotely intelligent. We hate science so much we'd probably go amish if we didn't love our smartphones so much.

Although, according to QI she's on the right lines. There's no such thing as a fish, they do not have a common ancestor.

Having no common ancestor doesn't mean there's no such thing as a fish.

 

[DaWaffledude]

People who "don't believe" in science. What does that even mean? The whole point of science is that belief is supposed to play as little a part as possible. The results are the results, and you can choose to accept them (because they're indisputable), or deny them (because they don't fit into your narrow worldview).

 

[necromanzer52]

I'm baffled at how people enjoy going to night clubs. The play some of the worst music I've ever heard, so loud that it's barely possible to hear yourself think, let alone hold any kind of a conversation.And they're so crowded that you can't move about without anyone bumping into you. How could anyone find this fun? I'll take a relaxed get together with a few close friends any day.

 

[Miyenne]

I'm completely baffled by how the kids next door didn't realise that not cleaning up the dog's poop for a few weeks at a time was a health risk. When I had property management call them they were surprised and confused.

They thought the literal swarms of flies were unrelated. They didn't think it would harm their dog. (Our townhouse yards are only about 14 feet by 6 feet and divided only by a 6 foot long fence, so the dog has very little space to wander.) They didn't understand that it smelled, as they're the type of people who never open their windows, and I live with mine open even well into the winter as I need FRESH air.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Why people enjoy Transformers.

Why people at my school were suprised that I don't like Transformers, that I don't Megan Fox is that hot and why I use reviews from *FUCKING* MOVIE CRITICS to determine if I should go see a movie.

Megan Fox was the best thing in that movie. Admittedly, it was about Shia LeBouf, and a bunch of identical looking robots, so all she had to do was not be them. Also, she got rather unfairly smeared afterwards.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I was reading a story about a older guy that had sex with a girl under 16, he was sentenced, but it wasn't as high as it could have been as apparently she acted and looked much older than she really was. Now, that makes sense to me. According to some children's rights campaigner, it's wrong because it's never the child's fault in any way. Ever.

What the utter fuck? How is that sane? I'm not saying we should be able to fuck any kid we like here and that they're all gagging for it (I agree with out age of consent), but the idea that there are no slutty people that know exactly what they're doing in the 13-16 age group is ridiculous.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I was reading a story about a older guy that had sex with a girl under 16, he was sentenced, but it wasn't as high as it could have been as apparently she acted and looked much older than she really was. Now, that makes sense to me. According to some children's rights campaigner, it's wrong because it's never the child's fault in any way. Ever.

What the utter fuck? How is that sane? I'm not saying we should be able to fuck any kid we like here and that they're all gagging for it (I agree with out age of consent), but the idea that there are no slutty people that know exactly what they're doing in the 13-16 age group is ridiculous.

You have to draw the line somewhere, though. Once you start saying having sex with kids is sometimes ok...yeah, leads us in a direction we don't want to go.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I was reading a story about a older guy that had sex with a girl under 16, he was sentenced, but it wasn't as high as it could have been as apparently she acted and looked much older than she really was. Now, that makes sense to me. According to some children's rights campaigner, it's wrong because it's never the child's fault in any way. Ever.

What the utter fuck? How is that sane? I'm not saying we should be able to fuck any kid we like here and that they're all gagging for it (I agree with out age of consent), but the idea that there are no slutty people that know exactly what they're doing in the 13-16 age group is ridiculous.

You have to draw the line somewhere, though. Once you start saying having sex with kids is sometimes ok...yeah, leads us in a direction we don't want to go.

It's not saying having sex with kids is ok though. It's saying that it's possible for the younger party to take some part of the blame. The guy was still sentenced, but it was recognised that the girl took some fault. Isn't the point of a trial beyond just determining guilt so that we can treat these things on a case by case basis? If we're just going to say that the adult has to take all the blame all the time, why bother? Why not just label them all paedophiles?

 

[BarkBarker]

My cat, he is very vocal being part Siamese, but I just watch him droop in, meowing and howling, sitting in his corner, still making noise as he sits down, then after a couple of seconds closes his eyes and rests.....WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MAKE NOISE FOR?! ARE YOU TRYING TO ALERT ME THAT YOU ARE GOING TO SLEEP?! IS MY CAT OBNOXIOUS AND THINKS THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND HIM?!.....it bugs the hell outta me, not just because it's confusing, but it's always loud and always in the morning when I don't have to get up.