A friend recently blogged about a t-shirt she had seen that read “Fuck God”. An interesting discussion ensued in the comments and me being the opinionated asshole I am couldn’t resist but to jump in. The original post is here: http://yesweexist.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/fuck-god/ It’s worth your time to go read the whole thing.
Another friend once told me that sometimes my comments are better than my blog posts. I read the comment again I kindof agreed with her, so instead of the post I had planned next, I’m just simply posting the comment I put over there more or less verbatim (with an occasional spelling correction).
———————-
First of all, you do not have the right to not be offended. While I would never wear a Fuck God shirt, my only objection to wearing it in public is the word “Fuck”, which would be awkward to explain to my kids. As far a Christian’s right to not see that, you don’t have that right. I drive by at least five churches no matter where I go, and I don’t get to object to that. I don’t get to object to the Christian dogma displayed at the Seventh Day Adventist based hospital where my mom went for surgery, because that’s where her insurance is good at. I just have to deal with it. If a Christian has to do the same, I’m not going to get upset about that.
I have found no Christians coming to my defense. Indeed, I find myself needing defense against Christians. No Christians objected when George H. W. Bush said Atheists were neither citizens nor patriots. This is the former president of the United States saying this, not a crazy pastor from Florida. An elected leader of the country of which I’m a citizen thinks I have no worth to this country because I don’t subscribe to your dogma.
Do Christians come to my defense when I’m fighting against the teaching of Intelligent Design in the public school system? No, they’re the ones I’m fighting. They see no problem with teaching Christian dogma in the public schools in direct opposition to proven science.
Did Christians come to my defense when I lost everything to my ex-wife joining cults? No, they’re running the cults.
Did Christians come to my defense when I was fired for not hiding my atheism in the workplace? No, they’re the ones who fired me.
Did Christians come to the defense of the Atheist who lost custody of his/her children for being an Atheist?
Did Christians stand up against the blatant violation of church and state that occurred by placing “In God We Trust” on our money in 1956? Or “Under God” in the pledge of allegiance in 1954?
Could you even imagine an open Atheist being elected President? Or to any public office? Did you know religious tests for public office are explicitly forbidden by the constitution, but we have to pass them anyway, don’t we? One of the crazy claims leveled against Obama is that he’s a Muslim or even worse (gasp!) an Atheist. How is that not a religious test? You have to be Christian to get elected. Period.
If you want to know what upsets Atheists, this would be a great place to start.
If you want to call it closed minded and prejudice, that’s your right. I call it real world experience. Christians are in politics fighting climate science, fighting evolution, fighting health care reform, fighting NPR, fighting Planned Parenthood, and running our country into the ground with debt from needless wars. I’m perfectly willing to accept other information, and I’m quite aware that these behaviors and actions do not represent all Christians, but it’s the vast majority. And I don’t see the moderate or liberal Christians fighting back, I see the Atheists fighting back, and for that we’re labeled “Angry” and “Militant” or “Combative” because we’re standing up against this bullshit. Fuck God? If he’s out there and lets these things happen, Yes.
If you want to present evidence for Christians who do not behave like this, I’m open to it, but your definition of “Closed Minded” is a little off. You seem to be saying “I should agree with you or I’m closed minded” and that’s bullshit. Religious groups CAN be painted with the same brush to a certain degree. Ethnic groups cannot, because the color of your skin does not determine your behavior. Your gender does not determine your behavior. BUT YOUR RELIGION DOES. You have a holy book that tells you what to do and how to behave. Sure, people interpret it differently BUT IT’S THE SAME BOOK.
Atheists, on the other hand, only have one thing in common, we reject superstition. That’s it. We can’t be painted with the “Evolution is a religion” brush or whatever other brush they like to paint us with, because Atheism is not about a set of beliefs, it’s about a lack of certain beliefs. Past that, it’s fair game. Atheists are liberal, conservative, libertarian, and every other variety of political orientation that you can think of. We’re scientists, artists, writers, every day working Joes, whatever. Not all of us study evolution. Some of us just don’t care.
But we get painted with the Atheist brush all the time, and if you run across a blog entry by an Atheist who’s pissed off about that, are you really surprised? You just did it yourself. She said “we get treated differently” and you said “you’re closed minded and prejudiced”. I would say if you only find angry atheists but no bigoted Christians, you’re either A) doing it wrong or B) falling victim to confirmation bias. In which case it would be YOU who is closed minded.
Let me leave you with another video about what being closed minded really means.
Help! Help! I’m being Repressed!
There’s been some noise around the interwebs recently about how oppressed white men are. Who knew? I’m under the thumb of The Man (or rather The Woman I suppose) and nobody told me. It’s all out there in The Manosphere.
I’ve actually kept kindof quiet about the recent Richard Dawkins flap, but it seems to me a lot of people blew a few passing comments out of proportion. I actually literally laughed out loud when Mr. Deity mentioned how they threw Richard Dawkins under the bus.
I think I’ll just sum the whole thing up here: Guys, don’t be dicks.
I find it personally disappointing when we devolve into this kind of blame game so and so is bad and so and so is wrong. Makes us look like politicians. Issues that are important to me include the quality of American education (including keeping religion out of schools and teaching real science), fair pay, jobs, and care for the underprivileged at home (which is vehemently opposed by the religious right, otherwise known as Republicans), and human rights violations around the world and at home (most of which occur in the name of God).
It occurred to me at some point that most of the issues I care about are caused by or exploited by religion in some fashion, and I threw my lot in with the Atheists. Rebecca Watson was right to speak out on her issue. It matters to her and she raised awareness of it. Her audience is quite a bit larger than mine, so she’s succeeded admirably. Meanwhile I’ve lost nearly everything in a fight to protect my children from fundamentalism. It has truly cost me dearly. That’s why I don’t disagree with Dawkins either: certain issues are just a little bit more important to my life at the moment. When I’ve finished deprogramming my children and teaching them to appreciate the world as it is and not how some ancient goat herders wants it to be, I’ll make sure I cover jerks propositioning women in elevators too. I can’t wait until the day when that’s what I have to be worried about.
All you really need to know about Politics
Via Pharyngula. Best summation of the American political environment EVAR.
Yep, this about sums it all up
Why Michelle Bachman as a presidential candidate may not be as absurd as you would think.
http://motherjones.com/media/2011/06/zina-saunders-michele-bachmann-hymn
A brief look at what’s really important to us as a species
You may (or may not) have heard that recently SETI had to mothball it’s Allen Telescope Array. Apparently it would cost $2.5 million to keep it operational. That’s a lot of money, especially in these hard economic times, right?
It depends on what’s important to you. I recently saw a bumper sticker that read something to the effect of “we never have enough money for education, but we always seem to have enough money for war”. Think about that. The swath of Republicans we just voted into office (due in no small part to the billions of anonymous dollars filtered through SuperPACs made possible by the Citizen’s United ruling) have been busy slashing funding left and right. They claim we can’t afford these things. Things like health care for all Americans, NPR, PBS, Planned Parenthood, and our educational system. I’m watching my sister facing the possibility of being fired and forced to re-apply for her job as a way of “improving our educational system”. What a crock. Meanwhile, we’re involved in a third war now. We don’t pay our soldiers much, but damn do we buy them some expensive toys.
Microcosmologist has put together a little infographic that shows, quite clearly, where our priorities lie. (there’s more after the picture)
Is this stuff important? Is it worth the money? I defer to the great Carl Sagan.
Please think about donating to SETI, and remember this next time you vote.
The Evolution of the Cowboy
As I write this, I’m sitting here watching Cosmos on Netflix on my XBox. Coolest XBox feature EVAR. I’m reminded of this video I watched the other night.
I know what he’s talking about. It’s the oddest feeling when you’ve learned enough science that suddenly everything starts to fit together. I’m reminded of the common Christian claim that Atheism or Science is a religion. The stupidity of that claim aside, I’ve realized something: These kinds of moments are not unique to religion. Religion has these kinds of epiphany moments. So does music. I remember my first musical “Moment” during a performance of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. It was amazing. I think I’d like to call it a Musicgasm. You simply can’t imagine it until you’ve had one, it’s unreal. They’re far too few and far between.
Religion can have the same kind of moments. I had one in the cult. A Godgasm, if you will. I know the allure of it. People believe they’re feeling the presence of God. It can be very hard to reason with someone who has had a Godgasm.
This is a Sciencegasm. It’s totally unique, yet familiar. I’ve had one. Apparently that’s all you get. It’s that moment when you realize that the Universe is glorious and amazing, awe inspiring if you will. Everything clicks, and you realize just how awesome it is to be a part of the Universe and to understand it as we do, and it doesn’t require a supernatural being to appreciate it.
What’s cool is that it only gets better. We actually understand very little about our Universe, but we learn more every day. A hundred, a thousand years from now, we’ll know so much more, but still not everything. There’s always another amazing, awe-inspiring discovery to make.
I can’t explain the unbelievable feeling of understanding how the pieces fit together, how we fit into our world, our Universe, and how even though we’re a small seemingly insignificant part of it, we’re still a part of it. Atheism is just as, no, more gratifying than Religion. I wish everybody could see this, but Atheists don’t proselytize. I’m not recruiting for the Atheist cause. None of us do. The only reason we’re in a fight with Religion is frankly because they started it. At some point teaching science became blasphemy. At some point realizing that we don’t need a god to be good became a threat. At some point no longer needing an imaginary Master became an affront. When we fight back we have reason and science on our side, but facts are meaningless to people who have already made up their minds.
It seems every Fall I undergo some kind of mental change. I evolve into a newer, better being. Well, sometimes it’s better. This blog has chronicled my evolution over the past few years. It’s time for another change.
On this blog I’ve made some friends. I’ve realized that conservatives, or at least Republicans, do not represent my values as a human being. I’ve advocated Henry Rollins for President. I’ve argued against voting party lines, and I’ve voted straight Democratic tickets. I’ve espoused the virtues of Taoism, and I’ve abandoned it because of the value it places on ignorance. I’ve ranted. A lot. I’ve geeked out. I’ve complained about religious intolerance, I’ve been intolerant of religion, and I’ve abandoned religion altogether, although I’m pretty sure that actually happened a very long time ago. I’ve really only just recently admitted it to myself. I’ve cussed, and blasphemed, I’ve hoped, and I’ve wondered. I’ve deleted the whole thing in a moment of anger, and I’ve painstakingly restored it after regretting my actions. I’ve had spiritual epiphanies, and I’ve despaired for the entire human race. I’ve grown as a human being, and it wasn’t always pretty.
I’ve discovered a lot about myself over the past few years. Anybody who reads this blog regularly probably has too.
I’ve been thinking about a new direction for several days now, and I think I’m going to do it. Hopefully I don’t lose what little audience I may have acquired spewing vitriol over the interwebs for the past few years. I’m absolutely in love with science right now, and I think I’m going to begin posting about this. For one, just so that I’m not just bitching all the time. For two, hopefully somebody will begin to see just what is so amazing about all of this. For three, it’s a nice convenient place to keep track of the things I’ve learned. Crap I wish I’d paid more attention in school!
With any luck the tone here will change. With any luck I’ll open a few minds. Mostly, I just don’t want to forget this stuff. I would love nothing more than to return to college right now and rack up several doctorate degrees in various fields of science, but that’s simply not reality given the cost of living and the cost of college. I’m also desperately trying to save for my children’s college, and sending myself back to school doesn’t help that cause.
Well, here we go…
War
I watched a movie the other night that had some interesting facts. Here’s a breakdown of the percentage of casualties of war that were civilians by war:
World War I: 10%
World War II: 50%
Vietnam: 70%
Iraq: 90%
That’s right. despite 100 years of advancement in military technology, supposedly “frighteningly” accurate weapons, and the goal of “winning the hearts and minds” of the Iraqi people, 90% of all deaths related to the war were civilians. The Iraq war killed many many times the number of Iraqi civilians than the number of American civilians killed on September 11, 2001. Just for reference, Iraq was not involved in 9/11, they did not harbor any 9/11 terrorists, and didn’t even turn out to have the weapons of mass destruction we “were sure” they had.
Now we’re still in a war with Afghanistan. The death toll is not as severe as Iraq’s, but it’s still unconscionably high. It’s entering it’s tenth year, and has officially become America’s longest war. By military estimate, there are less than 100 Al-Queda left in Afghanistan, and less than 25,000 Taliban. For reference, the Taliban did not attack us on 9/11. We are there to find Osama Bin Laden, who apparently fled the country in 2002. He’s not there, very few terrorists are there, the people don’t trust us, and over 97% of the country is still loyal to the Taliban. They don’t want what we’re trying to give them.
We don’t need this war, we were never supposed to be at war with Afghanistan. We were never supposed to be at war with Iraq. We were supposed to catch the bad guy who blew up New York. We failed, he’s gone, and we’re mired in a senseless war. Credit to Obama to finally ending the other senseless war (or did he?), but it’s time to end this one too.
Perhaps it’s time to say “Let’s fight terrorism by not fucking with the middle east anymore so they stop being pissed off at us for killing their civilians wholesale”.
It’s time for peace.
Dear Dr. Laura
What the fuck is wrong with you? I am so sick of you right-wing crybabies. You spew the n-word 11 times on the air, then you quit over the fact that it pissed people off? What… the… FUCK!?!?
Your first amendment rights? The right to free speech? Have you been arrested? Has the government somehow suppressed your right to spew idiocy all over American airwaves? No. Calling you a dumb-ass racist bitch because you spewed racial profanity over the air IS FREEDOM OF SPEECH! How stupid are you? That’s how it works. You say stupid shit then we call you a racist bitch for doing it and we’re all free to do so!
Advertisers pulling out? They have that right. The First Amendment has nothing to do with that and does not protect you from your own stupidity.
People angry at your racist rant? How would you silence that without infringing their first amendment rights? You can’t.
You idiots need to stop crying wolf on the First Amendment. Personally, I think you’re trying to use the First Amendment to suppress the First Amendment rights of your detractors. Oooh, the irony. Too bad! Our First Amendment rights are safe for at least two more years! Nyah nyah!
Piss off.
Racism
A couple of days ago I created a fake twitter account for the purpose of poking fun at the Tea Party. I think I may have to stop. In just a couple of days of poking around for links I found evidence of the most extreme racism I’ve ever seen. I mean, stuff you might expect from the 50s (or more likely the 1850s), but it’s all recent. Here’s the most extreme example I’ve found yet (warning, not for the faint at heart):
http://www.ep.tc/tea-party-comix/
I actually started to feel sick. Pretending to be a stupid racist Teabagger while mocking them is taking it’s toll on me after just a day or two. What I’ve found, the evidence of such extreme racism from the Tea Party, from Fox News, from bungholes like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, I can’t handle it. It’s too much. Maybe I’ve grown up sheltered, but I didn’t know people were still like that. Sure, I knew some people were still racist, but not like THAT. They’re intentionally stoking a fear of black people in white people in exchange for political capital. It’s sick.
I’m profoundly disturbed by this. I do what I do because I know the human race can be better than we are. We can evolve into something better. We can do it sooner rather than later. We can be a world of wonderful people, and we can do it within my lifetime. We can, but we won’t. Perhaps I’m naive.
I have moments like this where I just want to give up. Just go back to my white middle class home in the suburbs good paying job with a wife and two kids life and forget about all of this, just like everybody else. But that’s how they win. When those of us who would oppose these things, when those of us who would stand up for what’s right, when those of us who would strive to see the human species become worth saving just give up and shut up. They’re wearing us down. I heard it in Michael Moore’s voice at the end of his most recent movie, he’s wearing down. So am I. So is Obama. So are a lot of people.
Perhaps we’ll mature someday. Perhaps we’ll become a species that we can be proud of. Perhaps we’ll get past all the stupidity, small-mindedness and pettiness of our current age. But not today. Maybe tomorrow.
I’m going to bed.
Capitalism vs. Socialism
It works like this. Imagine you’re at a party. There are ten people, including you. A pie is served and cut into ten pieces. One 
man comes up and takes nine pieces. The other nine guests begin to divvy up the last remaining piece. This is what we call “Capitalism”. Note that I said this is what we call “Capitalism”. Perhaps your sliver of the last piece is slightly larger than some of the others. You want to protect what you’ve 
got. Somebody comes along and suggests that perhaps we could re-divide the pie so that that sorry fellow on the left who got the smallest sliver (it’s so thin that it’s translucent) might get a slightly larger piece. You immediately become afraid that that person’s portion is going to come out of your own, and you didn’t have all that much to start with. You become angry. You begin arguing about how you’ve worked hard for your slice, and it’s not fair for that lazy sod to start
taking your pie. Lost in all of this name-calling and anger is the fact that what was really being suggested was that the guy with nine pieces perhaps only take eight. With two whole pieces of pie to divvy up between the other nine guests, they just might all get a little more. This is what we call “Socialism”. Again, emphasis on the “call” part.
This is the state of modern politics. We’ve convinced the guy who has a slightly larger sliver of that last piece of pie to defend the right of the guy who took nine pieces to take nine pieces because he believes it’s in his own best interest.
Now, let’s paint a slightly different picture. The pie comes out, and 
each guest takes one piece of pie. Everybody’s satisfied, because one piece of pie is really all you need. That is what Socialism really is, and for nine people out of ten, it works out pretty well. It sucks for the first dude, because he’s forced to get by on what everyone else does, but again, the part we forget is that everybody’s getting a pretty good deal of pie.
Ok, if you’re a Republican or (gasp!) a Teabagger you probably haven’t made it this far, because you already dismissed me as a Socialist and stopped reading lest I poison your mind. I’ve noticed Teabaggers aren’t really interested in hearing alternative points of 
view. They’re more interested in being right. Glenn Beck even put out a “book” that, based on the title (I haven’t actually read it, nor do I intend to. The title tells me all I need to know), suggests that it will teach you how to win arguments with people who have left leaning tendencies (A.K.A. Liberal Commie Socialist Scum Bastards who Hate America and Want the Terrorists to Win). What it does not promise, however, is to teach you how to listen. It does not promise to teach you how to understand what your opponents want. It only promises to teach you how to shut them up with clever catch-phrases so that you don’t have to actually hear ideas that conflict with your own and perhaps judge their arguments on their merits using your own mind. Glenn Beck is quite popular.
What if, just imagine for a moment, that the first dude only took four pieces of pie. The remaining nine guests now have six whole pieces of pie to fight over. One of them might even get an entire piece all to himself. This is what Capitalism really is, and it doesn’t sound all that bad either. It’s not what we have though. We claim to love 
Capitalism, but we don’t really know what it is, because none of us living have ever seen it. We fight for our little sliver of pie and fight for the first dude because we hope someday we might be the dude getting all the pie. Our world view, though, is distorted from reality. We think he’s only got three or four pieces of pie, and someday we might get that too. We think we’ve got a much bigger piece than we really do. The richest 1% of the nation has more money than the remaining 99% (that’s you). We all think someday we’ll become part of that 1%, because we think it’s really more like 30%. But it’s not, and you won’t. The vast majority of the uber-rich today were born rich, and that’s how it’s done. Very few new billionaires get made, they’re born. Bill Gates is an anomaly.
So I’ll conclude with a sort of anti-thesis to Glenn Beck’s book, but
much shorter and a hell of a lot cheaper. Now you understand what the Teabaggers believe and why they fight for it. All you need to do to win an argument is to get them to understand what they believe and why they believe it. Good luck.
Another Idiot with a Blog 