The Non Believers Beliefs

Winnipeg just had it's second annual MASH film festival. NO, there was no Radar or Hawkeye. MASH is the Manitoba Atheists, Skeptics and Humanists. One of the films presented was made by Scott Carnegie and Gem Newman of the Winnipeg Skeptics.

I also made an appearance in here.

Rebecca Watson and the Elevator of Doom!!!

Aka How to blow something way out of proportion in the most ignorant way possible.

By now most people in the Atheosphere have heard of the huge flame war going on over Rebecca's comments, male privilege and feminism. As usual, I am probably one of the last to comment on this. So here is the back story as I understand it.

I actually watched the video Rebecca posted to her blog that contained this incident. In amongst 4 or 5 other points she squeezed in this story of how when in Dublin she was approached by a stranger while in an elevator and invited back to his room for 'coffee'. She said, as a note to guys, that this was creepy and that they shouldn't do stuff like that. I completely agree with that. Inviting anyone you don't know/just met back to you hotel room for any reason is a bit on the creepy side and does not make a good first impression.

Some people who watched this video picked up on that one point and totally blew things out of proportion. At her next speech she used this episode as an example of some of the difficulties that still exist in the atheist movement when it comes to women. She also quoted and used the name of one of the more vitriolic of posters. Many people didn't like the fact that she refered to the poster by name and not 'some person'. Too bad. Many blogs, especially in the atheosphere, have disclaimers that anything you post there can be used againt them for ridicule. This is mostly for deranged Christians, but can be used for anyone.

It both saddens and angers me to see how badly this has all been blown out of proportion. In my view, there are a lot of people out there that really need to get out from behind the keyboard and experience some of the real world. Rebecca said and did no wrong with this.

Oprah's Finale

Well, the Oprah show is now officially over. She has been much derided in the skeptic/atheist blog sphere for some of her beliefs. One also has to acknowledge, however, that she has done a lot of good in the world too. By publicizing things like diseases, disorders and discrimination she opened our eyes and probably saved a few people in the process.

 By bringing on people with various medical and mental disorders, which many people would have otherwise been "too polite" to talk about, Oprah helped many people see that they are not alone in their suffering. She gave names to their disorders and, through recognizing their symptoms and going to a doctor, she no doubt helped save some lives.

I have known gay people since the early 90's. I have had no problem with them and have openly supported their rights. Oprah did a show where she interviewed parents of gay people. In it the parents said they noticed differences from a very early age. It was because of that show that it really hit home with me that they are "born that way".

And of course there is Barack Obama's election. Sure he was following an immensely unpopular and incompetent predecessor, but we can't deny the Oprah effect in his election.

I have to admit that I was never a huge Oprah fan, being on too early in the day to consistently catch it. That said, I did watch it when I could. My interest rapidly dropped off in the last half of her run when it seemed that she stopped trying to help people on a personal level and started trying to help them on a spiritual level. In her last show she once again got all preachy, crediting god for much of her success. She even got in a jab about prayer in school, mentioning that when she was going to school she was often the invocation leader.

I guess she had not heard of the terrible discrimination that Damon Fowler went through  in Bastrop Louisiana. Oprah championed African American rights, she championed Women's rights and she championed Gay rights. I wonder, if she was to stay on the air, if she would have done a show on Damon. I highly doubt it.

Good bye Oprah.

Are You Rapture Ready!!

This will probably be my last post. Today is the Rapture, where at 6pm local time god will suck up all of his faithful minions into heaven. Hmmmm, on second thought, I'll probably still be here.

As such, I would like to offer some advise to help others make the trip up to heaven.

Rapture ready tips

1. It is said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter heaven. As I won't be going, quickly get in touch with me and I will graciously tell you how to wire all of your money to me.
2. Being sucked up to heaven is no easy task. If you get stuck on tight fitting clothes you might get left behind. So wear loose fitting clothing today. Better yet, go NAKED.
3. To help god with that gravity thingy, at 6pm sharp TAKE A FLYING LEAP.

This has been a PSA from the Atheist Avatar

Bin Laden is Dead - Hallelujah !!

Osama Bin Laden is dead. Awesome!!

I personally think this is great news, something to celebrate. Many people in America and around the world would agree. However I have read a few blogs that seem to think that to celebrate the killing of someone like Bin Laden is a bad thing. They They seem to think that we are lowering ourselves to the level of the terrorists. They look at the Americans celebrating at the White House when news of this broke as being equivalent to the celebrating of people in many Muslim countries after 9/11.

I think that is a pile of horse shit. As I have said before, I don't believe in any sort of sanctity of human life. I believe that the value of a persons life is based on their actions. If they treat other peoples lives as worthless, then their life should also be seen as worthless. Bin Laden masterminded the events of 9/11. He purposely killed innocent civilians. We went in and killed him. These actions are not equivalent. They do not lower us to his level. If we were to lower ourselves to his level we would have nuked the compound and killed not only him but all of the innocent people in the surrounding city.

As for the celebrations, they were celebrating the killing of innocents, we were celebrating the death of a mass murderer. These are nothing alike. People who get their morality from a Batman movie really need to get out more and experience the real world.