Futility

Sam Harris was right: the moderately religious are just plain intolerable, especially ones who think they have a grasp on the basic tenets of logic. To wit, Here's a recent conversation that I had with an otherwise intelligent and well reasoned individual:


Person: Just because we have no proof of something doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't exist.

Me: Logically, yes it does. The positive existential proclamation bears the burden of proof in an argument. This is why a criminal prosecutor must prove a crime was committed, and then who committed the crime. The logical default for the positive premise that a crime has been committed is not "yes it has" or even "maybe it was", but "no it wasn't", until proof to the contrary is provided. If I loudly proclaim that I have an invisible pink unicorn living in my bathroom, the logical default for that proposition, barring evidence, is "no".

To be honest, I really don't care one way or the other what a person believes. What I do care about, however, is when people pervert logic to support the mistaken idea that their belief is logical when it is, in fact, not.

Person: Yeah? Well, that still doesn't change the fact that God loves you and wishes you'd come back to him.

Me: *smacks forehead with open palm* Why do I even bother presenting carefully worded and thorough logical arguments when it seems I'm speaking to chimpanzees?

Person: You're so intolerant!

Me: *sigh*

Demanding that the guiding forces of sane people make logical sense is NOT intolerance, people. It is the difference between making the decision to advance the state of humanity versus languishing in the dark ages. If your most deeply held beliefs cannot withstand the cold scalpel of logic, then you should find solace in the same falsehoods that feed your world-view (reality be damned).

*sigh*

Just....please. For once. Have continuity in your argument. Prepare to defend your stance with the language of math, rather than the language of the supernatural. The former is spoken universally without regards to creed, the latter changes by the person. A common language to dissect and understand things already exists; it's called logic. Don't try to summon spirits whose stance changes as the wind blows.

Attention Middle and High School Students!

In the interest of serving the needs of middle and high school students, I thought I'd let them know what other adults won't tell them:

• You know how, whenever you fuck up, some adult associated with the school system will tell you that "this will go on your permanent record"? Well, that's just a crock of shit. There is no such thing as a "permanent record" that follows you around after you leave school. Shit, even if there was such a thing as a "permanent record" while you're in school, they don't even use it while you're IN SCHOOL! It's a scare tactic. It's not like a credit rating or a criminal record (real "permanent records" that actually matter in real life). So, the next time some adult tells you that whatever you're doing (or thinking of doing) will end up on your "permanent record", you can just tell them to shove that permanent record right up their lying asses.
  
  
• Public school curricula are set up to cater to the lowest common denominators: standardized testing, slow learners, incompetent teachers, etc. As such, if you are a student who truly hungers for knowledge, you probably won't get it by letting yourself be "taught by the system". If you feel that you're not learning anything in school, it's because......*wait for it*.......you're too smart for the system! Maybe authoritarian, LCD-based schooling isn't for you. Maybe you'd do better in a Montessori-system, or home-schooled, or even self-learning. But don't expect your school to tell you this.
  
  
• The purpose of institutional schooling in America is to turn you into a docile adult worker, capable of handling moderately complex work-related tasks while still remaining pliable and ignorant in all other matters. Read that again. Once you understand the true social engineering purpose of modern American schooling, the next step is obvious. For more, read any of John Taylor Gatto's books.
  
  
• There are hundreds of thousands of adults who work around the clock to sell you "cool". As "cool" is the primary currency of the young and impressionable, the Marketing Industry does everything it can to convince you to turn your cash into "cool". Don't fall for it. Almost everything you see on TV, in Print Advertising, and especially on the web is an ad, crafted to take your cash in exchange for a temporary feeling of self-worth.
  
  
• In relation to the above point, stop watching the goddamn television. Seriously. It only exists to fuck your mind to so badly that you can no longer distinguish fact from fiction, and you start to live what you see on TV. American TV exists only to deliver consumer messages into your little reptilian brain. The Media Industry employs the highest numbers of neuropsychologists outside of academia, and it's not to judge TV's harmful effect on the young; it's to target media content to you in such a way that is physically and psychologically irresistible. It's to MAKE you buy what you see. You really can't imagine how great you'll feel about yourself, and life in general, once you turn off the TV.
  
  
• Have you ever felt that high school was just a bunch of petty bullshit, run by vindictive sycophants with no real stake in your success or happiness? Well, your feelings are correct. It is. Don't pay attention to it; rather, pay attention to yourself. Believe it or not, you don't have to fit into a media-sculpted social clique to be happy and well-rounded. It is better to be smart and lonely than ignorant and happy, no matter what the vast numbers of ignorant folk tell you. Once you open your eyes, you can never go back; you've taken the red pill.

If only someone had told me these things when I was in middle and high school, I would have probably had a much healthier experience.