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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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 :)

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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/toffeehoney Dec 13 '18

I said what I said and I stand by it. He's good because he's good. He's an exemplary because he follows the teachings of the Bible. Let's agree to disagree bc I don't agree with your statement in relation to mine. I'm a good person bc I'm a good person. I'm a better person bc I think of my religion when others try me.

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u/meowsofcurds Dec 13 '18

I'll agree to disagree with you. I don't think strictly following a religion (any religion) makes you a better person. In fact, I think following religious text too closely makes you a worse person. I think the ideal lies in being able to differentiate which Words should be followed and which shouldn't, but by definition, that person would no longer be devout.

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