Feb

23

One student in a North Carolina high school is refusing to write an essay on the hypothetical premise of selling your soul to the devil because it “violates her Christian beliefs.” The students in her class were assigned to read “The Devil and Tom Walker,” a classic short story by Washington Irving which explores the same hypothetical idea. Of course, any rational person will tell you that this is a fictional story, and the devil represented within it, too, is fictional.

Still, Tieanna Trough and her parents think it is an inappropriate request. Her mother, who appears in an interview on a video clip on the link above, strikes me as a loudmouth, but I suppose that’s unfair to judge her on that. I will judge her though on her stupid assumption that because we have “removed” God from the classroom, that is, forcing students to pray or creating the appearance that a government funded, public school promotes a specific religion, that we should now remove anything resembling or referencing religion. This is incorrect; as I stated, this is clearly a fictional piece of literature, with fictional characters. One is not meant to believe that the devil portrayed in the story is the literal devil of Christianity, especially when reading it in an academic setting. What now? Should we ban “Paradise Lost”? What about “The Iliad” for its flagrant promotion of the Greek pantheon? Would this student be opposed to an essay which asked the question, “Would you sacrifice your family for fame and fortune?” Or perhaps, “Would you commit murder for a billion dollars?”

These are very valid moral questions which are at the heart of the short story the class was examining, and contrary to popular opinion, morality and religion are not mutually exclusive.

Frankly I think this girl should get pushed back a few grades so she can learn what fiction means, and perhaps what hypothetical means. And to her mommy, if you really think that writing a silly paper like this is going to offend your God so much, then he sounds like a dick.

And you sound fat.

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Feb

17

This Is An Outrage!

February 17, 2010 by Brandon | 2 Comments

Rachael Harrington of the Sacramento Area Coalition of Reason probably isn’t very happy today. A billboard which the Coalition of Reason paid to put up on a stretch of road was vandalized; the original message was inoffensive enough, stating, “Are you without God? Millions are.” However, someone felt the need to tag at the end, “ALSO LOST?”

Now, I’m not so much concerned about the actual vandalism. Honestly, I don’t really expect anything less of the moral religious community. I think what really is getting me is the outrage at atheists over their annoyance that their property was vandalized. Yeah. You heard that right. There are people somehow spinning this, making the atheists the bad guys because they’re annoyed that someone ruined their billboard, calling atheists a bunch of whiny hypocrites that can dish it out but can’t take it.

Can’t take what? Destruction of property based on your insecurity about a message that isn’t a criticism of you? A message that isn’t even directed at you? Says a lot, if you ask me.

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Jan

23

True Story

January 23, 2010 by Brandon | 5 Comments

Wow. It’s been nearly a month and I’ve definitely been neglecting the site. I’m long over due I guess. A lot of big things have happened, but specifically there was an incident with a certain televangelist making what is possibly the most inane comment I’ve ever heard. Oh, wait. There’s this one. Forgot about that.

Well, at least one of those assholes is dead. Some might think me a terrible human being for saying this, but I truly look forward to the day that I will get to read that Pat Robertson is dead. I may even throw a party. He, Falwell, and all of those like him are the worst kind of predatory, greedy, hypocritical, and bigoted scum there is and the world will be far better with him dead than Osama bin Laden. It almost makes me wish there were a hell for them to burn for eternity in, and it makes me somewhat understand the desire that religious people have for some punishment in the afterlife for dickheads like these guys.

We can only hope Hugo Chávez assassinates him.

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Dec

26

Old News Is Good News

December 26, 2009 by Brandon | 3 Comments

December was a very busy month for me. As some of you know, I moved, and setting up a new apartment is time consuming to say the least.

So when I first heard this story, I didn’t have a chance to write about it. And what better time to write about a ”Christmas miracle” than the day after Christmas?

If you ask one year old Nicholas Coke’s mother, she’ll tell you her son is a miracle. He doesn’t do much that other one year olds do, but that’s to be expected when you’re born without a brain.

Yeah, that’s right. This child has no brain, just a brain stem which somehow allows his internal organs to at least function.

So tell me, how exactly is this a miracle? It’s a gift from God that he gave you a brainless child who will undoubtedly die within the next year, and has only survived this long as some sort of fluke? Your miracle is a child who will never even be able to precieve or appreciate the love you’ve given it?

It’s possible that they could just be speaking figuratively when they call him a miracle, but I somehow doubt it. I’m just facinated with these sort of things; when people take a horrible situation, and then claim it’s a miracle… like it somehow makes it all better. Like when there is a bad car accident and seven people are killed but it’s a miracle that the baby in the car, who now has no mommy, came out physically unscathed.

Miracles do not work that way. Not that they work at all, but if they did, that’s not how they would work. A glimmer of hope through a terrible tragedy is not a miracle. The idea that you’ve somehow become a stronger person after having been made to suffer is not a miracle. And a baby born without a brain, no matter how long it lives without it, is not a miracle, although it takes a person without a brain to think it is.

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Dec

25

Touchdown!

December 25, 2009 by Brandon | 4 Comments

Merry Christmas!

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What is Fractal Wrongness?

The state of being wrong at every conceivable scale of resolution. That is, from a distance, a fractally wrong person's worldview is incorrect; and furthermore, if you zoom in on any small part of that person's worldview, that part is just as wrong as the whole worldview.

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