“Everyone is born unique, but so many die as copies.”

So in reply to my previous post centerNegative issued another one of his long winded rants. Can’t blame him, I’m the same way – when there’s something worthy enough of being said it’s usually complicated enough to need explanation and poignant enough to cause a few minor tangents.

I thought rather than waste the content on comment and reply; I’d just post his rant and interject my rambling in-between with the <<<.

centerNegative Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 12:03 am
What a fucking despicable moron. Bill Maher should know better than to let such a primitive cultural elitist get the drop on him. And the way he tried to turn that Hitler thing around on Bill… That fucking FUD crap pisses me off. Only the most limited idiot jumps on the ol’ “Oh you like totally love Hitler you big Nazi you said he was like a good military guy or something” bandwagon. That’s so fucking tired. Face it: Hitler was Smarter Than You. He was also a psychopath. Many psychopaths are geniuses. What does this tell us? Well, if you’re smart, you’ll try to kill as many people as you can! But I digress… He was smarter than you, he brainwashed an entire nation (all of whom were also smarter than you – but still not as impressive as what Islam and Christianity have accomplished), and the motherfucker actually stood a really good chance of taking over The Entire World. But he fucked up and we beat him. Fucking drop it already.

<<< The guy obviously found it as sensitive an issue as any of the other extremists nuts – at least he was almost able to contain his ignorant anger. Hah! If you’re going to quote people who’ve called religion a crutch though you may as well at least start with the finest minds. I think that fucking hick-grunt was probably thinking along the lines of Freud or Nietzsche, who’re not so fond of it or maybe even Marx who’s been quoted to say something like “Religion is opium for the masses.”

Here I go, this is a big point for me, because that asshole probably offended a good deal of the worlds finest minds who’ve said the same thing:
“While apologising for being "forthright", Peter Atkins, professor of chemistry at Oxford University, said that religious belief was "outmoded and ridiculous". Belief in gods was a "worn out but once useful crutch in mankind's journey towards truth". "We consider the time has come for that crutch to be abandoned," he said.”

Imagine if Hitler had used the viral insanity that makes Christianity so powerful combined with what they already had going, he may have just succeeded in his crusade… It just goes to show how retarded people can be, bringing up bullshit they don’t know anything about to try and make someone LOOK wrong.

Oh hey! Found a quote from wikipedia;
"Closely related to his support of education was his tolerant skepticism concerning religion. He looked upon religion as a series of conventions and as a crutch for human weakness, but, like most of his neighbors, he insisted that the women of his household fulfill all religious obligations. He restricted his own participation to donning his uniform to take his proper place in festivals and processions. As he grew older Alois shifted from relative passivity in his attitude toward the power and influence of the institutional Church to a firm opposition to "clericalism," especially when the position of the Church came into conflict with his views on education." - Bradley F. Smith: Adolf Hitler: His Family, Childhood and Youth Stanford/California, 1967 p. 27
<<<

If you can’t acknowledge the effective tactics of your enemy, even if he’s the loser, you won’t be prepared for them the next time around when they’re used by the next winner. After all, history repeats itself; Like when Bush tried to use the same propaganda machine Hitler used to justify persecution of Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gypsies, and homosexuals to justify war in Iraq to the American public. Sure sounded like a final solution to me. Except instead of gas chambers we’ve graduated to puppet governments. Subtle. OK, back on topic…

This is basically along the same lines of what I posted earlier on banning religion. God isn’t the problem. You can believe in God. Just fucking keep it to yourself and don’t gather en masse to worship him and certainly don’t impose it on anyone else without their explicit permission. If your God tells you to do otherwise, then your God clearly sucks, is counter-productive, and is flat-out disrespectful of people’s privacy.

A long time ago a brave and brilliant American president saw the offense of slavery and abolished it. He and others like him tried to enlighten the rest of us about human rights at great personal risk to themselves and at the cost of too many lives. Even then more than a century has followed in which the derogation of blacks has continued for a good part. But mostly, sentiments like “nigger” are considered generally offensive.

Well, not long after the Civil War came the hilarity of evolutionary theory and the Scopes Trial and, funnily enough, evolution is now standardized teaching in elementary, middle, high school and college science courses. I wouldn’t call it enlightenment – in fact, I think evolutionary theory is a complete farce – but at least it’s an alternative way of thinking which is better than keeping people locked into a single-thought mode. What is more important that I think the matter furthered as a sort of side effect was religious freedom – not freedom of religion but freedom from religion. That people shouldn’t have to have it shoved down their throats against their will. That they not only have a choice to believe or not but if they choose to believe they can choose what they believe.

Bill Maher brought out that point about Pakistan that’s just like something that vf2ss has told me for years: “What’re the odds, if you’re born in Egypt, that you’re a Muslim?” No shit. You don’t even have odds. There are no odds that exist that will allow you to be anything but a Muslim or a stoned-to-death-infidel. Those are pretty much your options. It’s bullshit and look where it’s gotten them.

<<< I really love that. Did you see that guy? He couldn’t fucking swallow the hypothetical scenario! How do people get programmed to the point where they’re such stupid, narrow minded, blind assholes about even simple hypothetical situations completely regardless of the FACT within them? For fucks sake man, if he were born in any of a HUGE list of places in the world there’s no way he’d have a chance in hell of being a jesus freak! In addition – if he did make the one tiny fragment of a fraction: he’d be the only one, you can line people up in that scenario, one million people – maybe one of them could have become a bible thumper. Give me a break!!<<<

So, like blacks should be offended by the word “nigger”, because it’s meant to disparage or threaten, I’m offended by the word “God” or “religion” because they’re also meant to disparage and threaten. They’re intended use is to elevate one group above another, to flaunt arrogance and some imagined privilege. They’re intended to scare you with imperceptible levels of punishment and reward to keep you subservient and compliant. And I want that crap off the books. Organized religion is defeatist at its core. It is brainwashing – anything that drills into your mind what to think (not how to) without giving you all the facts and forces you to make your selection based on the limited information you’ve been given is harmful mental conditioning. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a “neurological disorder”, though organized religion does seem to appeal to a great deal of the population’s certifiable nutjobs. But however you define it can be certainly overcome.
Most importantly, people need to be tought just how to think for themselves, then they can choose how and what they want to believe. And whatever they choose, they just need to keep it to them-goddamn-selves.

<< Gets me all worked up, like how it gets me so upset when people I know pass around those interesting facts emails that’re so full of FLAT OUT NON-FACT – often with a gov’t conspiracy, or tabloid like subject. All you have to do is google search for the subject of the email to get one of the sites created to set the facts straight. You can see it is a common email that’s been around the world. You can see the facts with cited sources and for fucks sake, MY GOD PEOPLE!!!! You should usually already know all of the facts on the subjects these messages are sent about, or at least posses the common sense to be able to figure it out at a glance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!

I HATE STUPIDITY!!!!!>>>>

Hey! Even Bill Maher decided to jump on my bandwagon apparently and start quoting me & shit!

The simple fact that so many people can see, is so hard for the religious to swallow. This guy came across like he had to try really hard to remain civil and not just flip out.

I guess I missed this one while it was in the news;

Senator calls for answer on creation of universe.

NASHVILLE – Sen. Raymond Finney proposes to use the legislative process to get an answer to the question of whether the universe was created by a “Supreme Being.”

Under Senate Resolution 17, introduced by the Maryville Republican, the answer would come from state Education Commissioner Lana Seivers “in report form” no later than Jan. 15, 2008.

Finally! A definitive answer to the worlds oldest and most heated questions! wait, what?

I’m not an Atheist. But then I’m not really anything. Maybe Agnostic? I got my own gig. But I do live on the same planet as everyone else so I figure I’m allowed an opinion. On the subject of banning religion defamation I’m entirely offended. Any meaningful discussion of religion outside of whatever one primarily adopts as their own is likely to qualify as blasphemy or defamation. The world cannot be expected to remain tolerant, live with different religions and walk on egg shells about it. It would make more sense, to me, to place a ban on getting offended over religious issues or defamation. Maybe ban intolerance in some meaningful and narrow way. Anyway, no time to rant here’s the article I’m sharing;

For Immediate Release: April 2, 2007

Atheists Warn Proposed U.N. Ban on “Defaming” Religion Threat to Free Speech, Church-State Separation “This proposal amounts to an international ‘blasphemy’ statute, and punishes those exercising a right to question and criticize religious superstition…” – Ellen Johnson, President, American Atheists.

An Atheist civil rights group condemned Friday’s passage at the United Nations of a proposal for a global ban on “defaming” religion.

The measure, passed 24 – 14 (nine abstentions) by the U.N. Human Rights Council called upon governments to “take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination including through political institutions and organizations of racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion…” States are also asked to encourage “tolerance and respect” for religion, and report on acts of violence or discrimination against religious populations.

“One of the problems here is that religion and religious believers are being singled out for ‘special treatment,’” said Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists. “Atheists aren’t mentioned, and we have plenty of cases where inappropriate and aggressive religious proselytizing download movie, even physical coercion, is being allowed in schools, the workplace and in government.”

Johnson also warned that the resolution was vague and overly-broad, and that criticizing or even questioning religious creeds is seen by many as a form of “defamation.”

“This amounts to an ‘anti-blasphemy’ statute that can punish anyone exercising free speech,” said Johnson.

The measure was supported primarily by Islamic countries. Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists, noted that the measure only mentioned Islam and Muslim minorities.

“Many of these countries have shabby records when it comes to human rights and freedom of expression,” said Mr. Silverman. “Even if all religions were included in this dangerous proposal, however, we would still oppose any attempt to punish people for expressing an honest opinion about religion and what many of us argue is a superstitious and un-enlightened point of view.”

Silverman added that all concerned with freedom of speech, including religious groups, should oppose the measure.

American Atheists is a nationwide movement which defends the civil rights of nonbelievers, works for the separation of church and state, and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.

Contact American Atheists