in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novels, one of the central unifying themes is the search for the meaning of life. notoriously, the answer that the computer Deep Thought comes up with is "42", which of course, means nothing w/o the question, and the question can only be calculated by the supercomputer known as Earth, running a millions of years long program. that being said, it is a wonder to me how it is that the religious prefer to be told what the meaning to their personal journey is by a 2,000 year old book of fairy tales and long dead "authors". or, more appropriately, it doesn't cause me to wonder so much as it causes me to feel pangs of guilt. guilt that i'm not doing more to free people from the death grip the jesus cult, or the mohammed cult or the abrahamic cult have on them, and guilt because while every moment in my life is special and precious to me, never to return or be duplicated or be saved (pics and video are poor recorders of human emotions, after all) i have failed so many seeking to free themselves from that goddamned tyranny. not from lack of trying, mind you, but because like most things human, there's no idiot proof way of accomplishing that task. for some, ridicule makes them think over their positions again. for others, a kind word, gently spoken seems to do the trick. in short, we fail, as atheists, to bring the light of reason to so many of our brothers and sisters because we're human. and because despite the lies the religious are taught to repeat, the atheist life has THE most meaning to it, and one of the things that give it that meaning are our struggles with ourselves.
sadly, the theist has no such struggles. each and every single 'sin' is something that most people fall into at one time or another, and as such, are not struggles--there is no struggle when the outcome is known; you either accept, or you refuse to, and therefore, to say that there is a struggle in resisting the urge to covet your neighbor's wife, for example, is really a conflation between the struggle to accept that your neighbor's wife is hot, and the forced pseudo-morality of the alternative--to deny one's very real, very human, drives. you're not struggling to find your neighbor's wife hot or not. that's already a done deal. what you're struggling with is accepting that you're a human being, and you're driven to looking at and wanting an attractive woman, vs. denying that you're trapped in a machine evolved to do so.
of course, there's more to it: if one comes from dirt, and women from someone's rib, you are nothing more than dirt-inanimate, unattractive (in the metaphysical sense, not the physical one), and to most ways of thinking, profoundly unappealing. if however, you accept that that dirt is the accumulation of atomic debris from the explosion of stars long dead, that every atom in you at one point or another was created inside a living star, (and as someone recently pointed out to me, the hydrogen might conceivably be primordial in provenance), i would put to you that it is only then that your life can have meaning: it is only after accepting the reality that science makes available to ALL of us, that you can realize that yes, you're dirt-some of the most special dirt that has ever existed. that one day, millions of years ago, the atoms that make you, you were inside many different stars, some perhaps in other galaxies (due to galactic "collisions"), and that soon, perhaps a few million years, that 'dirt' will be engulfed by our sun as it expands, and will explode out of it, or perhaps become part of the neutron star our sun will become. all of that (and don't quote me, i'm not a scientist, so i'm going on dimly recollected snippets from science articles and documentaries) leads you to the conclusion that each breath we take, each nanosecond we get to see our son's smile, each first step, each building that is erected, each human milestone, from exploring the Challenger Deep to our first asteroid mining endeavors, all of it, every jot and fucking tittle is ultimately unique, and to be cherished, and sung, and lived. if there were a place where life lasted forever, every single thing i just mentioned would be ho-hum, 'oh, another atom'. that's what religion gives you--the single most devastating devaluation of human life and the human experience that ever could be devised.
still, we do what we can, and that's all that can be asked of us. there is no one telling me to do or not do anything except myself (OK, along with the chemical reactions that occur constantly in our brains), but those aren't intentional agents. they're the result of that damned evolution thingie ;).
Tuesday 11 March 2014
The Thing About Feminism
i actually am a feminist. not the kind of first world feminist that wants to socially engineer the fucking planet wholesale by banning words, mainly because (a) the type of shit that feminists are up to these days is selling books, seminars, telling me that i'm a "potential" rapist just because i have a penis, and gearing up the thought police, apparently, and (b) words are my stock in trade. but no, i'm a crazy white libertarian "men's rights" "activist" (though i'm not crazy, not white, not middle class, not a libertarian, not a neckbeard, and not anything else that readily comes to mind when feminists think "MRA", but that doesn't matter to the ones who happen to be feminists and bigots) because i take issue with tiny little things like being told what i can think and when i can think it. oh, also because of tiny little unimportant things like this.
so yeah, i'm a "feminist", which really, even for self proclaimed everyday run-of-the-mill "feminists" is really humanism, of the sort that knows that in the ways that actually matter- personhood, legal status (including suffrage), and moral agency, to name a few, women are no different than men are. but that's the thing, see? no different than. for the author of 'schrodinger's rapist', men are "less than". we are born with the original sin of having a penis, though women are not born with such any such limitation, though many are born into circumstances like the girls in the above article. and i can only guess, none of whom care one whit about being called "bossy", even as they worry about where the next fix is coming from, or how many pedophiles are going to be there the next time, and will there be a beating to accompany the rape. as fellow travelers, we do indeed need to address all the problems of all our brothers and sisters. my issue with modern day feminists is this: it is the worst sort of utopianism that leads you to equate being called "bossy", with being groomed by pedophiles, or worse, to even insinuate that your first world problem, and your hurt feels are in any way comparable to the real plight of real women all over the world, or to make the implicit claim that your first world problem should be addressed and funded before these other little things.
my only role model growing up was my mother. and she was awesome, even accounting for her son's bias. i had training partners that were girls in my dojo, some of whom outranked me, and this is long before anyone heard the term "mixed martial arts". i am happily married, have four stepdaughters, all of whom are learning to do for themselves, to be strong, both emotionally and physically, and who i treat as my own. i refuse to treat you as if you can't do what i do--go about your day w/o inventing problems to generate funding and page views.
so yeah, i'm a "feminist", which really, even for self proclaimed everyday run-of-the-mill "feminists" is really humanism, of the sort that knows that in the ways that actually matter- personhood, legal status (including suffrage), and moral agency, to name a few, women are no different than men are. but that's the thing, see? no different than. for the author of 'schrodinger's rapist', men are "less than". we are born with the original sin of having a penis, though women are not born with such any such limitation, though many are born into circumstances like the girls in the above article. and i can only guess, none of whom care one whit about being called "bossy", even as they worry about where the next fix is coming from, or how many pedophiles are going to be there the next time, and will there be a beating to accompany the rape. as fellow travelers, we do indeed need to address all the problems of all our brothers and sisters. my issue with modern day feminists is this: it is the worst sort of utopianism that leads you to equate being called "bossy", with being groomed by pedophiles, or worse, to even insinuate that your first world problem, and your hurt feels are in any way comparable to the real plight of real women all over the world, or to make the implicit claim that your first world problem should be addressed and funded before these other little things.
my only role model growing up was my mother. and she was awesome, even accounting for her son's bias. i had training partners that were girls in my dojo, some of whom outranked me, and this is long before anyone heard the term "mixed martial arts". i am happily married, have four stepdaughters, all of whom are learning to do for themselves, to be strong, both emotionally and physically, and who i treat as my own. i refuse to treat you as if you can't do what i do--go about your day w/o inventing problems to generate funding and page views.
Monday 10 March 2014
Ikonografer 2.0
It's been kind of a crazy 2.5 years or so. New wife. New son. New Country. Four new stepdaughters. First mother-in-law. An encounter with the police that didn't make me want to vomit and take a shower. A profoundly uninspiring dalliance with the dark side of gender politics. I've even had accusations of criminality and malfeasance leveled against me. All and sundry (take that N.) seem to have changed. Some touchstones have stayed the same, though not many. Different blogs, different platforms. Different formats. lot's of trial and error, only to find myself where I began, so to speak, though with a few new bells and whistles. A slew of changes that would make anyone's head swim, or drown.
I've been examining and re-examining just about everything, from why sentences are customarily capitalized (has to do with antique typesetting), to the roles of logic and epistemology in my own thinking. As per usual, I have landed roughly in the moderate area of most things, though not others. Here are some highlights, in roughly ascending order of importance:
1. I'm tired of pressing the shift key in obeisance to the arcane custom of capitalizing the first letter of every sentence, even though i know you guys seem to love this particularly small touchstone. (striking a blow against something, who cares what?). this apparently comes from the problems first encountered by Gutenberg and others with typesetting and bleeding ink and paper, but (a) i'm lazy, and (b) i'm saving keystrokes. so, i'll be dispensing with that forthwith, propriety be damned.
2. i won't be capitalizing the letter 'i', either. in this day and age, no one is that fucking important. well known doesn't equal importance, and being the tiny little speck of stardust that i am, i won't be pretending otherwise.
3. there is a decidedly biased bent online in favor of two horrid little things: giving credence to poseurs because they have sycophants, such as the MRA vlogger 'integral math', who for some reason or other has a quibble against how i pronounce the word 'integral' (i accent the 'e' rather than the 'i', because of a stutter that despite my best efforts doesn't want to relinquish its hold on me), and who famously demonstrated his mathematical prowess by fucking up some arithmetic (which i pronounce in the customary fashion), and to the usual bullshit move of claiming expertise in areas where none is to be seen, proven, nor had, like feMRA vlogger, and right wing libertarian Karen Straughan, aka girlwriteswhat? or for that matter, people like rebecca watson, of skepchick fame. becky, for whatever reason, has decided not to substantiate her allegations in the elevatorgate pseudo-scandal, with anything remotely resembling what i like to call 'evidence'.
i'd like to take this opportunity to send a big fuck you with a kiss to the Modern Language Association's stylesheet (and to The Chicago Manual of Style, amongst others), requiring a 'works cited' page. i'll be returning to the old school bibliography, thank you very much, which you'll find on this blog, as soon as i get around to it-which should be in fairly short order. i'm tired of having to go over and over the same ground. either you're a reader and a thinker, or you aren't. i'm more than happy to pander a little to the readers, and give them a heads up on what i've read, which is where my conclusions come from, in exchange for expecting you to do your homework. if you're going to join the discussion, read the relevant materials. or don't. either way, the next move belongs to you, dear reader. the bibliography will grow (as i recall the titles of long ago read texts and suchlike), and be as complete as possible, so you know where i'm coming from, which has the happily intended side effect of allowing me to read some really great stuff from when i was still a wet behind the ears undergraduate student, something i've been meaning to do for a very, very long time. i'll also be including links to gutenberg.org when available and so on, so yay(!) for all of us.
4. one thing i learned from the dark side of the internet: labels mean next to nothing. no matter what you call yourself, or what others call you, you're either someone with whom a discussion can be had, or you aren't. if you aren't, there's no point in directing anything toward you, save the occasional insult. nor is there a point to wasting my time, or yours. for that reason, "discussion" with true believers of any kind is otiose. you will either be swayed by evidence, or you won't be. in either event, you either arrive at reason through your own efforts, or you don't arrive at all, and again, the next move is yours.
5. lurkers lurk and trolls troll. if you just do the reading, and habitually abstain from commentary (with an occasional lapse, as it were), welcome aboard. if you wish to comment regularly, again, welcome aboard. if you're not interested in honest discussion of the issues, there's the door. i'm more than happy to give you the bum's rush. if you're a bum.
6. i won't allow pseudo-arguments, no matter how much traction they've gained in pop-culture, except when i need to make a point. for example: bitch all you like, but (a) i'm not a misogynist for using the word 'bitch', and (b) i'm not 'silencing' you by banning or editing your comments, or by deleting them if i choose to do so. the internets is a very, very big place, and if you want your voice heard, and you think you haven't been afforded that opportunity on my blog, start your own freaking blog. you're free to do so wherever you like. i won't be cajoled into allowing comments that begin something like this: "let's see if you're really about freeze peach...". in point of fact, since i publish this blog, and run it, it's my own little fiefdom. if you'd care to join the hunt, feel free to gear up. Just keep in mind that your comments are subject to my approval or disapproval, as the case may be. the same goes for banning people and suchlike.
7. unlike the artwork that i do, i'm not 2D. that is to say, on this blog, i will write about a great many different topics, since a great many different topics interest me. i'm an "online atheist", but i'm also a slew of other things. i run my own art studio, i cook, i'm a journeyman carpenter, i practice what you youngin's now call "MMA", (though i've been doing it since Bruce Lee was making movies). other than that, i'm not much of a sports fan, i love to cook, i'm both a stepfather and a father now in my own right, and so on. so i'll be writing about those things as well as offering opinion and commentary on atheist issues. don't expect a one topic, party line type blog. moreover, since i'm all these other things, don't be surprised if there are days when i don't write a post. i've got shit to do, just like you do, though i will strive to write as often as possible, since it seems i'm now a writer as well- which is just as well, since that's what i went to college and graduate school for.
8. the internet is a very, very big place. you know how to read, even if thinking through a position is fairly new to you. it's not my job to convince you of anything. the moment that Matt Dillahunty made the claim that the truth doesn't matter (regarding elevatorgate), i decided that there is no point in arguing with anyone about anything-not that i'm giving up on having discussions, mind you, it's just that there is no reason to think that any amount of arguing will make a difference to the individual who is hell bent on remaining ignorant. again, i'm firmly of the belief that one either learns on one's own, or one doesn't learn at all. it is the rare person who can learn from someone else's mistakes rather than committing the same mistake one sees others commit. it isn't my place to teach you the skill set that allows you to do that, and honestly, i don't think it's possible to teach it, even if i could identify its constituent parts in my own thought process. therefore, i'm not going to argue with you. END OF STORY.
9. really, truly, AFAIC, this is a clean slate, so to speak--though of course, haters are always gonna hate, but that's OK. i'll be migrating all the old articles that i think are worth keeping to this blog, irrespective of their topics, and deleting the rest of my blog posts. it's the internets, and anyone wishing to remind me of what i said during some long ago discussion, and prove it, should have already gotten their shit together and screencapped the relevant quotes, and if you haven't, meh. we are all the sum total of what our experiences are, and that's all there is to it. i refuse to play 'gotcha' with rabble anymore--and there's a lot more rabble than reasonable out there. that's the reason for jumping on my wayback machine and reminiscing over incidents long past in this post, a final heads up to the haters, and a recognition of whatever mistakes, missteps, and sundry (take that, N.) imperfections and so on that belong to me, and to which i somehow belong. the past two or so years have been a HUGE learning experience for me, and there you have it. ikonografer 2.0.
I've been examining and re-examining just about everything, from why sentences are customarily capitalized (has to do with antique typesetting), to the roles of logic and epistemology in my own thinking. As per usual, I have landed roughly in the moderate area of most things, though not others. Here are some highlights, in roughly ascending order of importance:
1. I'm tired of pressing the shift key in obeisance to the arcane custom of capitalizing the first letter of every sentence, even though i know you guys seem to love this particularly small touchstone. (striking a blow against something, who cares what?). this apparently comes from the problems first encountered by Gutenberg and others with typesetting and bleeding ink and paper, but (a) i'm lazy, and (b) i'm saving keystrokes. so, i'll be dispensing with that forthwith, propriety be damned.
2. i won't be capitalizing the letter 'i', either. in this day and age, no one is that fucking important. well known doesn't equal importance, and being the tiny little speck of stardust that i am, i won't be pretending otherwise.
3. there is a decidedly biased bent online in favor of two horrid little things: giving credence to poseurs because they have sycophants, such as the MRA vlogger 'integral math', who for some reason or other has a quibble against how i pronounce the word 'integral' (i accent the 'e' rather than the 'i', because of a stutter that despite my best efforts doesn't want to relinquish its hold on me), and who famously demonstrated his mathematical prowess by fucking up some arithmetic (which i pronounce in the customary fashion), and to the usual bullshit move of claiming expertise in areas where none is to be seen, proven, nor had, like feMRA vlogger, and right wing libertarian Karen Straughan, aka girlwriteswhat? or for that matter, people like rebecca watson, of skepchick fame. becky, for whatever reason, has decided not to substantiate her allegations in the elevatorgate pseudo-scandal, with anything remotely resembling what i like to call 'evidence'.
i'd like to take this opportunity to send a big fuck you with a kiss to the Modern Language Association's stylesheet (and to The Chicago Manual of Style, amongst others), requiring a 'works cited' page. i'll be returning to the old school bibliography, thank you very much, which you'll find on this blog, as soon as i get around to it-which should be in fairly short order. i'm tired of having to go over and over the same ground. either you're a reader and a thinker, or you aren't. i'm more than happy to pander a little to the readers, and give them a heads up on what i've read, which is where my conclusions come from, in exchange for expecting you to do your homework. if you're going to join the discussion, read the relevant materials. or don't. either way, the next move belongs to you, dear reader. the bibliography will grow (as i recall the titles of long ago read texts and suchlike), and be as complete as possible, so you know where i'm coming from, which has the happily intended side effect of allowing me to read some really great stuff from when i was still a wet behind the ears undergraduate student, something i've been meaning to do for a very, very long time. i'll also be including links to gutenberg.org when available and so on, so yay(!) for all of us.
4. one thing i learned from the dark side of the internet: labels mean next to nothing. no matter what you call yourself, or what others call you, you're either someone with whom a discussion can be had, or you aren't. if you aren't, there's no point in directing anything toward you, save the occasional insult. nor is there a point to wasting my time, or yours. for that reason, "discussion" with true believers of any kind is otiose. you will either be swayed by evidence, or you won't be. in either event, you either arrive at reason through your own efforts, or you don't arrive at all, and again, the next move is yours.
5. lurkers lurk and trolls troll. if you just do the reading, and habitually abstain from commentary (with an occasional lapse, as it were), welcome aboard. if you wish to comment regularly, again, welcome aboard. if you're not interested in honest discussion of the issues, there's the door. i'm more than happy to give you the bum's rush. if you're a bum.
6. i won't allow pseudo-arguments, no matter how much traction they've gained in pop-culture, except when i need to make a point. for example: bitch all you like, but (a) i'm not a misogynist for using the word 'bitch', and (b) i'm not 'silencing' you by banning or editing your comments, or by deleting them if i choose to do so. the internets is a very, very big place, and if you want your voice heard, and you think you haven't been afforded that opportunity on my blog, start your own freaking blog. you're free to do so wherever you like. i won't be cajoled into allowing comments that begin something like this: "let's see if you're really about freeze peach...". in point of fact, since i publish this blog, and run it, it's my own little fiefdom. if you'd care to join the hunt, feel free to gear up. Just keep in mind that your comments are subject to my approval or disapproval, as the case may be. the same goes for banning people and suchlike.
7. unlike the artwork that i do, i'm not 2D. that is to say, on this blog, i will write about a great many different topics, since a great many different topics interest me. i'm an "online atheist", but i'm also a slew of other things. i run my own art studio, i cook, i'm a journeyman carpenter, i practice what you youngin's now call "MMA", (though i've been doing it since Bruce Lee was making movies). other than that, i'm not much of a sports fan, i love to cook, i'm both a stepfather and a father now in my own right, and so on. so i'll be writing about those things as well as offering opinion and commentary on atheist issues. don't expect a one topic, party line type blog. moreover, since i'm all these other things, don't be surprised if there are days when i don't write a post. i've got shit to do, just like you do, though i will strive to write as often as possible, since it seems i'm now a writer as well- which is just as well, since that's what i went to college and graduate school for.
8. the internet is a very, very big place. you know how to read, even if thinking through a position is fairly new to you. it's not my job to convince you of anything. the moment that Matt Dillahunty made the claim that the truth doesn't matter (regarding elevatorgate), i decided that there is no point in arguing with anyone about anything-not that i'm giving up on having discussions, mind you, it's just that there is no reason to think that any amount of arguing will make a difference to the individual who is hell bent on remaining ignorant. again, i'm firmly of the belief that one either learns on one's own, or one doesn't learn at all. it is the rare person who can learn from someone else's mistakes rather than committing the same mistake one sees others commit. it isn't my place to teach you the skill set that allows you to do that, and honestly, i don't think it's possible to teach it, even if i could identify its constituent parts in my own thought process. therefore, i'm not going to argue with you. END OF STORY.
9. really, truly, AFAIC, this is a clean slate, so to speak--though of course, haters are always gonna hate, but that's OK. i'll be migrating all the old articles that i think are worth keeping to this blog, irrespective of their topics, and deleting the rest of my blog posts. it's the internets, and anyone wishing to remind me of what i said during some long ago discussion, and prove it, should have already gotten their shit together and screencapped the relevant quotes, and if you haven't, meh. we are all the sum total of what our experiences are, and that's all there is to it. i refuse to play 'gotcha' with rabble anymore--and there's a lot more rabble than reasonable out there. that's the reason for jumping on my wayback machine and reminiscing over incidents long past in this post, a final heads up to the haters, and a recognition of whatever mistakes, missteps, and sundry (take that, N.) imperfections and so on that belong to me, and to which i somehow belong. the past two or so years have been a HUGE learning experience for me, and there you have it. ikonografer 2.0.
Sunday 9 March 2014
I'm a Militant Atheist
1.
I require you to provide evidence that your god
is real before I will do anything but heap scorn and ridicule upon you. You
call this blasphemy because you wish
to control the thoughts of others so that they don’t make you feel
uncomfortable in your ignorance.
2.
I deny that religion has done anything worthy of
admiration, since it is not difficult to do things that stupid people will admire
when you have all the resources and all the power.
3.
I deny that you or your brothers and sisters “in
the faith” are “otherwise intelligent”, the same way that I deny that a chimp
that manages to put pegs in the correct holes is intelligent, or that a dolphin
who finds a quarter at the bottom of a pool is intelligent. I refuse to lower
the bar that far down. You call this arrogant
b/c you refuse to accept that I give you more credit than you do, since you’re
busy giving all the credit to your imaginary friend.
4.
I assert that a believer is no smarter than a
five year old child who believes in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus, and should
be treated as such. You call this condescending
b/c you believe you’re an adult, but let’s not forget, you also believe in an
imaginary friend in the sky, and the only other people with imaginary friends are all pre-pubescent or mentally ill. If a six year old can figure out Santa isn’t real,
you should be able to figure out god isn’t real. It’s not that fucking hard.
5.
I will call out the immorality of the church at
every opportunity. I do this because you claim to hold the moral high
ground-based on a book whose central character demands genocide, fratricide,
infanticide, rape, child rape, and stoning to carry out the death penalty. You
call this immoral because I have the
audacity to call these things out as immoral even if your god does them and
endorses them, yet you claim that I have no morals whatsoever, even though you agree
with me that these things are immoral.
6.
If you insist, I will point out the logical
fallacies you offer in support of your imaginary friend, and I will not spare your
feelings. You call this militant
because you forget that never in the name of atheism has an atheist ever shot an abortion doctor in the
head, and no atheist has ever strapped on a bomb with the intention of detonating it
in a crowded night club full of innocent people, religious or otherwise, and that there is no doctrine for atheists to "defend" by terrorizing anyone.
So yes, I’m “militant”…. in the same way that
bald is a hair color and not collecting stamps is a hobby.
Tuesday 11 February 2014
Keeping Atheists Quiet - Again
University tears down ‘Flying Spaghetti Monster’ posters for offending Christians (via Raw Story )A university in Britain has been accused of violating the free speech rights of a group of atheists after the school banned satirical posters of the fictional “Flying Spaghetti Monster” because it could offend Christians. The Independent reported…
Monday 20 January 2014
Welcome to the Pantheon, Mr. Baphomet
Satanic Temple unveils 7-foot goat-headed Baphomet statue for Oklahoma Capitol (via Raw Story )
The Satanic Temple, a religious group based in New York City, on Monday unveiled their design for a monument they hope to erect at the Oklahoma Statehouse. The 7-foot-tall monument would include a goat-headed Baphomet figure sitting cross-legged on…
Saturday 4 January 2014
Fuck You Mr. Meacham
Utah man to fast until the state unilaterally denies same-sex couples the right to marry (via Raw Story )A Utah man vows to go without food until the state stops issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Trestin Meacham believes the state has the ability to “nullify” the recent decision allowing same-sex couples the right to marry. States, he…
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