I actually don't like that statement, because it reeks too much of the whole "people totally depraved" that Calvinism and other extreme branches of Christian philosophy teach. But there are days when I'm shocked by the wanton cruelty, and I can't help but reach for the phrase because of how callous people are capable of being.
Anyway, If you haven't heard about the story of Amanda Todd, this will be a little out of the blue. I haven't read the entire story yet - to be honest, I'm not sure that I could - but I know the general gist of it. It's a horrifying example of the downside of social networking and the internet, and it's enough to turn anyone into a neo-luddite until you remember that shit like this has been with us from the days of lynching post-cards in the Great American Halcyon Age (Circa Nineteen-Fifty-Didnotexist to Ninteen-Fifty-Neverwill) that Right wing hucksters and self-aggregating fraudsters are working so hard to take us back to.
I won't repeat the story here, simply because that'd be rehashing the wheel and right now I'm not entirely sure I'd be capable of doing it anyway: Jason Thibeault has an excellent summation of it here, and really, the whole thing is so upsetting that it makes you question why you bothered getting out of bed.
So naturally, the positive, upbeat, and upstanding corners of the Atheist community, who certainly are not jackasses in the slightest and are pinnacle of upright citizens, are out and about and gleefully sharing their pitiful little opinions about this. This was a young girl who committed suicide; who cried for help, and gets all the wonderful wisdom of Youtube heaped on her in return.
And to make matters worse, theAmazing Atheist (seriously, there's nothing at all amazing about this fucker unless you take into consideration his ego, the self-entitlement issues, or any other negative traits, in which case the moniker is very deserved) Asshole TJ Kincade of Louisana just had to give his opinion, because anymore, it means so much to the Internet, you know. According to one of the commentators on this thread, it's " “I am the other hundreds of thousands of people who died today OTHER than Amanda Fucking Todd.” I've not seen the video. I have no intention of seeing the video. I have, however, seen the picture over at Manboobz.
Right there: that's proof religion is not the cause of all the evil in the world. That's proof any moral argument his type of atheist had made against religion is little more than thin veneer; an excuse to try and feel "superior" to believers, because they haz Teh Lahjickz!
One of the major reasons I don't mock all people with religion is because it's not polite, and at any given time, 90% of my friends on FB are Christian (I have, at most, 4 or 5 atheist friends. Of over 280 friends; I knew fewer Jewish people, but I know 1 or 2), and I respect them. Another reason is that, as TJ up there proves, it doesn't matter whether you have religion or not: assholes are gonna be assholes, regardless what they do or don't believe in.
My guess is that this is his attempt a "moral argument." And while there's a whole hell of a lot wrong with that - just because someone else has a broken arm doesn't mean your sprained wrist stops hurting, to use an analogy, or to be more apt, just because someone is suffering doesn't take away from the fact that you're still hurting, too - one of the bigger, unseen issues here is this: It's hard to make a moral argument when you don't have any morals yourself.
Her loss is a horrifying and sad reminder of just how broken we are as a society and as a species. His reaction is proof we have a very hard fight if we're going to give the appearance of improving.
Anyway, If you haven't heard about the story of Amanda Todd, this will be a little out of the blue. I haven't read the entire story yet - to be honest, I'm not sure that I could - but I know the general gist of it. It's a horrifying example of the downside of social networking and the internet, and it's enough to turn anyone into a neo-luddite until you remember that shit like this has been with us from the days of lynching post-cards in the Great American Halcyon Age (Circa Nineteen-Fifty-Didnotexist to Ninteen-Fifty-Neverwill) that Right wing hucksters and self-aggregating fraudsters are working so hard to take us back to.
I won't repeat the story here, simply because that'd be rehashing the wheel and right now I'm not entirely sure I'd be capable of doing it anyway: Jason Thibeault has an excellent summation of it here, and really, the whole thing is so upsetting that it makes you question why you bothered getting out of bed.
So naturally, the positive, upbeat, and upstanding corners of the Atheist community, who certainly are not jackasses in the slightest and are pinnacle of upright citizens, are out and about and gleefully sharing their pitiful little opinions about this. This was a young girl who committed suicide; who cried for help, and gets all the wonderful wisdom of Youtube heaped on her in return.
And to make matters worse, the
Right there: that's proof religion is not the cause of all the evil in the world. That's proof any moral argument his type of atheist had made against religion is little more than thin veneer; an excuse to try and feel "superior" to believers, because they haz Teh Lahjickz!
One of the major reasons I don't mock all people with religion is because it's not polite, and at any given time, 90% of my friends on FB are Christian (I have, at most, 4 or 5 atheist friends. Of over 280 friends; I knew fewer Jewish people, but I know 1 or 2), and I respect them. Another reason is that, as TJ up there proves, it doesn't matter whether you have religion or not: assholes are gonna be assholes, regardless what they do or don't believe in.
My guess is that this is his attempt a "moral argument." And while there's a whole hell of a lot wrong with that - just because someone else has a broken arm doesn't mean your sprained wrist stops hurting, to use an analogy, or to be more apt, just because someone is suffering doesn't take away from the fact that you're still hurting, too - one of the bigger, unseen issues here is this: It's hard to make a moral argument when you don't have any morals yourself.
Her loss is a horrifying and sad reminder of just how broken we are as a society and as a species. His reaction is proof we have a very hard fight if we're going to give the appearance of improving.
No comments:
Post a Comment