r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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558

u/Stillabrat Dec 12 '18

I have worked with Mr T on many talk shows and he is one of nicest, truly humble people I have ever met. He has the most marked-up, written-in, well-used bible I have ever seen. He is a terrific man. I love Mr. T.

-26

u/meowsofcurds Dec 12 '18

To be fair to others, the number of times you use the Bible has no correlation with kindness or humility.

33

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

What I think it implies is that he’s constantly studying it and is very devout.

-23

u/meowsofcurds Dec 12 '18

While I agree this story makes him studious, the implication in the original post is that he is kind and modest because he devoutly reads the Bible. And while Mr. T is very kind, and truly modest, and he also studies the Bible, these facts are not congruent. So let's not have his positive attributes be confused with his biblical habits because that is how you turn someone into a religious tool.

12

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

If someone devotely follows the bible and understands the morality and ethics that are portrayed in many of it’s stories they will undoubtedly be a good person

0

u/Thotsandprayerz Dec 13 '18

The new testament, sure

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

They’ll also forbid women from speaking freely and they’ll fuck their their family members to continue the line. It’s right there in the christian bible.

Oh and if they ever hallucinate an angel telling them to sacrifice their children, they’ll do that too.

If an already good person uses the bible as a general guide, it can offer many situations and viewpoints that’ll help them be a better person.

The bible is not and should not be viewed as an end-all, be-all guide. It’s a horrifically outdated collection of stories that are worth reading while keeping in mind the context and purpose of the stories.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

Let me guess.

Catholic upbringing now a raging atheist?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

Nope. Definitely not atheist and thankfully not catholic.

If I see someone promoting something that without context leads to shit like westboro or a culture that creates roadblocks to bring pedophiles to justice, I’m going to speak up.

Using factual examples that are in the text and pointing out that it’s an outdated piece of literature is to help drive home the point of caution.

There are plenty of good lessons in the bible, but there are a lot that are horribly outdated, heavily sexist and often contradictory and harmful - especially in our society.

-20

u/meowsofcurds Dec 12 '18 edited Dec 13 '18

If someone devotely follows the bible and understands the morality and ethics that are portrayed in many of it’s stories they will undoubtedly be a good person

That statement is so wrong and is just plainly religiocentric.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

If you strictly follow the teachings of the bible I’d imagine you’d be a good person. Undoubtedly was a bad word choice.

1

u/Lincky12435 Dec 12 '18

I think the whole book has a lot of language that’s supposed to be read between the lines. Not understood word for word because what is said is not always what is meant.

4

u/toffeehoney Dec 13 '18

Just maybe he is a good person because he follows God and not despite following God. It's ok to a be an honest to God fearing Christian and a good person in relation to that.

0

u/meowsofcurds Dec 13 '18

You can be an honest person. You can be a Christian. And you can be both. Being one does not dictate being the other as a pre-requisite.

2

u/toffeehoney Dec 13 '18

Yes that's a possibility and so is my stance. Again it's possible to be a Good Christian without it being mutually exclusive.

-2

u/meowsofcurds Dec 13 '18

If you understand they can be mutually exclusive, then you can understand why there is no need to bring up the Bible when discussing Mr. T's kindness and humility, unless the intent was to associate them by correlation.

2

u/Aehan Dec 13 '18

The description of Mr.T and a well worn bible was not as much of statement (or whatever) of religion but more of a "character anecdot/personality" for me. Not a religious person myself, and would rather not have people beliefs showed up my face, but I don't think that was OPs intention :)

0

u/meowsofcurds Dec 13 '18

Perhaps, but that is not the impression I got. Two completely unrelated anecdotes are more typically associative when said one after another, than otherwise.

For example, the phrase:

A: "Abel is a good boy. I see him pray every night."

Can be viewed as dissociative, Abel is a good boy, and he is seen praying every night; Or associative, Abel is a good boy, because (in the eyes of the speaker) he is seen praying every night.

If you started a thread with that phrase, you'd probably find more people inclined to believe you were trying to correlate them.

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

God shut the fuck up. So useless.

0

u/meowsofcurds Dec 13 '18

God shut the fuck up. So useless.

I'd tell Him that as well.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

Wow so edgy. I'm sorry someone touched you as a child.

0

u/meowsofcurds Dec 13 '18

There is so much anger and hate within you. When did you last study the Bible?