Versus the Media

Donald Trump want you to hate the media. He tells you they're "fake" and that they make things up. He repeats it over and over on Twitter, in press conferences, in interviews, and at post-election rallies.

The aim of this is simple. He is losing the one contest he cares about, popularity. His approve rating keeps dropping and his administration continues to lose members.

The only success he's ever obtained in life is by talking to those who are already convinced and then letting them do the work for him. He is a promiser, not a promise fulfiller.

In the business world, he's always controlled the message. He controls the board meeting, he controls the agenda, he controls the message. If anyone disagrees with his message, he can fire them.

The media, with that pesky 1st Amendment of the Constitution, are not so easily silenced. He can't fire them, he can't silence them. Instead he is trying to discredit them.

Though this is a common tactic of dictators, it it quite unlikely he is attempting to be a 21st century Hitler. More likely, he just wants to control his message, image, and popularity. He wants you to believe he is the only reliable source of information so you won't go to or trust other sources. Especially sources who might accidentally compare his claims to reality and find they are contentious points of view.

Today he is at a rally, funded by his election campaign, to deliver his "alternative facts" directly to those who already agree with him.

The point is, he will continue to attack reporters and you must not accept his lies. When he calls them "fake news" ask for proof. The media uses evidence when they report on things. This fool should present evidence when he tried to discredit them. Otherwise he is a lying enemy of the 1st Amendment.

The World is Getting Worse

There are those who want the world to burn. They speak of 'End times'. They will claim that violence, drug use and war are all on the rise. They claim the world is a worse place now than it was last year or the year before that. They're wrong.

You've surely spoken to one if these people before. They often talk about the good old days or how 'I never did that when I was that age' or how kids do whatever naughty thing at a younger ages than they used to.

Can we all do each other a favor? Quit it. The world is improving. And the less naysaying and hatred we spew, the less obsession with hate, violence, death and dispair we all collectively do, the better.

I know some of you think (hope?) the world will end whether naturally or through some magical event caused by the deity you believe in. Do me a favor and just settle down. Let's assume the world, which hasn't ended yet won't end any time soon. Maybe it will end, but that likely won't be for millions of years. We humans may be foolish but we are also quite adept at self-preservation and we won't let ourselves die.

So, just relax and help the world improve instead of trying to destroy it.

Are You a Human?

Remember, before you were a Christian or whatever you were a human. So, when you think about being being a jerk like Christian you would, what would the human you do in this same instance?

Dogs

It' a circle of back patting. "I like dogs, do you like dogs?" "Oh yes, I love dogs! Dogs are the best!" "That old guy has loved dogs his whole life, loving dogs must be the best thing to do!" "Dogs!"

I understand why it works. Finding an authority or majority that claims it can reassure a person or their belief.

What I'm saying is, I really don't care for dogs and would prefer you stopped letting your dog crap on my lawn.

The Nature of God, Part 1

The common Christian god is impossible. God can't be all knowing, all powerful and good. For there to be evil in the world, God must be lacking at least one of those three traits.

Assuming the world is 6000 years old, god must be lacking the good. He purposely fills the world with lies that contradict his existence such as: 1) stars that are more than 6000 light year away, thus making their light having to be created in transit to Earth when he created the universe, 2) Dinosaur bones, 3) Large geological formation, 4) DNA which supports the theory of evolution. etc

Also, freewill and prayer can't exist in the same world. If prayer works, when a football team that prays to win, if god helps them to win he is limiting the freewill of the opposing team. The other team could win, but not if god influences the game in the favor of the first team.

Continuing along the path of freewill, a god who punishes you for using the freewill he gave you is illogical unless, like I earlier proposed, he isn't good. Purposely leaving scissors on the floor and than being surprised your 5 year old tried to cut their own hair is absurd.

Back to the fact that he isn't good, if he were the moral authority, it is illogical to think that his moral message would change at all. Yet, slavery which was once moral in god's eye is now immoral according to most religious people. Mormon's most common answer to it is that 'the world wasn't ready for it' such as when they started allowing blacks to hold positions in the church.

If this concept were true, the great flood would have never happened. The great flood was God forcing his morals on the world, even though "the world wasn't ready for it". In the same, why wouldn't god take action on creating equality between the races even if "the world wasn't ready for it"?

You can't have a moral authority that's always changing to, surprise, suit the morals of the world. Black people were suddenly allowed in the priesthood of the Mormon church because the rest of the United States had already gone through the Civil Rights and the crusty old white men in the hierarchy of the Mormon church were smart enough to know they had no choice but to stop waving around their racism.

"There is no doubt that the so-called Civil Rights movement as it exists today is used as a communist program for revolution in America." - Ezra Taft Benson, 1967 talking about Black Civil Rights.

Anyways, as the title implies, this is only part 1. I'm sure in the future I will have need and reason to return to this topic and I will.

Until another day.

Breasts are Offensive

So, to combat this offensive item, the breasts of mannequins were hacked off in a shop window in Iran. See for yourself:





















What an awkward world we live in which representations of women aren't allowed to look like women.

Until another day.

Arguing the Case

I had a little foray into a Christian chat room this evening. It went surprisingly good. Argued the fact that humans are more moral than God, the improbable nature of the speciation of dogs after the flood, and Abiogenesis with references to the Miller-Urey experiment.

It was fun and, because he was trying to refute me, the guy actually listened. I'm not sure how much he actually took home with him but, you know, not much is to be expected. Really, I was just having some fun.

Until another day.