Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize and other random nonsense
I haven’t written lately because I have been sinking into despair at the state of the world. Or more specifically at the general state of mental acuity in the world, especially what I see in the USA. I did some research recently and discovered that 15% of American’s think the government was complicit in 9/11. OK, well, that’s not too alarming. Some 40-50% of Americans believe in ghosts, UFOs, or Bigfoot. OK, that’s a little alarming, since there is zero empirical evidence for the existence of any of these. And then the kicker, about 60% of Americans have doubts about the Theory of Evolution. Yes, you read that right, we’re doomed.
Clearly the American educational system has failed in a big way. Evolution is easily one of the most well supported scientific theories ever. More than a century of observation and experiment has established Evolution so firmly that there aren’t even any competing scientific theories. (“God did it” isn’t a scientific theory, no matter how much scientific jargon is used.) I didn’t look it up, but judging from what I read on line, there is also similar disbelief about the Big Bang Theory. And while the Big Bang is not as well established as Evolution, again, it’s the best theory we currently have that explains the evidence we observe in the universe around us.
What’s worse, is that there just seems to generally be a wave of anti-intellectual and anti-science sentiment sweeping the nation. I remember as a kid when science was almost worshipped and Americans were proud of our scientific achievements. Granted it’s not a good thing to accept anything blindly, including the pronouncements of scientists. Still, without science we’d still be living in some version of the middle ages where if one kid out of three grew up you were lucky, and if you saw your sixtieth birthday it was almost a miracle. Is that really what people want? Apparently some do. Jesus is my health care plan. Sigh.
I blame the TV and the Internet myself. Despite its promise, I am starting to think that the Internet is the greatest mass dumbing down device in history. Idiotic ideas that never would have made it past the fliers-stuck-on-your-windshield stage now get world wide exposure … and adherents. And the mainstream media has played right into this with a plethora of shows like “Ghost Hunter” that dress up silly posturing as “science.” News flash people, if you see it on TV, it’s fake. Calling something a “reality show” doesn’t make it real for God’s sake.
Sometimes I am starting to think I wandered through some interdimensional portal into an alternate Earth where everything is the opposite of sensible. Then I wake up and turn on my computer … and Obama has won the Nobel Peace prize. I’m sure Obama was equally surprised, though I see he had no trouble taking the ball and running with it. Granted this is going to drive the Rush Limbaugh crowd wild, but anything about Obama drives them wild. Is this proof of a terrible liberal conspiracy? I mean, Bush bombed people and invaded countries and did exactly what Obama has done for the past nine months for eight years, how come he didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize? Who knows. What I do know, is this is no big deal. In fact it’s a wonderful example of how committees will often make far riskier decisions that if a single person calls the shots. It sounds counter-intuitive, but tons of research has borne it out, a committee member will often back a far riskier idea than they would if there was no committee, because the risk of failure is spread out among the entire committee. And anyhow, the Nobel Prize organization is a private organization, they can give the prize to anyone. Well, good for Obama, let’s hope he lives up to it.
Speaking of liberal conspiracies, the worst liberal conspiracy of all has been uncovered. Liberals, not content with using a time machine to insert Obama’s birth announcement into Hawaiian newspapers in 1961, have pulled off an even greater feat. Yes, they actually went hundreds of years into the past and inserted liberal and socialist jargon into the bible! Proof of this is that the bible contained socialist jargon hundreds of years before socialism was invented! No, I’m not making this up, well, not most of it. I did make up the time machine part, but some conservatives have actually started to rewrite the bible to eliminate its liberal bias. My mind, formerly reeling, boggles uncontrollably. The absurdity of rewriting your own holy book to conform to your own ideology is so obvious and transcendent that it hardly needs comment. Hopefully this won’t start a trend. What’s next? The Walmart Bible?
Have a great weekend everyone.
(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It’s not being used for profit and it’s use here in no way interferes with the copyright holders commercial use of the image, arguably the opposite. It’s a picture of an upside down house built by Polish artist Daniel Czapiewski in Szymbark. Poland. Credit and copyright: Javno. As final proof that the world is upside down today, while writing this post I dopped a piece of toast on the floor … where it landed … butter side up! I rest my case.)
The Silence of the Clams
I’ve been working on a number of dedicated posts, but none has hit that point where it can be whipped into shape in an hour or two, so, a few random observations on the the world as it careens by. As always, stuff just keeps on happening.
Well, big fires in California. Not much else to say, it’s a price we pay for suppressing fires for a century. All that deadwood has to burn off sooner or later. I’m sorry for those who lost everything, but this was an entirely predictable event that both as a society and individuals we had the means to prevent. It’s not that hard to build a house that won’t catch fire. Nor that hard to build suburbs that have decent firebreaks. Sometimes I think humans are little better than ants. Moving right along, as we are on the topic of California, a girl kidnapped when she was eleven has turned up alive, held captive for nearly two decades by a religious nutbar. Sadly while this is a terrible case, it’s a lot less unusual than many would think. IE there are lots of women trapped in similar circumstances, so this case says more about our culture and society and religions than many people would be comfortable with. In other words, clearly fodder for a future Doug’s Darkworld blog.
In international news, the compassionate release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber got some people upset. Two points. Compassion is a good thing, it’s what makes us the good guys. Secondly, this guy didn’t blow up the Pan Am flight out of the blue, this was part of a nasty confrontation involving the USA, Iran, Israel, and Libya. And the role played by the USA and Israel is not completely beyond reproach. Indeed, it involves the USA shooting down an Iranian airliner, and Israel broadcasting fake terror broadcasts from Libya to convince the USA that Libya was a sponsor of terrorism. Yeah, some ally they are. In any event the Lockerbie bombing is a smaller part of a bigger uglier picture. Again, that sounds like something I should blog about someday.
I was reading that France made wearing the burqa illegal, a burqa of course is the head to toe covering that women in some Islamic areas wear whenever they leave the home. I have mixed feelings about the ban, but I can’t say I object. While I am a staunch defender of people being allowed to wear what they want if it’s for religious reasons, the burqa has nothing to do with religion and is a purely cultural artifact. If one moves to a western country, I think it goes without saying, that you don’t automatically get to bring all of your culture with you. Otherwise people would be allowed to bring slaves with them just for starters. And since the burqa is largely (if not entirely) about keeping women in a subservient position in society, I don’t have a problem with it being outlawed. And I should add that it’s the face covering part that is primarily being outlawed, though France outlawed wearing the Islamic head scarf in schools as well.
It gets worse. The latest controversy is a woman who was thrown out of a public pool in France for wearing a burquini. A burqini is a burqa designed for swimming in. The lady in question and her burqini are illustrated above. The claim is that this had nothing to do with religion, it’s just that French public pools have strict requirements about what one can wear, and for sanitary reasons it’s pretty minimal. Me are required to wear speedos for example, which apparently comes as a shock to American men visiting France. Oh well, I’m sure the French will sort it out, they survived Caesar and Hitler, a few Muslims arguing about appropriate women’s wear isn’t going to bring about the end of French civilization and culture. In fact the French have a pretty good track record at stopping Islamic invaders, for those who forget, the French were the ones who stopped the Islamic invasion of Europe in its tracks.
In American domestic politics, if one wants to find out what real leftists think, check out this site: Not My Tribe. I find it an interesting read, but my main point here is that so many think that the Democrats and Obama are leftists, when in fact they are only symbolically to the left of the Republicans. I mean, neither party is actually advocating leaving Iraq and Afghanistan. We have a choice between Democratic interventionism or Republican interventionism abroad and between deficit spending or more deficit spending at home. Yeah, some choices. In other web site news, I came across Sourcewatch. Basically, there’s a lot of fake grassroots organizations these days, and with this site I can at least see who is behind what article. Granted neither of these site above can be described as truly balanced, but that goes for any web site. Even Doug’s Darkworld, but at least unlike many, I am at least trying for a certain amount of objectivity, if one tries to be objective, one can be sure of offending almost everyone! It’s the secret to my amazing lack of popularity.
Coming soon: How to Survive the End of the World in 2012, What if there was no USA?, and I reveal my incredible plan to end all war while still keeping our military parades and obscene “defence” spending.
(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It is not being used for profit, is central to illustrating the post, and frankly I couldn’t find any credit or copyright info on the very main stream site where I found it. Credit: TimesOnline I guess. The title of this post? That’s from an upcoming post about “Movie sequels that will never and should never be made.” Others would include “Batman Conceived” and “Batman, the Gestation.” Suggestions welcome.)
Is Satanism Misunderstood?
That was a rhetorical question. Of course Satanism is misunderstood, the vast majority of what most people know about Satanism comes from movies or sensationalized crimes by self- styled Satanists. I don’t even need to mention how ridiculous the former is as a source of knowledge about anything, and judging any faith by the actions of a few crazed individuals, is, well, ridiculous. I mean, John List was a devout Methodist, in fact many family annihilators profess deep faith. Yet the media rarely mentions that, why? Basically only when atrocities are committed by people who have “unpopular” religions/lifestyles are the crime and the religion/lifestyle connected. Hmm.
Moving right along, this post was inspired by this unpleasant story, where a self-styled Satanist murdered his father, tried to murder his mother, and planned other murders before he was caught. No, this disturbed teenager was not a Satanist, or more accurately, his actions were most definitely not sanctioned by the rules of Satanism. Satanism has rules? Who knew? Yes, and very curious rules they are indeed. They aren’t what I was expecting, and they had a satisfying internal consistency. So, with no further ado, the Eleven Commandments of Satanism with my comments in italics:
1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked. Stated succinctly, MYOB. I can’t fault this rule, in fact the world would be a better place if this was a commandment in all religions.
2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them. No bitching. Again, the world would be a more pleasant place if everyone followed this commandment.
3. When in another’s lair, show him respect or else do not go there. At this point, Satanism is sounding pretty good. And it sounds like you are safe in your home from a true Satanist. Wow, is there any other religion that has such a rule?
4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy. Well, OK, don’t mess with a Satanist in their home. Again, one shouldn’t mess with anyone in their home. This one is a little scary though, how much annoyance would it take? “Oops, I spilt my coffee … no, stop, I’m sorry, aaaaahhhhhhh!”
5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal. Looking good again, not only would rape be prohibited, even hitting on someone unless they were sending clear encouraging signals is prohibited.
6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved. OK, thou shalt not steal. The codicil is a little odd, but if applied fairly, I don’t have a problem with it.
7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained. Well, this is the mumbo-jumbo part. Still, it’s certainly harmless, and can even be interpreted as the basic “you must be true to your God” clause as is in just about all faiths.
8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself. No whining, I can get aboard with that. Interesting in combination with no. 2, basically keep your troubles to yourself unless they are legitimate … and someone wants to hear about them.
9. Do not harm little children. What, no babies to be sacrificed? Hollywood had this wrong? Yerp, Satanists not only can’t kill children, they are not even allowed to harm them.
10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food. Oh no, the animal sacrifices are out too! Well, unless you eat them afterwards.
11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him. OK, the destroy him is a bit harsh, but it’s never a good idea to bother people in public, especially after they ask you to stop.
Well, that’s Satanism in a nutshell. Or at least the tenets of the Official Church of Satan. Basically sounds like Satanists are like bikers or gang bangers, don’t mess with them and you will likely be just fine. Since I’m an advocate of not messing with people under most circumstances, no problem. I have no desire to convert though. Of course, I never have a desire to convert. In any event, there’s no particular point to this post beyond the obvious, any faith or belief system can be used to rationalize atrocities, as the twisted teenager in the earlier link demonstrated. As his actions were more than likely very annoying to the average Satanist, like they need bad press, I wonder how he will fare if he ever meets any?
(The above image of Lucifer’s fall is public domain under US copyright law, as it expires 70 years after the creator’s death. Gustav Doré died in 1883, so the copyright is long expired. It was one of a number of illustrations Doré made for Milton’s Paradise Lost. It’s actually one of his more well known image, for good reason, click on it to see the full size version.)
Strange Lodgings
“Imagine yourself waking up in a strange and unfamiliar room. Too much to drink maybe, some medical crisis, who knows … there you are. To compound your difficulties, you have amnesia, and can’t for the life of you remember anything about your life before you awoke in the room. It’s a normal enough looking room as far as you can tell, reasonably furnished, but with no sign of its purpose, or why you happen to be there.
You get up to explore. The room has doors, four of them, one on each wall. Upon inspection, each door leads to a featureless hallway, with a door at the other end. Well, there’s no choice but but head down a hallway. At the end of the hallway, there is another room. Upon inspection it’s the same size as the first room, but furnished differently. It too has four doors. And each door leads to a hallway. You continue on. Through another hallway. To another room.
And another, and another, and another. Room after room after room. Each room similar, but no two alike. Your needs are met at least, many of the rooms have the means to support life, food, water, etc. Even to make life pleasant, some rooms are quite enjoyable. You sometimes linger awhile, days or weeks, but eventually you head on, looking for a door outside or even a window. On and on and on.
It gets worse. Eventually you are sure you have sometimes come back to a room where you’ve been before. You test your theory, you head off in a straight direction, always exiting the opposite door you entered by. Finally, after traversing seemingly endless rooms, you notice that at least one thing has changed, the hallways are getting longer. Eventually, you open a door … and are back in the very first room you started from so many years ago.
Unquestionably the same room, unchanged in any respect except for dust. And the hallways leading from it are longer than they were those long years ago. Years of exploring, years of pondering, and it still doesn’t make any sense. And yet, it is what it is. What the hell is going on here?”
What is going on here? I wrote the above because I kept seeing people in Yahoo Answers ask the question “If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?” This means that a lot of people are unclear on exactly what is meant by the “expanding” universe. Even worse, a lot of the answers to the question were gibberish or so technical as to be effectively gibberish. And a lot of the analogies people came up with to explain the universe weren’t as helpful as the authors might have supposed. A wise woman (no, she wasn’t a Latina) once said to me that if you can’t explain something to a five year old, you probably don’t understand it yourself. A test I no doubt fail on many an occasion, but I keep trying.
In any event, the above analogy is the universe as we know it. An enormous (but not infinite) number of rooms slowly getting further apart, with never a door or window to anything else. Think of the rooms as galaxies if one wants, as far as our best and brightest can currently tell, our universe is just like my hypothetical nest of rooms. It doesn’t have an edge, there are no boundaries, there is no way out. And the distance between every point in the universe is getting greater, but nothing new is being added. And of course it doesn’t make sense, if I am getting to any sort of point with this post it’s that what scientists observe about the universe isn’t subject to our notions of what “makes sense.” It’s reality that makes sense, not our conception of it.
I know what I would wonder if I found myself in the above situation. I’d wonder who made the rooms. It wouldn’t be a crazy thing to wonder, would it?
Have a great weekend everyone.
(The above image is being used in accordance with the copyright holder’s requirements. It is not being used for profit. Attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leted/ / CC BY-NC 2.0 It’s a hallway, what else can I say? I thought it was a good image to illustrate the post with. “Every exit is an entrance somewhere else.” — Tom Stoppard.)
Science Round Up: Aquatic Deer to Artificial Sperm
As always, science marches on. Here are some of the stories that caught my eye this week. All of them are true, unlike my Ten Favourite Cryptids post where I made one of the cryptids up out of whole cloth. Both of my readers apparently missed that, but I guess when one is talking about semi-imaginary animals, an entirely imaginary one doesn’t stand out.
Speaking of animals, the non-mythical variety, a semi-aquatic deer has been documented. That’s a deer that hides from its enemies underwater! Interesting enough it its own right, this is also a significant clue to how land dwelling animals evolved into whales. In fact the fossil remains of the potential whale ancestor were recently discovered. And it was indeed a small deer-like animal. Not that the Theory of Evolution needed more proof, but it’s nice to see the gaps filled in. Speaking of gaps (actually, there’s no such thing as “missing links”) being filled in, three new species of dinosaurs have been discovered and described in Australia. Lots of pictures at the link. The new dinosaurs are extinct of course, although unlike most dinosaurs, these appear to have been wiped out around the end of the last Ice Age as their desert environment was flooded.
I’m joking of course, dinosaurs have all been extinct for millions of years. Well, except for the Coelacanth and horseshoe crab, but the first is a fish, the second, is, well, a crab. The Coelacanth is probably still around because it tastes terrible, it’s flesh exudes a nasty oil even after death. And no, I didn’t make that up. And the horseshoe crab doesn’t even look edible. Seriously though, when animals don’t evolve, it’s because they are perfectly suited to their environment. Nature also adheres to the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” rule.
In any event, I am going to slip in a rant here. I posted a link in the sidebar about this recently, the self styled Creation Museum. The thing that really makes my blood boil about stuff like this is their claim of “same evidence, different interpretation.” By that I mean that I don’t care what people believe. If one thinks the Earth is only seven thousand years old, no problem. As a general rule I don’t argue with people about their beliefs, because for the most part people’s beliefs aren’t open to discussion. However, if someone claims that the evidence says that the Earth is seven thousand years old, they are a charlatan or a fool. So it pisses me of that children are being bussed to this “Museum” to be told that scientists are wrong about virtually everything. Um, that’s like teaching kids that 2+2=5. No, 2+2=4, it’s not subject to interpretation. It’s frightening to me that some people of faith are making anti-intellectualism a tenet of their faith. I wasn’t around in the Middle Ages, and I don’t want to go there. God gave us brains for a reason, not just to keep our heads from caving in.
Moving right along, there’s been a breakthrough in the “Did we really need this?” category. Scientists have successfully created … artificial sperm. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that a sperm shortage isn’t one of humanity’s pressing problems. The opposite if anything. This will be nice for guys who are shooting blanks, but still, are we ready for this? We’ll find out I suppose. At the very least there’s some good fodder here for late night talk shows.
And lastly, in this weeks celebrity news … Neil Armstrong! (Who else would I be talking about?) I read this interesting article about him, or more, about why he has shunned the limelight for decades. This is a fellow who could make a million dollars in an afternoon signing autographs, yet for forty years has shunned publicity and refused to cash in on his fame. How can this possibly be? How could one of the most famous people in history fail to capitalize on their fame? Easy, he’s an honest honourable man who is not motivated by greed. He correctly believes the Apollo missions were the result of the efforts of tens of thousands of people, it was just the luck of the draw that he happened to pilot the first lander. The world could use more Neil Armstrongs.
No worries though. Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, isn’t publicity shy. He’s just cut a rap song with Snoop Dogg. Yes, all is right with the world.
(The above image of a Super Sperm costume is used without permission. Since I am not profiting by its use and its use here in no way hurts the copyright holder’s commercial use of the image, the opposite if anything, I am claiming it as Fair Use under US copyright law. Credit: BuySuperheroCostumes.com. Yes, what a time we live in, a person can go out and buy a costume to dress up like a giant sperm cell! I’m just not sure if this indicates good times or bad times.)
The “Horrendous Space Kablooie” Theory, Art and Science Meet
"Baby picture" of the universe, isn't it cute?
I needed a break from war and politics, so for fun I have been studying the “Horrendous Space Kablooie” theory. The what? This is a science post, bear with me. I discovered that the name “Horrendous Space Kablooie” (often shortened to HSK) has actually gained some currency in the scientific world, at least informally. What is the HSK theory? Readers of Calvin and Hobbes of course already know, the “Horrendous Space Kablooie” is Calvin’s improved name for the Big Bang, the theory about the early moments of the universe.
Oddly enough the Big Bang theory was given its name by Fred Hoyle, and he meant it as a pejorative. The good Dr Hoyle was a proponent of the Steady State theory, he thought that the Big Bang theory meant the universe had a beginning, an idea the was uncomfortable with for philosophical reasons. And while the name caught on, it really wasn’t very accurate. “Horrendous Space Kablooie” actually captures its essence in a more nuanced fashion, for the Big Bang wasn’t an explosion in any normal sense of the word.
So what’s the Big Theory? Well, it’s easiest to understand if we approach how scientists arrived there. First, we have the universe, billions of galaxies as far as we can see in every direction. Does that mean space is infinite? No, that’s a common misconception, the universe is very large but it’s not infinitely large. There is some maximum distance apart that two objects can be in the same universe, some 93 billion light years is the best current guess. So that means the universe has an edge? No. If one travelled in a straight line long enough one would eventually come back to the vicinity of where one started. The best way to visualize this is to think of the universe as the surface of a sphere, if one heads in a straight line one eventually returns to where one started.
OK, where does the Big Bang come in? Well, astronomers studying the universe discovered a very curious thing. The further away other galaxies are from Earth, the faster they were moving away from Earth. And this acceleration was remarkably constant over distance and was the same in every direction we looked. This was very puzzling, and scientists could only come up with two possible explanations….
The first was that the universe was indeed rushing away from Earth, and that somehow Earth was at the centre of some huge event that had hurtled the galaxies away from us. This was unsatisfactory for two reasons. For one it meant that Earth was somehow uniquely positioned in the centre of the universe, which didn’t really jibe with everything else we know about our commonplace little sun. And secondly, such an event should have left telltale signs, signs that couldn’t be found.
So that left the second explanation … the universe is expanding. Expanding as in getting larger, so that the space between the galaxies and stars we see is constantly getting greater. To visualize this take our previously discussed universe on a sphere and stick dots on it to represent galaxies. Then expand the sphere like blowing up a balloon, and the dots grow further apart. This is what our universe appears to be doing. And since scientists can calculate how fast the universe is expanding, they can extrapolate backward to see how it all started. And it turns out that the universe gets smaller and smaller until nearly 14 billion years ago the entire universe was a dimensionless point.
Not only did the Big Bang theory explain why the galaxies were moving away from us, various calculations about what the nature of the universe was like in its earliest seconds made predictions about what sort of evidence should remain. When the universe was only seconds old and the size of a grapefruit, it was so very very hot that we should still see the afterglow. And lo and behold, in 1964, the afterglow of the HSK was discovered, the cosmic microwave background radiation. This pretty much clinched it for most scientists, and further observations have shown that no matter how much it doesn’t “make sense,” the universe does appear to have been expanding for nearly 14 billion years from a universe smaller than the head of a pin. There was nothing outside this tiny point, there was no before this point. It hurts the head to think about, I know.
Science has also worked out in remarkable detail how the pure energy the universe started out as organized itself as it expanded and cooled. A time-line can be viewed here. Yes, it’s all Greek to me too. Basically normal matter didn’t appear until the universe was 3-20 minutes old, and it wasn’t until the universe was hundreds of thousands of years old that the first atoms of hydrogen and helium form. When the universe was about 100 million years old (or older) the first stars began to shine.
The final point, scientists have a pretty good understanding down to when the universe was about 10−43 seconds old, but before that it’s a mystery. Yes, 10−43 seconds is a very small amount of time, in fact it’s the theoretical smallest unit of time that can be measured. The HSK theory doesn’t tell us what happened before then, nor does it tell us how the universe originated. The Big Bang theory is simply the best explanation of what we currently observe in the heavens. That’s all science is, finding the best testable explanation for what we observe.
Cosmologists do have some speculation about how our universe came into existence, but that will have to wait for another blog. And indeed it will have to wait until I understand enough about it to even attempt to explain it.
(The above image of the CMB radiation is public domain as it was produced by a US government agency. Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team. It’s the oldest light in the universe, having travelled for over 13 billion years. Coming soon, scientists carefully weigh tiny pebbles in an attempt to prove God exists.)
There is no Historical Jesus
A stone tablet from Jordan is in the news, because by some interpretations it seems to show that the idea of a Jewish Messiah rising from the dead after three days preceded Jesus and the resurrection. Most experts agree the tablet is a genuine article from the time just before Jesus, but the ink is smudged (yes, sometimes people wrote on stone) so it’s not entirely clear if scholars are reading it right. Still, if it does say what some think it says, it’s one more nail in the coffin of the idea of a historical Jesus.
How’s that? Well, there is no historical Jesus. No contemporary writer mentions him, no contemporary records corroborate anything about his life or story. The earliest record we have of his life is the gospels, and they date from decades after his death. And even medieval scholars pointed out that not only is there a lack of historical evidence, even worse, pretty much everything Jesus said and did can be found in earlier writings ascribed to earlier prophets. Well, this lack of historical evidence rankles Christian scholars to no end, they need an answer to critics who ask “prove Jesus even existed in the first place.” Since there is no real evidence, they have fallen back on cataloguing the unique events in Jesus’ life and ministry to prove he existed. The resurrection after three days was one of the strongest points of this argument, and if this tablet proves genuine, it’s more indication that Jesus may have been more myth than man.
Will this change anyone’s mind one way or the other about Jesus? Probably not. I just find it interesting that arguably the most influential person in world history may not have actually existed at all. I mean, a lot of people have put a great deal of faith in the idea that Jesus really existed and his ministry really transpired more or less as the gospels state. Never underestimate the cleverness of people defending their faith though. The early church handled the problem of earlier prophets who apparently said and did the same things as Jesus by claiming that since Satan knew Jesus was coming, he sent earlier impostors to muddy the record and dilute the faith. The logical response to this argument is “You’ve got to be joking, you’re invoking a mythical supernatural being to prove Jesus was real?!” The Church’s response to that was the Inquisition, which is one way to end an argument I suppose.
Now some clever readers may be saying “but, but, what about Josephus!” He was a contemporary Jewish historian, he clearly mentions Jesus! Well, yes, Josephus’ works do seem to mention Jesus twice, particularly the Testimonium Flavianum:
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”
That seems pretty cut and dry, what’s the problem? The problem is that no one can find any evidence that this was written before the third century. And the fact that there is no mention of the Testimonium Flavianum in first and second century works regarding the early history of Christianity is highly suspect. The Testimonium Flavianum also states that many Jews joined his faith, which simply isn’t true, and one would expect a contemporary Jewish historian (Josephus was a historian) would know that. The idea that many Jews flocked to Christianity was a common early Christian belief, which strongly argues that the paragraph was written by a third century Christian forger and inserted into the works of Josephus to bolster the faith. Granted there are still some scholars claiming that the Testimonium is real, and honest debate on the subject continues. Most scholars, and me, remained unconvinced.
Does the debate about the authenticity of Jesus really mean much? Nope. I just find it a fascinating little window into the mysteries of human thinking. I mean, we are debating about whether a person really existed in the flesh and blood in order to prove that a supernatural being exists. Uh huh. In any case, what does it matter. Mythical or real, the story of Jesus has been one of the most influential stories in history. Hell, he even has a few followers to this day.
God Bless everyone!
(The above image of a bust of Josephus is public domain under US copyright law as it was taken from a book published in 1888. Is it really a likeness of Josephus? Who knows, though apparently it is a good representation of how typical Jews of the era looked like. And I’m referring to his hair style, not his nose. Apparently the idea that Jesus had long flowing locks of hair is also a myth. Is nothing sacred? And lastly, my comment about the Inquisition above was not meant to be taken literally.)
Men Behaving Badly, Part II
Previously I wrote about the Josef Fritzl case in Austria. This was the case where a man built a dungeon and imprisoned his daughter, and fathered children with her which he also imprisoned. The case has a morbid fascination, as the extremes of human evil often does. However, his behaviour is not as beyond the pale as one might suppose. There is a case in Texas now where a group of men built a dungeon in plain sight, and imprisoned their women and children in it. I am talking about the FLDS case (Fundamentalist Later Day Saints) in Deseret County, Texas. Hundreds of women and children have been removed from the church’s ranch compound amid allegations of underage sex and forced marriages.
The media is making a big deal about this, but unfortunately they are treating these people with kid gloves. The woman and children in this compound were just as much prisoners as Mr Fritzl’s daughter and children. They were raised and held in isolation from the outside world, heck, even Mr Fritzl’s prisoners had a TV, the FLDS people didn’t even have books (aside from the Bible.) Let me be more specific, the media and the authorities are treating the men in this church with kid gloves. The media is playing this as some sort of weird but otherwise mainstream religious group, when in reality the women and children in this groups are slaves.
From the moment they are born every aspect of their lives is rigidly controlled by the men running the church. How they wear their hair, what clothes they wear, what colours they can use (red is not allowed,) every aspect of their lives is controlled. If they show the slightest resistence their living situations, their parents, their husbands, their children can and are taken from them until they are “sweet.” This is not social conditioning, this is brainwashing, coercion, and slavery. And the women at an early age are forced to marry much older men, in fact the leader of this group is in jail for raping his 13 year old “wife.” And the men not only lord it over their wives and kids, they also pay no attention to even the dictates of the state. There are no birth records kept, and few if any of the children get much education. The girls especially, since they are forced to marry and start having kids at an early age. There are also hints of torture and child abuse.
In other words, a group of men is using religion to justify their own private little slave society. Yet few if any of the men have been charged with anything. The media and the authorities don’t seem to take this situation with nearly the gravity it deserves. If this was a Muslim cult Americans would be screaming bloody murder about this and the right wing blogosphere would be boiling about charges about how these people want to take over the USA and force us all to live under their religious law. Why shouldn’t extremist Christians be held to the same standard?
I’m also troubled by the lack of comment by mainstream religions. Now maybe I’ve missed something, but I don’t recall seeing any headlines about the FLDS being condemned by Christian and Mormon leaders for their sick interpretations of our saviour’s teachings. I’m not a biblical scholar, but I don’t recall Jesus saying anything about forcing teenage girls to marry older men in polygamous incestuous relationships (inbreeding is a serious problem with this group, I kid you not.) And I’m pretty sure he never said anything about having a bed in the church so that marriages can be consummated right after the ceremony. And where did he say women must keep their hair long, wear ridiculous 19th century clothing or not use the colour red? And I know he didn’t say anything about men keeping their wives and children as slaves.
I don’t know what the solution to this problem is, I do know that it’s not OK to use “freedom of religion” to keep women and children as slaves. And I do know that Americans who are eager to criticize Islam for for its supposed failings might want to pay a little more attention to what’s going on in their own back yard.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Matthew 7:3
For more information on the FLDS try some background, escape from, or prophet. Tomorrow…a third post on men behaving badly…the Pitcairn Island sex abuse trials.
(The above image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, as clearly indicated here. And if one looks at the full resolution image, don’t those look like bars on the first floor of the church?
Since it’s a gated and walled community I can’t imagine they have a problem with people breaking into the church, so why are the windows barred? I rest my case.)
Adventures on the Road
Well, I made it to British Columbia. More specifically, to Vancouver Islandoff the coast of British Columbia. It was an epic journey with many and sundry incidents. For example the first night on the train I woke up and there was an empty bottle rattling around at my feet. I’m thinking, “WTF, people are throwing trash at me while I sleep?” Moments later the conductor comes up and says “You’re going to throw that trash away, aren’t you?” I’m like “But, but, that’s not not my trash!” She immediately says “That’s what they all say!” She was joking, but it was an inauspicious start to the journey.
And a journey it was. I took a train from Buffalo, NY, to Seattle, Washington. Once there, the helpful people in the Amtrak and Greyhound Stations were able to direct me on my way, and I proceeded to Nanaimowith no problem. I wish. No, the people manning the “information” booths in both places couldn’t find Canada on a map, let alone direct me there. “Canada, that’s up north aways, isn’t it?” Yeesh. Now I know what Al Capone meant when he said “Canada? I don’t even know what street it’s on.”
It started at Amtrak. They didn’t have a clue, but directed me to the Greyhound station, telling me it was too far to walk. Fortunately I looked at the map they gave me before insulting a cab driver, the Greyhound Station was less than a mile away. Don’t people walk anywhere anymore? After three days on a train a twenty minute walk was refreshing. Of course the Greyhound guy was equally helpless. “Ferries? That’s a boat, right?” He lives in the goddamn Pacific Northwest but doesn’t have a clue that there are ferries running everywhere? At this point I was starting to suffer from lack of caffeine and greasy microwaved food. Then while in the bathroom at the bus station, a guy comes into the room screaming how he is going to murder some guy who threw a piece of pizza in his face. I just raised my feet and sat on the toilet quietly until he went away, but this didn’t help my disposition any.
So anyhow, the bus guy could sell me a ticket on an express bus to the city of Vancouver. I figured someone up there would know how to get to the ferry, the island of Vancouver being visible off the coast. And in fact while waiting in line for the bus, a nice Canadian gal not only knew how to get there, she said she would take me to the appropriate bus stop when we got to Vancouver, and told me what ferry to catch. This proved to be a double godsend, as will become clear later.
Speaking of godsends, a nice old Canadian we were chatting with in the line suddenly morphed into a Jehovah’s witness and started to lecture us on corruption, immorality, and false religion. Oh dear God, while I try to be tolerant of other people’s religious views, if this guy is typical of Jehovah’s witnesses…my opinion of same has dropped considerably. He was, to put it succinctly, a stupid bigot. He spent the bus trip lecturing another nice lady on how to run her multi-million dollar construction company and raise her brain-damaged daughter, that women deserves a Nobel prize for grace under fire. In fact he knew everything about everything, had travelled the world, and had shallow racist supercilious opinions about every country he visited and the ignorant Godless heathens he was trying to save. Now I know why so many missionaries have ended up in cooking pots, it’s a wonder this guy made it back to Canada in one piece.
So we get to the border, and it gets worse. My head is pounding, I’m groggy, dishevelled, and unshaven. Not the best of states to get past Customs. And I didn’t have a passport, and I hadn’t filled out the customs declaration that the helpful guy that sold me my bus ticket was supposed to have given me. So the Custom’s officer is pretty suspicious, and he’s not happy with my answers to his questions either. Telling Customs you are “self-employed’ doesn’t help when they already suspect you are a bum trying to sneak into their country. It was looking grim when he asked how I was going to get to visit my mom on the Island. Well, thanks to my Canadian gal friend, I knew the answer to that. With my best smile I said “Oh, I’m hoping to catch the 7:00 ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo.” Well, that did the trick, just as surely as “I’ll figure it out when I get to Vancouver” would have landed me in a holding cell, and off to Vancouver we went.
And true to her word, when we got there Cheri escorted me through the Byzantine public transit system in Vancouver, and practically pushed me onto the appropriate bus. At this point I was too groggy to even think clearly, let alone thank her properly. So Cheri, if you’re reading this (I did manage to mutter the name of my blog as she trotted off,) I can’t possibly thank you enough, you’re a credit to the human race and if you’re ever in the San Francisco Bay Area I will happily return the favour in spades.
(The above clickable image of the Queen of Coquitlam is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law, it is not being used for profit and is central to illustrating the post. For fun ferry stories, see this link. And aside from the aforementioned navigational issues, I would like to add that every employee of Amtrak and Greyhound was professional, courteous, and helpful; I recommend their services to anyone, the above stories were exaggerated for dramatic effect. Mostly.)
Geography week at Doug’s Darkworld starting with Malaysia, demonstrations, Islam, and teddy bear news.
Welcome to geography week at Doug’s Darkworld. Or more accurately, Russia, Sudan, Somalia, Congo, and Malaysia week. I’ll try not to mention Iran or Iraq this week at all, won’t that be a pleasant break. (Unless of course something terrible happens there that must be discussed…knock on wood.) Malaysia first. OK, so they are demonstrating in Malaysia. News to some folks I am sure since it’s not exactly getting big coverage in the western press. Malaysia really isn’t even on the radar in the west, except as the occasional backdrop to an action movie when they need an exotic urban locale. Americans mostly only know about the world from what they see in Hollywood movies, which is scary, but I digress.
I bring up Malaysia because I have used it in the past as an example that Islam can and does coexist with modern parliamentary democracy. Malaysia has been an independent nation since 1963, they have prospered economically, and are now one of the most developed and industrialized and richest nations in East Asia. And all the while they have had a stable parliamentary government…and Islam as the official state religion. Only sixty percent or so of the population is Muslim though, and while the rest in theory have equal rights and freedom of religion, in practise there is still significant “affirmative action” that gives Muslims an advantage in many walks of life. And recently the Tamil minority, people of Indian origin who make up about ten percent of the population, have been protesting their second class status.
These demonstrations also illustrate the nasty legacy of colonialism. There wouldn’t be a significant Tamil minority in Malaysia if the British hadn’t moved huge numbers of labourers there in centuries past. These sorts of post colonial problems are common throughout the former colonial world. Which leads me to another point about Malaysia, yes, it is about 60% Malay, but the other 40% cover a huge amount of ground, though Chinese and Tamils are by far the largest minority, with aborigines coming in third. Even among the Malays there is a wide range of ethnicities and cultures. In other worse, Malaysia is a remarkably diverse nation, far more diverse than most nations. And yet despite that, their track record of stability and economic growth is enviable. Again, more proof that Islam is not the kiss of death when it comes to progress and modernity.
In another example, while Sharia is the law of the land in Malaysia, it only applies to Muslims and it only covers domestic matters such as marriage and divorce. In theory, in practise the scope and application of Islamic law has been expanding in recent decades and it has become a burden to non Muslim in many cases. Will Malaysia be the next Taliban? Despite claims by some that the future of Malaysia is doomed by Islam fundamentalism, Malaysia is not Afghanistan. Frankly I’ve read so many articles about Malaysia this weekend that my head is spinning, but that is a good sign. Malaysia is still an open society where differing views can be expressed. That has to be a good thing, nu?
So what do I think of it all? Well, I still think Malaysia is example that Islam and modern secular parliamentary government are not incompatible. Yes, the Muslim majority have managed to rig the laws in their favour, so? I can easily think of modern countries where Evangelicals, Catholics, and Jews have managed to do the same. I don’t think it’s a good thing, but forty plus years of peace, prosperity, and stable government counts for a lot. It was riots in the sixties that engendered the current rash of pro Malay (and thus anti-Tamil and anti-Chinese) laws. With any luck the current situation will resolve itself fairly, the jury is still out on that though and I’m not going to stick my neck out and make any predictions. Germany was a paragon of liberal democracy about a week before a certain man took office, things can change awfully quickly in any nation.
In other Islamic news, the teacher in the teddy bear row has been pardoned and released from Sudan. Religion almost always takes a back seat to politics, so this is no surprise. The government of Sudan needs the west, and despite our supposed tears for the people of Darfur, we want Sudan’s oil and being on good terms with the government of Sudan is the best way to get it. Tomorrow, Russia. Suggestions always welcome, this discussion of Malaysia was prompted by comments from esteemed reader Archana Raghurum.
Have a great week everyone.
(The above map of Malaysia came from the USA government produced CIA World Factbook and is thus public domain under US copyright law. Please note that while the maps in the CIA World Factbook may be accurate, the other information provided reflects the official US government world view, and may contain egregious errors or self serving omissions.)
