This has got to be one of the worst ideas in legislative history. As of now, it is illegal to blaspheme in Ireland. Arrests, search and seizure of offending books and computers, and fines are now a very real danger to anyone in old Eire who dares to hurt the feelings of any hypersensitive moron who claims with all his little heart that a magic man does live in the sky and fixes stuff here on Earth if you ask. Really nicely. And then, not that well, if at all. But he's better than the scary alternative! Anyways, I digress.
I hereby make it my solemn duty to be public enemy blasphemer number one in the country that I can claim 1/4th of my birthright to, and had hoped to visit someday. I suppose that's out of the question now, as their crack team of Magic Sky Man Police is sure to pick me up right at the airport. Their holy sniffing dogs will surely detect traces of desecrated communion wafers, and only Inquisition can await.
To be serious though, this is so completely fucking ridiculous that it makes me a little ill. If you're wondering why, let me tell you: This is the first crack in the dyke leading to complete annihilation of freedom of speech. Think that's hyperbolic? Why don't you go to Ireland after a couple of years of this and speak out about a hardline Muslim man beating his wife to death? Watch how fast they descend on you. Don't think stoning gays is ok? Don't talk about it! Think (know) evolution is real? Careful! Someone might take offense! Now you're up the river, kid. Again, you may scoff and say it can't come to this, but who's going to stop it? If believers make a big enough stink about it, the law will come down on anyone that they tell to. And trust me, believers can make a HUGE stink.
Now, what I wonder is, when will the Rastafarians arrest the goverment for infringing on their beliefs about smoking marijuana?
Showing posts with label atheism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atheism. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2009
A serious symptom
One of the most distressing things about the time that we live in, is that no matter who you are, or what completely wrong, fallacious, and nonsensical drivel comes out of your mouth, your opinion has a good chance of being heard and respected, simply because it's too damn politically incorrect to tell you that you're a moron. I hear people all the time spouting off about karma, and chakras, and energies, and I just want to vomit. People eat it up too, because it twigs some little spot in their needy little brains, that says, "Oh, that makes sense, as long as I don't look too close and keep a respectful air of mysticism around it... and thank goodness, cause it's so much easier than learning!" This respectful air of mysticism allows for lies and deception to profit off the misery and confusion of others, and far from being isolated whackos spouting off, it's actually getting worse. The number of books, infomercials, websites claiming to have "The Answer" is only growing, and their victims concurrently.
These are the New Dark Ages, except that this time it's not the church that is oppressing rational thought, it's a collective sad little fear that we'll hurt some idiot's precious feelings. (Well, the church is still in on it too, but I'll get to them another time.) It's been a slow but steady decay of rational thought. Just because someone tries hard to be heard, does not make their statements any more valid. It's tempting to generalize an inverse relationship between the two, but I'd like to think that those on the side of right can prevail if we are heard as well. Now, this sense of "everyone is right" is being exploited by anyone who wants to speak up, and we're all expected to kowtow to it and give them their due time and respect.
When I was in school, being smart had such a stigma attached to it, that I had to hide my brains, or risk being socially ostracized. This trend has continued today, where all the unsure, uneducated and loud people that were insecurely persecuting the intelligent in their school, are now in the real world, and they are scared to death because they have no idea what they are doing in life. They grasp for any meaning, and spout off their chosen meaning to anyone who will hear, and disparage loudly and with threats of litigation anyone who knows better and questions their surety.
The fact is, there is a very clear cut reality. There is no doubt to me, and there should be no doubt to anyone who has the ability to look critically at the world around them, that there is only one answer. There are no chakras or energies in the body, there is bone and muscle and blood. There is no karma, we are simply tribe-living apes in a cold, harsh world, where ostracism for societal infractions meant death. There is no afterlife, there is only advanced agency detection in our frontal lobes that ponders what dead people are doing (protip: rotting). Anyone who speaks out about the truths of science should not be silenced; but they should be as silent for the deafening scorn and derision of those who know that there is one reality.
These are the New Dark Ages, except that this time it's not the church that is oppressing rational thought, it's a collective sad little fear that we'll hurt some idiot's precious feelings. (Well, the church is still in on it too, but I'll get to them another time.) It's been a slow but steady decay of rational thought. Just because someone tries hard to be heard, does not make their statements any more valid. It's tempting to generalize an inverse relationship between the two, but I'd like to think that those on the side of right can prevail if we are heard as well. Now, this sense of "everyone is right" is being exploited by anyone who wants to speak up, and we're all expected to kowtow to it and give them their due time and respect.
When I was in school, being smart had such a stigma attached to it, that I had to hide my brains, or risk being socially ostracized. This trend has continued today, where all the unsure, uneducated and loud people that were insecurely persecuting the intelligent in their school, are now in the real world, and they are scared to death because they have no idea what they are doing in life. They grasp for any meaning, and spout off their chosen meaning to anyone who will hear, and disparage loudly and with threats of litigation anyone who knows better and questions their surety.
The fact is, there is a very clear cut reality. There is no doubt to me, and there should be no doubt to anyone who has the ability to look critically at the world around them, that there is only one answer. There are no chakras or energies in the body, there is bone and muscle and blood. There is no karma, we are simply tribe-living apes in a cold, harsh world, where ostracism for societal infractions meant death. There is no afterlife, there is only advanced agency detection in our frontal lobes that ponders what dead people are doing (protip: rotting). Anyone who speaks out about the truths of science should not be silenced; but they should be as silent for the deafening scorn and derision of those who know that there is one reality.
A bit about me, and starting the controversy off right...
Hey everyone, welcome to my blog. I've been wanting to start one for a while now, because I've been more and more political and outspoken lately and I don't have many places to express myself in the small town I live in. This blog will mainly focus on civil liberties, atheism, and combating the rampant mistrust and the frank rejection of science in the modern world. However, I have many other broad interests including art, video games (that's a biggie) and just all around cool/nerdy stuff.
I work on the west coast of Vancouver Island in B.C. Canada, at a salmon farm. I've been doing it for 6 years or so, and I absolutely love it. However, it can also be a source of frustration for me when I'm forced to deal with an uneducated, biased, and frankly hostile opposition to an industry that is sustainable, efficient, and actually quite low-impact on the environment. The local media whips well-meaning but gullible hippies and environmentalists into a frenzy about imagined dangers, and we are on the front lines defending our industry from hype and propaganda. The fact is, salmon farming is incredibly well regulated and researched, and almost all complaints about the industry are easily debunked with a small amount of research, much like creationist myths are easily debunked by even a small amount of biology knowledge.
If you have a story of media or culturally induced antagonism to true and scientific principles in your area, please feel free to share. The decrying of scientific criticism in this society is frankly disgusting, and people need to stand up and SHOUT, that they will not have it.
I work on the west coast of Vancouver Island in B.C. Canada, at a salmon farm. I've been doing it for 6 years or so, and I absolutely love it. However, it can also be a source of frustration for me when I'm forced to deal with an uneducated, biased, and frankly hostile opposition to an industry that is sustainable, efficient, and actually quite low-impact on the environment. The local media whips well-meaning but gullible hippies and environmentalists into a frenzy about imagined dangers, and we are on the front lines defending our industry from hype and propaganda. The fact is, salmon farming is incredibly well regulated and researched, and almost all complaints about the industry are easily debunked with a small amount of research, much like creationist myths are easily debunked by even a small amount of biology knowledge.
If you have a story of media or culturally induced antagonism to true and scientific principles in your area, please feel free to share. The decrying of scientific criticism in this society is frankly disgusting, and people need to stand up and SHOUT, that they will not have it.
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