PZ Myers is to philosophy as creationists are to science

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Michael

I was bouncing around YouTube today when I started watching the beginning of Thunderf00t’s 3-part series about how feminism is poisoning atheism. A clip of PZ Myers showed him re-defining atheism as such:

Atheism is the radical notion that we should live our lives by the principles of reason and evidence – by science.

As I’ve said so many times, atheism is only descriptive. To say that it implies any ‘shoulds’ or ‘should nots’ is to clearly state that it is normative. PZ has had problems with this in the past. He believes that atheism has with it particular values, and his ‘reasoning’ is that atheists themselves all have values, thus atheism does, too. To see the fat idiocy of such an argument, one only need to replace atheism with another descriptive position such as, say, aunicornism: Aunicornist all have values, and so aunicornism also has values. Indeed, I can even define these values! (Surprise, they happen to be exactly the same as mine!) This is why we can say with confidence that there is broad-based agreement on a whole host of complex issues amongst people who do not believe in unicorns.

If PZ actually understood the difference between normative claims and descriptive claims, he would absolutely never make the asinine arguments he does. It’s quite clear that he has an impossible to respect motivation: He wants to impose his particular values on the atheist community at large. It’s wonderful that this will never work – since atheism is 100% descriptive and nothing else, there’s no way to approach his faulty goals without necessarily ostracizing a large number of atheists (sort of like the Republicans have done with their accusations of ‘RINO’ and demands for strict conservatism in the party) – but I do find it distressing that there’s someone out there supposedly on the side of atheists and causes commonly supported by Gnu Atheists who would so willingly attempt to destroy a community through wanton and intentional fracturing.

It’s a common practice of universities to offer its employees free or reduced classes. As a professor, it’s likely that PZ could take whatever course he wants without incurring any costs. I only hope that he finds the time to wonder into an introductory philosophy course. His creationist-level thinking is embarrassing and, worse, wholly detrimental.

Filed under: Atheism/Humanism, Philosophy | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

People become Republicans because of religion

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Michael

At least for the vast majority, that is. See here:

With no debate, Republicans at the party’s spring meeting here on Friday unanimously approved a number of resolutions, including one that reaffirmed the party’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

“The Republican National Committee affirms its support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and as the optimum environment in which to raise healthy children for the future of America,” the resolution read. The 157 RNC members present approved it in a voice vote.

I’ve made the claim in the past that the reason people turn to the GOP is out of their conservative Christianity. To me, this is a very tiny, very obvious claim. Basically dishonest people who aren’t interested in critical thinking (or doing any research, but I digress), such as the odious Michael Hartwell, have tried to spin my statement in a way where in order to prove it I would have to explicitly know the minds of every single Republican. Under his requirements, we could never surmise why anyone becomes anything if the group we’re discussing is sufficiently large. (This is interesting, too, since he has gone the racist route of claiming that blacks vote for Democrats because they benefit from and like handouts.)

At any rate, I think this is all quite obvious: Most people who become Republican are first fundamentally religious, soon recognizing that there is a political party which reflects their religiosity. The re-affirmation of the GOP’s opposite to marriage equality is a perfect example of this because there are no good (or even honest) secular arguments against allowing same-sex couples their constitutionally guaranteed right to marriage. That is, it is the base Christianity that underlies the Republican party that has caused this vote and view; we don’t live in some backwards world where people became bigoted Republicans all on their own, later noticing that a particular cultural religion happens to exactly reflect their positions.

Filed under: News, Religions, Same-sex marriage | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Jesus Christ

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Michael

Jesus Christ

Filed under: Humor, Religions | Tagged: | Leave a comment »

Opening the St. Croix to alewives

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Michael

Of the few good things the Maine legislature is able to do, this is definitely one of them:

The Legislature passed a bill Wednesday to end an 18-year blockade that has prevented alewives from running in most of the St. Croix River.

L.D. 72 passed the Senate by a vote of 33-0. The House voted 123-24 to enact the measure. The margins are sufficient to enact the emergency bill with Gov. Paul LePage’s signature.

If the governor does sign it, the bill will take effect immediately and allow spring runs of alewives through the fishway at the Grand Falls Dam near Princeton, in Washington County, and through much of the St. Croix watershed.

(The St. Croix is an important Maine river that serves as a border between the U.S. and Canada, winding through the edges of Downeast Maine, and emptying into the Atlantic.)

If you’ve wondered why the lobster industry in Maine (which, c’mon, is the only one that matters) has been reeling so much lately, one of the reasons has to do with alewives. This fish is a vital source of food for large predators, but it hasn’t been as easily available to them due to population declines and poor wildlife management decisions over the years. As a result, it is a strong possibility that there are fewer large predators in the Gulf of Maine, thus allowing a free-for-all explosion in the lobster population; the cockroaches of the sea aren’t being as vigorously hunted by non-humans as they once were. This ultimately drives prices down, hurting Maine fisherman. However, now that we can expect dramatic increases in alewife numbers, we should begin to see improvements in one of Maine’s key economic sectors.

Filed under: Biology, Local | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Thought of the day

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Michael

Utilitarianism is the only approach that makes sense in government (and personal) policies. It takes into account the need for freedom and personal autonomy by virtue of those being things which increase the net good and decrease pain, but it doesn’t tie us down to ridiculous conclusions, such as libertarianism does. For example, libertarianism forces this absurd idea that fire departments don’t need to respond when the burning structure belongs to someone who owes a fee or pays taxes in a different but immediately neighboring district. These things do not happen as a result of utilitarianism.

Filed under: Misc | Tagged: , | 10 Comments »

Republicans don’t want small government

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Michael

Now that we’ve seen the recent hyped crazy of the GOP in action for the past 2 or 3 years, especially in state legislatures, I think it’s clear: Republicans are not interested in small government except insofar as it furthers the growth of their own wallets as motivated by nothing more than greed. Supporting this claim is that fact that most Republican-led legislatures have done very little in terms of economic improvements and acts, instead focusing on immigration (Arizona), abortion (multiple states), and, most recently, pushing religion:

North Carolina Republican lawmakers may have abandoned their plan to declare Christianity as the state’s religion…

As I’m sure many people saw, NC Republicans recently wanted to ignore the federal constitution so that they could create laws respecting the establishment of a religion – the Christian religion, in particular. Which sect of the religion they wanted was never made clear, but none of it matters now that the proposal has died (not that it would have had a chance in court). Of course, that hasn’t stopped them from attempting to intrude into the lives of citizens:

…but conservative legislators in the state are still pushing forward with a plan to require a two-year waiting period on all divorces, a plan that require the couple to attend classes and workshops designed to prevent them from divorcing.

According to the Charlotte Observer, state Senators Austin Allran (R) and Sen. Warren Daniel (R) proposed the “Healthy Marriage Act” last week, which mandates a two-year wait before judges will grant married couples a divorce, two years during which they must complete counseling courses and workshops designed to improve “communication skills” and “conflict resolution.”

It’s undeniable at this point that the Republican party is not one of principle. The ideas they chuck out there are in clear contradiction, but these people don’t really care. They merely want to line their own pockets and the pockets of their wealthy supporters while imposing draconian social policies that invade the privacy of Americans.

Filed under: Politics and Social | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Thought of the day

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Michael

Why don’t we allow 16 year olds to vote? We let them get jobs and pay taxes, but for whatever reason, we don’t seem to think they deserve representation. I find this odd considering our early aversion to a little thing called taxation without representation.

Filed under: Misc | Tagged: , | Leave a comment »

Why we need better science education

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Michael

Some better science education could have entirely avoided this ridiculous situation:

Florida country radio morning-show hosts Val St. John and Scott Fish are currently serving indefinite suspensions and possibly worse over a successful April Fools’ Day prank. They told their listeners that “dihydrogen monoxide” was coming out of the taps throughout the Fort Myers area. Dihydrogen monoxide is water.

The popular deejays are mainly in all this trouble (potentially of a felony level) because their listeners panicked so much — about the molecular makeup of their drinking water, however unwittingly — that Lee County utility officials had to issue a county-wide statement calming the fears of chemistry challenged Floridians…

Every break we have we’re telling listeners it was a goof, a bad joke,” Tony Renda, general manager at WWGR radio told WTSP-TV. And apparently, the station, the water works, and perhaps the authorities are still trying to figure out if the two hosts could face felony charges for, again, reporting that the scientific name of water was coming out of the pipes. “My understanding is it is a felony to call in a false water quality issue,” Diane Holm, a public information officer for Lee County, told WTSP, while Renda stood firm about his deejays: “They will have to deal with the circumstances.”

Yes, and the rest of us will have to deal with the consequences of a scientifically illiterate society.

Filed under: News, Science | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Oh, Ray

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Michael

As I like to point out once in awhile, I don’t call people stupid without a good sense of justification. For instance, just because I don’t like Bill O’Reilly doesn’t mean I think he’s stupid (though he does say stupid things from time to time), so I’m not going to lob that accusation at him. Sean Hannity or Sarah Palin on the other hand…well, it’s proverbial candy from a baby, but it is accurate to describe those two as unintelligent (and Hannity is an outright liar quite frequently). But sometimes “stupid” just isn’t a strong enough term. At least, it isn’t for Ray Comfort:

RayComfortisdumb

It’s one thing to have a poor grasp on the English language, but then to have the overt insult go over his head is just monumental.

via Fundies Say The Darndest Things.

Filed under: Creationism | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Thought of the day

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Michael

The further and further removed from religion I become, the more and more ridiculous religious celebrations appear to me. I mean, Easter? The entire concept is utterly ludicrous. No man died and rose from the dead, much less for himself because he was his own father-son. Moreover, he wasn’t divine. He was just a good, charismatic liar.

Honestly, grow up.

Filed under: Misc | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

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