(no subject)
The world is far too depressing a place.
Though, I suppose I should modify that statement: humanity makes the world a far too depressing place. Heh, no, not really -- humanity would be a welcome change of pace compared to the typical actions of the human species. There are a lot of depressing things on my mind, so codifying them all might take some time.
The more I think about it and the more I read, the more confident I become in the idea that there is a hierarchy of human pain that ends up being paradoxically cyclical. Human pain arises from people acting immorally. Immoral action arises from religion. Religion persists as a result of familial lineage and poor education. Family and education are directly responsible for educating people on moral behavior. People fail to teach this properly, due to self-interest (namely, that their religion is right), which is itself immoral, which thereby propogates the immorality.
I'm growing weary of religious moderates. Like Dawkins, I think moderates are enablers for the fundamentalists. Religious moderates, like it or not, have more in common with the fundies than they do with people like me. Religion is a strange beast, very unlike other issues where the Greek axiom of "moderation in all things" tends to be a sound course of action. One can moderate food intake -- extremes in either direction are clearly bad. One can moderate exercise -- too much exercise can damage your body as much as too little. One can moderate time spent in an activity -- neglecting the other activities in life can lead to any number of negative consequences. But moderate amounts of self-delusion and psychotic behavior? Why indulge these at all, at any level? I suspect moderates of this mentality are allowed to be so typically because they tend to think of religion as something that factors in "after death," and thus their self-delusion is ultimately meaningless as a day-to-day issue.
Religion is the great lie. Lying, as far as I can tell, is nearly universally regarded as a Bad Thing™. Yet, time-and-again I hear people say, "Religion makes me feel good/better." I'm sure hearing a significant other say, "No, honey, of course I never cheated on you" makes you feel better, too. Would you rather persist under such a lie, not knowing all the while that you were being stepped-out on, or would you rather acknowledge the fact that you were used, break your association with the offender, and move on? Maybe that relationship is a "comfortable" one, through its regularity, familiarity, or whatever other mechanism you like. But the simple fact is, it's based on a lie. Is that comfort worth it? Every fiber of my being says it's not -- I'd rather be alone in my knowledge than social in my ignorance.
Related to the above, I'm sick and tired of seeing atheists portrayed in popular media as the 'bad guy.' Even modern media's most excellent atheist -- House, of House, M.D. -- is portrayed as a misanthropic anti-hero. Where's the movie portraying the atheist as the good guy, who "gets it" while all the religious people around him falter and fail due to their blind faith and lack of reason? I know, I know, demographics. Show the people what sells to the people. This, too, seems like a paradoxically cyclical arrangement. Atheists are a small segment of the populace, so they are not catered to. Consequently, portrayal of atheists is in a negative light, which discourages people from joining their ranks, thereby continuing to relegate them to a small segment of the populace.
The amount of control popular culture exerts on everything is staggering.
A little Bill Maher.
"And finally, new rule: America must stop bragging that it's the greatest country on Earth and start acting like it. Now I know this is uncomfortable for the faith-over-facts crowd, but the greatness of a country can, to a large degree, be measured. Here are some numbers. Infant mortality rate -- America ranked 48th in the world. Overall health -- 72nd. Freedom of the press -- 44th. Literacy -- 55th. Do you realize there are twelve-year-old kids in this country who can't spell the name of the teacher they're having sex with?
"Now, America, I will admit, has done many great things. Making the new world democratic comes to mind. The Marshall plan, curing polio, beating Hitler, the deep-fried twinkie, but what have we done for us lately? We're not the freest country; that would be Holland, where you can smoke hash in church and Janet Jackson's nipple is on their flag. And, sadly, we're no longer a country that can get things done, either; not big things, like building a tunnel under Boston, or running a war with competence. We had six years to fix the voting machines -- couldn't get that done. The FBI is just now getting e-mail. Prop 87 out here in California is about lessening our dependence on oil by using alternative fuels and Bill Clinton comes on at the end of the ad and says, 'If Brazil can do it, America can too.' Excuse me, since when did America have to buck itself up by saying we could catch up to Brazil? We invented the airplane and the lightbulb, they invented the bikini wax, and now they're ahead? In most of the industrialized world, nearly everyone has health care, and hardly anyone doubts evolution, and yes, having to live amongst so many superstitious dimwits is also something that affects quality of life. It's why America isn't going to be the country that gets the inevitable patents in stem cell cures, because Jesus thinks it's too close to cloning.
"Oh, and did I mention we owe China a trillion dollars? We owe everybody money. America is a debtor nation to Mexico. We're not on a bridge to the 21st century, we're on a bus to Atlantic City with a roll of quarters. And this is why it bugs me that so many people talk like it's 1955 and we're still number one in everything -- we're not. And I take no glee in saying this, because I love my country and I wish we were. But when you're number 55 in this category and number 92 in that one, you look a little silly waving the big foam number one finger. As long as we believe being the greatest country in the world is a birthright, we'll keep coasting on the achievements of earlier generations and we'll keep losing the moral high ground, because we may not be the biggest, or the healthiest, or the best-eduacted, but we always did have one thing no other place did: we knew soccer was bullshit. And, and we also had a little thing call the Bill of Rights. A great nation doesn't torture people or make people disappear without a trial. Bush keeps saying, 'The terrorists hate us for our freedom,' and he's working damn-hard to see that pretty soon, that won't be a problem."
This actually set me wondering about the cause of our current predicament, in other terms than the ones I outlayed initially. The generation that fought World War II was the "greatest generation." Their offspring were the "baby boomers." I'm kind of wondering if that generation is the focal point for modern problems in American culture. This is the era that grew up on Brady Bunch and the illusory 1955 "golden era" family that went to church every Sunday, had a pre-fab home, wore sun-dresses, etc. A generation that, essentially, has been so large as to wield unprecedented voting power as compared to any subsequent generation, and consequently has shaped American policy from 1955 on to 2006, not only by voting but also by raising the subsequent generations. It's been my experience that many -- certainly not all -- from this era were the first to really espouse and propogate the "not my fault" mentality that has so thoroughly permeated our culture to the point that we now blame innocuous things like video games and TV for heinous atrocities committed by children because, ultimately, their parents neglected them and taught them poorly. I don't know for sure, but it's certainly something I'm mulling over.
I then wonder, and not without being aware of how cold-hearted it is, if we'll be better off once this era disappears and gives way to its offspring, much like the Vorlons and Shadows had to leave to let the Younger Races learn to stand on their own, too. I know, the sci-fi reference amid all this heavy-minded talk is a little absurd, but I think the comparison is somewhat apt. I know I certainly feel like a victim of things controlled by people I have no connection to that wield significantly more power than I.
It's not a pleasant feeling.
Though, I suppose I should modify that statement: humanity makes the world a far too depressing place. Heh, no, not really -- humanity would be a welcome change of pace compared to the typical actions of the human species. There are a lot of depressing things on my mind, so codifying them all might take some time.
The more I think about it and the more I read, the more confident I become in the idea that there is a hierarchy of human pain that ends up being paradoxically cyclical. Human pain arises from people acting immorally. Immoral action arises from religion. Religion persists as a result of familial lineage and poor education. Family and education are directly responsible for educating people on moral behavior. People fail to teach this properly, due to self-interest (namely, that their religion is right), which is itself immoral, which thereby propogates the immorality.
I'm growing weary of religious moderates. Like Dawkins, I think moderates are enablers for the fundamentalists. Religious moderates, like it or not, have more in common with the fundies than they do with people like me. Religion is a strange beast, very unlike other issues where the Greek axiom of "moderation in all things" tends to be a sound course of action. One can moderate food intake -- extremes in either direction are clearly bad. One can moderate exercise -- too much exercise can damage your body as much as too little. One can moderate time spent in an activity -- neglecting the other activities in life can lead to any number of negative consequences. But moderate amounts of self-delusion and psychotic behavior? Why indulge these at all, at any level? I suspect moderates of this mentality are allowed to be so typically because they tend to think of religion as something that factors in "after death," and thus their self-delusion is ultimately meaningless as a day-to-day issue.
Religion is the great lie. Lying, as far as I can tell, is nearly universally regarded as a Bad Thing™. Yet, time-and-again I hear people say, "Religion makes me feel good/better." I'm sure hearing a significant other say, "No, honey, of course I never cheated on you" makes you feel better, too. Would you rather persist under such a lie, not knowing all the while that you were being stepped-out on, or would you rather acknowledge the fact that you were used, break your association with the offender, and move on? Maybe that relationship is a "comfortable" one, through its regularity, familiarity, or whatever other mechanism you like. But the simple fact is, it's based on a lie. Is that comfort worth it? Every fiber of my being says it's not -- I'd rather be alone in my knowledge than social in my ignorance.
Related to the above, I'm sick and tired of seeing atheists portrayed in popular media as the 'bad guy.' Even modern media's most excellent atheist -- House, of House, M.D. -- is portrayed as a misanthropic anti-hero. Where's the movie portraying the atheist as the good guy, who "gets it" while all the religious people around him falter and fail due to their blind faith and lack of reason? I know, I know, demographics. Show the people what sells to the people. This, too, seems like a paradoxically cyclical arrangement. Atheists are a small segment of the populace, so they are not catered to. Consequently, portrayal of atheists is in a negative light, which discourages people from joining their ranks, thereby continuing to relegate them to a small segment of the populace.
The amount of control popular culture exerts on everything is staggering.
A little Bill Maher.
"And finally, new rule: America must stop bragging that it's the greatest country on Earth and start acting like it. Now I know this is uncomfortable for the faith-over-facts crowd, but the greatness of a country can, to a large degree, be measured. Here are some numbers. Infant mortality rate -- America ranked 48th in the world. Overall health -- 72nd. Freedom of the press -- 44th. Literacy -- 55th. Do you realize there are twelve-year-old kids in this country who can't spell the name of the teacher they're having sex with?
"Now, America, I will admit, has done many great things. Making the new world democratic comes to mind. The Marshall plan, curing polio, beating Hitler, the deep-fried twinkie, but what have we done for us lately? We're not the freest country; that would be Holland, where you can smoke hash in church and Janet Jackson's nipple is on their flag. And, sadly, we're no longer a country that can get things done, either; not big things, like building a tunnel under Boston, or running a war with competence. We had six years to fix the voting machines -- couldn't get that done. The FBI is just now getting e-mail. Prop 87 out here in California is about lessening our dependence on oil by using alternative fuels and Bill Clinton comes on at the end of the ad and says, 'If Brazil can do it, America can too.' Excuse me, since when did America have to buck itself up by saying we could catch up to Brazil? We invented the airplane and the lightbulb, they invented the bikini wax, and now they're ahead? In most of the industrialized world, nearly everyone has health care, and hardly anyone doubts evolution, and yes, having to live amongst so many superstitious dimwits is also something that affects quality of life. It's why America isn't going to be the country that gets the inevitable patents in stem cell cures, because Jesus thinks it's too close to cloning.
"Oh, and did I mention we owe China a trillion dollars? We owe everybody money. America is a debtor nation to Mexico. We're not on a bridge to the 21st century, we're on a bus to Atlantic City with a roll of quarters. And this is why it bugs me that so many people talk like it's 1955 and we're still number one in everything -- we're not. And I take no glee in saying this, because I love my country and I wish we were. But when you're number 55 in this category and number 92 in that one, you look a little silly waving the big foam number one finger. As long as we believe being the greatest country in the world is a birthright, we'll keep coasting on the achievements of earlier generations and we'll keep losing the moral high ground, because we may not be the biggest, or the healthiest, or the best-eduacted, but we always did have one thing no other place did: we knew soccer was bullshit. And, and we also had a little thing call the Bill of Rights. A great nation doesn't torture people or make people disappear without a trial. Bush keeps saying, 'The terrorists hate us for our freedom,' and he's working damn-hard to see that pretty soon, that won't be a problem."
This actually set me wondering about the cause of our current predicament, in other terms than the ones I outlayed initially. The generation that fought World War II was the "greatest generation." Their offspring were the "baby boomers." I'm kind of wondering if that generation is the focal point for modern problems in American culture. This is the era that grew up on Brady Bunch and the illusory 1955 "golden era" family that went to church every Sunday, had a pre-fab home, wore sun-dresses, etc. A generation that, essentially, has been so large as to wield unprecedented voting power as compared to any subsequent generation, and consequently has shaped American policy from 1955 on to 2006, not only by voting but also by raising the subsequent generations. It's been my experience that many -- certainly not all -- from this era were the first to really espouse and propogate the "not my fault" mentality that has so thoroughly permeated our culture to the point that we now blame innocuous things like video games and TV for heinous atrocities committed by children because, ultimately, their parents neglected them and taught them poorly. I don't know for sure, but it's certainly something I'm mulling over.
I then wonder, and not without being aware of how cold-hearted it is, if we'll be better off once this era disappears and gives way to its offspring, much like the Vorlons and Shadows had to leave to let the Younger Races learn to stand on their own, too. I know, the sci-fi reference amid all this heavy-minded talk is a little absurd, but I think the comparison is somewhat apt. I know I certainly feel like a victim of things controlled by people I have no connection to that wield significantly more power than I.
It's not a pleasant feeling.