elforman

The difference is that the incidents of hate-based racially motivated behavior has increased significantly since Trump took office. The SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) has all of the statistics.
It used to be that, like him or not, a President of the United States was looked upon to provide a high level of moral decency. What does it say when Trump can't even denounce Nazis marching in the United States? Or when a president calls his opponents childish nicknames or calls every unflattering news article about him "fake news" with no evidence to back his claims? He is directly responsible for lowering the level of discourse and civility in the country.
And yes, the KKK has always been around, but until Trump came along they'd scatter like roaches when they were brought into the light, now they stand proud, happy to have a bigger audience to spread their message of hate.

Trollish behavior has elevated in every facet of American life over the last year and a half. As much as I'd like to be able to leave politics out of it, just look at the troll in chief in the White House. Trump is by far the meanest, nastiest, crudest and most classless person ever to hold national office and much of the GOP is taking on the same demeanor.

That's one of several reasons, but absolutely that kind of attitude from the president has spread into public life. People who felt marginalized before, people like homophobes, bigots and white supremacists have clearly gotten more vocal over since Trump won the election, and that's compounded by the fact that Trump has done very little to distance himself from them. In fact, he says thinks like there are good people on both sides of a KKK rally, he uses phrases like "America First," a slogan used by American Nazis in the 1940s who sided with Germany and recently called reporter Chuck Todd, who is Jewish, "Sleepy Eyed," a derogatory term used by white supremacists to describe Jews. When people like that see that their words and behavior will go unchecked it emboldens them to get louder and louder.

I call it "internet arrogance". The anonymity afforded by the web lets people say whatever they want and they often go with their first, worst instinct. Then because there's no consequence to being wrong, people often will simply ignore it when they are being corrected.

Trollish behavior has elevated in every facet of American life over the last year and a half. As much as I'd like to be able to leave politics out of it, just look at the troll in chief in the White House. Trump is by far the meanest, nastiest, crudest and most classless person ever to hold national office and much of the GOP is taking on the same demeanor.

That's one of several reasons, but absolutely that kind of attitude from the president has spread into public life. People who felt marginalized before, people like homophobes, bigots and white supremacists have clearly gotten more vocal over since Trump won the election, and that's compounded by the fact that Trump has done very little to distance himself from them. In fact, he says thinks like there are good people on both sides of a KKK rally, he uses phrases like "America First," a slogan used by American Nazis in the 1940s who sided with Germany and recently called reporter Chuck Todd, who is Jewish, "Sleepy Eyed," a derogatory term used by white supremacists to describe Jews. When people like that see that their words and behavior will go unchecked it emboldens them to get louder and louder.

That's fine. If it helps explain it, my problem is with people assuming that I believe in a god and that I should automatically appreciate their prayers. It is very presumptuous of them.

Because its equally disrespectful to my beliefs as it would be if I told someone there was no god when trying to comfort them.

Quite honestly, I find the presumption that I believe in the unprovable and the impossible to be insulting. I don't look down on anyone else who does believe because in virtually every case it's how they were raised and what they were taught to believe.

That's fine. If it helps explain it, my problem is with people assuming that I believe in a god and that I should automatically appreciate their prayers. It is very presumptuous of them.

Because its equally disrespectful to my beliefs as it would be if I told someone there was no god when trying to comfort them.

So, here's a topic I know may anger some, but is there anyone else who can't stand when someone just assumes you're religious and offers to pray for you? As an atheist, I never presume to guess what anyone else's beliefs are and I don't go around telling random people there is no god, especially in a time of turmoil or crisis. So when I tell someone I'm having surgery, or about any other significant event, whether in person or online, how about a little common courtesy and not just assuming I believe as you do and leaving your religion out of it?
I'm not looking to debate the existence of god here, I'm just trying to get people to realize that other people believe differently than they do and to not make assumptions.

I'm at work and my boss tells me she needs me to perform a certain task "religiously". So I say "Oh, you mean never?"

So, here's a topic I know may anger some, but is there anyone else who can't stand when someone just assumes you're religious and offers to pray for you? As an atheist, I never presume to guess what anyone else's beliefs are and I don't go around telling random people there is no god, especially in a time of turmoil or crisis. So when I tell someone I'm having surgery, or about any other significant event, whether in person or online, how about a little common courtesy and not just assuming I believe as you do and leaving your religion out of it?
I'm not looking to debate the existence of god here, I'm just trying to get people to realize that other people believe differently than they do and to not make assumptions.

So, here's a topic I know may anger some, but is there anyone else who can't stand when someone just assumes you're religious and offers to pray for you? As an atheist, I never presume to guess what anyone else's beliefs are and I don't go around telling random people there is no god, especially in a time of turmoil or crisis. So when I tell someone I'm having surgery, or about any other significant event, whether in person or online, how about a little common courtesy and not just assuming I believe as you do and leaving your religion out of it?
I'm not looking to debate the existence of god here, I'm just trying to get people to realize that other people believe differently than they do and to not make assumptions.

That's a standard term to mean that the insurance company believes you're worth spending the money on.
Mostly they want to make sure that your risk of recidivism is low, that you know what you're getting into and how to take care of yourself post-op. That's why there's a psychiatric exam requirement before you can be approved. Most people do just fine with that, though in some cases the psychiatrist may feel there is some previously undiagnosed or untreated depression that could affect your health.
There are also other factors, such as if you have other severe medical conditions like advanced cancer, are you likely to actually benefit from WLS? They balance that against the cost of leaving you untreated and instead paying for all of the complications that could arise, such as diabetes.
Bottom line is unless you have an extreme situation either physically or mentally, you'll be fine.

The pre-op physical is pretty standard for most types of surgery. I had he same pre-op physical before I had bone spur surgery as I did before I did for my septoplasty: Just a routine exam, EKG, chest x-ray and some bloodwork. The only difference will be is if you have a significant pre-existing illness or condition that could affect your WLS.
And as @sammi123 mentioned above, the endoscopy is a breeze. You won't remember a thing, and I'll repeat sammi's point because it's spot on: If they find a hiatal hernia it's no big deal and they'll fix it during the surgery. If you currently have GERD it's likely because of a hiatal hernia, so that should go away after surgery. (It is paradoxical that some people who do not have GERD develop it after they have WLS. I don't quite get that.)

You both make decent points, but the crux of the matter is that if you are really trying to comfort someone, then make an actual effort and do not assume that what comforts you comforts them. Why is it so hard to accept that not everyone believes in your fairy tales and horror stories and that it's very arrogant of you to assume such. Instead, if you don't know the person well enough, why not ask the person you're trying to support what you can do to help. If the person says "You can pray for me, I'd appreciate that," then fine, you're in the clear, go ahead and get on your knees and pray you head off.
But until you can provide absolute proof that your imaginary friend actually exists, do not invoke him/her/it/them in an effort to comfort me or anyone else unless you know it's wanted. That's called simple politeness. Don't treat everyone as if they're exactly the same with the same needs, same wants and same beliefs. Either respect those differences and make a miniscule effort or just remain silent.
The fact remains to me is that there is absolutely no proof whatsoever of an supernatural being and I do not need reminders of how people believe in that idiocy to the point where they let it run their lives and use their believes to try to justify their trying to legislate the behavior of others. As an atheist, can you imagine how it sounds to hear government officials cite the bible in supporting separation of children from their parents simply because they're trying to escape poverty and violence? Don't give me this crap about "Well, they're not real Christians," because that's total bullshit. Every Christian thinks they're the true Christians, and it's going to be that way until there are no more Christians.
Religion makes everything worse, period.

It would be better had it linked to a recipe for Satanic Chicken. It's just like regular chicken but it's very, very spicy. Serve on your best pentagram-adorned china.

So, here's a topic I know may anger some, but is there anyone else who can't stand when someone just assumes you're religious and offers to pray for you? As an atheist, I never presume to guess what anyone else's beliefs are and I don't go around telling random people there is no god, especially in a time of turmoil or crisis. So when I tell someone I'm having surgery, or about any other significant event, whether in person or online, how about a little common courtesy and not just assuming I believe as you do and leaving your religion out of it?
I'm not looking to debate the existence of god here, I'm just trying to get people to realize that other people believe differently than they do and to not make assumptions.

When I'm in distress the last thing I want or need is someone reminding me that they're calling on their imaginary friends for help, and even worse, they think that I should appreciate and support their delusion. I've literally suffered in my life because of people's moronic beliefs, ranging from girls not being allowed to date me by their parents in middle school because I wasn't the same religion as them to actually getting beaten up at age 13 after some idiot kid learned in church that the Jews killed Jesus. I had nothing but problems with my ex wife's family over the fact that I didn't believe in their fairy tales. I see women's reproductive rights restricted and gays demonized and declined services because of what religious books of fairy tales and horror stories tell their followers. I see school boards try to teach creationism and deny science and evolution.
So to you and everyone else who says to shrug it off, I say screw you. I refuse to accept and normalize any religion in any form.

Thank you. That's the only point I've been trying to make.

At the top of the page is a purple/pinkish box that says "following" with a checkmark to the left of it. Click that and you'll see options to reduce or eliminate the number of notifications you get for the thread. Note that's on a web browser, I don't know about doing it through the app.

When I'm in distress the last thing I want or need is someone reminding me that they're calling on their imaginary friends for help, and even worse, they think that I should appreciate and support their delusion. I've literally suffered in my life because of people's moronic beliefs, ranging from girls not being allowed to date me by their parents in middle school because I wasn't the same religion as them to actually getting beaten up at age 13 after some idiot kid learned in church that the Jews killed Jesus. I had nothing but problems with my ex wife's family over the fact that I didn't believe in their fairy tales. I see women's reproductive rights restricted and gays demonized and declined services because of what religious books of fairy tales and horror stories tell their followers. I see school boards try to teach creationism and deny science and evolution.
So to you and everyone else who says to shrug it off, I say screw you. I refuse to accept and normalize any religion in any form.

So what are the options here? Your co-workers are either blind, oblivious, don't care or they're just messing with you. In any event, you should have some fun with it because there will reach a point where somebody will notice and ask if you're lost weight, then you should just deny it. Tell them it's a new haircut or new clothes. Just mess with them.