Truth and the Devil

Josh Rosenau is a fellow KU student who writes on ScienceBlogs. It has been interesting to read his arguments against the views of Sam Harris. It interests me most because they both seem to share a similar worldview and have disdain for fundamentalism and dogma, and yet Josh fervently disagrees with what much of Harris has to say. To me, Josh’s arguments are quite well thought out, but yet don’t quite cohere into a valid criticism of Harris. I do not write this as a criticism of Josh, as much as I feel that his criticism of Harris doesn’t take into account some of Harris’s own nuanced views. Ironically, I have some of my own small criticisms of Harris which I wish to share. I’ll use Josh’s post as a jumping off post from time to time.

It appears the role of the Bush administration in promoting war instead of peace has reached all new levels.
According to Lawrence Wilkerson, former aide to Colin Powell, Iran approached the US in 2003 to offer to help stabilize Iraq and cut off aid to Hizbullah and Hamas. The subsequent rejection of that offer by Dick Cheney might have led to the election of Mahmud Ahmadinejad as president of Iran, the current boogeyman of the Bush Administration. I’ll let Juan Cole explain:

Mr. Richard Smith, whom my original Lawrence Journal-World letter was directed to has decided to reply in yet another letter. It’s basically the same arguments he put forth in his previous letter, as well as in his (multiple) comments at the Lawrence Journal-World website. I’m not sure if I’m interested in continuing any kind of back-and-forth in the pages of the Journal-World, as my intention isn’t to get the upper hand in an argument. I’m simply interested in informing other people in my area that not everyone thinks like Mr. Smith, and those of us who have no God are quite capable of living fulfilling, moral lives.

Sometimes we lie to those we love. Little white lies, spur of the moment whispers that are soon and safely forgotten. Great big lies, like movie productions, with descreet beginnings…rising action…rehearsals! And then, sometimes we think we are making a white lie; a temporary stay of execution for a temporary problem. A temporary problem that overstays its welcome, that squats, molevolent, heavy with forboding, crashing on our figurative couch and eating all our food. Then the white lie cannot be forgotten, instead it is elaborated upon, built up with clumsy carpentry and lopsided pillars, ill-concieved and poorly planned extensions bulging out from what was once a neat, compact little home for our guilty conscience.

Not to disagree with Shinka, but dependence and faith can be very necessary. Perhaps in a perfect world where each person loves and understands one another, there could be complete and open trust. But we live in the real world, don’t we, a darker and more troubled place than Shinka would have you believe.

Dear reader, please, think for a moment. Think of Jim, your neighbor, who hits his kids and never returned your garden shears. Think of Alice, the receptionist at work who wears her thong up above her waistline. Think of everyone you meet every day! These are the assholes that cut you off in traffic! The moron who couldn’t double bag your groceries with a bright, neon reminder and a gun to his head. Think, very, very hard. Do you want these people voting? Do you want THEM to control your future!

There’s quite a little theological fur-ball going on over at the Lawrence Journal-World website in response to my letter to the editor. Unfortunately, many seemed to have not actually read the letter, or at least chose not to understand it, which is only expected from those with deep religious conviction. However, one response caught my eye:

I hardly ever write.

As far back as I care to go, I’ve loved stories above all things. Movies, books, games, anything really. I have poured for hours over PnP Sourcebooks, never with intent to play, but intrigued by their deep mythologies. I have played games I hate simpy for the cutscenes, waded through menus and shoddy control schemes desperate for that last scrap of story, constantly searching for any new facet of those miniature worlds. I have read books until the pages yellowed under my fingers and I could skip entire pages because I knew every single word on them, even their placement and formatting. I really do love stories that much. The first of the very few things I have ever stolen, and the only one I ever kept, was a book from school.

I wrote a letter to the editor in the Lawrence Journal-World regarding morals with and without God. Unfortunately, it had to be under 250 words in length, so it I had to cut some stuff out.

First, the letter I responded to:

In a recent letter, Bruce Springsteen said that in morality people make “two stupid mistakes.” First, that of “an absolute cosmic force” (God). Second, thinking morality is “purely personal preference.” His alternative is his personal preference of social constructs.

I want to throw up

It’s not that these people should never have been able to graduate the fifth grade, the part that disturbs me most is the part at the end where they show their undying support for the president. It’s that infectious meme of faith in our dear leader that deeply frightens me.