Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The World Is Complicated, Allow Me to Simplify It for You

I had an epiphany while reading a fascinating exchange on Zimbabwe (the country formerly known as Rhodesia) and the continuing effects of colonialism in present day Africa.

Well, actually, commentors like Whateverman and the problem with religion were having a fascinating discussion about the continuing effects of colonialism in present day Africa, while the blogger himself, Chris, was repeating "Christians [of my particular persuasion] good, all others bad!"

This relates, oddly enough, to the case of an abortion performed on a woman who would have died without the abortion, and the Catholic defense of their belief that even if the pregnancy will not result in a viable baby, the woman in question should still die, which could be reduced to "we have rules and we stick to them and if you allow exceptions to rules everything immediately descends into chaos."

That is, of course, demonstrably silly and everyone knows this, even those who claim it is true. I imagine everyone's boss cares when they show up and will punish people who fail to show up on time. However, if even the most die-hard Catholic got a flat tire on their way to work, do you think they wouldn't protest being punished for their lateness? If they were the boss do you think they wouldn't say, "Well, that's not your fault, don't worry about it"? Would the entire world descend into chaos if they did allow an exception in such a case? No.

The thing is, I have had bosses that would punish people for events beyond their control. Because actually listening to people and making judgments as to what is avoidable or fair is complicated. And who wants to think about things? It's far easier just to enforce the rules the same way every time, though that certainly cannot be termed fair.

Back to Chris, who won't listen to anyone but a Christian, no matter how much evidence someone else presents or how many Christians get caught out as liars. Over and over and over again, Christians prove that they are just like the rest of us and that you shouldn't trust people until they prove themselves trustworthy, that you should take everything with a grain of salt and that nothing is quite as it seems, but it doesn't matter. Someone like Chris will be fooled, again and again and again because his only qualification is Christianity.

Chris has simplified his life, like the people who allow no exceptions (common in Christianity), into one principle: Christian is good, everything else is bad. Everything else is too complicated. Subtlety is hard. Shades of grey are confusing. This one is good, that one is evil and that's all I need to know. The fact that very, very few, if any, people are all good or all bad is irrelevant. He's got his answer and that's all he needs. If PZ Myers tell Chris that his pants are on fire, Chris will double check with Ray Comfort before even looking to see why his legs are so warm. The fact that Ray already lied to him about the state of his pants 6 times before means nothing.

It's sad, really. There's a whole universe of knowledge out there, and these people have put themselves in a cage to keep it all out. I really can't imagine anything more tragic.


6 comments:

  1. Generally when someone makes a statement like

    "The reason Muslim countries seem to prosper is because it is the devil's religion and he is not at war with it, he is at war with the Christian religion, and that is why Marxist bigots hate it, because they are of the devil and his ways."

    I generally conclude that conversing with them is not a useful way of spending my time.

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  2. Are you still on about this? Mr. Markuze, I'm not telling you what you believe. I'm ASKING, because I do not understand you. Everything I post about you is a GUESS, based on what you say and do.

    If you don't want me to guess, then please tell me why you do what you do. It's a very simple question: What are you trying to accomplish?

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Sorry PF, I had a typo in the first one. It would've driven me nuts to leave it.

    Darth Mabus, you and the other Sith need to come up with a different rant dude. It's so totally lame that you continue to post the same thing all over on everybody's blogs. Pasta and boobs are just so last week, Dennis. I concur with Michael- What do you think you accomplish by using these random strings of nonsense? Because what you seem to be accomplishing is actually the very opposite of what we assume you intend. You're making all of the atheists look so incredibly rational and like far more creative thinkers than you are. We come up with actual responses rather than meaningless and repetitive nonsense. You look like an angry and mentally disturbed man. Which just makes all our arguments against religion seem all the more valid, dear. If you are the representative of the faithful believer, all fellow believers suffer because of your fine example. Thanks for making PF, Michael, me and many of PF's followers look like we're the rational ones. :D

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  5. Does it ever occur to the Christian who want NO exceptions that Jesus's entire carreer was all about making exception to Jewish Law?

    In fact Jesus all but invented the concept of moral relatitvism.

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  6. Kind of like the moral relativism exhibited by someone self-righteous enough to show up and post foul language, insults and threats on someone's blog just because the blogger has a differing opinion? (Talk about judge not lest you be judge not being a working plan for some people...) That kind of moral relativism? So totally getting you there...

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Comments are for you guys, not for me. Say what you will. Don't feel compelled to stay on topic, I enjoy it when comments enter Tangentville or veer off into Non Sequitur Town. Just keep it polite, okay?

I am attempting to use blogger's new comment spam feature. If you don't immediately see your comment, it is being held in spam, I will get it out next time I check the filter. Unless you are Dennis Markuze, in which case you're never seeing your comment.

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