And not about greenspan.... I swear. I fell asleep early and now I'm up late.
For the first time in 4 years or so, I found myself watching Southpark... Mostly because "they jumped the Shark" Roughly season 5 when they actually Killed Kenny for a season.. .maybe it was 6. Probably just after Kyle got the Hemroid, that almost Killed him, and that was proof that there was no god.
Well it started off as an Homage to Buck Rodgers.... and not to go too far on a tangent You have no idea how hot I though Erin Grey was.
Just to give the Clift's notes version. People like Richard Dawkins need to lighten up, and not be such Zellots. In the end Cartman Gets sent back to his real time because he Breaks up the Love Affair with Dawkins and Mrs. Garison... Because Cartman tells Dawkins, Garrison had a sex change. I'll spare you the imagery of Dawkins actually doing Mrs. Garrison... which is when Dawkins finds out.
Lets just start with the fact that ... Ok, I'm not sure about this... and I'm too ashamed to look this up, because I'll get off on some other Tangent. But As I remember at one point I thought I had the impression that Dawkins is actually a Homosexual. My point is, I don't care.. Nor do I care to verify this as a fact.
The idiocy of Southpark saying that Dawkins is Gay... Is Embarrassing for them, since it's about their take on everyone and everything. NOW, that it could be Ironic(If it is)... is slightly funny.
Now this is the point where Tony shows up and says "Dawkins is 100% on the money". Alright I understand.. I don't disagree. BUT There is a point where one takes Evolution by natural selection(Which is effectively Fact) to the point where it is Religion, and to a point of Zealotry. NOW, I'M NOT MAKING THAT STUPID ARGUMENT THAT SCIENCE IS THE NEW RELIGION. What I am saying is that some dumb asses out there need a Religion, and have decided to make science their religion.
My only real attack on him is this: he sees natural selection as the Yin to Creationism's Yang. That is the problem. They are nothing alike, Creationism isn't even a Theory.. It doesn't even have any Facts, or evidence.. It is an insult to natural selection to even talk about creationism in the same Realm as Natural Selection. DOING SO, GIVES CREATIONISM an amount of VALIDITY, that it doesn't deserve... In fact, that is half the point of these Yahoo Moron Creationists, who say "Teach the Controversy"... there is no Controversy... Just blind stupidity. Just to Argue against creationism, using natural selection is to give Creationism TOO MUCH Credibility.
To say that we were "Created" using natural selection, is an Error... We were not created, the universe was not created..... We Just Are, and moved from being what WE WERE, into what we ARE NOW. There was NO CREATION.... THE GREAT "IS", Always HAS BEEN And Always Will Be. The Big Bang DID NOT come out of NOTHING, it was always SOMETHING. We Came from That Something Into What Now IS.
Next get me on how Just to Argue Theism, is to practice theism. And should be avoided at all costs, and not what a self respecting Atheist should do.
12 comments:
You said, "What I am saying is that some dumb asses out there need a Religion, and have decided to make science their religion."
All passion is not "religion."
First of all, I'm no huge Dawkins fan-- he's shrill and tends to turn off people with his language. But, from a scientific standpoint he's spot-on. My take is that he has turned the debate into a forum for his own personal enrichment, but what the heck, that's capitalism.
The argument to be made-- the only argument to be made- is the expense of teaching in public schools and the priorities of the subject matter to be taught. If someone can get through 12 years of state-funded education and not understand the basic principles of evolution, that is a crime. (BTW, evolution says nothing about the origin of the earth or the Big Bang, only the differentiation of species. On the Big Bang, I'll give theists their due.)
It's as if we said that science has nothing to do with airplanes that fly. God makes them fly; He picks them up ands carries them from NY to LA. The principles of lift and aerodynamics are false. Then we taught this in schools and to budding engineers. If we did that, it would be criminal.
But that is exactly what we do with evolution and natural selection. The Kent Hovinds and Pat Robertsons of the world diminish the great understanding we have of biological science and say... God did it, there is no such thing as evolution.
I can fully sympathize with Dawkins' passion. When you say, as quoted above, that this is an example of religion, I disagree. This is an example of passion. Passion for the truth and for science. Dawkins has unfortunately become a cartonn character (literally as you pointed out South Park) and thus has become marginalized, but this does not diminish his fundamental argument.
There are many great scientists who have not been as marginalized as Dawkins: Dan Dennett, Ken Miller and the blogger Jason Rosenhouse (excellent blog BTW) who have carried on in a more sedate way.
Eric, you are truly a Renaissance man with so many diverse interests. great pic of Erin Gray, too.
LOL... DID I CALL THAT YOU WOULD SAY Dawkins is "Spot On".
I'm wondering if I could defend that "all passion is religion".. but another time.
Don't get me going about evolution.
Hopefully it was clear, All I'm selling is that Intelligent design is religion, and natural selection is science.
I did go off on a tangent about how people turn just about everything into "Religion".. But probably a different post.
Dennett said, "The secret to happiness is find something greater than yourself and devote your life to it."
He is an atheist. Theists choose God as that "somehting", but why can't someone choose science? Or the stock market? Or helping poor people? Or politics and social justice?
You can call that religion, I suppose, and I'm not sure that is where you were going with your argument, but I would stick with my "passion" nomenclature. Dennett is saying to become passionate about something greater than yourself.
As for all passion being religion.. man, you must be great fun on a date.
To me, religion connotes a supernatural force... but that is my bias... and I find it hard to become passionate about supernatural mythology, except in respect to how it affects the real world.
Good discussion.
I've already confessed how "Not Fun" I am.
My idea of a vacation is a 12 hour Death march, or a 100 mile bike ride.
Oh...It's the Denys Turner arguments that are more compelling.
if the answer is "there must be something which accounts for the fact that there is anything rather than nothing"
...the classical theologians say that God is not any kind of thing because if God were a kind of thing, God would just be one of the other kinds of things that there are, only a rather different one. So we're not talking about something that's on the map of creation. We're talking about something which is off the map of creation, which is why what we're talking... you know.. how we're talking now is a kind of bamboozling nonsense, if you like.
Besides the introduction those are direct quotes, I'm not that smart.
Would it help if I agreed that the Dalai Lama was just like Josef Stalin?
I was thinking that somehow all of this would come back to that.
I wonder if he is more like Mao than Stalin...
LOL...
I wonder if my Broader theme is to Bring down any of the "Cults of Personality"-In the making.
Be they Dawkins, Mao, Dalai Lama, Barry, Roubini,....
Or any of the New Age Socio-Haute couture.
Upcoming posts:
JFK
Obama
I imagine I'll wait for obama to get elected, Let him Settle in...
I just saw a great thing about how "The Day After" Scared the shit out of Reagan... Which made him push for SDI even more.
Kind of a fine line between Throwing shit at people who deserve it and being a Petty asshole.
but it's a Hobby.
What you need to get me going about is "Ramtha's School of Enlightenment." and What the Bleep.
There is a 6 hour rant there.
From Denys Turner to Ramtha...
You might consider changing the name of your blog.
Very interesting stuff, especially the meme of "cult of personality." It seems to be an innate human predisposition to revere other humans and elevate them to god-like status. I would argue this phenomenon is comforting because it releases the worshipers from responsibility. We trust in [fill in the blank] to have the answers.
Now, back to the intended purpose of your blog. Yes, when Roubini or Garzarelli (1987 crash) or Abbie Joseph Cohen (1997 bull market) make a spot-on call they seem prescient and a mini-cult will form. This relieves us from the responsibility of taking care of our portfolio. We begin to think that they know something that we don't. We invest the way they tell us, and when their next call fails, we say, "but I was only following what [fill in the blank] said, it's not my fault."
One more thing I was thinking about: maybe the picture on your blog is a contrarian indicator. That picture of bull has been staring back at me over the last 3000 point drop in the DJIA.
When it changes, maybe I'll thin k of going long again.
*HAT TIP*
Exactly.. Teresa made a comment weeks ago. About how Teachers get offended when Student's want answers.
When a Good Teacher, "Teaches you to Fish", Not Gives you a fish.(this is my comment).
There are points when Stalin and Mao are right, and points when they are wrong.
The trick is figuring out when.
So, I feel justified in using the Dawkins/Dalli Lamma as an example and Parallel(Both figures I dearly respect) to my Barry/Roubini argument.
The worst part is the Psychology of perception. We convince ourselves that our "New GURU's" are always correct. Even when presented with Clear evidence of them being Wrong... Our Rose Colored Glasses, Change the image. Not realizing that sometimes they are speaking with Forked Tongue, and saying 2 conflicting things at once.... Like Alice in WONDERLAND.
Like Mackey on Fast money Saying that "He cant invest when it isn't Capitalism, And that They should not have let Lehman Fail."
To Me, that is the un-invest-able environment, where WallStreet Wants it both ways, Pure Capitalism, and socialism.
LOL on the Bull thing, Since I Put it up, I've had plenty of longs that are still, and will still work.
And I've still Maintained that the only thing to be long are Regionals.
Maybe JP morgan
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