tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60454702005717324172024-03-01T17:07:18.155-08:00Advocatus AtheistTristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.comBlogger763125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-2838782671118905082022-09-17T15:15:00.005-07:002022-09-17T15:20:32.862-07:00A Meme! I Memed!!! (Jesus Ain't Coming Back -- Sorry!)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdOwQUhqSOnZbTnfNu6B_P9JrbGn61FyzVv_aZxRl-DP6d10xCAIPHqtneVeEhsjAYCdRKJb2bKaFyDmc32cJ4PMTrOyv7L2ybDfIKifPnCO3_cSyLAIcy1G7-2QYtVRrxOoPHP_5mfM83dWvjR8h7eE1k5xLbP-rw83zKcCKzCT3gatuf8FSXnoPp/s1729/Jesus%20Ain't%20Coming%20Back.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1417" data-original-width="1729" height="524" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdOwQUhqSOnZbTnfNu6B_P9JrbGn61FyzVv_aZxRl-DP6d10xCAIPHqtneVeEhsjAYCdRKJb2bKaFyDmc32cJ4PMTrOyv7L2ybDfIKifPnCO3_cSyLAIcy1G7-2QYtVRrxOoPHP_5mfM83dWvjR8h7eE1k5xLbP-rw83zKcCKzCT3gatuf8FSXnoPp/w640-h524/Jesus%20Ain't%20Coming%20Back.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div>What I love about this little secular "Bible Lesson" is that it shows that you don't have to be Christian to be well-versed in Christianity. <br /><br />It also shows that if the majority of the Christians who pretend Jesus is coming back had actually read their Bibles, they'd be gravely disappointed to find that the Bible itself (the very Word of God in their eyes) disproves their fantasy.<br /><br />I've always held that actually, truly, honestly sitting down and reading the Bible is one of the fasted and greatest tools to get to secularism. Does that mean you'll automatically turn into an atheist or an agnostic if you sincerely and carefully read every line of the Good Book? No.<br /><br />But it is a first step into becoming well-versed in Christianity. Something the majority of Christians are not. At least, in my experience.</div>Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-24728919125602423012022-04-02T19:24:00.002-07:002022-04-02T19:24:16.586-07:00I STILL GET MAIL!<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihdf1HNDjouwJ6SdxjdBaNPq2_0WTM8H6sWNukyw_YZjTK7gekkPNvvsfIkHk424XyfksmI1Eqd88T8mfZMgMqbURN-xBzwa7prjzM90g51Ri0vOHFcb6Pct5az9T9F7C6VdVKu7Q-HwN23TSrXefbm92-g8HDF7U0sZAJj9zZqk_59nYZHINdRm8R/s680/Advocatus%20Atheist%20Banner%202022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="184" data-original-width="680" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihdf1HNDjouwJ6SdxjdBaNPq2_0WTM8H6sWNukyw_YZjTK7gekkPNvvsfIkHk424XyfksmI1Eqd88T8mfZMgMqbURN-xBzwa7prjzM90g51Ri0vOHFcb6Pct5az9T9F7C6VdVKu7Q-HwN23TSrXefbm92-g8HDF7U0sZAJj9zZqk_59nYZHINdRm8R/w647-h176/Advocatus%20Atheist%20Banner%202022.jpg" width="647" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><i><br /></i></div><i>Although I've left blogging to pursue a full-time career as an author and publisher, that doesn't mean my past work still doesn't draw attention and get noticed once in a while. <br /><br />If people write me who seem genuine and not just trying to stir the pot and pick fights with atheists just to say they faced off with one, then I'm happy to answer. <br /><br />Here is the conversation with one such person who left comments elsewhere on this site. I figured the questions were tame enough but still insightful enough to share here.</i><br /><br />You asked:
<b>“First of all I understand you, your arguments are not uncommon. Out of curiosity, is your work stimulated by the desire to know the truth, existentially speaking?”
</b><br /><br />Yes, in part. It’s partially an innate desire to know the truth of things, but it’s also more about using reason pragmatically. I don’t think we can be given a gift as special as the ability to have consciousness and reason and then not use it.
And when I strive toward a more logical, more consistent view of the universe, God shrinks away to nothing.
<br /><br /> Other people have differing opinions on the nuanced philosophical questions, but this is good. Anything that challenges the status quo gives us more things to reason through and can, in the long run, strengthen our reasoning skills.
<br /><br /> Secondly, you mentioned:
<b>“It seems that to question the validity of the notion of "God's" existence inevitably prerequisites the collapse of any belief of truth at all.”
</b><br /><br /> Why would the non-theistic or agnostic worldview presuppose nihilism?
I don’t think that’s accurate.
<br /><br /> I don’t believe any metaphysical assumption is necessary regarding truth apart from perhaps our ability to decipher it. More specifically, if there is anything such as an objective, ultimate truth, I think we would more than likely come to it by logic and reason regardless of whether or not God exists.
<br /><br /> You went on to say that
<b>“If one doesn't believe that true or false exists, then what is existence altogether?”
</b><br /><br />Well, ultimate truths and the fact of existence are different questions. I don’t know what you’re trying to ask here. But they are unrelated, for the most part.
<br /><br /><b>“I would like for you to get to yourself, slow down and honestly ask yourself, Do I really believe that I am a worthless, bastardized being and that when my body dies I will simply cease to exist?”
</b><br /><br /> Well, I’m not a bastard because I know who my father was. But, yes, when we die we join back into the cosmos just as the wave of the ocean – which has shape, form, and function – one day ceases to exist and joins the great vast ocean.
<br /><br />If that thought scares you, think of it like this. You will feel and sense everything as you would before you were ever conceived by your parents. That is – the nothingness of pre-existence and the nothingness of a post-existence are two sides of the same coin. <br /><br />It is only that brief flash of existence that is the coin’s thinly lit edge where we experience all life and existence. And then, in a flash, it’s gone again. But we won’t know it beyond the memories we leave behind. I can only imagine it is as peaceful and calm after death as it is before life.
<br /><br /> <b>“(Pardon me if I have assumed the idea that you do not believe in any afterlife).”
</b><br /><br /> No, you are correct. I don’t believe in any afterlife of the metaphysical or supernatural variety. So, that is an accurate assumption.
<br /><br /><b>“I want to tell you my dear friend that you are not a worthless, bastardized being and that you have a Creator that loves you and cares enough for His creation as to not leave it wandering with no purpose or definition.”
</b><br /><br /> This is false. I’ve been presented with no evidence for the thing you speak of. How can something that doesn’t exist be capable of love? And, moreover, even if it should exist, how would you know personally that such a being loves me specifically? <br /><br />I think you are falling into the trap of assuming more than you technically can given the state of the evidence and the fact that the question of such a being's existence remains entirely unanswered.
The rest of your comments read as hollow preaching (no offense). <br /><br />But apologetic talk is often a trained response and doesn’t show or demonstrate original thinking so much as it just parrots commonly shared views among the like-minded. It’s fine to have community and feel a part of something bigger than yourself, but please realize, not everybody wants that. <br /><br />Sometimes, people just like to be lonely monks living on a mountain top meditating and living a peaceful life of nature and serenity.
I hope I answered your questions adequately. Sorry, it took me so long to reply. I don’t discuss religion much anymore these days. I sort of got bored with it.
<br /><br />But I wish you well on your own journey for truth and the answers. I’m content that I’ve found most of the answers I’m looking for, although the pursuit of better reasoning and more logical thinking is always an ongoing endeavor. As is the pursuit of self-improvement, mindfulness, and finding inner peace.
Sincerely,
The Advocatus Atheist
Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-26888510752628692692021-12-02T19:04:00.003-08:002021-12-02T19:04:15.555-08:00On Dave Chappelle and "Gender Realism"<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixrteAx2dHl2p7opvQApYztziNJCU8OUWuSGPwp8FVcxiqJwpQFGR7sjt-bsDea2Rb-khrk9Gm9mjqBI33xXYvpwBHg_wEDMBN7OGL65Nvs6T44KRboKJkDalal3kBjntNln_h6hyRVh4/s618/Chappelle-stage-combo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="618" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixrteAx2dHl2p7opvQApYztziNJCU8OUWuSGPwp8FVcxiqJwpQFGR7sjt-bsDea2Rb-khrk9Gm9mjqBI33xXYvpwBHg_wEDMBN7OGL65Nvs6T44KRboKJkDalal3kBjntNln_h6hyRVh4/w400-h265/Chappelle-stage-combo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"> The <i>Economist </i>published a piece on Dave Chappelle's "gender realism." The article is behind a paywall, so, of course, I couldn't read it. But the term "gender realism" stoked my ire.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />Look, if you think biological sex is purely binary -- man and woman, male and female, you're simply uninformed and, most likely, scientifically illiterate. That's on you. Not me. Not anybody else.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />Look, I get it. You were raised not questioning how the world works and you never cared to learn. That's fine. But, when it comes to biological issues -- don't get up on a pedestal and pontificate ignorance. Nobody wants that. Go out--read the up-to-date research--then get back to me.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />Gender is, for the most part, a social construct. There are tons of anthropology studies done on it as well as gender identity and gender representation in different cultures/countries across various time periods. Not hard to find. Lots of peer-reviewed papers are published all the time on this subject.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <br />The biological sex of the species, specifically, has to do with basic genetic science, in which case we look to the number of stable chromosomal karyotypes in the genome.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <br />Geneticists acknowledge that there are currently 6 cataloged biological sexes in the human species that are stable, but there could possibly be more. The number of permutations that a karyotype can have is quite vast, so not every possible combination has occurred in nature. There could be more than six -- one's we simply haven't discovered yet.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />And it's not an A or B proposition. Sex isn't binary. That's not how the science works. That's not how genetics works.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />It's more like molecules. You change a chemical component, add two oxygens to a hydrogen, and you have a new molecule altogether. Walla, presto...water is made!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />Biological sex is like this. You're not adding more male or more female traits... you're essentially getting chromosomal variants of entirely new biological sexes.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <br />It's just that people don't know their science -- and genetics is fairly a new branch of science so a lot of the older generation never learned any of it in school. Not even an overview of the advances in the field.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-52343216861238462142021-10-12T18:22:00.006-07:002022-03-05T06:10:04.433-08:00Neopronouns: What are they good for? Welcome to my TED talk...<p> <span style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. What are your pronouns? (If you don't mind sharing them)</span></p><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="a9uas-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="a9uas-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="a9uas-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="davj6-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="davj6-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="davj6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">He is fine for me, personally. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="dbumt-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dbumt-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dbumt-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="374d0-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="374d0-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="374d0-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">But personally, I don't believe in pronoun usage for gender identification as it creates a binary system where it pits the Personal Identity of the individual against imagined Other Identity of the external world by creating external boundaries that make it more difficult to traverse in one's own journey of growth and personal enlightenment. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="7g09r-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7g09r-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7g09r-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="9v2tl-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9v2tl-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9v2tl-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Logically, you can't say I prefer to be called an apple and not orange, thereby place yourself in opposition to another term, and still be considered non-binary. You've basically locked yourself into a binary box by adhering to an 'either this or that' naming system (a language game that would roil even Wittgenstein -- I say somewhat facetiously). </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="fu72d-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fu72d-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fu72d-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="254k0-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="254k0-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="254k0-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The semantic game being: If you're not one thing -- you're something else. An 'either or' proposition which I think is setting up a false proposition -- in terms of the semantics being used (of course, the semiotics of alternate pronoun construction or neopronouns, e.g. xim, xey, xer, xiers, etc. is a bit complicated and would require a masters thesis in and of itself to understand fully from the linguistic standpoint).</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="jmg3-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="jmg3-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="jmg3-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="3fnas-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3fnas-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3fnas-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I think people are more complex than this. Granted, that's not everyone's sentiment, which is why I understand the instinct to want to name and classify people as something rather than nother (or anything).</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="3qlp6-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3qlp6-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3qlp6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="7ilfa-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ilfa-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7ilfa-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I feel, though, that in terms of identity, we're all Schrodinger's cat. We're this, that, and the other thing. We are nothing and everything all at once. So, we can be anything we wish (at least with respect to the semantic game of naming things).</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="dejgv-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dejgv-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dejgv-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="226rr-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="226rr-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="226rr-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">We're never just one thing. And trying to affix one all-encompassing term to ourselves to help express our truer inner-natures actually has the opposite effect by limiting expression and confining it on a binary naming system of either-or terms. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="9uv8u-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9uv8u-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9uv8u-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="3lqvn-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3lqvn-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3lqvn-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">If you adhere to such naming structures, you limit your options of expression (a semantic consequence of such a naming system), whether you're "non-binary" or "basic-binary". The problem being that one's Personal Identity and expression become dependent on the language of the Other in order to be processed and codified into society as a whole. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="8624e-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8624e-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8624e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="7gp19-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7gp19-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7gp19-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">That is a side-effect of the semantic game of naming things, I'm afraid. It doesn't speak to any gender bias or phobia per se but that people may not have other ways of expressing the non-binary identities of people without, in turn, comparing and contrasting it to the binary lexicon as traditionally understood.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="3kglv-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3kglv-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3kglv-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="5sg0e-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5sg0e-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5sg0e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">As such, a consequence of which is that people are defining themselves according to what they want to be called in opposition to what society wants to call them. This conflict also is a binary construct of an 'either-or" mentality. It's shaking your fist and saying "I'm not what society has defined me as -- I'm something else," all the while playing by the same outmoded rules of the semantic game. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="bj17l-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bj17l-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="bj17l-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="ft6ka-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ft6ka-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ft6ka-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And although I understand the urge to want to express oneself as the way they see themselves -- that's part of identity, after all -- but to do it in this way, by staking out a pronoun and affixing it to your identity, also seems to fall back into the trap of being able to define only themselves in terms of opposition to what they're trying to break away from or distinguish themselves from.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="elabn-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="elabn-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="elabn-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="1mdn2-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1mdn2-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1mdn2-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I don't think allowing others to define you or the language you use should be codified into your own identity. I don't think that's healthy. Especially if the goal is acceptance. I think acceptance can only be had by not generating expectations. If we don't expect you to be anything, in particular, you could potentially be anything. Schrodinger's cat analogy is apt for this reason (the cat is both dead and alive simultaneously but only takes its true form once you accept that form as it appears to you with no prior judgments -- because you simply don't know until it manifests itself -- I think Person Identity is likewise).</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="8dnrc-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8dnrc-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8dnrc-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="e2m3g-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="e2m3g-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="e2m3g-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">This then gets into the theory of language, semantics, linguistics, etc. and that's perhaps a discussion for another time.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="cag9b-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cag9b-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="cag9b-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="4ie1o-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4ie1o-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4ie1o-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I understand, though, that in terms of expression it is important for LGBTQ folks it's important for their coming out or transition periods -- to be able to restructure their identities and have something to define them by -- so I won't begrudge anyone preferring pronouns and will respectfully call people whatever they want to be called -- but, personally, I think it's at its core an antithetical practice that hurts people more than it helps. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="at4b-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="at4b-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="at4b-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="1ubqg-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1ubqg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1ubqg-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The problem is, people haven't read their Wittgenstein and so will debate endlessly the need to properly "identify" and "classify" and "name" things. It's all just semantic games. The problem is when these semantic games are used in harmful ways or to tear people down. I understand the urge to want to expand pronoun usage to give people more options so that future laws written won't be so limiting because of their binary favoritism in the language they use -- thereby providing more avenues and spaces for trans and LGBTQ folk to exist in. I understand why people would want to promote pronoun usage for these reasons. Society, as a whole, seems to only take the time to understand something when it fits within their preferred lexicon. Learning a foreign language is too taxing.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="7b000-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7b000-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7b000-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="tctq-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="tctq-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="tctq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I think both sides are wrong for this reason. We have to learn the foreign language if we're ever going to overcome the semantic problem at all.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="703uq-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="703uq-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="703uq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="aois1-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="aois1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="aois1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Thanks for coming to my TED talk.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="9jft8-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9jft8-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9jft8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="8rmvp-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8rmvp-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8rmvp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">P.S.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="f3g29-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f3g29-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="f3g29-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I should note that these issues become doubly complex when you're talking about the written form of language vs. the spoken. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="a09nt-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="a09nt-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="a09nt-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="5iji8-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5iji8-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5iji8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">It seems that the grammar of our language relies heavily on the nominative nature of pronouns. That's something that would need to be addressed in terms of the language game since the naming of things is tied directly to our very construction of the definitions of things. Linguistic consequences ensue when you change the very nature of pronoun usage.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="5n1t5-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5n1t5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5n1t5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="eqeh9-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="eqeh9-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="eqeh9-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I was speaking more generally, however, in terms of how we use pronouns in everyday life and with respect to how we view, process, and construct our identities. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="fpls4-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fpls4-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fpls4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="8kk53-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8kk53-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8kk53-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Again, this is just my opinion. It's not written in stone that I'll be right on this issue. But I think I'm righter than most because I understand how words work on a level most people never think about. Even reading all this will put some people off -- as they will say "I'm overthinking things" and they'll go back to living simple and happy, yet perhaps unthoughtful lives.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="9qhfd-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9qhfd-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9qhfd-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="7vljv" data-offset-key="1q8ms-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1q8ms-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1q8ms-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">My thoughts are pretty busy so these issues bounce around my mind all the time until I properly have time to analyze and process them.</span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1q8ms-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1q8ms-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div>Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-34857385211792058152021-02-14T17:53:00.005-08:002021-02-14T18:01:36.341-08:00 WAS JESUS CHRIST GAY? AND ON BLASPHEMY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT9zRGvpez0W6j_1KftrUQq9f02hrtSzFvc6_alPnfBDhJJe8II1MkJDSImE04N6eCI5oUbkH1VYPxXpb5CBUGB5rxdCd5NHC8RBh0H68Vy1wec8fkg1W1IzRWSrH45nQfOykchox6d6o/s1200/Gay+Jesus.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT9zRGvpez0W6j_1KftrUQq9f02hrtSzFvc6_alPnfBDhJJe8II1MkJDSImE04N6eCI5oUbkH1VYPxXpb5CBUGB5rxdCd5NHC8RBh0H68Vy1wec8fkg1W1IzRWSrH45nQfOykchox6d6o/s320/Gay+Jesus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="44c9v-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="44c9v-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="44c9v-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I don't talk about religion much these days. Every once in a while, though, I'll get in the mood to look something up. After decades of religious research, I still hold a fascination for the subject matter. It just became too difficult to talk about with people of faith because -- at a certain point -- it's not about discovering new truths anymore but maintain old predispositions.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="4cf58-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4cf58-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4cf58-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="4behf-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4behf-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4behf-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Even so, I recently had a bit of a curfuffle over on a friend's post because a Christian apologist seemed to take offense regarding a quote that cited God as a She -- yes, as female.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="6nj0h-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6nj0h-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6nj0h-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="9pvj4-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9pvj4-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9pvj4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Although the quote was about a general theistic deity and not the Christian God, per se, he still went on a rant about using the proper pronouns when discussing God.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="cipqc-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cipqc-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="cipqc-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="2l14q-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2l14q-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2l14q-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I found this oddly amusing. Why would someone get so bent out of shape regarding the possibility of God being a She -- or possibly Alanis Morissette?</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="e7n30-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="e7n30-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="e7n30-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="a3mmg-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="a3mmg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="a3mmg-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">As such, I mentioned Jesus may have used "She" when talking about himself as modern homosexual men sometimes refer to the more diva-like gays as "She" or "Girl." </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="7br72-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7br72-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7br72-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="cjb3h-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cjb3h-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="cjb3h-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I meant it as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the real scholarly research on the subject, but I sometimes forget not everyone is as well read on the arcane subject matter of Christian history as I am and the Christian became offended mistaking my comments as, I can only assume, blasphemous slanders against his faith. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="eejv1-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="eejv1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="eejv1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="9de82-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9de82-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9de82-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Although, I'm not a Christian, so crimes of blasphemy have no meaning to me as you need to first ascribe to the belief of the sacred in order to believe that the sacred has been defamed -- is largely a made-up crime created by believers for believers. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="as441-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="as441-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="as441-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="72sji-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="72sji-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="72sji-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">It's also why I think that any country that has anti-blasphemy laws are barbaric and immoral. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="6vm5s-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6vm5s-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6vm5s-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="6iik7-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6iik7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6iik7-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Holding a secular person (or a person of differing faith) accountable for the made up crime of blasphemy -- intended to police the language and thought of believers -- burdens the secular mind with the preconceived notion that the believer's worldview is the only correct worldview and that their secular views are wrong and dangerous enough to penalize. In so many cases, a person lacking a belief is then jailed or punished, in some countries caned or killed, simply for not allowing tyrannical dictators to dictate what they say or believe.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="4o4r7-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4o4r7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4o4r7-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="9cst3-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9cst3-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9cst3-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Anti-blasphemy laws are utterly senseless made up laws with no rational validity. They are by and large laughable, illogical, and unnecessarily cruel. If you couldn't tell, I really...really hate anti-blasphemy laws -- but that's why I compiled and edited this collection regarding the topic:</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="br1j6-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="br1j6-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="br1j6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="2l0ep-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2l0ep-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span class="py34i1dx" color="var(--blue-link)" style="font-family: inherit;">https://www.amazon.com/Reason-Against-Blasphemy-Robert-Ingersoll-ebook/dp/B00BY6LCBK</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="ccu8d-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ccu8d-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ccu8d-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="2fid7-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2fid7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2fid7-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I was recently called out as "trolling" a Christian apologist when I mentioned Jesus and the disciples may have been homosexuals.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="b0764-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b0764-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="b0764-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="dql04-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dql04-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dql04-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">It's not my theory, but there is a scholarly opinion that Jesus and the 12 disciples were, perhaps, gay.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="7t84t-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7t84t-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7t84t-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="eb00-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="eb00-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="eb00-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Some might find it laughable, others might feel angered by such an assumption. But, it's not as wild of an assumption as you initially might think.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="7n170-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7n170-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7n170-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="8v0r7-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8v0r7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8v0r7-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Granted, it's not a mainstream Christian view, as Christian scholarship has been a dead field for over a decade now and new theories to account for anomalies in the data don't often come up anymore except where secular scholarship is concerned. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="9vfq5-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9vfq5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9vfq5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="7dug0-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7dug0-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7dug0-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">R. Joseph Hoffmann, a religious scholar at Harvard Divinity, wrote a fascinating essay on the inference of homosexuality within Jesus' inner circle of male followers.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="43oc-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="43oc-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="43oc-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="8hgju-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8hgju-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8hgju-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The inference is a simple deduction via omission. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="2on7h-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2on7h-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2on7h-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="39baj-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="39baj-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="39baj-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">It's not dissimilar from making the assumption that an island of Amazonian warrior women was a real historical place, and that this all-exclusive female island must have had sexual relationships, and by the nature of being exclusively female we can make the inference that these Amazonian women -- in all probability -- had lesbian relationships. Hence the name of the island Lesbos from which the term *lesbian is derived. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="cj2pv-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cj2pv-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="cj2pv-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="f9bop-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f9bop-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="f9bop-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">One of the interesting observations that struck me was that if you were a first-century rabbi -- you were likely to be married -- and one of the rabbi's jobs was to talk about how the husband must treat the wife as well as the wife's duties to the husband -- even with respect to their personal relationships. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="535kr-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="535kr-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="535kr-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="2kd2d-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2kd2d-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2kd2d-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">You find such teachings in other rabbinical writings, but not so much with Jesus (or what little we have of him actually talking about the subject of personal relationships).</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="cngpv-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cngpv-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="cngpv-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="7hrot-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7hrot-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7hrot-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus, for the more part, didn't talk about sex at all. One hypothesis proffered is that if you live in a time when talking about your sexual preferences could very likely get you killed, you just never spoke about them.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="entkk-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="entkk-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="entkk-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="83ga6-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="83ga6-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="83ga6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">This would then open up the possibility that the disciples were indeed homosexual, or, at least, they may have practiced male companionship in the same way the women on the island of Lesbos may have practice female companionship.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="866ok-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="866ok-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="866ok-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="5380m-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5380m-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5380m-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">It's an interesting theory to ponder.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="bi3oq-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bi3oq-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="bi3oq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="bupn5-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bupn5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="bupn5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And, if the thought of Jesus or any of his disciples being gay offends you, apologies. This isn't meant to inflame people's emotions but merely offer an interesting assumption based on a simple inference given the historical data we have. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="9m2h6-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9m2h6-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9m2h6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="8nf4s-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8nf4s-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8nf4s-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">We know, for example, that male companionship was a common practice in the 1st-century Roman empire, especially within the ranks of the Roman army. In fact, it was such a common practice that sodomy even gets mentioned in the bible -- and only in the context that sodomy is to be frowned upon (usually because it involved sodomy of a non-consensual child).</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="9qnm8-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9qnm8-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9qnm8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="k57k-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="k57k-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="k57k-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">But the bible itself says nothing as to continuing to have mature same-sex relationships or whether or not these are taboo in the eyes of the Christian God. That is an assumption apologists like to make based on a single anti-sodomy passage. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="ajbp7-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ajbp7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ajbp7-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="97s2p-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="97s2p-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="97s2p-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, Leviticus 18 was in reference to Israelites only and not gentiles, Canaanites, or Egyptians. So, it's unclear whether this is a universal law since, in context, it only refers to sodomy being wrong for Israelites specifically. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="30t4f-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="30t4f-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="30t4f-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="8n0bc-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8n0bc-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8n0bc-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Other verses like Romans 1:26-27 have been interpreted to mean so many different things, including regular intercourse between a man and woman in a brothel, that it's usually just generally cited as Paul's opinion on the subject -- not actually a religious law.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="fl2es-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fl2es-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fl2es-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="hsij-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="hsij-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="hsij-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">If you look in a biblical concordance, the word *homosexuality used in passages like 1 Timothy 1:8-11 or 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 are translations from the Greek word *Arsenokotai, which means bed + man with a sexual connotation, meaning male-bed. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="2r1i-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2r1i-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2r1i-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="3ht1v-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3ht1v-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3ht1v-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">But because the context of *arsenokotai is unclear, since only Paul uses it, whether it means for men to sleep with men, or to enter a den of prostitution that caters to men, is entirely unclear.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="4j73c-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4j73c-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4j73c-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="7ujrc-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ujrc-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7ujrc-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">This is the problem with biblical scholarship, we often times simply don't know. As such, the passage is often rendered as "sodomites" rather than homosexuals, because it's not clear as to whether it's referring to men+men or men+anybody (although some bibles disingenuously render it as *homosexuals -- even though that's unclear and the definition is entirely different than sodomite in any given context from the 1st century).</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="3j9iu-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3j9iu-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3j9iu-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="ck2ik-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ck2ik-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ck2ik-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, Hoffmann's paper examines key scripture that supports the idea of Jesus and his apostles of practicing male companionship to an extent, but as with most historical reconstruction where the evidence is limited -- assumptions are all that can be made. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="db3q-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="db3q-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="db3q-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="5domv-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5domv-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5domv-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Here's the weird part though, we have the same amount of evidence that Jesus was straight as we do that he was gay.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="ct8t5-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ct8t5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ct8t5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="9m3pm-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9m3pm-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9m3pm-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I mean, one can find the inference disagreeable, but you can't deny it as a real possibility because it is at least as well supported as any assumption of heterosexual norms. That just goes to show that the genuine historical evidence we can glean of Jesus's time on Earth is quite lacking.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="5hirl-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5hirl-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5hirl-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="3equg-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3equg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3equg-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">As the scholar Richard Carrier once put it, all we actually have are stories about Jesus by Christians who came decades after him.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="3oqn6-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3oqn6-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3oqn6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="7i99r-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7i99r-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7i99r-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Stories about Christianity by Christians for Christians.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="7s9e0-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7s9e0-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7s9e0-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="b6l3t-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b6l3t-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="b6l3t-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">If you want a more accurate history, you have to go beyond mere Christian stories. You have to examine the passages in their historical context and make inferences based on what we know from other sources about a similar subject matter. That's the only way plausible recreations of history can be made. In the end, though, they're still mainly just assumptions--albeit assumptions backed up by better sources than mere stories.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="75de1-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="75de1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="75de1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="4suuq-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4suuq-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4suuq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Examinations like this fascinate me, however, because it shows really how much of religious faith, in this case: Christianity, is a collection of unproven assumptions. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="drrbj-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="drrbj-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="drrbj-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="cbq9q-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cbq9q-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="cbq9q-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Usually, the kind that requires a Kirkgardian leap of faith -- meaning that there is no direct evidence to prove it either way but you go with your preconceived feelings and accept them as the de facto truth regardless of what the evidence might suggest (or, often times, the lack thereof).</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="9vd5r-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9vd5r-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9vd5r-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="ekj6a-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ekj6a-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ekj6a-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">This highlights one of the reasons I left Christianity. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="1uk7r-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1uk7r-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1uk7r-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="bqg2u-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bqg2u-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="bqg2u-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I just came to realize it was a system of cobbled together beliefs that couldn't demonstrate themselves in any meaningful way with respect to an unadulterated truth. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="9tj5e-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9tj5e-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9tj5e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="ttu1-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ttu1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ttu1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">As with most historical reconstructions, the historical aspects of Christianity rely so heavily on assumption-making that if you were to get rid of every biblical-based assumption that wasn't directly supported by a plethora of historical evidence you'd practically be left with nothing. That is to say, almost nothing is supported in the way of evidence. All you have is an unbuttressed kind of faith that assumes its history fits with its preconceived theological ideas.</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="fmgmf-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fmgmf-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fmgmf-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="560ov-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="560ov-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="560ov-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">That's an empty sort of faith, if you ask me. I like degrees of certainty and the confidence to say one way or another, but that's just me. Then again, if one requires evidence to believe then it wouldn't be called Faith, now, would it?</span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="c34h1-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c34h1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="c34h1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="c57sk-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c57sk-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="c57sk-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">But this is often the way religions operate. They don't go by critical analysis, evidential support, or logical inference -- they go by tradition, emotion, and unquestioning faith predicated on predispositions to accept unverified truths as metaphysical certainties. </span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="4ot90-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4ot90-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4ot90-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="cnjje" data-offset-key="4bb05-0-0" style="background-color: #242526; color: #e4e6eb; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4bb05-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4bb05-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And although certain theological presumptions regarding such metaphysical considerations may be logically sound, so too is the mathematics behind M-theory or Super String Theory. But having a logically sound premise is different than proving a theory a fact of reality, whether it's String Theory or religious faith.</span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4bb05-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4bb05-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div>Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-90670655422670611352020-11-08T17:19:00.002-08:002020-11-08T17:20:33.674-08:00Why Are Conservatives Trying to Co-Opt the Hashtags #NotMyPresident and #Resist?<div style="text-align: left;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Trump-Fact-Checked-by-Rick-McKee-CagleCartoons.com_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="266" src="https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Trump-Fact-Checked-by-Rick-McKee-CagleCartoons.com_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The moment the AP called it and Trump lost to Biden, my conservative friends erupted into a cacophony of conspiracy theories and senseless bellyaching. If you criticized them, they're quick to point out how it's no different than how Dems acted four years ago when Hillary lost to Trump.<br /><br />But, no. No, it's not. Not even a little bit.<br /><br />So, when a conservative post popped up on my feed asking:<br /></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><blockquote>"So does this mean I can use the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/notmypresident?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZU0VURf-ggjjXHf8mVfOkc3XHDOepZjUNN-vAckqiVx87JreSAolbiL8QF5QJcXKKGSnmTsrcLVgDeJWTQrplq95o-Y7s4Xf1eLRG6zHKPfmumu5hVrz-oiC_oZCNA7VD_MnTPz6wOfACclUDMt8itHSd9_nT6SxbjjCVMoby1dXg&__tn__=*NK-y-R">#notmypresident</a> hashtag now?<br />Oh! And the -<a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/resist?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZU0VURf-ggjjXHf8mVfOkc3XHDOepZjUNN-vAckqiVx87JreSAolbiL8QF5QJcXKKGSnmTsrcLVgDeJWTQrplq95o-Y7s4Xf1eLRG6zHKPfmumu5hVrz-oiC_oZCNA7VD_MnTPz6wOfACclUDMt8itHSd9_nT6SxbjjCVMoby1dXg&__tn__=*NK-y-R">#resist</a> one too<br /><br />Just curious."</blockquote><br /><br />Well, I felt I could answer the question sincerely.</span><br /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />It's a fair question. But the short answer is no.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />The answer is no because those hashtags don't make sense in this context. Hillary won the popular vote by approximately 3 million votes, so there were a lot of pissed off people because the clear winner -- by the numbers -- and in their estimation -- was stripped of what many saw as a momentous victory due to how the electoral college works. Hence #notmypresident because, based on a technicality alone, he wasn't the person who won the presidential votes from the populace. <br /><br />The hashtag literally means *not the guy who won, hence not my president. <br /><br />The electoral college is working just fine, however, and Trump neither has the popular votes or the electoral votes to win a second term. I know a lot of conservatives are saddened by this, but when both the populace and the electoral votes favor a single incumbent, there is less confusion about who the victor is. <br /><br />Therefore the hashtag #NotMyPresident simply doesn't track. So using those hashtags (for the Biden / Trump election) would be out of place and out of context, regardless of whether you're disappointed or not that Trump lost. It would be illogical to use them in this fashion. <br /><br />The #resist hashtag has more to do with resisting the moral character flaws of a man who is, by legal standards, appears to be as corrupt as they come (check out Legal Eagle's commentary on Trump's taxes and business practices to get a lawyers perspective on this).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Trump's criminal behavior aside, he certainly is contemptible by any ethical metric you wish to make reference to. Basically, Trump lacks the Kantian values that modern society incorporates in its defacto social contracts (although it's by no means the only system of ethics that buttress Western morality, but this is a discussion for another time) and so he lacks a certain modicum of decency because he doesn't respect others and so cannot fulfill the categorical imperative, or respecting the humanity in others and abiding by the shared social rules we set as a society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He doesn't believe the rules apply to him in the same way, which is a common trait among textbook narcissist--of which I believe he is one (we could debate this, but I'm not going to--the evidence is a thousand plus Tweets long).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And while his staunch supporters may see this as being hardline and telling it as it is--others were appalled by the lack of forethought, empathy, and brutish mentality of the man. A larger majority of voters (since remember, Trump technically lost the popular vote the first time around) saw this as something they needed to push back against. You know, #resist. <br /><br />In context, the origin of these hashtags makes perfect sense. Even if you disagree with the reasoning behind them, they still track. That is to say, there's a tracible method to their construction and meaning. Using them out of context, as one would presume, doesn't make sense. <br /><br />Even if the emotional sentiment is the same, it lacks the same reasons for why those particular words were used and not others. #Resist could have been #Regret. And #notmypresident could have been #NotwhoIVotedfor. But the semantic relationships aren't quite the same. There is a clear etymological relationship between the hashtags themselves and the context they were born out of.</div></span></div>Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-57292035951713700322020-11-08T04:59:00.006-08:002020-11-08T05:55:17.783-08:00Trump and the Dangers of Bad Rhetoric<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoe6pB2NhvSTu-GYq5yGXKHD7F3P_8MnV7y8SPqwUBB4GdpTYbQucdvX7YASF9p6GK6hkn5uKhVUGAYiyuJv_fOUQU1B9vnCPO1SjW4fYKEfUjJwDHzMqYop_CQPBYuOkR33Saz3cpjFg/s800/POTUS+45+Donald+Trump.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="800" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoe6pB2NhvSTu-GYq5yGXKHD7F3P_8MnV7y8SPqwUBB4GdpTYbQucdvX7YASF9p6GK6hkn5uKhVUGAYiyuJv_fOUQU1B9vnCPO1SjW4fYKEfUjJwDHzMqYop_CQPBYuOkR33Saz3cpjFg/w400-h268/POTUS+45+Donald+Trump.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Look, I bit my tongue during the entire election. I avoided all political talk, but I feel there's something that needs to be said about some of the dangerous rhetoric that's been floating around the Interwebs for the past 48 hours.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">So, the thing is, making a cogent point is something, you might say, that I know how to do really, really well.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In fact, I did it for over a decade on my religion of philosophy blog. Indeed, I managed to keep an active dialectic going on my religion of philosophy blog The Advocatus Atheist for over a decade (totaling over 20 million words of philosophical content). </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Not only this, but my humble blog racked up over one million-page reads, received numerous accolades, and was voted one of the top 30 atheist blogs on the Internet (even if I do pat myself on the back here for a moment).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Don't get me wrong though -- I'm not trying to gloat or brag here. That's not what this post is about.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I'm merely laying down these credentials as a matter of courtesy to those who might want to argue with me after they hear what I have to say. But we'll get to that in a minute.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">First, I want to point out that I'm more than willing to accept different points of view, change my mind, or shift my views because over the years of arguing both professionally and as a hobby, I've had my mind changed on more than one occasion. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In other words, I'm no stranger to eating crow and having a few slices of humble pie.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Emotional pleas and knee-jerk reactions, things like ad hominem (i.e., mud-slinging), trolling, or gish-galloping pseudo-cerebral exercises, however, will get you a ban from my page.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Because this isn't formal argumentation. There's no genuine thought behind it. It's just white noise and rudeness presented in the form of an opposing point of view that is not likely defensible, otherwise, they wouldn't be resorting to cheap tactics to try and win their arguments.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">These types of people are easy to identify. A lot of the time they amount to little more than trolls -- because they pop out of the woodwork only to rock the boat and get everyone riled up. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Do they actually care about the validity of their points, their views, their beliefs? Probably not. They might take them for granted, feeling they're entitled to those beliefs and worldviews for the sole reason they believe them to be true and credible. Not because, it's worth observing, because they've been demonstrated as true and credible.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The good rhetorician doesn't lie, because he/she doesn't have to. The good rhetorician admits that his/her argument could possibly be wrong. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Such is the nature of a subjective, third person, analysis of the world around us. But, in the hopes of moving toward a more objective understanding of that world -- good reasons need to be given for holding the sorts of beliefs we hold. And we can debate the merit of these reasons, or likewise their contra-arguments, as we move closer to finding a common ground.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">And this brings us my main point -- the thing that I want to warn you all about. The dangers of bad rhetoric.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">It was an observation I made about four years ago and an observation that I continue to make in lieu of this recent presidential election. And no, I'm not simply talking about Trump's inane Twitter ramblings and the level of demonstrable misinformation he spews daily (although this is a big problem).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There are a lot -- and I mean a lot -- of conservatives, whether they be republican or right-leaning libertarians, or conservative centrist, etc. that are spreading the mail-in ballot rumors that there has been major tampering by Democrats in the recent vote counting.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A lot of bad information has been debunked. My job here isn't to debunk what's already been debunked. I don't do other people's homework for them. But I do see a lot of conspiracy theories floating around that the election was somehow rigged to favor the Dems and the liberal agenda.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Of my conservative friends who are sharing such theories, their feeds quickly become an echo-chamber of other conservatives sharing the same *debunked details. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A lot of them resort to dangerous rhetoric that is either thinly veiled threats or, in many cases, claims about going to war with "libtards" who -- they feel -- are making lists and working together as a secret cabal to round up all the conservatives in the future and do away with them.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Endless posts and exchanges about how voter fraud is rampant and how they want to drag out the recounts as long as possible to ensure that the election was fair.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Now, I'm not saying voter-fraud has never happened. I mean, hell, Russia literally interfered with the previous presidential election and probably did their damndest to tamper with this one. But this has been proved -- by the CIA and FBI -- and has a mountain of evidence supporting these claims. It's not a conspiracy theory.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The idea, somehow, that this election was stolen, however, is more akin to conspiracy than anything. And even if there was voter-fraud, reports I've read said it would be less than 1% of the votes.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">By all means, if something looks fishy, then let's look into it. But let's rely on the advice of real political scientists, expert analysts, and data crunchers who have been following the election every step of the way. Don't spread unfounded accusations because a friend Tweeted it or because President Trump (a demonstrably proven habitual liar) shared some misinformation.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Do your fact-checking. Stop living in the echo chamber.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The easiest way to root out poor arguments and bad rhetoric is to notice when they all say the same thing without ever addressing the various points that would go to proving their claims.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I'm hearing a lot of conspiracy theories, misinformation, a lot of bellyaching and a lot of people stirring the pot instead of doing what they should be doing -- researching the alleged corruption they say is rampant and finding the evidence that would prove their claims true.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Like I said, though, recounts are common with close elections. It's always wise to double-check your tallied results and cross-check them. But I don't easily buy into conspiracy theories and bad hyperbole is just that... bad hyperbole.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">If there is a smoking gun, it will be revealed in due time. But trying to blame an entire political party and claiming they rigged an entire election just because your guy didn't win is petty and, quite frankly, a bit undemocratic. These people should be ashamed of themselves.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">And, yes, by all means, let my virtue-signaling challenge you to do better than just sling hollow words and empty platitudes. Do your homework. Root out the facts. Unearth the truth and then come to me with your theories of how this could have possibly happened. That's where we'll start to address the problems together and begin to heal the country.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Sharing twice regurgitated rhetoric, however, does nothing but increase our collective blood pressure and stress levels. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">That's all I wanted to say because I keep seeing these wedge-styled tactics being employed all over the media and online by what appears to me to be sore losers. If there is widespread fraud, then let the call be to get to the bottom of it and find those responsible and hold them accountable in a court of law. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">However, let's not simply accuse the opposite side of being guilty before the evidence is even in and create wild conspiracy theories about how the next four years will go. Knock that shit off.</span></div>Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-30653846011716609912020-10-14T00:34:00.007-07:002020-10-14T00:36:29.180-07:00Monogamy: It's Bad for Love<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Monogamous marriage models largely stem from agriculturalization and the need to have sons to inherit land and dowry to obtain wives as a transaction of property to give the man more sons.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because traditionally, land could only be passed down to male heirs, women were viewed as chattel -- basically objects to be bought and sold like property -- which is why in ancient religions like Judaism and Islam, women were essentially married off to men either in arranged marriages or through dowries.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">China also has a long practice of dowries and equating women to property or at least tying up her worth in the ability to be an incubator to produce male heirs to inherit the land of their fathers. Daughters were traditionally sold off to other families.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's also why, I think you'll find, many world religions emphasize that it should be a man and a woman, or a man and multiple women, who should be allowed to marry and not, for example, homosexuals. Homosexuality doesn't produce offspring to inherit land or sell off and so goes against the oft cited religious commandment to "be fruitful and multiply."</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, in a modern world that is overpopulated, the religious commandment to "be fruitful and multiply" can be seen as dangerous and, at the same time, it places unnecessary financial and economic strain on the families and communities that continue to practice it.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Personally, I think this origin of monogamous marriage being tied up in land and property after the agricultural movement actually leaves lingering side effects. Once example is that many monogamous relationships stemming from this model of marriage view "love" as a possession. "He's mine and I'm his" or "she's my girl" and etc. are all demands set upon love to be an object of ownership.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It usually leads to the objectification of the romantic partner and, with traditional monogamous expectations in place, helps to promote jealous emotions when you expect your property/love to belong to you and only you.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But love doesn't work like that and people are individuals, not property. So, when a person falls out of love or the relationship fails, for whatever reason, feelings of jealousy grow exponentially and often times "cheating" occurs. Because, of course, in a monogamous model anything beyond the initial pairing of partners is forbidden.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But that's approaching love in the wrong way. Because the truth is, people can love more than just one person and have the right to be loved by more than just one person.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To restrict love to a possessive form of jealous ownership is a bad relationship model, in my opinion. It's why divorce rates are so high.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After the relationship starts to break down, people begin to search for love elsewhere. And that's a natural human desire -- the desire to be loved and have a fulfilling relationship with a life partner that truly understands you.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes a monogamous relationship can trap people who have fallen out of love, so to speak. Because of all the cultural and social expectations placed on them to be faithful to one another.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's an unrealistic ideal. And it ignores other relationship models such as polyamory which actually resolve many of the possessive attitudes that can hinder healthy marriages by creating a sense of ownership over the other person and replacing acceptance of one's needs and feelings with outright jealousy.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Having said all this, I am married. I am not monogamous myself, but my wife is. Simply put, there are many different ways to approach marriages and relationships -- but the key is being open with your partner and expressing your desires. If they can't accept you for who you are and constantly deny you the right to exist as the person you know you are, then they are not a good partner and that relationship is doomed from the start.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But if they communicate and work with you and give you the acceptance and understanding you need to thrive as an individual, then they may be a keeper.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That's just my two cents.</span></div></div>Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-20821040877463239302020-06-10T20:11:00.000-07:002020-06-11T04:21:45.522-07:00An Open Letter to JK Rowling<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Dear Jo,</span><br />
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You don't know me, but I'm an author. I write science fiction and, as such, must research science on occasion to get all my facts straight.</div>
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Recently, you doubled down and wrote a freakishly long defense of your transphobia. Needless to say, I was terribly disappointed in you. I can sense you're already terribly devastated over this sudden revelation, so I'll be nice and take it easy on you.</div>
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As a speculative fiction author, daring to speculate on the potential of human beings is something I take great pride and joy in. One day, I hope we can move beyond things like racism, sexism, homophobia, and, yes, transphobia.</div>
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But, at the same time, in my stories, I'm doing my best to represent the best of humanity because I want people to open their minds to a better world and give up the closed-minded labels of a worldview corrupted by fear and hate.</div>
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I think you can probably relate, as you wrote a little known series about good vs. evil yourself. Okay, maybe it's a little bit better known than I care to admit--but, please, can't you see why that makes what you say all the more damaging? There are young boys and girls and people of various sexes and gender identities all looking up to you.</div>
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They don't know who I am. I'm not a mega-billionaire with a podium or a bajillion Twitter followers. If I said toy-poodles aren't real poodles, nobody will care. If you say it, millions will care. Please, Jo, I implore you, choose your words wisely.</div>
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You say that you've done the research and know for sure there are two biological sexes. Really Jo?</div>
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Because, to me, it doesn't sound like you understand that chromosomal karyotypes are what determine the "sex" of a biological organism and that these karyotypes often have very different structures.</div>
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As you may know, in humans, there are 46 chromosomes, present as 23 pairs. Twenty-two pairs are found in both sexes (autosomes) and one pair (sex chromosomes) is present as either XY (in males) or XX (in females).</div>
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Normally, all cells in the body that have a nucleus will contain a complete set of the same 46 chromosomes, except for the reproductive cells (eggs and sperm), which contain a half set of 23. This half set is the genetic contribution that will be passed on to a child. At conception, half sets from each parent combine to form a new set of 46 chromosomes in the developing fetus.</div>
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Also, as you may know, if there are more or less than the 46 chromosomes there can be physical and genetic mutations that cause certain genetic problems. But there are also different combinations of stable chromosomal karyotypes that extend the sex chromosomes in humans (yes, they are technically genetic mutations but happen frequently enough as not to be shocking to anyone who deals with genetics every day).</div>
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This means, the necessary genetic information for biological sex is there but can often be structured in a different way than just XY or XX.</div>
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So far, there are approximately 6 stable karyotypes that we know of (but possibly more we haven't come across yet).</div>
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The six biological karyotype sexes that do not result in death to the fetus are:</div>
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X – Roughly 1 in 2,000 to 1 in 5,000 people (Turner’s )<br />
XX – Most common form of female<br />
XXY – Roughly 1 in 500 to 1 in 1,000 people (Klinefelter)<br />
XY – Most common form of male<br />
XYY – Roughly 1 out of 1,000 people<br />
XXXY – Roughly 1 in 18,000 to 1 in 50,000 births</div>
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So, if you're going to get technical, each karyotype variation isn't the "same" sex reorganized, it's a completely new structure and therefore a completely new sex.</div>
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This means there are, genetically speaking, 6 distinguishable biological sexes in humans as identified by karyotype testing of the chromosomes themselves.</div>
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Like gender, biological sex sits on a spectrum of chromosomal types, some more stable than others. Albeit the spectrum is limited, it still contains identifiable ranges of chromosome types.</div>
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But what does all of this mean?</div>
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Well, it means there are people who fit the male/female binary type and there are people who don't. For example, there are people who look completely female with full breasts and nubile bodies and, yes--even have vaginas--but are actually completely male, genetically speaking (see androgen insensitivity syndrome).</div>
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Would you call that a woman or a man? Male or female? You see breasts and vaginas and think--there is a woman! But you'd be wrong.</div>
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The thing to realize is that they are all VALID sexes according to genetics and, more importantly, according to science. They just don't fit neatly into the two most common sexes that you know of.</div>
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So, no Jo. It doesn't appear you've done one iota of research. You seem to have just demonstrated the Dunning Kruger Effect in all of its glory. And I for one expected more from a woman of your intellect.</div>
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And I'm sorry people are calling you a TERF and what not, but you need to understand, Jo, even though I realize you're not a trans-exclusionary radical feminist, the things you are saying about trans-folks sound indistinguishable from their harshest, meanest, and most hateful detractors. You know, all the people who are genuine transphobes</div>
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And if it walks and talks like a duck...well, then I hope you can see the problem here.</div>
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You claim you're an educator but I too am an educator and can clearly see you haven't done the research you claim to have done.</div>
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Please, understand, biological sex isn't a simple binary proposition. You believing (incorrectly) that there are only two biological sexes at the chromosomal level doesn't change the factual science on the matter that there are actually more--a factual science that, if you actually consulted it, would set the record straight.</div>
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Now, how do all these chromosomal variations affect the human mind? Well, we're still learning that. But one thing to keep in mind is that there is often a disassociation involving how a person might feel inside with how they appear on the outside, especially if these two things are very different.</div>
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This is especially true of intersexual people who have both working gonads and ovaries (yes, Jo, they exist). Asking them to choose to be one thing is like asking a homosexual to be straight. That goes against their coding. Why try to shove them into your limited worldview? Why not, as an educator, try expanding your mind a little bit too?</div>
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The mistake is to try to classify these people as either-or. They are both. They are something that doesn't fit into your little box of labels. So stop trying to force them into it against their will. They will find their own boxes, and if those boxes don't exist, they will make new ones.</div>
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Oh, I know, Jo. It's hard being completely understanding of things that make little sense to us. But, it doesn't mean we can't be compassionate or accepting. So, please, bear with me.</div>
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Learning the science can be eye-opening in ways you couldn't possibly imagine--or, you being you, maybe you could imagine it. Which is why it baffles me so much as to how closed-minded you are willfully choosing to be here when the science is staring you right in the face.</div>
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And, Jo, it's true, we haven't even gotten into the complexities of talking about gender identity yet.</div>
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As you can imagine, this conversation gets really complicated rather fast and I (a white, cis heterosexual male) really am not the person to be discussing it with. YOu know who you should be consulting though? That's right, trans folks. Queer folks. The LGBTQ folks. They know far better than I do, and most assuredly better than you do, what it means to live a life in their skin.</div>
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The bottom line is, if you did take it upon yourself to carry out the terribly laborious task of opening your Google browser and maybe taking a couple hours to brush up on the science of the subject you're failing so miserably to speak on, you might be in a better position to rethink your hurtful words and you wouldn't look and sound so much like a TERF (a label you disagree with yet, ironically, while slamming others with labels they disagree with).</div>
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Transwomen are women too. And transmen are men.</div>
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And for those, like JK Rowling, who still don't think so, I'm going to share what I say to all those racists I encounter right before I block them.</div>
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"If you cannot be decent or compassionate enough to see the inherent dangers of an ideology predicated on hate, it's not just our belief systems that are in conflict. It's also our morality."</div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-69596293988578905202019-05-16T21:32:00.001-07:002022-06-24T13:59:13.628-07:00Keyword: Abortion [Do the New Anti-Abortion and Heartbeat laws make women into State regulated Chattel?]<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Keyword: Abortion<br /><br /><i>[*Disclaimer:* this gets long and philosophically complex. If you're just going to harp ad nauseum that abortion equates to murder, then don't bother responding.] <br /><br /><br />[*Disclaimer 2:* Serious responses only, please. That doesn't mean I don't want disagreement, but simply sharing twice-regurgitated anti-abortion rhetoric does not an educated opinion make.]</i><br /><br /><br />I'm wondering if certain anti-abortion bills trespass on anti-slavery laws.<br /><br />If, for example, the legal claim is that the woman has NO autonomous right over her reproductive organs/choices, and the state -- by way of law and legislation -- forces her to be an incubator, effectively making her State-owned chattel, then does this not constitute a type of slavery?<br /><br />I'd argue that it does. Owning another human being for forced labor, or owning any part of them, including their reproductive organs -- and by extension, their reproductive choices -- is a form of slavery.<br /><br /><br />Pro-life advocates may argue that abortion equates to murder even as they have NEVER adequately defined fetal personhood nor have they ever attempted to move beyond the anti-abortion rhetoric that doesn't seek to guilt people into thinking pro-choice/pro-abortion is the choice to murder babies (hint: it's NOT).<br /><br />In my estimation, pro-life isn't a valid position because they've offered no valid argument. Their claim is merely that "life begins at conception." <br /><br />Defining a starting point for a stage of biological development is fine. Attempting to define what fetal personhood would look like would be the next logical step. But they don't do this.<br /><br />Instead, they move on to stripping the mother of her autonomous rights over her own body. That opens an ethical can of worms. Least of all because it's immoral and two wrongs do not make a right (by their own reasoning this would be obvious -- strangely it's not).<br /><br />But "life at conception" isn't what they are attempting to define. The wording is actually a diversionary tactic because it sounds in-line with the scientific consensus which acknowledges biological stages and degrees of development of the fetus. The pro-life side, however, explicitly does not recognize such. <br /><br />What they explicitly mean to say "personhood begins at conception" but, as we all know, this concept of 'fetal personhood' has nowhere been defined or even articulated to any degree of coherence.<br /><br />Therefore, upon logical inspection, I argue that these new laws are not about defining fetal personhood or life but, in point of fact, enslaving women by legal means to become producers of children.<br /><br />To me, this is just as bad as murder. So, I don't see how any pro-life advocate can square away this line of reasoning with any law that seeks to swap out one perceived evil for another equal or greater evil. <br /><br />It seems that the emotional appeals and admonishments regarding "baby murder" and "killing infants" is just a smoke screen for a most sinister and draconian ploy to gain control and ownership of women's reproductive organs and place her child-rearing capacity under the control of the state. <br /><br />Additionally, the new anti-abortion and heartbeat laws seem to want to act as a potential wedge to challenge Roe vs. Wade and other abortion legislation in an effort to maybe subvert it.<br /><br />But without clearly defining their terminology first, all this does is lead to further ambiguity and confusion regarding any and all future legislation. This would, at best, make it impossible to later clarify their terms thereby causing endless litigation on every single case by case basis. It's a badly thought out strategy that relies more on gut emotion rather than clear, rational minded consideration.<br /><br />Furthermore, it is my opinion that the heartbeat bills don't make any logical sense to anyone who understands that biological stages are real and that the heart develops prior to the brain and other organs so that the simple pump can supply blood and oxygen to the organism for cellular growth -- that it may mature to a fully grown fetus at a later point in the growth cycle.<br /><br />It's an extremely early stage of development (est. 5 weeks) and the heartbeat comes along at around week 8 to help start to grow the brain which begins development at week 8 (it's nowhere near grown since we know gyrification or cortical folding doesn't occur until week 24 of development -- and this is why nearly all medical professionals say that 20 weeks is the limit for safe abortion practices -- because before this stage of development the human brain cannot perceive in the manner that is sufficient for claiming awareness, consciousness, or personhood).<br /><br />This is why viability becomes an important issue at these early stages. Remember, week 20 is when the fetus is approximately halfway through its growth into a fully formed fetus. But you don't call a car that's halfway built a fully ready to drive off the lot vehicle. <br /><br />The raw batter of pancake mix isn't a blueberry muffin before you add blueberries or bake it. So, why would such an early stage of a fetus be considered what it's clearly not? <br /><br />The pro-life claim that a fetus is a fetus is a fetus ignores biological stages of development entirely. It's like arguing that eggs and milk is a cake is a cake is a cake. I'm afraid a few important steps are missing before such a claim can be made.<br /><br />The reason they say this is because they want a blastocyst, zygote, fetus, baby, and child along with all the stages of development in-between to effectively mean the exact same thing. <br /><br />But they are not the same thing. The science is clear on the matter of biological stages and the gestation period for fetal growth and development.<br /><br />Calling a half grown fetus a full fetus with personhood even though its nervous system and brain have just started to develop seems premature. The definition doesn't describe the stage of development accurately nor is an adequate gauge to determine whether, as in the case of pro-life argumentation, such a kind of fetus deserves to be defined as something autonomous from the mother in terms of personhood, legal rights, or even identity.<br /><br />If anybody was truly savvy on the philosophy of law, they might realize that identity minus an external reality, or even a limited external reality (e.g. a womb) would be hard to articulate what autonomy it could have or what autonomy we could recognize.<br /><br />I've mentioned in the past that placing the identity and autonomy of the mother in direct opposition to the fetus is problematic at best because the law already recognizes there are limited forms of autonomy, for example, minors, felons, and legal aliens all have limited rights as compared to natural born adult citizens. <br /><br />Minors have fewer rights than adults. And so to claim a fetus has rights that usurp an adult mother's creates a confused legal precedent where minor's rights are concerned. Either a new category of human rights needs to be created or we have to make laws that already fit in-line with the current legal understanding of the separation of minor and adult rights.<br /><br />I believe that this needs to be cleared up before the fetus can be given rights that usurp the mother's will and autonomy.<br /><br />These are just some of the issues of a few hundred that I've identified as weaknesses in the pro-life legislation that is currently being passed. All of the legislation, it seems, is being passed based on knee-jerk emotional reactions to hypothetical scenarios (not real ones) and an extremely poor understanding of women's health. Moreover, the moral reasoning behind the anti-abortion bills and legislation seems to be confused if not entirely lacking. <br /><br />Despite these damming revelations which make much of the current pro-life legislation a barely laughable joke, the bills are still being passed into law.<br /><br />This is truly frightening. Because we've skipped several necessary steps based on bad rhetoric and bad rhetoric alone to place women's reproductive rights under the control of the state, thereby placing ownership of her reproductive capabilities and organs under the state via legislation that denies her any choice in the matter.<br /><br />If it sounds awfully a lot like ownership over a human being -- or more accurately over a part of them -- it's because it is. And that's not a legal precedent I think we should be setting in the year 2019.</span>Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-91286749741456760852019-04-17T23:26:00.005-07:002019-06-09T18:42:56.856-07:00Happy Easter! The Truth About the Resurrection of Jesus<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">W</span></b>ith Easter Sunday approaching, I would like to look at the resurrection account of Jesus Christ from the historical perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In other words, beyond the stories contained in the Christian Bible what does history really have to say about the event itself.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s commonly known that Christians in the 2nd and 3rd centuries didn’t read the New Testament because the New Testament didn’t exist yet. The New Testament scholar and historian Bart D. Ehrman teaches us that</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>The books themselves, of course, had been written, but they had not yet been collected into a sacred and authoritative canon of Scripture. The term canon refers to a collection of authoritative books. … our canon did not yet exist as an officially recognized collection during the second and third centuries.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;">He goes on to inform us that this was just the least of early Christians worries. Because there were so many books that were written and published together – all of them claiming to be authoritative – that it was difficult for early Christians to know what was a true story written by a real apostle of Jesus or which was just a rival Christian group trying to promote their brand of Christianity by making it sound more authentic by creating its own “authoritative works” while saying it was written by a real apostle of Jesus.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>Other books were written at the same time, however, also claiming to be by Jesus’ followers. Each of the early Christian groups that maintained its own distinctive beliefs and practices had books that were believed to be written by Jesus’ own apostles—gospels, for example, allegedly written by his disciples Thomas and Philip, and Mary Magdalene… The existence of these “other” Scriptures leads to other questions.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So, in summary, Christians had a lot of stories. A lot! Approximately 325 years after the death of Jesus, however, they still were in the dark as to which were the true stories. This didn't sit well with the rapidly growing Church, because too many discordant beliefs breed discord, so it was decided by the Church fathers that a canonical version of Christian doctrines and stories needed to be decided upon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">They decided upon 27 books and rejected all the rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Christians were basically told what to believe as historically valid by the Church. They didn’t’ have the freedom to make up their own minds about what they were being fed as the God-given truth. They were ordered by the authority of the Church and from the pulpit to believe one way only – and any alternate beliefs (whether or not they may have been correct or historically valid) didn’t matter anymore. The issue was settled and other beliefs after the canonization of scripture were viewed as heretical.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I talk more on the history of canonization involving the New Testament in my overview of biblical canonization events in: <a href="http://advocatusatheist.blogspot.com/p/development-of-biblical-canon.html"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">Development of the Biblical Canon</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As you can probably imagine, this is just the first hurdle modern Christians must overcome when they think about the real historical context of their cherished beliefs. Are my beliefs true? They seem true. But how can I know? Where do my beliefs come from? Why do I believe this set of beliefs but other Christians believe something different? How come there are so many different types of Christianity? How come Jews and Muslims believe in the same religious stories as me?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The good thing is, there are answers to all these questions. And the answers are found inside history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">If your Biblical education merely consisted of Sunday school, you’d be forgiven for thinking the gospel stories in the Bible are historical accounts written by real historical people. The truth is, we don’t know who wrote them. The New Testament authors of the Gospels were anonymous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It was only later that the Church fathers attributed the names of the Gospels to certain apostles based on their own guesses of who might be the most likely person to have written them – given the stories themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Biblical historians later found that the Church fathers had given incorrect dates to their supposed publication. More embarrassing, perhaps, is that they even ordered the gospels incorrectly, placing Mark after Matthew and Luke even though it was discovered that Mark was the oldest and very first of the gospels to have been written.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This later became known as the Synoptic problem, because it seems that there was only one original story – Mark – which then got copied and changed by later writers with differing theological views and agendas. But then there were fragments that Luke and Matthew share that aren’t found in Mark and this is believed to come from a different source written several years before them. But we don’t have any surviving copy of this source so Biblical scholars nick-named it the Q source, stemming from the German word Quelle, meaning the source.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #001000;">Even so<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, as many historians will testify, there’s no evidence for a Q source. So, where did the shared sayings come from? Well, Luke and Matthew may have known each other and may have been simply copying notes. But even this doesn’t seem likely. Meanwhile, the earliest copy of John doesn’t seem to even exist until around 110 AD.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As you can imagine, the real history behind who penned the gospels found in the New Testament gets pretty <a href="https://owlcation.com/humanities/Comparing-the-Gospels-Matthew-Mark-Luke-and-John"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">complicated</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s not the Christian’s fault that he/she doesn’t know any of this. Clearly, Churches aren’t the place to learn factual history. Churches are there to teach doctrine and theology and provide you with spiritual meaning in your life. Not discuss the nuances of ancient holy texts and their publication dates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So, we must realize that we’re not talking about personal beliefs but we are talking about general knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Of course, there may be some overlap. But the historian isn’t here to tell you to believe something different than what you will. They’re simply here to present the historical evidence best they can--gauging what is most probable--and hope that our beliefs will fit with the bulwark of historical knowledge we do have. If not, well, that’s really not the historian's concern.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">History isn’t about believing what you want to believe, or even what you’re told to believe, but it’s about revealing the historical truth to the best of our ability so that what we do believe will have some merit. So that our beliefs will be about something that was true rather than something false and made up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Then, again, please don’t mistake me. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with having faith either. I have faith. I have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow as it always has. But that faith doesn’t explain why the sun rises or the history of our star’s stellar formation. For that, we need to seek out the evidence and look at all the clues that will help us piece together a historical framework of what the sun’s origin and course from past till present might look like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And, yes, I’m fully aware of the criticism that much of history is simply a matter of filling in the gaps and that much of it appears made-up anyway. But that’s because history is a work in progress. We don’t have a direct path back to the past – there is no time machine we can hop in that will take us to the beginning that could help shed light on the events as they actually happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">All we can do is make educated inferences based on real-world evidence and what events are more or less probable and then try our best to make sure that our guesses bridging historical evidence to the historical event are logically sound. If the evidence is strong, the probability is high, and the logic is sound then we can be confident that our model of history is at least an approximation of actual events. </span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">When the evidence is lacking, the probability is low, and the logic seems faulty -- then we need to go back to square one and begin our research all over again -- and maybe reserve our conclusions until a later date when better information is made available.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">History is about determining, within reason, what course of events likely transpired on a given day during a given time period. What is the evidence? How do we know either way? And figuring all this out takes a lot of work and effort and is the task of the historian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">What, pray tell, does this have to do with Easter Sunday and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you might ask. Well, a few things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Christians may believe the events of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, for example, to be an account of genuine history, but a cursory glance at the historical evidence reveals that it’s likely not a historical event. I think you’ll agree that that’s a huge bubble to burst right there. But historians aren’t trying to be villains. They’re just trying to create a more accurate model of the past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Why can historians say any one given event from Christian history, let alone the most important one, is probably not history with an ounce of confidence? Because frankly put, there’s no historical evidence for the resurrection ever having actually occurred.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The names of the places are real, sure. Because that’s the setting of the stories. Even Peter Parker swings around New York City as Spiderman. But we know Spiderman isn’t a historical figure even though New York City is a real place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">You see, we can look for the clues that Spiderman isn’t real in the same way a historian might look for clues to determine if Jesus was real.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We also can determine an ancient story’s validity from collaborating accounts. For example, we know that the Romans crucified criminals, for example, because it’s documented elsewhere. Flavius Josephus talks about it at length in his <i>Antiquities </i>and <i>The Jewish War</i>. Herodotus talks about crucifixions by the Persians in his <i>Histories </i>nearly 500 years before Jesus Christ was supposedly crucified. That’s how we know that crucifixion existed and was implemented as a form of punishment and humiliation. Others corroborate the details in their accounts of historical events.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">But, here’s the thing, we don’t have any historical accounts of a guy named Jesus – who also claimed to be the Messiah – ever being crucified (minus the forgery found in Josephus’s <i>Antiquities</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We only have the Bible stories found in the Bible written by Christians who wrote the Bible for other Christians to share and spread their Christian beliefs which all Christians liked to share and spread. And one of these beliefs is that a man claimed to be the son of God then died and then supposedly rose from the dead. That’s not historical evidence for a real event—or even a person—but evidence for things that Christians liked to commonly believe.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">What it can’t be evidence of, however, are actual historical events. Not without corroborating evidence – of which there isn’t any that would be considered reliable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I talk more about the extra-biblical evidence we do know of, that is the evidence outside of the Bible stories that corroborate their claims, in more detail in my essays <a href="http://advocatusatheist.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-extrabiblical-christ-on-historicity.html"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">The Extrabiblical Christ</span></a>, <a href="http://advocatusatheist.blogspot.com/2010/09/myth-of-historical-jesus-revisited.html"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">Myth of the Historical Jesus</span></a>, and <a href="http://advocatusatheist.blogspot.com/2014/01/discussing-historicity-of-jesus-with.html"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">Discussing the Historicity of Jesus with a Christian Agnostic</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">All three of my essays go into great detail about all the evidence we have related to Jesus and the resurrection. I discuss everything from Tacitus, to Pliny the Younger, to Lucian of Samosa, and the writings of Sextus Julius Africanus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I also discuss the Babylonian Talmud as well as talk about how we know the oft-quoted line about Christ being crucified in Flavius Josephus’s <i>Antiquities </i>is a well-known forgery, as evidenced by Origen’s quoting an early version of the <i>Antiquities </i>without the forgery intact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Even with all these ancient works seemingly supporting the Christian claim that Jesus was real and that he was crucified, none of their claims hold up. We know this because historians have studied them in detail and have found a number of problems with the dating or origin of the works. In some cases, earlier works are found that contradict later ones—showing that erroneous historical additions were added to the texts and so cannot be considered valid accounts of history. Without those parts, all corroborating evidence falls away. And we’re back to square one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So, what is the New Testament really? Simply put, it is a collection of stories that were later voted on at the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) where a committee then determined which stories would be considered historical and which would not – even though no real historical research had been done. In other words, the historicity of the stories was mainly determined by whether or not the stories themselves fit with the theological doctrines of the Church at that time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">For Bart D. Ehrman, this raises an interesting problem for modern scholars regarding the correct historicity of the New Testament canon and the gospel stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>If, in the second and third centuries, there were lots of apostolic books read by lots of Christian groups, which ones were right? Which wrong? Which were actually by apostles? How would we know? Better yet, how did the church fathers who finalized our canon of twenty-seven books know? And what happened then to all the other books that did not make it in, once these particular Christian struggles were ended?</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;">That has always been the struggle of the historian seeking the truth of the stories. The truth, historical or otherwise, always seems to be elusive.</span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>Today’s Christians are free to take the history of their stories for granted. They are free to believe the stories represent genuine history (although 300 years of scholarship strongly suggests otherwise). Christians are free to believe, for example, that Jesus rose from the dead and that this is a historical account of something that happened in antiquity (although historians would caution us that this is a story based on what Christians commonly believed in the first, second, and third centuries but was never actually anything resembling a genuine historical account of the event).</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">According to the Biblical historian James D. Tabor in his book <i>The Jesus Dynasty</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>The standard Christian proclamation is well known: that Jesus was raised from the dead, that he appeared to many witnesses, and that he ascended into heaven, where he sits as the glorified Christ at the right hand of God, from where he will return at the end of the age to judge the living and the dead…. Three of our four New Testament gospels report “sightings” of Jesus to support the idea that he had been raised from the dead—Matthew, Luke and John. But what about Mark? Here we come to one of the most ignored and underrated facts of our story. As shocking as it may sound, the original manuscripts of the gospel of Mark report no appearances of the resurrected Jesus at all!<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ednref2"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6045470200571732417#_edn2"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">[ii]</span></a></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;">In his book </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;">Lost Christianities</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;">, Ehrman reminds us that the original Gospel of Mark does not contain the virgin birth or post resurrection stories.</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ednref4" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6045470200571732417#_edn4" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">[iv]</span></a></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">According to the New Testament historian and theologian David Trobisch, “The resurrected Christ has not appeared and the first witnesses ‘say nothing to anyone.’ This is the worst imaginable ending for a Gospel.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ednref5"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6045470200571732417#_edn5"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">[v]</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">About the strange resurrectionless ending, professor Tabor is quick to remind us that<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>Such a shockingly “incomplete” ending could not be allowed to stand. It must have been deeply troubling to early Christians. Christianity was built upon the idea that Jesus appeared after his death to various individuals and groups. How could Mark have possibly left this out?... What happened was that pious scribes who copied Mark made up an ending for him and added it to his texts sometime in the late 2nd century A.D.—over one hundred years after the original text was composed!<a href="https://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6045470200571732417#_edn6"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">[vi]</span></a></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;">Even so, Christians still try to find ways to prove the historical existence of a quondam Jesus. Equally, the historian Richard Carrier reminds us that:</span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>Christian apologists will often insist we have to explain the “fact” of the empty tomb. But…the evidence is not the discovery of an empty tomb but the existence of a story about the discovery of an empty tomb. That there was an actual empty tomb is only a theory… to explain the production of the story.... But this theory must be compared with other possible explanations of how and why that story came to exist… and these must be compared on the total examination of the evidence…. Hence, a common mistake is to confuse hypotheses about the evidence with the actual evidence itself.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ednref8"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6045470200571732417#_edn8"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">[viii]</span></a></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;">I go into a little bit more detail about what historians know about the resurrection of Jesus in my essay </span><a href="http://advocatusatheist.blogspot.com/2011/02/is-resurrection-account-of-jesus.html" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">Is the Resurrection Account of Jesus Fallacious?</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;"> But I shall share a portion from my conclusion of the essay here, as it seems rather pertinent to the topic of discussion.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In my conclusion, I ask: what do these historical insights mean for the everyday practicing Christian? A lot actually.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">At first glance, the evidence we do have seems to suggest some things aren’t what they initially appear to be. In fact, the evidence seems to directly stand in opposition to some core Christian beliefs. But the question of whether or not Jesus resurrected is just one part of a larger problem. The history surrounding the New Testament events, especially those found in the gospel stories, is extremely fuzzy. So fuzzy, in fact, that it could constitute historical blindness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The truth is, we simply don’t have good enough evidence to say the events found in the gospel stories ever happened. The evidence which Christian apologists traditionally cite is not without its flaws. Flaws which, contrary to the intent of those who cite them, actually compound the problem rather than adding any sense of clarity or understanding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Other historical concerns could easily defeat the historical “truth” of Christianity as well. Concerns such as:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">1) It is more likely that Jesus was not born of a virgin (virgin stories were common for many famous and infamous figures throughout history: Alexander the Great, Pythagoras, Genghis Khan just to name a few) and even then the concept of virgin births was a fairly common belief in both ancient pagan religions (see Richard Carrier’s article on syncretism and cross-cultural pollination of ancient religions <a href="https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/11161"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">here</span></a>).</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">2) Paul neglects to mention the virgin birth entirely (as if it never occurred at all), and furthermore, speaking of Paul’s being an unreliable narrator…and…</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">3) Paul only ever alludes to the spiritually risen Christ (not a bodily “resurrected” one) who, conveniently enough, speaks to him on the sun-baked desert road to Damascus in what may amount to no more than heat-stroke induced visions.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">4) The earliest manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark neither contain a virgin birth nor a post-resurrection Christ, and that’s the gospel account the other gospels borrow from and then – apparently – embellish upon with increasingly flamboyant accounts of the same event.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">5) Last but not least, the longer ending of Mark seems to be purely a literary fabrication—(many scholars take Mark 16:8 as the original ending and believe that the longer ending [16:9-20] was a later addition)—and if it’s all pure fiction what is to suggest the rest of the Gospel accounts of the resurrection are not also later literary works and not historical accounts?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-indent: 27pt;">The answer is nothing. There’s nothing to suggest they weren’t merely fictional stories that Christians told other Christians in the same way that Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad were popular tales that the Greeks told to their fellow Greeks.</span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">There’s nothing to say these accounts definitively happened but these accounts didn’t. They all equally appear to be fictions and the only historical evidence we have also suggests they’re works of fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">All this seemingly detracts from the debonair claim made by Christians that Jesus was divine, resurrected, and reappeared to his followers. History can be mundane like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">At the same time, however, the history we do know casts doubt as to whether or not the Gospels are historically reliable at all. As it turns out, they seem to be mostly literary in origin only containing simple references to historical landmarks, names, and places. Yet this should not surprise us, for all literature contains these things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Apologists have often retreated to the claim that, at the very least, we cannot know that the resurrection did not happen. But, then again, isn’t that what history is telling us? That it doesn’t look like there’s evidence for this event? That it’s more likely that it didn’t happen than vice versa?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I understand the reaction to want to defend your faith when the facts don’t line up to support you. You feel as though people are being dismissive of your personal beliefs. You want to defend those beliefs, so you look for justifications that jive with the evidence. You don’t want to be told that what you’ve believed your whole life – ever since your parents, pastors, and peers told you to believe – may not be what you thought it was. I get that. I can sympathize.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Those of you who’ve followed my blog's history will know I began my blogging career as a Christian under the site <i>Chronicles of a Sympathetic Christian</i>. I asked many of the same questions I do now. But, unlike then, I found answers. Answers that didn’t sit well with my Christian beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I was that Christian. I was a devout believer for 30 years trying my best to reconcile my faith with the historical facts. But faith and facts rarely mix well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">When I began to study history, I learned that my faith was fragile. It was predicated on beliefs that were not well founded. Beliefs that I wanted desperately to prove true—but couldn’t. I got myself a history degree, hoping that would let me prove the validity of my religious beliefs. Soon after graduating, I became an atheist. And the rest, as they say, is history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I’m sure that no matter what evidence is presented, positive or negative, many will continue to hold onto their cherished religious beliefs. That’s fine. I’m not here to tell you what you can or cannot believe. I’m merely stating what we can know with any given certainty. And things are by no means certain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">You may wonder, how can I say this? What is the ultimate nail in the proverbial coffin that disproves Jesus and the resurrection account as found in the gospel stories?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The answer, as I have found out over two decades of researching this topic, is elusive at best. At worst, downright infuriating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We can no more know that Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day than we can know if Julius Caesar was born by cesarean section.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">That’s the best state of the historical evidence regarding Jesus and the resurrection we have to date. Literally, we don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Julius Caesar may have been born via cesarean section and Jesus may have been bodily resurrected from the dead—that is, after all, what the stories about these men tell us. And, hey, almost anything is possible. However, these scenarios are mostly unfeasible if not highly improbable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">At the end of the day, you can choose to believe or not. You can follow the evidence wherever it may lead or take a leap of faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The fact remains, stating in defense of your faith that we cannot prove they did not happen does not improve our understanding of the past. It’s a criticism most historians would likely just shrug off. And they’d be right to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Such admissions should be viewed as a weakness to the overall historical framework, not as a boon to the person of faith who desperately wants to have it both ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">At the end of the day, the overwhelming lack of any ancillary contemporaneous information regarding the resurrection, whether or not we can prove it happened, simply amounts to the implicit acknowledgment that, as Frank R. Zindler once asserted, no one will ever provide convincing evidence for the historicity of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">That’s not a strong position to mount a defense of the Christian faith on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And that’s why I, as a historian, must err on the side of caution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Do I think Jesus was a real historical figure? The truth is, I simply cannot say with any certainty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Do I think Christians are correct in assuming Jesus was real and died upon the cross? No. Because, again, I don’t see any evidence to suggest that a person named Jesus ever died on the cross except for a handful of stories all written by a people predisposed to believe those precise kinds of stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 27pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Do I think the resurrection even happened? No, I do not – for all the reasons mentioned above and in all the connected essays.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">You may find yourself wondering when all is said and done, what do I believe in, then?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">What matters to me?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Lots of things. But they don’t hinge upon a person of antiquity absolutely needing to be real to justify my belief that he also happened to be the son of God and died for my sins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">That is not a belief I can, knowing what history has to say, hold in good conscience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Whatever else I may believe has to do with living my life in the best possible way I know how and being kind to others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As Thomas Paine once so eloquently put it, “I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I share this sentiment too. That is just one of the things I believe of countless other things that make my life meaningful. A man having died 2,000 years ago on a wooden plank simply isn’t a belief that’s in any way meaningful to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Nowadays, like Paine, I believe in doing good and in looking at the world with my eyes wide-open. Whatever destination your personal journey brings you to is yours and yours alone. I can only hope that with it comes clarity and peace of mind. I hope nothing I said here ruined your day. As I said, beliefs are beliefs and knowledge is knowledge and sometimes the two go hand in hand and other times they turn away from one another like opposite ends of a magnet. That’s just how it goes, I suppose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">At any rate, I wish everyone a Happy Easter!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Works Cited</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">James D. Tabor, The Jesus Dynasty, pp. 228, 230<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Christianities, pp.78, 220.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Hoffmann, R. Joseph. Sources of the Jesus Tradition: Separating History from Myth. Prometheus Books, 2010.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">David Trobisch, “The Authorized Version of His Birth and Death,” in Sources of the Jesus Tradition, ed. R. Joseph Hoffmann, p.135<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Richard Carrier, “Bayes’s Theorem for Beginners,” in Sources of the Jesus Tradition, pp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Lost Christianity’s course guidebook, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://guidebookstgc.snagfilms.com/6593_LostChristianities.pdf"><span style="color: #771100; text-decoration-line: none;">https://guidebookstgc.snagfilms.com/6593_LostChristianities.pdf</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Other notable scholars who have talke at length on the literary and perhaps fictional roots of Jesus Christ:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Charles Francois Dupuis,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Constantine-Francois Volney,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Bruno Bauer,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Arthur Drews,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">John M. Allegro,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">G.A Wells,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Alvar Ellegard,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Robert M. Price,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Earl Doherty,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Richard Carrier,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Thomas L. Thompson,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">R. Joseph Hoffmann<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-24981842825531087302019-03-26T04:11:00.003-07:002019-06-09T18:44:29.291-07:00Chick-fil-A Hates Gay People: But It's okay because they sometimes give you free chicken sandwiches!<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Where do I even begin?</div>
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Although I've taken early retirement from blogging here on the Advocatus Atheist and I'm doing my best to avoid talking about religion and politics, every once in a while I see something pop up in my social media feed that boggles my mind.</div>
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There are times when it's impossible to bite my tongue and I may, from time to time, open my big mouth. This, in turn, sometimes drags me into a larger debate than I initially cared to get into.</div>
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Except, sometimes the apathetic stance of not caring is the more damaging stance to take.</div>
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Sometimes, you have to speak out and say something against the bigotry and prejudice that people fling about with reckless abandon. </div>
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Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet and get your intellectual hands dirty with the dialectic.</div>
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<b>Chick-fil-A Hates Gay People: My Internet Debate (Part 1)</b></div>
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So, there I was, minding my own business.</div>
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Then an article about Chick-fil-A pops up in my feed. Then another. And another.</div>
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Several of my Christian friends and acquaintances got up in arms about it. A couple of them even went into full-on persecution complex mode.</div>
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I tried to ignore it.</div>
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I really did.</div>
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But alas, sometimes something so trivial ends up being a bigger deal then it ought to.</div>
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This is one of those times.</div>
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Let me explain at the outset that I'm not trying to personally attack anyone. But sometimes a stupid belief must be challenged because that belief is also damaging.</div>
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And also this discussion happened in private on Facebook, the person doesn't use their real name so the screen-caps are no way in danger of exposing their true identity. </div>
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But before we get into it, please understand that the criticism I'll be giving isn't meant as a personal attack against this person. It's meant as an honest critique of a pernicious ideology they hold that promotes a bigoted and prejudiced worldview.</div>
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So, an online acquaintance shared this news about Chick-fil-A being denied a commercial permit to open a restaurant in the San Antonio Airport. The San Antonio city council voted on banning Chick-fil-A.</div>
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Her initial post looked something like this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0P6MrEW1IZz0kCnpxmsQDBMGZKV74WGHszeyj61QH_H6OVlPIxk7eFju84I5_hA8CYbpTc6mWPOk4cRhnjn6XxS4MBqWEdnpkbn27XzXkAQeRn1J5QpsDMUUMrT9uceNTZis4hH6kZg/s1600/Chick+fil+A+Argument+1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="949" data-original-width="803" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0P6MrEW1IZz0kCnpxmsQDBMGZKV74WGHszeyj61QH_H6OVlPIxk7eFju84I5_hA8CYbpTc6mWPOk4cRhnjn6XxS4MBqWEdnpkbn27XzXkAQeRn1J5QpsDMUUMrT9uceNTZis4hH6kZg/s400/Chick+fil+A+Argument+1.PNG" width="337" /></a></div>
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At first, I was confused as to why she'd argue that San Antonio is discriminating against Christian beliefs. They're clearly not. They're discriminating against discriminatory anti-LGBTQ beliefs.</div>
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That's a big distinction.</div>
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Because not all Christians hate gays. So, clearly, San Antonio isn't discriminating against all Christians. Only the hateful gay-bashing ones.</div>
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I see nothing wrong with wanting to ban that type of prejudice from your city or airport, or wherever.</div>
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But she was adamant about it being an attack against Christians and therefore was an attack on her Christian faith.</div>
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That's a pretty big leap right there.</div>
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The only reason for a person to make this kind of leap is because they want to defend their sexist and homophobic ideology by placing it under the banner of their faith. If it's part of their sacred faith, then how dare you criticize it!</div>
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Otherwise, she wouldn't have likely said anything.</div>
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The San Antonio city council's reasoning makes sense.</div>
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If there are a certain amount of gay customers coming through the airport, having a company that actively funds dangerous and harmful charities which in turn direct dangerous and harmful programs that directly affect LGTBQ people, then they might not feel a sense of equality or acceptance by a place that allows such hurtful ideologies.</div>
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The article by the San Antonio News 4 states as much when it reads:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWIFdKE9k_9DR65IxkJTFqMXw19I8wbA2LQS7dvWAPzzOG0jiTNct-OqjBrNOACiSO0romPcbrOLlYP5ThJiqpeQbmlKOKkDnV9LDhBdYJ61pFy26GkpzCGkocbKyph4dJEFVltkf-dI/s1600/Chick+fil+A+Article+San+Antonio+Airport.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="1070" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWIFdKE9k_9DR65IxkJTFqMXw19I8wbA2LQS7dvWAPzzOG0jiTNct-OqjBrNOACiSO0romPcbrOLlYP5ThJiqpeQbmlKOKkDnV9LDhBdYJ61pFy26GkpzCGkocbKyph4dJEFVltkf-dI/s400/Chick+fil+A+Article+San+Antonio+Airport.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
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"San Antonio is a city full of compassion, and we do not have room in our public facilities for a business with a legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior."</div>
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It's very simply stated. And I couldn't agree more with the San Antonio city council and I commend them on sticking to upright values and non-discriminatory practices by banning a corporation known for spreading and propagating discrimination against the LGBTQ community.</div>
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Now, it's no secret. Chick-fil-A has been accused of an anti-LGBTQ stance more than once. Something that has gotten them into hot water before.</div>
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As VOX reports:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguMh7foUlqz5xFB5aapRPDkyZ28oBMLQ90JvbsWL27Vcoekfp4bj2-iIUzf_Aoz9Oj2Cv9f7BT495ibRlkdRFFhT_DAvh1XdmUYv3u4rDpXw0BeHeR1QaqItspGvHb_qsGetp4DLNMvTw/s1600/Chick+fil+A+VOX+1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="1504" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguMh7foUlqz5xFB5aapRPDkyZ28oBMLQ90JvbsWL27Vcoekfp4bj2-iIUzf_Aoz9Oj2Cv9f7BT495ibRlkdRFFhT_DAvh1XdmUYv3u4rDpXw0BeHeR1QaqItspGvHb_qsGetp4DLNMvTw/s640/Chick+fil+A+VOX+1.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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So, you have these corporate business owners using their companies as a shield to give to charities and groups that share blatantly hurtful and spread undeniably harmful beliefs and which, as a direct consequence, push unfair and unethical values on the groups they discriminate against. <br />
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It's worse than this even. Chick-fil-A has donated to groups that preach that gays "deserve death" and that practice conversion therapy because same-sex marriage is a "rage against Jesus..."</div>
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Meanwhile, all the top medical organizations agree. Conversion therapy is harmful and there are no known benefits to its practice.<span style="background-color: white; color: #4c4e4d; font-family: "balto" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span>The <a href="http://www.apa.org/about/policy/sexual-orientation.pdf">American Psychological Association</a>, the <a href="http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6803%3Atherapies-change-sexual-orientation-lack-medical-justification-threaten-health-&catid=740%3Anews-press-releases&Itemid=1926&lang=en">World Health Organization</a>, the <a href="http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Health_Care_Needs_of_Gay_Men_and_Lesbians_in_the_United_States.pdf">American Medical Association</a>, the <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/92/4/631.full.pdf">American Academy of Pediatrics</a>, the <a href="http://www.guideline.gov/Content.aspx?id=38417#Section420">American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry</a>, and the <a href="http://www.counseling.org/news/updates/2013/01/16/ethical-issues-related-to-conversion-or-reparative-therapy">American Counseling Association</a> have all issued statements against the practice.</div>
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But Chick-fil-A financially backs a callous and barbaric practice that is shunned by the consensus of medical institutions as harmful. The fact that gays are the intended target of this practice, a practice of harming gays, should not be lost on us.</div>
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Not only this, but when Chick-fil-A's CEO Dan Cathy initially made a slew of homophobic remarks, it sparked enough controversy to prompt him to make the promise that Chick-fil-A would no longer donate to anti-LGBTQ causes, as detailed by the .</div>
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But as recently revealed by a ThinkProgress report, this doesn't seem to be the case. </div>
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Chick-fil-A, it appears, has continued to donate to anti-LGBTQ groups despite its claim that it would stop doing so. And so it has continued to actively fund this brand of intolerant homophobia and sexism via the 1.8 million in donations given to anti-LGBTQ groups.</div>
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<b>Chick-fil-A Hates Gay People: My Internet Debate (Part 2)</b></div>
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Obviously, knowing what anyone can know through the powers of the Internet and the ability to Google, I was a little dumbstruck by R's comments.</div>
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It's quite clear that Chick-fil-A has a long history of bigoted, anti-LGBTQ, anti-gay agendas and remarks and continues to actively fund groups that promote these unethical values.</div>
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In fact, the conclusion of the VOX article states it best:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3zN5upwzb0KsUGIavXTgiZyi2Rcf3hgUNTlaqH16d5ws7eekwX5oSwNwoFfcTaN3rFAVDcuiPhY4M0CtEzYSAzmAgk_FIC5CdvS9u7bWYeUKS7z3Wv_wZggD1WYYQwDcK-cD3NnG8wCo/s1600/Chick+fil+A+VOX+3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="1531" height="72" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3zN5upwzb0KsUGIavXTgiZyi2Rcf3hgUNTlaqH16d5ws7eekwX5oSwNwoFfcTaN3rFAVDcuiPhY4M0CtEzYSAzmAgk_FIC5CdvS9u7bWYeUKS7z3Wv_wZggD1WYYQwDcK-cD3NnG8wCo/s640/Chick+fil+A+VOX+3.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I think the San Antonio city council saw that these unethical values sponsored and funded by Chick-fil-A and its numerous charities did not fit with the inclusive and unhateful views of the majority of the fine people of San Antonio. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nowhere in any of this does anti-Christian prejudice entire the equation. This isn't about Christianity. It's about treating your fellow human beings with love and acceptance. And it's about not promoting corporations that actively seek to spread bigotry, harm, homophobia, and anti-LGBTQ agendas.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It's about promoting loving values and demoting hateful ones.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Simple as that.</div>
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<br /></div>
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My friend didn't seem to think so.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But if you know me, you know that I hate bigoted and prejudice views that promote active harm and hate against any group, whether it be gay or Christian.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So, baffled by my friends defense of Chick-fil-A's obviously anti-gay rights agenda, I had to comment.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9G_61ZdWeqhM_QpK-YOVxVh4SRVG0lWs8FaQ8Os3hfre_P9u5YIPMg4t7lq269bR7DjLqjgyCgYsXRWfDAsjOyCHebcButWrY3q3MrnJP5ys94H3kUhy0GwWP38Fr1Ie_r-VJkznHz0/s1600/Chick+fill+A+comment+1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="797" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9G_61ZdWeqhM_QpK-YOVxVh4SRVG0lWs8FaQ8Os3hfre_P9u5YIPMg4t7lq269bR7DjLqjgyCgYsXRWfDAsjOyCHebcButWrY3q3MrnJP5ys94H3kUhy0GwWP38Fr1Ie_r-VJkznHz0/s640/Chick+fill+A+comment+1.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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Of course, I was taking into account the Vox article which popped up when you Google anything Chick-fil-A related, which is why I assumed it to be public knowledge.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm not sure if -R was aware of this. But how could one not be? It pops up because it covers all the details of the so-called Chick-fil-A controversy. Unless you're living with your head in the sand, it's hard not to be aware of it. So, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed she had at least a cursory understanding of the events that lead up to San Antonio's decision.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But she seemed offended by my disagreement.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6igbWsK7sLv3STKwEd7weOzQTtoiBtjpfWxT8rzMuSCP8LyV4Bt1z9qieOwY4RnDGwVDxmWBa2PEzK7c_AF89YpbKBNFkWyjmIswU0lP_W7vhi_YowNInw4AHrmh-xIeS33DjxPEhKIE/s1600/Chick+fill+A+Response+1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="687" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6igbWsK7sLv3STKwEd7weOzQTtoiBtjpfWxT8rzMuSCP8LyV4Bt1z9qieOwY4RnDGwVDxmWBa2PEzK7c_AF89YpbKBNFkWyjmIswU0lP_W7vhi_YowNInw4AHrmh-xIeS33DjxPEhKIE/s400/Chick+fill+A+Response+1.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I don't know what a better excuse could be than to tell a well known anti-LGBTQ company that you don't want their brand of bigotry and hate-filled prejudice darkening your doorstep.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That so many Christians should defend these anti-LGBTQ, anti-gay and anti-trans views is troubling. But, again, it's not all Christians.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Loving Christians have no trouble with LGBTQ communities because they know that nowhere in the Bible does Jesus ever say anything against such people. They desire to share God's love by loving their fellow neighbors as themselves. This is the Christian way.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But the question becomes, can you be a good, loving Christian yet support an organization that spreads hate-filled and bigoted views of people you profess to love?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not if you're truly loving.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But if you're a bigot, then sure.</div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Chick-fil-A Hates Gay People: My Internet Debate (Part 3)</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I thought that since -R seemed to be missing the point -- that you can't support promoters of hate and then claim you had no part in the hate that has been spread -- I thought I'd try to paint an analogy. After all, analogies often help to highlight a point or some nuance or another that you couldn't see otherwise.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So I continued with this statement:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLy-njQOBrAZ3i-B6gOoOLBP63BUv2x8JKp6kXe8lrOSCepor4OaNAnH_03_n_jwB2Ka_KwKl0E1Hg-gdKGJidduAj5BQoYKiagNiYWYr-MATGxEc-EQiZSQr7SmYhaseKZFJ0fQ26Zc/s1600/Chick+fil+A+Comment+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLy-njQOBrAZ3i-B6gOoOLBP63BUv2x8JKp6kXe8lrOSCepor4OaNAnH_03_n_jwB2Ka_KwKl0E1Hg-gdKGJidduAj5BQoYKiagNiYWYr-MATGxEc-EQiZSQr7SmYhaseKZFJ0fQ26Zc/s1600/Chick+fil+A+Comment+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="197" data-original-width="680" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLy-njQOBrAZ3i-B6gOoOLBP63BUv2x8JKp6kXe8lrOSCepor4OaNAnH_03_n_jwB2Ka_KwKl0E1Hg-gdKGJidduAj5BQoYKiagNiYWYr-MATGxEc-EQiZSQr7SmYhaseKZFJ0fQ26Zc/s640/Chick+fil+A+Comment+2.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obviously, my analogy uses race, as religion an race are so often tied together (ask any Jew or Muslim and they'll likely tell you the same) with the hope of showing how by my actively supporting a hateful group I actively seek to promote the spread of this hateful group's hateful and harmful ideologies.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It came as a big surprise, as you may have guessed, when -R not only took offense by this, but admonished me for daring to make such an analogy in the first place.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9FN2cwHJmymSrw2wgdmC22Jh54mgr-swtdaksXCoS0FwaFrHV2Ez0HeWzVvcDFA7-uuoaMqlNXiIwB7zry8qv9pXu0_G7RKMuNysuZl_VBBPzHVMjfJqvCZ03VKoYbjLc2FmSZnU2ik/s1600/Chick+fil+A+Response+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9FN2cwHJmymSrw2wgdmC22Jh54mgr-swtdaksXCoS0FwaFrHV2Ez0HeWzVvcDFA7-uuoaMqlNXiIwB7zry8qv9pXu0_G7RKMuNysuZl_VBBPzHVMjfJqvCZ03VKoYbjLc2FmSZnU2ik/s1600/Chick+fil+A+Response+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1009" data-original-width="684" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9FN2cwHJmymSrw2wgdmC22Jh54mgr-swtdaksXCoS0FwaFrHV2Ez0HeWzVvcDFA7-uuoaMqlNXiIwB7zry8qv9pXu0_G7RKMuNysuZl_VBBPzHVMjfJqvCZ03VKoYbjLc2FmSZnU2ik/s640/Chick+fil+A+Response+2.PNG" width="432" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Respectable disagreement is part of any mature and meaningful dialectical. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But, the fact remains, disagreeing with someone doesn't automatically mean that you're right and they're wrong. And when it comes to ethical concerns, right and wrong do matter.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So, I had to cringe when -R grew defensive. It seemed to me she wanted the echo-chamber, not cordial disagreement. Therefore, before I could explain my reasons, she shut down the conversation.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And since it was her Facebook wall, I didn't feel I had the right to push the matter any further.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But this isn't my Facebook wall. This is my blog. One in which I carefully examine cultural and political ideas and then share my thoughts on such subjects.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I find it troubling that -R virtue signals here. She doesn't treat her LGBTQ friends any differently than her non-LGBTQ friends. Well, that's great. I mean, if that's all she was doing.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But she uses this dodge to (maybe) convince herself she's a good person even though she pays money to fund an establishment that actively seeks to fund the hate and bigotry of LGBTQ people.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But to criticize the promotion of these anti-LGBTQ values is to be anti-Christian?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
How's this?</div>
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<br /></div>
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I personally don't see how the two are connected unless you're going as far to say that anti-LGBTQ stance is inherently Christian.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
I don't think it is. And I was a Christian for over 30 years; so I ought to know. (Coincidentally enough, I was a Christian longer than -R has been alive, but that's anecdotal and neither here nor there).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Before ducking out, however, I wanted to clarify that I wasn't trying to ruffle any feathers, but I just wanted to point out the illogic, not to mention hypocrisy, of saying your love your fellow LGBTQ people and then turn around and support overtly anti-LGBTQ groups.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzSequ5A1FEDB-xr06zdS82nbh7vv73SCNkRSpQt_YVvbRwQD_SpnRqQBvNS55_2qH9hSH7SPt41Umn26jgPV_BTu-8oBgHVKf0ncsJduc3O3UBubNrmltc8CVlPWfI50AiL8rLF30b0/s1600/Chick+fil+A+Comment+3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="673" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzSequ5A1FEDB-xr06zdS82nbh7vv73SCNkRSpQt_YVvbRwQD_SpnRqQBvNS55_2qH9hSH7SPt41Umn26jgPV_BTu-8oBgHVKf0ncsJduc3O3UBubNrmltc8CVlPWfI50AiL8rLF30b0/s640/Chick+fil+A+Comment+3.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But -R, already defensive for my pointing out you can't pretend to love the LGBTQ community and, at the same time, anti-LGTBQ establishments, had a few more words to say.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgk8qtRWJSYkGYG8kenGsW5fpos2lnskUhTPkuXpUF7XBcxZ7P2ZFDKkFMGmnuFoK3sbSwHrLbU3AHHN2evsMhwvetcmq7RyK70XLdIzvU9B9IK9wmaqz8YDaxbeScO65pieev2LelDDI/s1600/Chick+fil+A+Response+3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="681" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgk8qtRWJSYkGYG8kenGsW5fpos2lnskUhTPkuXpUF7XBcxZ7P2ZFDKkFMGmnuFoK3sbSwHrLbU3AHHN2evsMhwvetcmq7RyK70XLdIzvU9B9IK9wmaqz8YDaxbeScO65pieev2LelDDI/s640/Chick+fil+A+Response+3.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Actually, she's right and wrong. It wasn't the only thing I was doing. But, it doesn't take a moral philosopher to see that supporting your fellow LGBTQ community and supporting a company that promotes and sponsors anti-LGBTQ ideologies and rhetoric isn't logically consistent, that wasn't my only point. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I wanted to turn the discussion to how her criticism of San Antonio's handling of the situation was a blatant misrepresentation of the situation and that playing the persecution card doesn't automatically give you an out in this case. I was setting up my argument by starting with the analogy. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
From there, I was going to explain how it would be illogical to say I love people of color while actively funding a group that promotes hate, bigotry, and harmful ideologies regarding people of color. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The analogy is sound, even though -R told me not to "compare her religious beliefs to racial ideologies." Both are like-minded prejudices. Both come from a place of ignorance and fear. And if your religion teaches that being gay is bad, then your religion teaches bigotry. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It's as simple as that.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However, seeing that -R was growing upset, I decided to graciously bow out. And we parted ways.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgB0fewTW2xlk47aPJrALWiWNqHx-w7kND0RmcAZ1QskuRJG1BZotK5fasC6l4gBoNyiaFACJf_f7a6nOMH2ysrNT4eq-rEbFuX80YJxwIFMH0Jrnwj5udu7P6wyVGwtFskE2sPGi3IVk/s1600/Chick+fil+A+Response+4+Comment+4.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="686" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgB0fewTW2xlk47aPJrALWiWNqHx-w7kND0RmcAZ1QskuRJG1BZotK5fasC6l4gBoNyiaFACJf_f7a6nOMH2ysrNT4eq-rEbFuX80YJxwIFMH0Jrnwj5udu7P6wyVGwtFskE2sPGi3IVk/s640/Chick+fil+A+Response+4+Comment+4.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I don't know if -R was just being cheeky by trying to get the last word in, but I couldn't help but feel it was a little condescending. Especially since she shut down the dialectic before the reasons for the objection could be clearly stated. And, since I'm much older than -R, and I'm not from Texas, the use of hon just rubbed me the wrong way.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hey, I was doing my best to be polite and present my disagreement as cordially as possible. But -R wasn't having it and didn't want to let it go. Naturally, I could have been the proverbial atheist-smart-ass and drug out the conversation and antagonized her, but that would have been bad form. It wasn't about me embarrassing her on her own page. It was about me pointing out the inconsistency in professing you love your fellow LGBTQ folks but endorsing companies that promote hate and harm on that very same group of people. That's the opposite of loving.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And I found it shocking that -R couldn't make that connection, because in the back of her mind, to have that point made was to voice prejudice against her personal faith.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And, she's not entirely wrong. Any righteous and ethical person would be prejudice against archaic religious beliefs that promote bigotry and hate.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That's precisely why we MUST criticize such harmful beliefs and ideologies.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
You don't get a free pass just because you believe in God.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm sorry, it simply doesn't work that way.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><b>Conclusion</b></b></div>
<b>
</b>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
You may be wondering why I wanted to give my commentary on this little drama. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, my reasons are two-fold.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
First, I've seen a resurgence of racism, xenophobia, and intolerance across the board. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I thought I had said all I needed to say on such small-mindedness, but it rears its ugly head again and again. And every once in a while I just get fed up. It's kind of like playing Whack-a-Mole. You can pound down those degenerate ideologies again and again, but they seem to have a way of popping back up again.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Secondly, I just couldn't abide seeing a friendly acquaintance of mine endorsing a company that actively promotes hate and bigotry and then incorrectly assert it's everyone else who is being intolerant of her views.</div>
<br />
She has it completely bass-ass-backward, and I sincerely feel this is one of those times that apathy would only let such narrow-minded views spread without so much as a proper response. That's why I responded as I have.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Before I go, though, I just want to share one last point.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I had all but forgotten about this conversation until a person, who we'll simply refer to as Amy, decided to leave a doozy of a comment. Her comments are pure comedic gold, so I just had to share them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxJTJv0ozEgXB8204PI-EymMEF_m14U6G1Yzy5xBau5gQz53lqpF9OC_F29cxHS3nOkJBsUsEKPLi3YUMio8ZcazzIHarlDJPD-bWfQtOdbLj28uHxG-WE1v4T2ne4GieJKNxOB5aEtE/s1600/Chick+fil+A+Commentator+2+Comment+1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="699" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxJTJv0ozEgXB8204PI-EymMEF_m14U6G1Yzy5xBau5gQz53lqpF9OC_F29cxHS3nOkJBsUsEKPLi3YUMio8ZcazzIHarlDJPD-bWfQtOdbLj28uHxG-WE1v4T2ne4GieJKNxOB5aEtE/s640/Chick+fil+A+Commentator+2+Comment+1.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And then there's dear, sweet Amy. She's the *other* kind of Christian. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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The Planned Parenthood analogy would have been a good one if what Christian propagandists say about Planned Parenthood is at all true. But since we know it's not, it misses the mark.</div>
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To be fair to poor Amy, though, I do get her point. Many Christians don't believe in abortion. So, you wouldn't want to support companies that fund things like... hospitals... where abortions frequently take place.</div>
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But there's a reason abortions take place at hospitals. Because abortion is a necessary medical procedure in nearly every instance where it is practiced. <br />
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It's not, for example, women going into unmarked vans in some darkened alleyway and having her baby ripped out and then thrown into a dumpster. That's pure propaganda.</div>
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Abortion is a medical procedure that happens mainly at clinics and hospitals and is carried out by medical professionals, e.g. doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals.</div>
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Other than that small difference, I can see what she means.</div>
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She's referencing her personal values and how taking a babies life is, in her mind, a wrong much like spreading hate for gays is also wrong. I get it. I do.</div>
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But...and you knew it was coming...I would, however, like to point out that deliberately spreading hate for the LGBTQ community is not entirely the same as supporting a necessary and valid medical procedure that is intended to save women's lives. Those things aren't entirely the same in terms of moral equivalence.</div>
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The confusion often arises because many Christians buy into the baby murdering rhetoric of radical right-wing groups that want to dictate a woman's reproductive rights. But that's a discussion for another time.</div>
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What I really found enjoyable was Amy's chicken sandwich story.</div>
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Not only does lovable Amy have gay friends who love Chick-fil-A (for real!) she also once got a free sandwich from them. And that's why it's fine to support Chick-fil-A and their anti-LGBTQ bigotry!</div>
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Okay, she didn't exactly put it that way. But when she couches it in terms of the analogy she's responding to, her point comes off as rather comical. Abortion is bad, but free sandwiches are good, so Chick-fil-A is good, even though they're actually really, really BAD.</div>
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We love you Amy. Never change.</div>
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***LINKS***</div>
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NEWS 4 coverage:<br />
https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/city-councilman-motions-to-ban-chick-fil-a-from-san-antonio-international-airport?fbclid=IwAR3vFfyCIf7ySzcGnG-ge3ab-rUfa0h3QiKzFaiMFqAOS04nGtPd67XZyjY<br />
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VOX article:<br />
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/21/18275850/chick-fil-a-anti-lgbtq-donations<br />
<br />
BUZZFEED on Civil Right Agenda report<br />
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/buzzfeedpolitics/chick-fil-a-promises-to-stop-funding-anti-gay-gro</div>
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ThinkProgress report:<br />
https://thinkprogress.org/san-antonio-city-council-bans-chick-fil-a-from-airport-concession-deal-anti-lgbtq-cdd076dbdb69/</div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-46053166992651757912019-02-11T06:14:00.002-08:002019-06-09T18:45:23.276-07:00The Abortion Debate: What the Pro-Life side gets Wrong <div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I don't often get political on my page. But I will talk about abortion because I think it's a bioethics debate that's important to human rights and the quality of life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">A friend of mine shared a political cartoon (but actually anti-abortion propaganda) on his page. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Like me, he was shocked by the lack of understanding about the recent New York bill that safeguards the right for hospitals and doctors to perform emergency abortions when either the fetus will die in the birthing process or the mother will die. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Really, that's all the bill protects. The right to save life via a necessary emergency medical abortion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But cartoons like this pop up and play to the emotions of an uneducated public whose reaction is...oh, they're killing babies! Caterwauling about all the baby killin' goin' on in the U.S.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But this just goes to expose the irrationality of the pro-life side and reveals they prefer hyperbole and scare tactics to science and truth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I've stated quite emphatically before that the pro-life position isn't a rationally devised argument.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But breaking it down is easier said than down. So, let’s begin with the pro-life premise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The entire premise behind the pro-life argument is that *life begins at conception.*</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This sounds true enough, but is it entirely accurate? Maybe not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The process of life starts with fertilization, this is true. But the notion of conception according to the religious right who challenge abortion doesn’t just entail fertilization, it lumps in assumptions about ensoulment and personhood too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Personhood is what pro-life advocates want to actualize so they can give a zygote the same legal protections as a child so as to make abortion a criminal act rather than a vital and often necessary medical procedure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Additionally, the religious right considers life at conception sacred because they believe in ensoulment—that a human zygote is given a soul at conception. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hence life at conception takes on a whole new theological meaning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If it were just a discussion of the biology alone, then the claim life begins at conception wouldn’t be incorrect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But the claim is more than that, because the majority of pro-life advocates assume ensoulment and personhood at conception too, which is why pro-life advocates say abortion is murder.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Science says personhood isn’t clearly definable at conception and suggests we ought to examine the stages of biological development and think about life in terms of viability and not magically fully-formed “life” for no other reason than its presumed ensoulment/personhood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Because ensoulment and personhood aren’t easily definable, to claim they are given facts about the nature of life after conception is misleading.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Its a way to push theological assumptions into the debate about biology where they don’t belong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It's not an entirely true statement about life because the science demonstrates that even if we accept the life beginning at conception spiel that there are various instances in the fetal development that can make the life self-terminate. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This biological objection suggests that a self terminated life in the early stages of fetal development is fundamentally incompatible with notions of ensoulment and personhood. In other words, you cannot be a sacred life and simultaneously be dead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That doesn’t make any sense. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s illogical. And this ill logic arises when things that are supposedly living don’t meet the requirements needed to be deemed viable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The confusion here arises around the difference of a life and a potential life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Although nuanced, the difference shouldn’t be overlooked in favor of jumping to the conclusion that all life after conception must be viable therefore congruent with religious doctrine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So, at most, the claim life begins at conception can only mean fertilization begins and a potentially viable life starts a long series of developmental stages before becoming a viable fetus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But this says nothing on the ethical considerations of abortion, because all the statement reveals is that fetal development starts at fertilization. And nobody is denying this. Yet it would be stranger still to say this is your basis for your moral argument against abortion, minus the concepts of ensoulment and personhood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">At best, we’re dealing with the chance for a viable life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But we NEED to think of viability because ONLY viable zygotes can grow into fetuses that can be described as a life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And we need to keep viability in mind throughout the whole biological process because biological life happens in stages. It doesn't just spontaneously appear as though a stork left a baby on your doorstep and it’s a fully formed person.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So, life beginning at conception, although not entirely inaccurate also isn’t entirely accurate given the theological assumptions tacked onto it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Simply put, science shows there are numerous stages before life can even be deemed viable -- that is, before it can be said to be alive in any meaningful way beyond the observation that we have a collection of living cells.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That said, another problem I have with the abortion debate is how if you want to support women's health, women's rights, and women's safety -- it is always these things that are the first to come under attack when pro-life legislation gets involved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Make no mistake, anti-abortion legislation is almost always a deliberate attack on women and women's reporductive rights. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And erecting anti-abortion laws has NEVER made women or babies any safer. All it does is place an unnecessary burden on women and their lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now, the *pro-choice position isn't a counter-argument to the pro-life argument. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The pro-choice side is, in philosophical terms, a contra-argument.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now what does that mean? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">A contra-argument is an objection to a separate, flawed argument.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The way pro-life arguments are usually presented are to claim abortion clinics, doctors, and mothers are killing a babies by having an abortion at any stage (although we know this to be false based on taking into consideration viability and biological stages of development). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What the *pro-choice argument does is say, hey, that pro-life argument is misleading at best and, contrary to popular opinion, is actually being used to restrict women's rights. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Because it (the pro-life premise) is problematic and tries to smuggle in religion into the debate while ignoring most of the science, we cannot accept it and we do not accept it when given as the reason to protect unborn, potential life and not viable life at the expense of women's health, safety, and legal rights.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">A third area we need to be aware of is that the claim that abortion is murder is a highly controversial one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now, murder is a nuanced legal term. And there are degrees of murder distinguished by the law and for good reason.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There's first, second, and third-degree murder. But none of these fit the description of medical abortion. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And so to claim abortion is the murder of babies and not a vital and sometimes necessary medical procedure is FACTUALLY WRONG.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Nearly all abortions happen before the 12 week mark, and this is due to the fact that 8 to 12 weeks into development the baby's central nervous system has NOT developed enough to feel pain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That's why, in only the most extreme medical cases, where there is a clearly defined medical EMERGENCY that late-term abortions are permitted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And even then, the CDC estimates that it’s rather low. According to them, nearly 70% of abortions happen before 8 weeks. The rest usually occur before 20 weeks. Very few ever occur after that. If they do, it’s almost certainly because of a medical emergency.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As such, this is the call of medical professionals, doctors in the know, and not merely the whim of mothers who don't want babies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So scrub that falsehood from your brain right now. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Late-term abortions have, and always have been (at least in the United States) reserved for medical emergencies where the fetus or the mother's life are in danger. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Never because the mom simply didn't want it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The pro-life argument gets so much wrong because it ignores the science, it ignores the medicine, it ignores the bioethical concerns regarding both the mother and child, and it ignores cold hard facts. It relies only on emotional appeals and magical thinking about ensoulment and personhood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Does that mean I think you're irrational if you're pro-life? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">No, but it means that in all likelihood you haven't probably given the abortion debate the consideration it deserves before finalizing an opinion. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But all this just goes to show why we're still having the abortion debate even though the pro-life side has offered a complete NON-STARTER. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We're still having it because emotional appeals tug at people's heartstrings and facts bore people to sleep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">AND I'm not saying that the pro-life side doesn't mean well and I'm not attacking them for their irrationality because I merely take the opposite position. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am saying it's an problematic and highly flawed position because, logically speaking, it is. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And because if you consider all the evidence, all the facts, and stay awake long enough to give it a proper vetting, then you would see the flaws too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">You would come to understand that offering an emotionally pleaded opinion is not the same as a scientific medical fact. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I know it bothers me, especially when I see propaganda cartoons like the one my friend shared instead of a real discussion with real facts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">--Tristan Vick (author / humanist / human rights advocate)</span></div>
Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-78409838783985713572018-09-25T19:38:00.003-07:002018-09-25T19:38:36.954-07:00Proud Father<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #1d2129; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 6px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My daughter asked me why the majority of my heroines are lesbian and/or bisexual. I explained to her that I write heroines that embody the essence of the Goddess archetype, and that any ole ordinary mortal man isn't worthy of being with the Goddess. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As such, it compels me to write strong women who avoid the need or even desire for men. If they need companionship, they turn to other women. Unless, of course, the man is exceptionally worthy. But, I added, in my stories the wom<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">en don't *need* men to get by.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">She nodded quietly, taking it all in. She's only 8 and hasn't read any of my books but has often asked what story I'm writing so I break down summaries of them for her. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">She's fascinated by the fact that women can like women and men can like men. She knows that homosexuality is a thing. And she recognizes that it's becoming acceptable in society and was curious as to why I incorporate such things in my stories.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I found it to be a rather sophisticated question for an 8-year-old.</span></div>
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<a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/proudfather?source=feed_text&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCrPQc6minsHu-f5uDC86iJ2wP9GcBUpGqznlXGKhX-w2cFST7wSQL37CnfA_w9zsCqchdnV399as112CoQj2-s0keeFLRKNrE-xGTPY0UDF07UxHlJdYtOlyj-CAyNz_qeN-au0Ti9Qkk1d6QAlxhGSDHhUWJN4OOiuf1NZc7buXNsN6gbR-4&__tn__=%2ANK-R" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #365899; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">proudfather</span></span></span></a></div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-3980340697000518002018-09-25T19:36:00.002-07:002019-06-09T18:47:23.486-07:00Bill Cosby Behind Bars: Seperating the Man from the Art (Some Thoughts)<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #1d2129; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 6px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Well, Bill Cosby is in cuffs and heading off to jail for 3-10 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's weird. I despise what he did. I find him a grotesque human being. But the art he put out into the world I admire greatly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's hard to separate the man from the art for many people, I know. But The Cosby show is such an invaluable tool in teaching parents how to communicate with their own kids, and more importantly, in teaching non-native speakers the values of good communication in a family and among <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">friends.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Cosby show is an educational tool I rely on heavily in teaching my students good communication skills. And you might say, well, can't you use a different series? And the answer is no. Because there is no other series that does what The Cosby show did. And there's no other series that covered the importance of family values, of setting ground rules for your kids, and in teaching basic decency and respect for others to the same degree that this show succeeded in doing it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It feels weird to see a person I once looked up to fall so epically from grace. It's weird to go back to the series he created knowing what he's done and find value in the art, even though the man in his real life was a piece of trash.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And that's the thing I think we all have to remember. The Cosby show is a work of fiction. The Huxtable family is the ideal family. But, in a way, that's why the show works so well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Huxtables showed us what we could achieve as a family if we all worked together. If we took the time to talk about our problems and worked, as a family unit, to understand each other's points of view and worked together to overcome the challenges that life throws at us daily.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It contains very positive moral messages involving culture, music, education, work, along with valuable life lessons for both children and adults. Its importance in television history will not likely fade anytime soon nor do I think it should. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe some of you will disagree, and that's your right. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But I for one choose to separate the art from the man and not let one define the other. After all, we don't judge the value of our hamburger cook on how well he made our burger before serving it to us. That would be strange. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So, yeah, I will still allow myself to enjoy The Cosby show even as I find Bill Cosby repugnant. That's just my choice. Yours could be entirely different and equally valid. What works for one person may not work for all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the meantime, Bill Cosby will now serve his time for the crimes he committed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That's my two cents at any rate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">(Just realized invaluable and valuable mean the exact same thing. Yeesh! English.)</span></div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-84500947491583761222018-08-30T22:36:00.003-07:002020-03-22T09:41:51.581-07:00The End of a Journey and the Beginning of a New One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
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Where one journey ends a new one begins.</div>
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I have decided to call it the end of my Advocatus Atheist journey.<br />
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This blog was monumental in helping me grapple with my loss of faith and working out my thoughts and feelings as I approached new belief systems and looked toward an uncertain future.</div>
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Now, after years of writing and years of speaking on religion, I've decided to call it quits.<br />
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Many of my atheist friends have also moved on. Once prominent bloggers are now focusing their energy and activism into things closer to them, taking on more personal challenges, and living their lives.<br />
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As you can tell by the lack of posts over the past couple of years, I too have shifted focus.<br />
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No longer do I feel the religious debate has anything worth discussing. That doesn't mean it's not a discussion worth having if you're engaging it for the first time. I'll continue to answer any questions directed my way, but as for new content, don't expect anything other than once in a blue moon.<br />
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Nowadays I have shifted all my focus and energy on my fiction writing, which has become rather lucrative for me.<br />
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What isn't lucrative is this blog. No matter how hard I tried, this simple expression of my ideas and thoughts, no matter how well researched, never generated a dime for me. And that wasn't such a concern when I was single and fresh out of college.<br />
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But, now, with three children, two dogs, and two rabbits I have many more mouths to feed and many more lives I am responsible for. Which also means I need to spend more time working<i> for them </i>and less time with online activism that seems to do little in the way of convincing anyone -- no matter how disciplined the rhetoric or how factually backed the arguments.<br />
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As such, it's time to close shop.<br />
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Naturally, all good things must come to an end. However, I realize that this blog has helped many others navigate their own loss of faith and perhaps helped, in some small way, give them direction in a turbulent, frightening, and uncertain time in their lives.<br />
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As they move forward in their own personal journeys and dare to look out beyond an absence of their faith for something to anchor them in a godless and vastly indifferent universe, if anything here can provide a small modicum of comfort during that terrifying existential crisis, then I'm certainly happy to leave up all of my past posts and discussions.<br />
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Over the years I've received numerous correspondence from people thanking me for this blog. I forged numerous friendships because of it and am proud that after a decade I still am friends with all my secular skeptics who I first met when I launched The Advocatus Atheist.<br />
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Because this blog has always been a valuable source for not only myself but others, I will leave it up. It won't be as active as it once was, but don't be surprised if the occasional political or religious reflection shows up.<br />
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That said, I will pour all my energy and artistic creativity into my books such as my science-fiction fantasy series Jegra: Gladiatrix of the Galaxy and the spinoff series Skywend: The Last Peacekeeper and the Knights of Caelum.<br />
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I also have a couple of new series planned for next year (2019) called The Wayfarer, a Tomb Raider styled adventure series, and Blood Alchemist: The Untold Tales of Dracula, a Vampire series -- obviously.<br />
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These, along with my current projects, will take me well into 2023 with non-stop writing. At the same time, I continue to teach English in Japan and will divert more time to my own English school as I continue to add students and build clientele.<br />
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Anyway, I wish you all well. And as always, live well and be wise. Finally, in this day and age of instant outrage and seemingly endless online profiling, doxing, and hypersensitivity, I will share this bit of wisdom I learned from my grandmother.<br />
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If there's anything in this world you could choose to be, it is my hope that you'd choose kindness. Be kind to one another.<br />
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Love one another.<br />
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Let go of the hate.<br />
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And live your lives to their fullest.<br />
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Do it in that order, and be content. Life is too short for senseless bickering, petty grudges, and no room for forgiveness.<br />
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Be kind.<br />
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Choose love.<br />
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That is all.</div>
Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-42875573815732718602018-06-05T22:10:00.000-07:002018-06-05T22:26:18.896-07:00Top Ten Annoying Kinds of Athiests!<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; position: relative; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
If you must know, my all time most viewed post is the <a href="http://advocatusatheist.blogspot.com/2011/02/top-ten-annoying-types-of-christians.html" target="_blank">Top Ten Annoying Types of Christians </a>post from 2011. I figured it would be fun to turn the tables and critique some of the annoying kinds of atheists there are. Fair is fair, after all.</h3>
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;"><b>1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>The Fanboy Athiests</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">These are the Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson (instert famous atheist here) die-hard fan-boy types that will defend every little thing said or done by their favorite celebrity atheist no matter how absurd or wrong. There's nothing they won't come to the defense of it it's their bro-atheist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;"><b>2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>The Atheist + Atheists</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">A movement championed by Richard Carrier among others to make Atheism more inclusive. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But the way these A+ movers went about doing it was to burn all the bridges and slam anyone who disagreed with even one minute aspect of the movement's screed. It was left-leaning and very dogmatic in it's zeal for revolutionizing the New Atheism movement. Needless to say, it crashed and burned within a matter of months. Like the Spruce Goose, it just didn't have what it needed to keep itself in the air. But that doesn't mean there aren't A+ sympathizers still loitering about the Interwebs. They pop up once in a while to remind you of your folly for not believing exactly as they do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;"><b>3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>The I'm Atheist But Don't Do Facts Type</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">These atheists proudly admit they don't believe in God, but then they turn around and espouse the benefits of supplements, crystal salt therapy, and acupuncture. Some even believe in ghosts! These atheists are into alternative therapies and believe they work, because unlike many atheists who come into atheism via a desire for more rational grounds for believing things, these atheists are just living life without facts. And they're content to continue to do so. Which makes them really annoying.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;"><b>4.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>The Can't Stop Being an Anti-theist Prick Atheist</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">Understandably, many coming out of religion go through an unavoidable anger phase. It's inevitable. But after about a year of blogging and lashing out at the folly of religion, most atheists calm down or find a nice balance to their secular life. The types that really grate, however, are the ones that can't stop being angry and continue to attack religion with the same dogmatic zeal they exhibited when they were a believer. And this religious need to always attack religion makes them one side of a very ugly dogmatic coin, bringing them squarely onto the list of annoying types of atheists. My advice, get it out of your system, sure, but then take a chill pill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;"><b>5.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>The I Wannabe an Intellectual Too Type!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">I hate to knock people's intelligence, as that's generally an ad hominem. But as with the Christian community, there are atheists who pretend to know more than they actually do. And they'll be the first to tell you. Which, I think you'll agree, makes them pretty dang annoying.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;"><b>6.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>The Atheist who Doesn't Know the Difference Between Atheism and Agnostic type</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">If you don't know the difference between agnosticism and atheism, then you probably shouldn't be getting into arguments about the meaning of either. Yet, there are a handful of atheists who continue to conflate the two, or else dismiss agnosticism entirely, not realizing the nature of their mistake. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">Atheism deals with the *personal belief propositions of theism whereas agnosticism deals with what we can *know for certain regarding theistic claims; e.g. whether God exits, etc. There's room for both. I am, for example, an atheist due to my personal beliefs regarding my understanding of theism, but I am also agnostic because I am nearly certain I can't know with any certainty, given my current understanding, whether God exists or not. This makes me an agnostic-atheist. And that's fine. But thinking agnostics are scared atheists or to diminish the position in any other way reveals a lack of understanding on the critics part, making them rather annoying know-it-alls who don't know much of anything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;"><b>7.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> I'm Atheist But all Atheists are Crap Type</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">These atheists have had a rough go of it, and have found lots to dislike about the atheist movement, so have sworn off all atheism. Just for the fact they think they're better than all of the rest of us, they make the list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;"><b>8.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>The Chauvinistic Atheist</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">These are the horrific womanizing, women-accosting, women-bashing, women-molesting, predatory atheists and their asshole defenders. These are the atheists who wonder why more women atheists don't speak out or attend conventions but then slither into elevators at 2 AM and hit on unsuspecting women then get angry when they're rejected. These are also the atheists who defend these kinds of boundary crossing, disrespectful, predatory atheists by falsely crying "outrage culture" and "political correctness" fatigue, but then turn around and argue with all the women non-believers who are sharing their personal accounts of terrible atheist experiences within the community as though their opinions didn't matter because they were female. Yeah, fuck you pricks and your tiny dicks. Women atheists rule, and if you can't accept that fact, go fuck yourself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;"><b>9.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>The Devil's Advocate Atheist</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">Usually this is the one guy in a chat thread that constantly takes the side of the theist in an attempt to, in their estimation, elevate you to higher standard of truthfulness. Therefore, they challenge you on every little detail and ask you to share all your research. Not for the benefit of the theist you happen to be debating, but for your own good. Often times, you end up burning out because you're fending a gish gallop of questions from both sides. And when you finally do throw in the towel, they apologize and express their concerns for the discourse. After all, it's the thought that counts, right? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;"><b>10.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><b>The 'I need money so bad I'll debate anyone' Atheist</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">Most atheists don't do the professional debate circuit, that's true. But some make a good living at it. However, some atheists might want to be more discerning in who they agree to debate. If you're just debating people who want to rile up audiences and use the platform -- and subsequently your atheist fame -- to blast their hate speech, then you're part of the problem. Hey, if you need the money that badly, I hear Starbucks is hiring. And, hey, they offer sensitivity training. Which will help you in the long run. At the very least it will prevent you from becoming the next Lawrence Kraus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18.06px;">There are many more types I could name, and many of these areas are overlapping, but these are just the types of Atheists which bother me (personally) to no end. I should know—I am one.</span><br />
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-83449126044861486152018-03-25T10:57:00.003-07:002018-03-25T18:02:00.897-07:00The Anti-Rationalism of Pro-Gun Activism <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Recently, I stumbled across this inane meme (above). Not once. Not twice. But FIVE times on my various social media accounts. So, allow me to respond.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If social media existed when the Constitution was written then right to privacy laws would likely have been included in it. But that's why we have the 9th Amendment anyway, because it clarifies there are moral laws & rights that aren't included in the Constitution as it is not an exhaustive text.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That said, there's a difference between calling for a ban of a lethal weapon which was used to murder all your friends vs. calling for more rights.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One is a response to a problem and the desire not to be murdered by a lethal weapon, mainly a gun. Which is a real problem in America. Although fatal school shootings aren't on the rise compared to previous years, they still register a higher fatality rate than soldiers in active service. That says all you need to know about the gun problem via statistics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Also, when it comes to "ownership" of weapons, freely giving up weapons to maintain civil and peaceful society is a form of progress. The most peaceful societies on the planet do not allow weapons. Of the few who do, their regulations far outstrip those of standard American systems. In societies like Finland, with high gun-ownership per capita, they are offset from the U.S. by having amazingly good universal socialized health care, including more than adequate care for mental illness, among low poverty and disenfranchisement rates among its citizens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Basically, in America, angry and poor people without access to good mental health care are arming themselves. And a lot of this "their taking away my rights" paranoia has led to people doubling down on their desire to own something they don't inherently need for happiness or survival in the modern world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Privacy is far more important than guns in the digital age, and if you don't see this then, by all means, feel free to go build a log cabin somewhere remote and live off-grid until you're able to partake in civil and polite society again. I mean, that's about the only real way you're going to be able to hold onto your guns *or privacy, for that matter* in the future. By waiting till the Feds show up to your front doorstep and pry them out of your hands.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But this just goes to show the crux of the gun problem isn't so much the proliferation of guns, although that is a symptom of bad gun policy. But the fact that so many people think they need to "own" guns when they are merely confusing the desire to maintain an unnecessary privilege with a right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, in 1789 a well-organized militia could fend off the United States military. It was not a robust military.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, in 1861 the North and the South fought and you could have a need for self-defense in such a scenario as enemy soldiers tramping through your fields and property. But in today's world, the 2nd Amendment's intended purpose of overturning a corrupt government is impossible. A single drone strike would end any militia or insurrection and 'we the people' simply are underequipped to take on a state of the art military, regardless of how many guns we might have. I mean, they can literally kill you with a flight simulator. Game over, man.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And, even I admit, there could be valid reasons to have shotguns and rifles on farms and for hunting, but with much stricter gun access laws and in a limited capacity. And I'm not talking about mere regulations. But real restrictions. Like you have to prove you need the tool for its said purpose and obtain a special license for it. After all, they don't let just anyone use large commercial vehicles like heavy equipment and airliners. There are a whole slew of regulations and special licensing that is required to use such tools and machines. They're specialized. And in a way, so are weapons designed to kill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So do I see Hogg's comments as hypocritical. No.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He's sayings these are separate issues about different kinds of rights. And we can either evolve our thinking on the issue or keep going around in circles because people don't want to relinquish a lethal tool designed for killing just because.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I know the standard fair whataboutism styled arguments. But what about cars? But what about hammers? What about all the crazy murderers who'll still resort to stoning you with rocks if they really want to kill you? Well, yes, life is a fragile thing and we can die from any numerous causes. Even eating too much cheese.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But, come one. Let's be adults here. Cars, hammers, and rocks were not deliberately designed with the function of killing others. That's a side effect of bad safety when using a device improperly. Guns are no different in that they can be extremely unsafe, except in the way of their standard function of killing is also extremely unsafe. And that sets them apart in a degree from, say, hammers and cars where hammers and cars are no different (i.e., their standard and proper function is non-lethal. Cars are for transportation and hammers are for construction. Guns are for killing).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And only in a non-rational debate would these self-evident truths about the true function and nature of a gun be so brazenly ignored.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As for the argument, well, 'bad-guys will still find a way to get guns' doesn't necessarily hold either. Because even if they do, it doesn't mean they'll use them. In Japan, for example, which has some of the strictest gun laws on the entire planet, the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) do in fact get guns. They typically shoot up each other, and very rarely turn their weapons on the public.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's a very good reason for this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When it comes to crime, it pays to stay off the radar of law enforcement. Because having an illegal gun in Japan is like waving a big red flag that says, "Arrest me! Arrest me! I'm up to no good!" And criminals tend to shy away from drawing too much attention to themselves just as a matter of habit. So, I've never bought into that argument that criminals everywhere would arm themselves and then turn their weapons on the public. It seems to be a kind of paranoid thinking that leads one to conclude that anyone you don't like who happens to get a gun will try and harm you with that gun, hence the need for more guns.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I think the usual rationalizations gun proponents use just don't hold up under rational scrutiny. I've considered them and thought about them for over a decade now and I haven't found one that relies on the inherent strength of a basic rational tenet that isn't propped up by whataboutisms and poor moral rationalizations that conveniently seem to ignore the stronger counter-arguments to the position. Like, literally disregard the arguments because they don't fall in line with the gun-mentality, to call it that. And that's a sign of dogmatism. Something that's dangerous whether or not guns are involved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kid President once said if your dream is stupid, get a better dream. I think that applies here too with the entire gun debate. It's not stupid for people to have the healthy desire not to become a victim of gun crime. What is stupid, in my opinion, is in the light of so much gun crime to think it's stupid for a person to want to ban guns out of their fear of guns rather than do the irrational thing -- which is to arm themselves with more guns -- of which they are afraid of being harmed by.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's a very irrational response to not wanting to become a victim of a gun-related crime and or death. If you're afraid of dying by eating the sashimi of the poisonous puffer fish, you don't go on a raw puffer fish eating binge to counteract this very real fear and potential risk to your safety and life. That's entirely irrational. If you don't wish to die by poisonous fish, you simply avoid eating raw puffer fish at all costs. Problem solved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And yet, there are at least 6 deaths a year from eating raw poisoned fish meat. So, when I see people claiming more guns will solve our gun problem, this is what I think of. It's the ole puffer fish excuse. It's just a bit irrational.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Coincidentally enough, the rate of gun death in Japan is equivalent to the rate of death by the consumption of poisoned fish. So, scaling up the analogy to 300 million American gun owners should show you the absurdity of the gun rationale. Just saying.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Being a gun culture simply for the masturbatory lust for guns is a stupid dream. Let's all grow up and realize that the value of life should outstrip the value of ownership of lethal weapons. We don't let people carry around vials of lethal poison just because they feel it's their right to do so. That's insanity. Why should it be any different with guns?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Really, the only real moral argument for owning a gun is to safeguard oneself from a present and imminent harm. Something that is threatening one's life and the life of their loved ones. But, in America, in many cases this threat is simply another person with a gun. Think about that for a moment. Then, you'll see the solution to ending this threat is quite simple.</span><br />
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-36263446278511003412017-11-09T20:54:00.003-08:002017-11-09T21:24:43.540-08:00**Me Too** (My Sexual Harassment experience that I've kept silent about for more than 10 years)<span style="text-align: justify;">I came to Japan in my mid-twenties and started my career as an English teaching professional teaching TESOL to Japanese students at elementary and Junior high school.</span><br />
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One of the first experiences any foreign teacher has the privilege of experiencing in Japan is the infamous "kancho." </div>
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It's basically a physical gag where a school child will sneak up behind you and wait till you bend over to wash your hands or drink from the drinking fountain, and then, placing their hands together, their index fingers pointed toward your nether regions like a gun--they jam their fingers into your anus with as much force as possible.</div>
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Many foreigners yelp out in shock at the first time small probing fingers try to enter their asshole. If you're a guy, sometimes the little kids miss and mash your balls, which really smarts. If you're a girl, sometimes they hit you right in the glory hole. Either way, none are immune to this childish prank.</div>
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During my first week in Japanese public schools, I got kancho-ed no less than seven times. Each time I felt myself getting angrier and angrier. I eventually complained to the vice principal of the school who informed me it's simply something children do.</div>
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When in Rome, I thought to myself. And sure enough, the antics of the school children blew over once they got to know me. As a matter of fact, I later found out that many school kids do this to new teachers to "test" them and see how they'll react. And being a foreigner in a strange land, I knew that they were taking advantage of the situation. But this isn't a case of sexual harassment since, in most cases, school kids six and seven years old aren't even aware of what sexual harassment is. To them, it's just a silly prank.</div>
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What came as a rather big shock to me, however, was when my 14 and 15 year old junior high school students did the same thing my first few weeks of school.</div>
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Again, as a new teacher, I got the sense they were testing me. But the guys also liked to swat at my balls in the bathroom when I was taking a pee--as a joke. And if you've ever listened to pubescent teenagers of 15 talk, you know they are all entering their hormonal stage where everything becomes about sex for them.</div>
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After my second year teaching, several of my third year students (the equivalent of freshman in high school) decided to play a naughty prank on me.</div>
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As it turned out, I achieved the thing I was aiming for--familiarity with my students. I went through great trouble to learn each and every one of the names of my graduating students. I wanted them to like me and think of me as a cool, hip teacher. And to that effect, I succeeded. Also, being the token foreigner amongst an all Japanese staff, many of the students would approach me with questions asking about the difference between their culture and mine. </div>
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I was always happy to answer such questions except when they were sexually explicit and entirely inappropriate.</div>
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Once a boy student asked me, "Are Japanese girls' pussies tighter than American girls' pussies?"</div>
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I was taken aback by the bluntness of the question. I merely replied to him in Japanese, "I can't talk about such things at school. It's not appropriate."</div>
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He laughed and wandered off with his friends. Another time, a different boy student asked me how big my penis was and if he could see it. I didn't know whether to be flattered or traumatized. </div>
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I politely apologized, as is custom in Japan, and informed him it wasn't appropriate to talk about such things and shrugged it off and went about my week. </div>
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But the more familiar my boy students became with me as their teacher the more emboldened they got and, soon enough, began asking me all kinds of lewd questions. </div>
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Granted, they were curious and I was technically the only one who could answer such questions about the "cultural" differences they were interested in, except for the fact that it would have been entirely inappropriate. So, as always, I deflected their questions or did my best to change the subject to something that would hold their attention--such as sports.</div>
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As the boys kept me preoccupied, I never saw the real threat of the girls--who were equally curious and perhaps a little more aware of their own sexual maturity. Whereas with the boys it was just a game, the girls approached their sexuality in a more up front sort of way. A way which snuck up on me. Quite literally speaking.</div>
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In Japan, the students all have a cleaning hour at the end of the day. They all work together to clean their school. Which is why Japanese schools don't have janitors.</div>
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One day while cleaning, a couple of girl students of mine rushed over to tell me that their friend had fallen down and hurt her knee. They were adamant that I should come right away. Worried that a student of mine was actually in trouble, I followed them to the stairwell.</div>
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One of the girls pointed to the dark area behind the staircase, which was merely a storage area, and stepped to the side as I leaned in to see what the matter was. Without warning, from behind, both girls shoved me into the nook behind the stairs.</div>
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I reached out as I fell forward and my hands mashed into something soft. When I looked up I found one of my girl students, her shirt and bra pulled up over her chest, laying under me as she stared up at me with brown eyes and flushed cheeks.</div>
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I looked down to find my hands firmly pressed upon her small budding breasts and I quickly recoiled, pulling my hands away. But as I tried to clamor to my feet, the two girls behind me leaned into my back, practically hopping on me piggy-back style and forced me back down onto the third girl.</div>
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I caught myself with my hands, my face hovering dangerously close to the third girl's face. As she looked up at me, she asked me in a deliberately sensual tone, "Do you like me, Mr. Vick?"</div>
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One of the girls from behind said in a loud voice, "Mr. Vick, please touch my breasts next!" </div>
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The other girl from behind quipped, "I want him to touch me someplace else."</div>
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All three girls snickered and giggled excitedly. I remember one even snorted and that made them laugh all the more.</div>
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Angered, I pushed myself up and shoved the two girls behind me out of my way. I retreated to the hallway when, turning to the right, I saw Kanda sensei making his way toward us.</div>
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I knew that if he caught wind of anything that had just transpired, I could get in huge trouble. I might even lose my job. And the girl students, for their crime of adolescent naivete and sexually immature antics, could get expelled. </div>
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Flustered, I didn't know what to do. My heart raced with nervous embarrassment and fear gripped me. I remember panic set in and I began to have trouble breathing.</div>
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Meanwhile, the girl beneath the stairwell pulled down her clothes and casually stepped out into the hall with us. All the girls turned as Kanda sensei approached and when he saw them giggling he ordered them to get back to cleaning. Without even batting an eye they took off, giggling amongst themselves down the entirety of the school corridor.</div>
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Seeing that I was without a broom, Kanda sensei opened the broom closet underneath the stairwell and handed me a bristle broom. I thanked him and moved on. He immediately turned to see boys throwing rocks at each other outside and rushed out to chastise them and order them to get back to cleaning.</div>
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As I stood in the hallway, sweeping the same spot over and over again, I tried to wrap my brain around what had just happened. Of course, I never mentioned it to anybody. I was too scared.</div>
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I knew that if I came clean with what had actually happened the girls could team up against me and lie about what had occurred, claiming that I attacked them and molested them. I knew they were all close friends and so would protect each other--if push came to shove--and being minors I could lose my job. </div>
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And even if it was deemed that it wasn't my fault--that I merely was a victim to their adolescent antics, at the very least it cast suspicion on me as a potential sexual predator. Which was practically just as bad as actually being falsely accused as one. Because then everyone would be wondering whether the rumors were true and this would give rise to new rumors--none of them bound to be good.</div>
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At the same time, I didn't want the girls to be unfairly disciplined, and from my short time in Japan I had seen first-hand how harsh some of the school's punishments were for things that, by my American standards, were trivial non-offenses. I didn't want to get them suspended from school for a one-time offense. Moreover, I didn't want my relationship with my students to become strained to the point where they didn't feel like they could trust me or be themselves around me.</div>
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So, I did the only thing I could do. I kept it to myself.</div>
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Was it the right thing to do? I think so. </div>
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I couldn't change what had happened. But at least I had some small control over what happened next.</div>
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I went the rest of the year without another incident. If it would have continued, I would have certainly mentioned it. But instead, the girls just blew me kissy faces, batted their eyes at me, and giggled the rest of the year long. They were only teasing.</div>
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But, in retrospect, I think their big prank was perhaps a little too much. And because it was overly sexual and placed me in an awkward and potentially problematic situation, I sometimes grow anxious whenever the memory should resurface. Which is why I have never talked about it till now.</div>
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That said, this account showcases only a mild case of sexual harassment. These students all acted out of innocent ignorance and out of a sense of fun and wanting to get to know me better. And, as the saying goes, no harm no foul. </div>
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In fact, all three girls stay in touch with me to this day. And if that should sound weird, consider that they're all college graduates now, and are the age I was when I first taught them (25). Two of them are married with children and they send me pictures of their families and tell me that whenever they get together they reminisce about the good old days and tell me they always talk about how I was such a fun teacher for them.</div>
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Sexual harassment is a sensitive subject matter because it's also a highly personal subject matter--and because people will undoubtedly respond differently to it. Most assuredly, there are cases far more severe and damaging than what I experienced, so please don't feel sorry for me. Everything worked out well enough in the end. Nobody was hurt by it, other than a bit of awkwardness it may have caused me. </div>
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Needless to say, I was on my guard around young adolescent people from there on in, and I most certainly never followed students blindly into dark corners of the school ever again.</div>
Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-92135492381933309712017-10-11T20:01:00.000-07:002017-10-11T20:01:13.754-07:00Ignosticism Advanced: And on Referential Justification<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Over the past 10 years, I’ve developed the concept of ignosticism into a formal demonstration that can either prove or disprove the existence of God.</div>
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In a nutshell, ignosticism asks you to describe “God.”</div>
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Simple enough, right? It’s not as easy as it sounds.</div>
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When a person says they have a belief in God, what is it they mean by "God"?</div>
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One might say God is three in one. Another might say none is greater than God.</div>
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Both are fine definitions.</div>
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The problem arises when competing definitions for the same God negate each other.</div>
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Three is not one.</div>
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So, what is it we are talking about? How can we talk about a self-negating concept? It’s nonsensical. We can’t speak meaningfully of it.</div>
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Hence, the ignostic holds religious people tend to presume too much about God.</div>
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The description part is to test the coherence of the object being described. Many theological descriptions of God are sophisticated but incoherent.</div>
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So, what is it we are talking about? How can we talk about an incoherent concept? It’s nonsensical. We can’t speak meaningfully of it.</div>
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Hence, the ignostic holds religious people must provide a meaningful description of God before the topic of God can carry any real meaning, regardless of the meaning they imbue their concept with before offering a demonstration.</div>
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Unable to do this, the term God is rendered meaningless and so irrelevant. </div>
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Most theological demonstrations of God's existence or attributes are logical conceptualizations, but they often fall apart when compared to competing demonstrations which change the description of God.</div>
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The key is finding religious templates that are logical and internally coherent.</div>
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Once we have these we can test the descriptions against the referent—whether tangible or conceptual. </div>
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A tangible referent would be the physical thing itself, like an apple. A conceptual referent would be something like Democracy or Capitalism. They are concepts, but they work and they function and can be measured and have an observable effect on the societies that adopt them.</div>
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Now ignosticism is only designed to determine the immediate relevance of your description. Unable to describe God in any meaningful way undermines one’s belief in God by demonstrating that God isn’t worth discussing because the concept of God (as provided by the person of faith) is meaningless.</div>
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I take it one step further by asking one to provide a justification of their description (I call this step a Referential Justification).</div>
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There are three parts to this: </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Provide a comprehensible description (comprehensible so as to be meaningful) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) provide a referential justification—the thing itself or a defeasible concept—for said description (otherwise it gets classified as an unreal conceptualization)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) determine if your description is accurate by comparing it to the description of an impartial 3rd party (otherwise go back to square one).</span></div>
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Easy enough, right?</div>
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You’d be surprised</div>
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<i>Referential Justification</i> is designed to help us justify our terms by showing they mean what we think they mean. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is part of the area of English theory known as </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">semantics</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">--better known as the study of the meaning of words and how they come to acquire their meanings. </span></div>
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And this relates in an important way back to <i>epistemology</i>, the study of knowledge and how we know what we know. Because, when you think about the standard phrases the devout typically use when talking about God is it usually something like "I know God exists," and "God is real" the question arises, how do they know?</div>
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Saying that "God exists" may be faith-based propositions, sure. But it's also a truth claim. And taking such a belief for granted doesn't prove the belief is true, even if one believes with all their heart they are.</div>
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All my advancement of ignosticism seeks to do is justify these claims as true. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that would be a big win for the believer!</span></div>
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It provides a powerful tool to justify one's terms so we can understand they are speaking about true and real things, and thereby avoid the ignostic's criticism that a person of faith's God-talk is meaningless.</div>
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So it is to the benefit of the believer that they should always apply a Referential Justification to their terminology so as to not run into any semantic problems where the words they are using actually don't describe what they are talking about. Because this is where the underlying confusion lies--if the definition of "God" doesn't mean what they think it means or it means something else entirely, then they cannot presume to know God is real or that God exists, because the term has no inherent meaning and so no value in the discussion.</div>
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This, of course, means we're dealing with a higher order of specificity than people are typically accustomed to using when they talk about broad concepts. It means, if we are going to make the specific claim that something is real and that it has certain properties, then we must be expected to show the work. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Show the relationship between your claim and the description you want others to accept as valid so that we know you're not assuming more than you can possibly know about the thing you are talking about. </span></div>
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Basically, it's a way to check if someone is haphazardly fabricating their ideas or else actually offering us a real description of something in a way we can talk about meaningfully.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not controversial. It's necessary.</span></div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-79188882727452874632017-10-11T19:29:00.001-07:002017-10-11T19:29:24.609-07:00A Longish Rant on the Whole Staged Pence Walk Out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/pri_54314968.jpg?w=620&h=389&crop=1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="620" height="250" src="https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/pri_54314968.jpg?w=620&h=389&crop=1" width="400" /></a></div>
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I probably should have known better than to get embroiled in a stupid Facebook argument with conservative Trump supporters. Trying to explain to them how Mike Pence as VP, an elected official of the Republic, represents all American citizens and not just conservative Americans was, predictably, all in vain.</div>
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It is inconceivable to me that the VP can pull a stunt like this and not get ousted from office. It's a complete overreach of the VP's power, not only because he's using the White House and taxpayer dollars to send a message as Mike Pence the VP (not Mike Pence the citizen), not only is his protest of peaceful protesters a denial of their message and what they're protesting in the first place (if he even is aware of what that is), but his staged Diva walk-out, when we know (for a fact) that he was scheduled to be in a different state that same day anyway and so had no intention of watching the game, is such a slight against American values as to be utterly grotesque.</div>
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If you missed why his walk-out was unconscionable it simply is this: As VP he has no right to silence the voice of Americans. He's supposed to represent those Americans, regardless of what his personal position might be with respect to their form of protest. This is intimidation plain and simple. And that's WRONG on every level.</div>
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But pointing this out caused me to get blocked by three people, told to shut up by two, and about a dozen others chanted variations on...but...but...but...don't disrespect the flag! Others were sure to mention all Pence did was peacefully walk out--how could I be mad at his peaceful protest of their peaceful protest?</div>
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BECAUSE he's the Vice President of the United States! Did you not know this? Are you not aware of the power dynamics at play here? How dense do you have to be not to get it?</div>
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If you were wondering how bad it is in America...it's this bad, folks. The VP literally protested the First Amendment act of peacefully protesting by protesting the protesters.</div>
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He said something to the effect that he was protesting the manner in which they were protesting, but this is the same difference. Clearly, he hasn't the faintest idea of what the protesters' message is. Probably because like all those who think it's a flag issue miss the point of why the protest is bothering them so much. Hint: It's not a flag issue.</div>
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It's not even a respect issue. It has nothing to do with one's level of patriotism. It's a status quo issue.</div>
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The protesters are saying that there is a segment of the American population that's not being treated fairly and that until this happens, they are taking a knee. The so-called disrespect is deliberate! It's to get you to wake the fuck up and pay attention to their message--we're not being respected so we offer this reflection of the daily disrespect that we as people of color receive.</div>
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And if you think it ain't so, look no further than to our own city streets where Nazis and white supremacists have been marching about with torches. And what do they protest? Their loss of privilege. Not exactly a slight against them as a people. Just an effect of a society becoming more inclusive.</div>
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You may feel kneeling before Old Glory is offensive, but have you forgotten the flying of Nazi flags on American soil just weeks earlier? How many of those inbred Nazi-wannabe fucks have you told to get out of America since then? Or have you sheltered them from due criticism and given them safe passage in the marketplace of ideas, claiming they have a right to free speech just like everyone else?</div>
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When these same Nazis / White Supremacists took an innocent woman’s life, shot at black people in an open crowd, and spewed racial slurs and bigoted hate at anyone not as white as they--where was your outrage then?</div>
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And when people of color say this offends us, so we'll take a knee as a peaceful sign of the slights we've received, of the insults and slights we’ve endured, and you grow outraged, well, I think you might be missing the fucking point.</div>
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It was never really was about the flag. It's about fighting a class-war where the opposition’s message isn't at all a peaceful one--but actively calls for the extermination of and continued abuse of people of color.</div>
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What a fucking message, eh?</div>
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And this brings us back to Mike Pence and his Diva walk-out. Like so many others, he's clearly missed the message. Like the others, he’s crying about his hurt feelings, ignoring the issues behind the protest.</div>
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This is a form of Whitewashing minority issues because many white folks, if you haven't guessed, don't believe minorities and people of color are treated differently in America. Not enough to be a problem. It's just the "liberal media," they say. They think it's all made up. And they balk when you talk of police brutality, of unfair incarceration, and of economic disenfranchisement. Racism isn't a problem here, they say--as Nazi's continue to convene in their squares and march in their streets. It's a matter of having pride for the country that's given you so much.</div>
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Talk about a HUGE misdirect! And do you know what the best way to get through to these knot-heads is? You guessed it...by taking a knee.</div>
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If you really are offended by the protesters' message or their act of taking a knee, I can only offer this advice: GET OVER YOURSELF. It's not about you or your delicate, bleeding heart, snowflake feelings.</div>
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Newsflash! You're not that important. Your small slight of having to see someone take a knee pales in comparison to the slight minorities and people of color feel every day at the unfairness that is built into our undeniably racist culture. And the only way to claim the culture isn't as racist as everyone has been telling you it is is to demonstrate to everyone that your country doesn't actually have Nazis and White Supremacists marching in your streets.</div>
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No? Well, then. Don't say I didn't tell you so.</div>
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Kneeling during the national anthem shouldn't be any kind of grounds to determine a fellow American’s true level of patriotism. It's certainly no grounds to find reason enough to prevent them from exercising their first amendment rights. It's not even grounds to ask them to leave--even if you are incensed.</div>
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You don't need to agree with the protesters' message, although I'll certainly question your lack of empathy. You don't need to like it though, that's your right. And you certainly don't need to call them un-American or tell them they should get out of your country. That's jingoism. That’s the same as using the flag as a tissue for your great big patriotic circle jerks. It's disrespectful to your fellow Americans and to your country. It merely seeks to diminish their status as Americans. If they're not patriots, they're FAKE Americans, so what do they matter? Right?</div>
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It's far worse when the Vice President does it. I can assure you.</div>
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It's disheartening for sure. I've never felt so bad for America in all my life. And by "bad" I mean terribly embarrassed.</div>
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What's more, it just goes to show we CANNOT possibly begin to make America great again until we change the QUALITY of Americans in America.</div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-13661129153914900922017-08-24T20:30:00.003-07:002017-08-24T20:35:54.678-07:00A Short Rant on Monogamy: Or the Dangers of Monogamous Marriage!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioz-9Gv66puDXqFFyRAchcAKsrEn7Yo_3D22EtjKO_Dz2ssVPDGGx1qag3MU_SNAUe4sv26gTogyXFj1pCpbYzdt7YcaBlK-QHK_isGMnsiK27Insg-wrUYyQe8LvYK-w8M7e4oMZSMMU/s1600/Romeo_and_Juliet_Dicksee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioz-9Gv66puDXqFFyRAchcAKsrEn7Yo_3D22EtjKO_Dz2ssVPDGGx1qag3MU_SNAUe4sv26gTogyXFj1pCpbYzdt7YcaBlK-QHK_isGMnsiK27Insg-wrUYyQe8LvYK-w8M7e4oMZSMMU/s320/Romeo_and_Juliet_Dicksee.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Pointing out that Monogamous marriage has the highest divorce rate of any marriage model is merely an incontrovertible fact. </span><br />
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You may not like it, but it's true. </div>
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It also suggests that maybe (maybe!) we shouldn't make monogamy the golden standard by which we value ours (or any other) relationships by and that perhaps (perhaps!) we shouldn't practice it at all (just a logical inference! Don't kill the messenger).</div>
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Of course, if you want to be monogamous or are happily monogamous, that's fine. But there's nothing in human biology to suggest humans are truly monogamous or that monogamy is natural to us as a species. Our pair bonds are dependent on proximity and familiarity and do not share the permanent pair bonds that voles or ravens create. We are semi-monogamous, you might say. Kayt Sukel's research into this is quite revealing.</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Minds-Brains-Influence-Relationships/dp/1451611552/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Minds-Brains-Influence-Relationships/dp/1451611552/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our monogamy can only be temporary, biologically speaking.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2rziQElGGp4VJKQRbEjtJiuYsYXrmjfHQSPFAfSSmNaUcCITUCZyoTvsMumsp3Z0RpBgi-m6pEVLiiT1y8xN4yxlDTcPrJGevzCRYLJfARoudFt4OjFxJJAtd2a5nTAxnPsLPq3W-gNU/s1600/Cupid+and+Psyche+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="595" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2rziQElGGp4VJKQRbEjtJiuYsYXrmjfHQSPFAfSSmNaUcCITUCZyoTvsMumsp3Z0RpBgi-m6pEVLiiT1y8xN4yxlDTcPrJGevzCRYLJfARoudFt4OjFxJJAtd2a5nTAxnPsLPq3W-gNU/s320/Cupid+and+Psyche+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Other problems with monogamy are that it arose out of patriarchal marriage customs where women were bought as chattel, and marriage was about heredity and status, not love.</div>
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If you're at all a feminist or care about women, this should be a big deal. While other marriage models do exist around the world, the dominant one is the Christian form of monogamous marriage, which arose out of the sentiment that women were property and flourished under Western patriarchy and was then exported to every corner of the world. </div>
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Some might argue that holy matrimony makes a husband and wife one body and one mind. That by the grace of God, their holy union makes the wife the husband's equal. This is trite nonsense and superstition. </div>
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The woman was never the lesser of the two. It's only under such an oppressive ideology that monogamous marriage could ever seem appealing in the first place. First, you need one gender to be demonized and oppressed and then (and only then) the promise salvation in the form of marriage to a man seems as all palatable. But no decent, thinking, human being could ever believe this was the best system of partnering with someone. Let alone as an expression of love! Bleh.</div>
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And just because it is ubiquitous doesn't make it the best. And we can know this for a fact. How?</div>
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Modern marriage / relationship models are hardly ever based on monogamy, and that's rather telling. Wouldn't you say?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVaTqVUgPGIcwd4w4arkXDSuJizan-m6aJLNW_nkMYj9fNv_5ySLCS16ZONPk_pvu_Mb0zLQitPjwnKLVNQISqRbS8ywJFErHi5ArsZ1_m4AvM_iQgBeZWbN7DjOQrmCxGIfJ3WZp7aAI/s1600/Rubens_The_Fall_Of_Man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="744" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVaTqVUgPGIcwd4w4arkXDSuJizan-m6aJLNW_nkMYj9fNv_5ySLCS16ZONPk_pvu_Mb0zLQitPjwnKLVNQISqRbS8ywJFErHi5ArsZ1_m4AvM_iQgBeZWbN7DjOQrmCxGIfJ3WZp7aAI/s320/Rubens_The_Fall_Of_Man.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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Concepts like open marriage and polyamory pay attention to both partner's needs, consider their equal commitment beneficial to the relationship but not the sole pillar of it, open up a safe space for dialog when one's adherence or values regarding monogamy shift, and never sets your cherished partner into diametrically opposed philosophical or moral opposition because of it.</div>
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Where as monogamy is designed to breed conflict and stress when one persons adherence or values regarding monogamy shifts, and it only considers he/she who adheres to its principles with blind devotion to be the valuable commodity in the relationship as it is the only pillar holding up the entire relationship, and holds both couples hostage to its principles even if one or the other should fall out of love--thereby villainizing them for a moral failure--is enough to make anyone who truly thinks monogamy is a good idea seem completely delusional.</div>
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Of course, it doesn't mean they are, in point of fact, delusional. They might find other value in their adherence to monogamy I am unaware of. Monogamy may actually work for them because they are both more monogamous than not. But there's no reason their standard ought to be everyone else's standard. What works for them might not necessarily work for somebody else.</div>
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But as far as a viable concept, monogamy is riddled with inexorable problems and is neither practical or pragmatic as far as human beings go and the types of varied relationships we are capable of sharing with one another.</div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-69637042965565129832017-05-24T23:22:00.003-07:002017-05-24T23:22:55.944-07:00Don't Shit Where You Eat (Religion of Peace My Ass)<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="9oirk" data-offset-key="38ko7-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKMvtArEc72bnIPZTeEMgjpjnbCDJL2NW10J_RbWLzBBFjA5qj89j2v0jcaGp83KqHYAGXnXvnreWFh_cMTwebM3LK8814etxuR9n1Z38GHs5Bn9gutKReb3Bx1RBp79KIEkyD9czWp54/s1600/theh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKMvtArEc72bnIPZTeEMgjpjnbCDJL2NW10J_RbWLzBBFjA5qj89j2v0jcaGp83KqHYAGXnXvnreWFh_cMTwebM3LK8814etxuR9n1Z38GHs5Bn9gutKReb3Bx1RBp79KIEkyD9czWp54/s640/theh.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span data-offset-key="38ko7-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Let's imagine... you had a book that said it's perfectly fine to shit where you eat.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fd030-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And because of your devotion to this book, you formed a belief early on that it was perfectly all right to shit where you eat. And this you treated as a sacred truth.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="b08pm-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">After all, your parents always shat where they ate. They taught you it was okay. Moreover, everyone in your community shits where they eat. And when they come over to your house, they love to shit where you eat too--and so do you!</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="43gf6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Then, one day you mature into adulthood and go out into the world to learn the ways of your fellow mankind. And you visit a distant land and the people there are friendly and welcome you with open arms and smiling faces.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fb6u3-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Then, that evening, while breaking bread with them, you climb up onto the dinner table, drop trou, and shit right in the middle of the dinner table. Right beside the roasted chicken and mashed potatoes. You drop a big, steaming, duce.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ap42d-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">To your dismay, everyone is appalled by this! Repulsed even. And unmistakenly disgusted by your crude, uncouth, and foul behavior.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="dtkq1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And your only defense is to say... "B-but it's okay. See? For I have it written here in my holy book that it is perfectly fine to shit where I eat! And what's more, that it should be desired!"</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="acrsr-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Yet everyone with half a working brain knows that's not how it works. The majority of the real world doesn't shit where they eat, nor would they want you to. And they have good reasons and real world evidence for why this is so. Reasons like its unsanitary and spreads disease. That it's gross, polluted, and invoke undesirable physiologic reactions. All this is evidently laid out, unlike the claims of your fairy tale book which merely makes unfounded and unwarranted claims that are either in bad taste or simply goes against basic common sense, if not both.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="7kv6e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Your fairy book may say "Religion of Peace," but everyone really knows the truth. It's just shitting where you eat.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="bgd25-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And when you shit where other people eat, well, then those people have a right to ask you to leave. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="26lj6-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">But please, for all the is sane and good in the world, don't go and act shocked when people call you foul, disgusting, and grotesque. Because that's exactly what you are when you shit where you eat. Pretending it's not, because of beliefs, is simply to be disillusioned about the way oxymorons work.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="3bh8t-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">If you say it's a "religion of peace" for example, but the religion only seems to generate violent and intolerant behavior, then it's not a religion of peace. It's the opposite.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="5g1r9-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And let's drop the excuses. If it were a few bad eggs, well, they'd be dealt with and fade away into the obscurity of time. It wouldn't be a weekly, monthly, year after year event...whereby the only thing that seems to be true is your inability to believe that shitting where you eat is a bad thing.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="c27d-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And that's nobody's fault but your own.</span></div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-66997135683580302372017-03-29T20:01:00.001-07:002017-03-29T20:05:56.159-07:00Abortion is Only Still a "Debate" Because...<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="an8dd" data-offset-key="edlcj-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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Abortion: It's only still a "debate" because the pro-life side refuses to accurately define life, they refuse to define what legal status a fetus should have, whether it is limited as with other minors, whether it shares the same legal standing as the mother, or whether it has its own legal standing yet to be defined, or none at all.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="5kbtc-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">In every case, in which the pro-life side talks about "baby killing" and "murder" they turn around and strip the mother of her autonomy, try to force her to bear a child without the proper medical expertise to even discuss such concerns, and in many cases try to erect laws to punish and jail the woman who chooses to have an abortion in defiance of their attempt at authoritarian control over her and her body.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ejca5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">It is telling then that the entire abortion controversy is still a "debate." It is still a debate because the pro-life side refuses to do the necessary legwork in creating a defensible position. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="d60ut-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Here's a not so big secret. Until the prerequisite conditions of knowing the exact definition of life (not your personal opinion but an actual scientific and philosophically sound definition), until we know the precise legal standing of the fetus and its status in relationship to the mother's rights as an autonomous citizen with legal protections, until the discussion can be about what these rights should look like in a civilized society with advanced medical technology and medicine, there simply is NO pro-life argument.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="bdbat-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">All it is, at this time, is an attempt to control women. Hence, it's still a "debate" in their eyes, because women aren't yet fully under their control. And it will continue to be a debate until they take the questions of a fetus's identity and autonomy seriously.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9fbhp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">You know who does consider these things? The pro-choice side. Which is why pro-choicers are in staunch opposition to the pro-life side. Because the pro-life side isn't about saving the life of babies. It's strictly about the control over a woman's body and dictating the rights of a mother's autonomy. This "debate" can never truly end until the pro-life proponents do better and fashion a defensible position. The control, power, and authority over another human being to get your way is not a defensible position.</span></div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-55756620180014187282017-03-15T18:23:00.001-07:002017-03-15T18:27:02.791-07:00***My Epically Long-winded GOP Rant***<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="4n3d5" data-offset-key="dvljt-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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Is the GOP on drugs? </div>
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I mean, they must all be on drugs. Right? </div>
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In 50 days of the Trump presidency, we see the GOP write up a health care bill that sucks so bad it will actually do real harm to Americans. And all because there are members of the Grand Ole Party that just cannot accept that Obama care is working--barely, since they blocked it at every turn, repealed it numerous times, and forced terrible rewrites into it effectively neutering a decent healthcare package and making it into a nightmare--but it's still better than nothing. And they want to replace a barely functioning health care bill that, as bare-bones as it is, is actually doing some good with a health care plan that wants to ass-rape 50 million Americans.</div>
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If this wasn't bad enough, we have a POTUS who passes an *unconstitutional* anti-Muslim ban that then gets suspended then stricken down as unconstitutional only to write another Muslim ban, as if that was going to go over well. But the GOP and its supporters are glad, because...well...MUSLIMS = SCARY to them. And OTHER CULTURES = ICKY to them. </div>
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The Whitehouse Press secretary, Melissa McCarthy look-alike aka Sean Spicer, lies about the president's lies. Gets caught lying about the president's lies, and so makes up some lies to cover-up the previous lies. Really, this happened. Just...wow. </div>
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The appointed education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is...surprise, surprise...anti-education. As if you hadn't already guessed. And has the vouchers to prove it. But if that's not enough to convince you, just watch that painful video of her appointment hearing where she basically confesses, by a vote of silence, that special needs and handicapped children do not deserve equal opportunity education. WTF? Who says no comment to that? Of course, special needs and handicapped children deserve equal opportunity education! Of course they do! Only a cold-hearted sociopath wouldn't be able to admit that. </div>
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Seriously, people. This is the secretary of education we are talking about. She wrote a bill that essentially takes away school lunches/breakfast plans from public schools, even as many children need those meals. The wording of HR 610 stipulates that if a school has not applied for certain vouchers, they won't be granted enough funding to provide nutritious foods, and if they can't meet the requirements of the nutritious food mandate they aren't allowed to give any food to children at all--effectively repealing the No Hungry Kids Act. It's all there...in the bill people! It hasn't passed yet, thank goodness, but it's been introduced to the House. So, yeah.</div>
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The appointed secretary of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, is a climate change denier who has spoken out against the very real harms of the environment, essentially showing he has no sense. On top of that, he wants to make cuts to the EPA not realizing the EPA is what safeguards and regulates all the nuclear power/energy plants in the U.S., and that cuts to the EPA not only would have lasting--and quite possibly devastating--effects in the fight against climate change, but it could also lead to nuclear power being underfunded and shorthanded in the long term, thus laying the groundwork for deteriorating nuclear power plants, lack of safety measures being in place, and potentially more accidents. </div>
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Steve Bannon gets put on Trump's National Security Council even though he's the founder of an alt-right magazine who both the KKK and Neo-Nazi parties have openly voiced support for, and who is currently under criminal investigation by the U.S. government.</div>
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Meanwhile, Kellyanne Conway is living in an alternative universe where alt-facts are facts and things that didn't happen definitely did happen, and where spin is the only zone in her reality--which is so dizzying to us in the desert of the real that she appears to the informed to be little more than a muppet in a blond wig.</div>
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And don't get me started on Paul Ryan, who is so tone deaf as to the plight of working-class, middle-class America that he's practically willing to butt-rape them at every chance in the name of the 1% of the insanely rich, because...Democracy, Capitalism, Obama bad. </div>
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And the supporters of these people, the advocates of the GOP like Faux New's own Sean Hannity has been drinking the same Koolaid as the rest, and things the Obama's never had it bad and were never ridiculed or scorned like Trump has been, when the right has been nothing but venomous toward the Obamas calling them everything from the anti-christ to secret Muslim spies to gorillas. Which was going on till the very last week of their tenure in the White House, if you'll recall, when Beverly Whaling, a mayor of Clay West Virginia, supported a racist tweet about the first lady looking like "An ape in heels" --overtly racist-- and then complimented it...true to racist fashion, then stepped down over the fact that she applauded racists tweets about the first lady of America in the very last week leading up to the Obama's exist of the Whitehouse.</div>
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Sean Hannity, apparently, is living with Kellyanne in her alternative universe with alt-right Bannon and all the weirdos which have jammed up the GOP so badly that no amount of enemas will seem to help clear that nasty, bile-filled, party.</div>
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And then there's the 65% Republican voting base of Americans who think all this is just fine and applaud Trump for all the good he's been doing--and then act shocked when the rest of the majority of Americans (who did not vote for Trump) act appalled--and they call us liberal snowflakes. </div>
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And...the only explanation I can find is that...the entire GOP and friends are all on drugs. Mind-bending, reality altering, drugs. </div>
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Tristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.com0