Do you believe in Zeus? You know, the King of the Gods who hurls lightning bolts at people and at the gods he is mad at (that is, when he is not defiling human females because of his insatiable lust)? No? Well, I don't either.
Why don't you?
What about Odin? Zoroaster? Vishnu?
Why not?
Perhaps your answer is that you believe in Jehovah (or Yahweh or Jesus, etc). Okay then, sorry, but that is a terrible answer. Why is it terrible? Because from my perspective, you have only stated that you deny an unprovable assertion because it contradicts another unprovable assertion that you happen to believe is true (and that is most likely because your parents told you that it is true and that you would be a wicked person if you didn't believe it). For example, I could say that I know that there cannot be an invisible pink unicorn because my religion "informs" me that invisible unicorns are always purple. It makes as much sense as most people who say "I know Islam is false because I know the Bible is true." Does in not occur to you that the Muslim terrorists who will gladly kill you "know" that Christianity is false because the Koran is true?
Enough ranting. Let me give you the main themes that lead to my unbelief:
1) Intellectual. There simply is not compelling evidence that there is a super being acting and changing our world according to Its plan. Nor that the Bible is even remotely true. And there are so many reasons here. But I won't rehash them. Let's just say that all of the arguments I have ever seen were not at all compelling. Rather, they strike me as desperate attempts by believers to reassure themselves that they were not being irrational.
2) Moral. Let's face it, the God depicted in the Bible is a bastard. I mean, have you read the Old Testament? This guy is a total jerk. Why would you worship him? I think Anthony Flew aptly described him as a "Cosmic Saddam Hussein". Though I am not sure Saddam has committed anywhere near enough atrocities nor shown enough vanity to earn such accolades.
3) Intellectual. What does the evidence really suggest? Perhaps that there is an "Ultimate Unknowable" that is "Being Itself". But what does that mean? Well, nothing I have heard anyone coherently articulate. But, from my perspective, what does this "unknown" aspect of reality imply? I don't know - there is something about reality I don't understand? That's it. But I would say this: I find that the hypothesis of a God who is totally indifferent to human happiness makes much more sense than the idea that there is a God who gives a shit.
4) Moral. And to that point, considering the awesome vastness of the Universe, I find it even more unlikely that this God not only gives a shit, but that "he" cares whether Earth males get their dick sucked by males or females. Or whether Earth women kiss women. Or whether Earth men wear a condoms during sex. Why would such an all-powerful being over such vastness give a crap about how we get our rocks off? Speaking of vanity.
5) And let's talk about what I call the "God accountability flow chart". Here is my rendition:
Did a bad thing happen? If No, Praise God.
Else,
Did you or your loved ones survive unscathed?, If yes, praise God.
Else,
Did you or your loved ones survive, but now your quality of life now sucks? If yes, praise him. He has has a plan. Praise him!
Else,
If you don't praise Him, burn in hell, you ungrateful sinner.
End
6) Okay, consider this story. God makes humans whom He knows will disobey him. But, he gets pissed at them anyways (and kills a bunch of them in a tantrum). But wait! He will forgive them if only 2 things happen: 1) They have to beg forgiveness, and 2) Someone has to get tortured and killed, anyone, even his Son will do. Sure, that makes sense. I mean, he couldn't just forgive us. No, someone has to suffer.
7) Oh, did I mention that the Bible is wrong about science on almost every turn? Oh, never mind...
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Are Generation Y/Millenials whining slackers?
I hear this a lot. Mostly from people who are either Gen X (like me) or Boomers. It goes something like this: Kids these days, they are so spoiled. The can't get their careers going because they won't take a menial job and work their way up (like "we" did). They are spoiled and expect everything to be handed to them. It's why they live in their parents' basement. Brats!
To tell you the truth, this annoys the hell out of me. I actually think the last generation that seriously did a good job making the world a better place for their children was the WWII generation. And frankly, their children, the Boomers, have been the worst (not that my generation is squeaky clean). A what do I mean? It mean that the WWII generation made sacrifices so that their children would do better than they did. Like, (Holy Christ!), paying higher taxes for better schools and universities (those WWII guys were practically commies by today's standards), passing the clean air act, etc.
I may not have my stats correct, because I am going from memory, but in the 1970's, a student at the University of Minnesota paid for about 25% the cost out of pocket. The tax payers picked up the rest. Today? Students pay for 2/3 to 3/4 the cost - and it's a much larger cost. After all, is it fair to expect Baby Boomers to chip in and help kids today the way WWIIer's helped the Boomers? And for the huge amount of debt today's 20-somethings graduate with, what do they get? Lousy career and job prospects. Can you pay your students loans office sweeping floors, pouring coffee or flipping burgers (would you like fries with that)? heck no! And there are simply not enough good career jobs compared to the number of graduates. Why is that? Probably a lot of reasons, no one thing and no simple explanation will really do. A short list would have to include demographics, the general cheapening of labor (including white collar), greater economic imbalance, globalization, etc. But the one thing I think is absolutely untrue is this: It's the fault of the 20 somethings.
Moving beyond education, how have we viewed our legacy to the younger generations? Given a choice between lifestyle sacrifices versus denial on global warming, we have chosen denial. Given a choice between painful spending and tax increases versus more spending and tax cuts, we have chosen the latter. When choosing between funding public pension plans or underfunding and spending more today, we have chosen the latter. And pretty much every time we need to choose between the welfare of future generations and our personal welfare today, we choose the latter.
So, are 20-somethings cynical and unmotivated? Perhaps. And I would argue likely with good cause. But the next time you (and by this I mean us - Boomers and X'ers) want to blame someone for the prospects of 20 somethings, go get a mirror. Or perhaps I should say that when you decide to blame Gen Y/Millenials, I think their proper reply should be should be "Shut the fuck up assholes!"
To tell you the truth, this annoys the hell out of me. I actually think the last generation that seriously did a good job making the world a better place for their children was the WWII generation. And frankly, their children, the Boomers, have been the worst (not that my generation is squeaky clean). A what do I mean? It mean that the WWII generation made sacrifices so that their children would do better than they did. Like, (Holy Christ!), paying higher taxes for better schools and universities (those WWII guys were practically commies by today's standards), passing the clean air act, etc.
I may not have my stats correct, because I am going from memory, but in the 1970's, a student at the University of Minnesota paid for about 25% the cost out of pocket. The tax payers picked up the rest. Today? Students pay for 2/3 to 3/4 the cost - and it's a much larger cost. After all, is it fair to expect Baby Boomers to chip in and help kids today the way WWIIer's helped the Boomers? And for the huge amount of debt today's 20-somethings graduate with, what do they get? Lousy career and job prospects. Can you pay your students loans office sweeping floors, pouring coffee or flipping burgers (would you like fries with that)? heck no! And there are simply not enough good career jobs compared to the number of graduates. Why is that? Probably a lot of reasons, no one thing and no simple explanation will really do. A short list would have to include demographics, the general cheapening of labor (including white collar), greater economic imbalance, globalization, etc. But the one thing I think is absolutely untrue is this: It's the fault of the 20 somethings.
Moving beyond education, how have we viewed our legacy to the younger generations? Given a choice between lifestyle sacrifices versus denial on global warming, we have chosen denial. Given a choice between painful spending and tax increases versus more spending and tax cuts, we have chosen the latter. When choosing between funding public pension plans or underfunding and spending more today, we have chosen the latter. And pretty much every time we need to choose between the welfare of future generations and our personal welfare today, we choose the latter.
So, are 20-somethings cynical and unmotivated? Perhaps. And I would argue likely with good cause. But the next time you (and by this I mean us - Boomers and X'ers) want to blame someone for the prospects of 20 somethings, go get a mirror. Or perhaps I should say that when you decide to blame Gen Y/Millenials, I think their proper reply should be should be "Shut the fuck up assholes!"
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