Monday, December 12, 2016

The Secular War

If people are paid well enough they will do anything. It starts with a small inner circle of thugs who can make an idea appear to be popular or unpopular. They use violence to make a point. Then gradually others will follow until there is a big enough following that it seems normal.

The secular war will expose the inner-circle thuggery and pop the balloon of fake populism. Then you will be left with nothing but facts and real morality of empathy and fairness, not the fake morality of indoctrination and dogma.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Critical Thinking And College Safe Spaces

College shouldn't be the beginning of your gradual acclimation to your future alone in the outside world. That should have started in high school.

Based on the minimum working age in the U.S., the minimum age you can start driving a car, the minimum age you can join the military, the minimum age you can start smoking, your introduction to self-sufficiency begins long before you graduate from high school.

But, there seems to be a trend among college students to limit their exposure to the harsh realities of the real world, the same luxuries they had under the blanket of protection provided by their parents. They probably still have parental control search engine filters activated on their college laptops.

With the possible exception of students on a debate team, the vast majority of high school students are taught rudimentary functional work skills. Is this correct? Take a quick two question survey:



Here are some recent articles about College Safe Spaces and Trigger Warnings:


Most unsettling about the real world is being unprepared for messages that are false or dangerously misleading. Living at home and going to school in a carefully supervised environment leaves you without a healthy sense of skepticism. The most important lesson is that you must be skeptical of every piece of information placed in your hands, even if it's from someone you trust, because they may not know better themselves.

Critical Thinking Skills are essential for finding the truth and learning who can be trusted.

Pornography Defined

I recently commented on a news report posted by Newsy about a predator who used pornography as a manual for torturing his victim. I got several responses by people who couldn't distinguish the difference between pornography and normal sexual activity. I found this very disturbing so I must elaborate on what I understand are the boundaries of morality in this matter.

First remember that you can do what ever you want as long as your decisions are informed and consensual.

Consent is more complicated than you think. It doesn't only extend to just one other individual, but a multitude of individuals in the future who may be affected by your decision, such as future sexual partners of your immediate sexual partner, and overall health care expenses accrued by local medical facilities, and the health insurance industry as a whole which may affect your taxes.

Morality is founded on empathy and fairness. If you can see from the perspective of other people and imagine with some accuracy how your decisions will affect them, congratulations, your are not a Sociopath.

If on the other hand you post pics of your ex-girlfriend on 4chan, you can be considered a Sociopath.

If you coerce people into sexually explicit performances or activity by exploiting their economic fragility or by seizing and withholding their personal property such as a passport or other valuables, you may be considered a human trafficker under international law.

The term "pornography" should be applied to any media that depicts person or persons who did not consent to participation in a controversial activity.

The term "art" should be applied to any media depicting persons in any activity with full consent by all parties involved to the activity and its publication.

So therein lies the difference between art and pornography.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Do Women Want Equality or Autonomy?

en.wikimedia.org
Men typically think it's absurd that women want to be treated like men. I can say that because I am a man, so in typical brutish male thinking, I infer simple images in my mind of tomboyish women asserting themselves in typical male fashion, overflowing with testosterone.

In the wake of legislative progress giving women more legal protections and rights such as voting, the right to inherit property, the right to make personal medical decisions about their own bodies, some men who relied on the state to give them a sense of superiority over someone, anyone, were crushed because they had no other means of attaining superiority.

The backlash against women achieving more rights and more equal treatment has been misogyny, The response to misogyny that arose out of the women's rights movement is feminism. But the definition of feminism should be autonomy instead of equality.

Because women are literally physically different from men, pure equality is practically impossible. The idea using the word "equality" is actually an impediment because it creates the thought of absurdity in the minds of so many men.

If on the other hand, women fought for social and economic autonomy and justice, it wouldn't seem so absurd. Men might even begin to understand why there is feminist activism. They might begin to listen instead of obsessvely trolling Anita Sarkeesian because they feel their institutionally fabricated sense of superiority draining away.

Misogyny is no part of real atheism. One can only arrive at real atheism through fully developed critical thinking skills. You cannot claim to use logic or science and still have bigoted tendencies.

Some will say equality is the correct word to use because the salience of the word is needed in the fight for women to achieve a modicum of fair treatment by men. It's hard to tell where within rhetoric cooperation ends an conflict begins.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Ted Cruz's Father





Breaking Israel News
And Israel has a "titled deed from God almighty."


Right Wing Watch
No, we don't want your theocratic totalitarianism.


The New York Times
How much can we attribute to Trump? How much can we attribute to Raphael Cruz?
Looking back on Ted Cruz's campaign, I wonder how much of his downfall is the result of his nutty father claiming that God anointed Ted through messages from his wife?

I imagine church leaders from other denominations were not pleased with that proclamation.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Public Prayer vs Empathy Training




Matthew 6: 5-8
LA Times (Nov 6. 2013)
Christ was clear about how Christians should pray, but what about other religions?

Politicus USA
Jim Bakker apparently follows a religion other than Christianity.


WBAL Baltimore
What is the price for ignoring the teachings of Jesus Christ?
Who are these self-proclaimed Christians who keep demanding prayer in public anywhere?

Other religions might allow prayer in public, but such a display carries the impression of arrogant self-righteousness and opens one up to easy accusations of hypocrisy, something even atheists can agree that Jesus was trying to avoid, according to scripture.

Very young children have not quite gained the understanding of social consequences. They understand how to avoid punishment but not how their own behavior can make other people feel about them for the long-term. They need to be guided toward seeing from the perspective of others.

Did you ever notice that certain people cannot be convinced that they are wrong about something until it happens directly to them or someone very close to them? Did you notice that they also tend to be religious conservatives? This is just some of the damage caused by replacing empathy training with prayer.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Social Boundaries

Fear of the unknown controls all of us and is the basis for all social and cultural separatist movements. Only those who have mastered real logic and critical thinking skills can overcome their fears, and overcome their masters. This is why they say "managing atheists is like trying to herd cats."

People become attached to groups or subcultures in an effort to feel like they belong. Psychologists call it "affinity-seeking behavior" that affords a sense of validation. Most people are social animals, seeking to belong somewhere, in some group, among "friends."

Many subcultures, cults, or groups must adhere to specific tenets. Successfully passing regular, ritualistic loyalty tests provides validation which reinforces the psychological bond to the organization.

When a member is confronted by someone who has opposing beliefs, they fear that the influence may disrupt their performance or their standing within the community. Their biggest fear is banishment or rejection. They must reject arguments against their own belief systems, even at the cost of logic or reason. The only way to reach someone under such influence is to find some little things in common, and keep them focused on those things. Gradually steer them toward critical thinking skills and logic.

Feminism as a topic for discussion at large atheist gatherings makes perfect sense because atheism is supposed to reject all forms of gender role distinctions, because they are codified in religious doctrine. It's perfectly reasonable to raise awareness of misogynist behavior and propaganda because it is founded in the psychological influence of religion over many generations. Despite self-proclaimed atheism, some people are still shackled to certain assumptions that were formed from exposure to religion.