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I don't mean this in a judgemental way: if you're like most people (and you, like me, probably are), then you don't have the ability to "seal off" parts of your personality. Whatever part of you drives you to write posts like this is almost certainly also on display when you undergo medical exams.
But what's wrong with having these beliefs?
And I am Christian, but not nondenominational. I have very specific beliefs. Besides, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is still a major church.
To argue that just because I don't believe the same things that most Christians do is a reason to deny me flight is bigoted.
And that wasn't even the reason I was denied. All of the people examining me recommended that I receive a medical. Obviously, this personality of mine was no problem.
Also, mix religious extremism with quips like "the US must die", and you've got a pretty good explanation for why your application might have been denied.
Also, extremism like this is not the best way to lead new people to Christ, bro. Jesus didn't care about whose face was on the denarius.
That's the kind of dying I'm talking about. Not extremist.
That blog post is saying that the US is like Sodom and Gomorrha: there's a lot of evil, and God will eventually destroy it. I'm not saying it's our job to. Absolutely not.
[1]: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/the-fam...
> Edit 2023-05-11: After confusion on Hacker News, I want to clarify the previous statement.
> I believe that the United States must die, but I believe that God alone must do it by natural disaster, as with what happened with Sodom and Gomorrha. It is not for any individual or group to do, especially not the Latter-day Saints.
> > We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly;
> > – D&C 134:5 [1]
[1]: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-test...
And you don't have to worry about it; I want to fly helicopters.
Keep in mind that you're not wishing for less suffering during the calamity. You're not wishing for those that are innocent to be spared. You're not wishing for mercy.
You're wishing for a cataclysm to destroy your enemies on a national level, and you don't want any guff for the opinion.
None of these things strike me as something Jesus Christ would do.
As I said somewhere in this thread, my communication skills are not good; I tend toward strong statements, too strong. My wife has worked on helping me overcome that, and I am better than I was two years ago when I wrote that post.
I've added a note to the post addressing your criticism. See another one of my replies to one of your comments.
Others don't call me Christian because I don't believe in the Nicene Creed.
I call myself Christian because I try to follow Jesus Christ in my everyday life.
Of course, Christ has great communication skills. I do not, as you can see from this thread. This is just one way in which I suck as a disciple of Christ.
It's just that... the US government, OSB and FBI agents, whoever is handling your application... They don't really have a sense of nuance when doing background investigations, nor should they be expected to have the resources to do so.
I don't mean to shit on your dream of flying commercially, in fact I hope you achieve it. I really just pointed out what I saw, something that might be a "code smell" type red flag that could lead to bias in the FAA's selection process, consciously or not.
I hope that my initial comment wasn't too crass, but sometimes people need to hear what they need to hear.
I added a note to that post that says this:
> Edit 2023-05-11: After confusion on Hacker News, I want to clarify the previous statement.
> I believe that the United States must die, but I believe that God alone must do it by natural disaster, as with what happened with Sodom and Gomorrha. It is not for any individual or group to do, especially not the Latter-day Saints.
> > We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly;
> > – D&C 134:5 [1]
I hope that fixes the problem.
I apologize. I acted the way I did because I have people grab random posts and say that they can ignore me because I'm religious and then rail on me, forcing me to defend my faith. This felt a bit like that, but I was obviously wrong about that feeling.
[1]: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-test...
the wording on your blog doesn't describe the hope that the replacement is better, it describes the hope that the country fails 'because it is full of sin' -- it is dishonest to come to HN and pretend that the way it is worded is altruistic, it's not -- it's vengeful; you even provide motive for your wishes of national defeat : 'abortion is evil, so..'.
Calling yourself a patriot first doesn't somehow change the premise; you're wishing for the failure of a nation because you disagree with their policies.
>By the way, I did not provide my blog to the application, so it should have had no bearing on it.
one could argue that the things that are NOT provided are likely more important for professionals to use to gauge 'mental hygiene'.
You know, all that said -- I agree with a lot of your technical beliefs. I think the Rust foundation has their head up their ass too, for example.
It's my personal wish that I could read a blog that had your technical stuff in it without also having to expose myself to the rest of your personality.
An idea from an outsider : separate websites?
What I'm saying there is that it will happen unless we get our act together. But we won't.
My wording has always defaulted to too strong. My wife has spent years making me more diplomatic, and that post was written two years ago. I'm much better now.
If you want to read just the technical portion of my blog without my personal stuff, there's actually a way to do it. Go to https://gavinhoward.com/categories/ , and you'll see that each category has its own Atom feed. Just subscribe to only the tech ones.
Look, I personally think you're probably a normal and well-adjusted person, or at least close enough that it's not dangerous for you to be allowed to fly. But all neurotypical humans judge each other based on subjective, possibly unfair pattern-matching at least as much, if not more, than what they say or do. Your blog, subjectively, has an unhinged vibe; it's not fair but it's true. You are not going to be able to prevent people from reading it and thinking "this pattern-matches the type of person who might commit terrorist acts with an airplane" (ironclad devotion to uncommon belief systems, long screeds against the government and mainstream society, etc).
However, my blog was not part of the appeal material sent to the FAA, and they also told me the reason they rejected me, which had to do with long-standing unofficial policies that required me to jump through more hoops.
I could have gotten a medical, but felt the cost to my marriage would not be worth it.
Obviously something, to some people, when it takes this form (a better question would be "what's wrong with this type of religiosity"), seeing as how multiple people mentioned it. Are you actually hoping to find out why, though?
Nah, I'm just trying to make it clear that I won't be pressured out of my beliefs.
Why do you think that is?
Do you consider their opinion before dismissing it?
Strongly held beliefs should be occasionally challenged, if not just for the sake of reinforcing them personally.
I also think that there are two reasons why people try to pressure me, one which is not my fault, and another which is.
First, it's not my fault that my beliefs are not fashionable. This will always be the case. I tend to ignore these ones because people attack me personally.
Second, it is my fault when I have bad wording, such as your correct claim that my wording makes it seem like I'm wishing bad things on this country. These criticisms I take seriously and try to fix. For example, I added the following note to the post due to your criticism:
> Edit 12 May 2023: After confusion on Hacker News, I want to clarify something that I am not wishing for the United States to die; I do not want to go through that upheaval. I am wishing no ill will against the United States, just like Isaiah wished no ill will against the Kingdom of Judah when he prophesied that Assyria would invade and almost conquer Jerusalem or that the Babylonians would destroy Jerusalem.
> Instead, I wish the United States could slowly evolve into something better.
> What I mean by this post is that the United States is not evolving the right direction, and as a result, it will not evolve into something better, but it will get worse until disaster strikes.
If I apply for a part-time job at McDonald's, they're at the very least going to Google my first and last name.
They actually would have given me a medical if I had jumped through those hoops.
I won't say what those hoops are just in case it would not be good for me to say, but the FAA was willing to let me fly.
Erm, in your OP you stated that they do not let you fly.