I Call Your B.S.!!!!

This week in the Darwin class, I'll admit I mostly zoned out the discussion in class. One part which did draw my attention however was a discussion of respect of other people and other people's beliefs. One guy in the class argued that he shouldn't have to respect other people or their beliefs, specifically religious beliefs. He then sent out a letter after class to the entire class giving all his reasons. I figure I'll post this controversial letter, and let everyone comment on it. I think that it's obvious to all what I think...
Alright, here is the letter, in it's entirety. Names are left out to protect the....well, I'll let you fill in the blank.

It was suggested to me in class this week that I ought to respect thebeliefs of others, or, if not respect their beliefs, than respect them.This claim was made particularly with respect to religious beliefs. Iwould like to explain why I hold the position I do: namely, that notonly do I not respect the beliefs of religious people, but in manyinstances, I also do not respect those persons.
First I'd like to point out the irony and hypocrisy of people who giveme a hard time for my view - they aren't very respectful of it! If youhold to the principle that people and beliefs ought to be respected,then you are actually committed to respecting the view that otherpeople's views and those people themselves ought not to be respected -thus, if you do not respect me and my beliefs, then you arecontradicting the very position you object to my not holding. Universalrespect actually obligates you to respect disrespect - which is why itis a self-defeating and ultimately absurd principle. It is the verysame people who advocate "respecting" literally everyone who alsoinsist on "tolerating" everything - even abject tolerance. Suchpositions are absurd, self-defeating extremes born of ill-thought andunreflective ideality, not reasoned consideration.
Anyway, I will state this with particular regard to religiousauthorities, for whom I hold no respect whatsoever. This is why. One oftwo things is likely to be the case with a religious figure. In thefirst place, I would maintain that religious figures, because they aredealing with unverifiable information, are no more competent a judge ofreligious “truths” than anyone else, and, lacking any genuine insightinto anything within the confines of theology, they are no morequalified than a layperson to be an authority on moral matters,scientific matters, or any other matters. This being the case, suchpersons are, with respect to the claims that they make, incompetent.Insofar as they are incapable of understanding, or object to scientificconflict with their views, they are also incompetent, and representingthemselves as authorities when in fact they are not is irresponsible.
Second, they may recognize this fact, or understand full wellobjections to their religious beliefs, and yet reject them anyway. Ifthis is so, then such persons are not only exhibiting willfulignorance, they are propagating this ignorance by preaching what theyought to know to be false or at least dubious to others, which, again,is irresponsible, and, I might add, morally reprehensible.
In neither case do such persons deserve respect. In reality, there isno such thing as a religious “authority”, not in the Pope, not in arabbi, nor a priest, nor an imam. There are no authorities on God anymore than there are authorities on faeries or unicorns. Just as none ofus ought to respect silly and ignorant beliefs, neither should werespect those who actively defend and promote silly and ignorantbeliefs – we should not respect them either because, A) they areincompetent, in which case my “disrespectful” charge of their beingstupid is vindicated, or, B) they are competent, in which case theyought to know better and are doing a positive moral wrong bypropagating ignorance. No one would call a psychotic cannibal whohonestly believed he was doing good by eating others a “good” person,simply because his motivations were good; why, then, should we call apreacher good if his motives are good, if his actions are, in fact,harmful to humanity? And, I submit, preaching religion is preachingignorance, and this is harmful to humanity. And, as it happens, moreharmful than cannibalism.
I will add as an aside that the Judeo-Christian religions not onlypropagate ignorance, they propagate hate, discrimination, and a host ofevils and harms: Christian apologists standardly oppose gay rights,women’s equality, and the moral standing of atheists. They oppose manythings that may very well be good for society, at least in someinstances: abortion, science education, stem cell research, euthanasia,sexual liberties of various forms, and birth control.
The Catholic Church actively campaigns to spread lies andmisinformation to the poor folks in Africa, claiming that condoms areevil and don’t work. This has led to untold human misery by increasingthe transmission of AIDS and continues overpopulation, and, ultimately,starvation of children. And this is the largest church on earth – withsuch vile ideas promoted all the way up its hierarchy to its leader,who was complicit in protecting child rapists and the hypocrisy andextortion of their clergymen. If complicity in the molesting ofchildren isn’t something someone ought to lose respect for, then whatis? And given that the present pope, previous pope, and very likely allor many of the present cardinals were aware of their church’sactivities, then I submit that not only are such persons not deservingof respect, but we have a moral obligation to publicly and vociferouslydisrespect and scorn such persons, and the hypocritical, bigoted idealswhich they purport to represent. And that's not even going into thehistory of an institution that committed itself to purging the world of"heathens", made an art of torturing innocents, and aggressivelysilenced truth-seeking scientists and philosophers.
Now, there are some billion or so Catholics in the world, who activelydonate to a misogynistic, homophobic hierarchy of greedy old menactively complicit in covering up and protecting child rapists amongtheir own ranks, many of whom themselves are child rapists. I impugnanyone who tells me I ought to “respect” persons who hold religiousbeliefs: such persons are, if not actively, then passively complicit inthe propagation of ignorance, and ignorance is the principle enemy ofprogress.
If anyone wishes to engage in a dialog about the matter of respect, I'dbe happy to. I am able and willing to put forth a reasoned and robustdefense of why I not only don't respect other people or their beliefsautomatically, but why I feel we have a moral obligation to go aboveand beyond this, and actually oppose and ridicule such persons (whenthey hold bad beliefs). If you object to this, it is not enough merelyto say that I "ought to" respect others - you must articulatelegitimate reasons why. Anything less is intellectual apathy and merelytrumpeting social norms you have no justification for believing.

Prompt #14

I know, I haven't put up any prompts in a while. Mainly because I haven't done any in a while. But I did one a bit recently and since I can think of nothing better to post, I thought I'd put this up for your enjoyment. Feel free to comment!

I was on the plane, on my flight back from Houston where I had been spending the past few days fighting off a horde of savages, otherwise known as a family re-union. I was looking forward to getting back to the peace and quiet of my apartment in New York, when I started to overhear the conversation of the couple sitting in front of me. Having nothing better to do, aside from read the book I brought, which currently held no appeal, I idly listened in.
“What do you mean, you don’t think you can do this anymore?” the man’s voice was low, his tone was slightly threatening. “It’s getting too much, I think my husband might begin to notice.” The woman lightly sobbed. “So what? You don’t care, or you said you didn’t a month ago, why don’t you leave him?” She started to cry harder. “Because….because I think I might be pregnant with his child!”
I gasped, but not so loudly that they could hear me. While I was no stranger to the horrors of the world, this was the first time I had had such a drama played out in front of me. I leaned forward and held my breath. My morbid sense of curiosity aroused.
“What do you mean? How could that be? You said you hadn’t…” his voice trailed off. “Oh. Never mind, I see it now.” His voice had turned angry and bitter. The woman sobbed harder, and seemed to turn away from him. Her shoulders shook, and she covered her face, as if seeking an escape. The man instantly turned remorseful. “Hey, babe, don’t worry, we can work this out…”
I leaned back, my curiosity for the moment satisfied. I didn’t really want to get involved. This was not my problem, not my affair. And yet…something about it resonated with me. Something about the situation this (seemingly) young couple brought back to me memories…memories of what my mother had told me years ago. How she had had an affair, but dropped it, when she realized she was pregnant with me.

I want cooler weather!!!!!

It's November 1st, and guess what? It's STILL in the 80's here. High 80's at that. OK, I'm sure that all the northeners that read my blog are going "Why are you complaining?! I wanna be down there!" OK, yes, I'm grateful that it's not like 40 degrees here, but it's starting to feel like an endless summer. I want a break! I want for the temp to go down to 75 for at least a few days, is that too much to ask? It would appear so.

Conversations with my dad

Me: "Why are they so fond of big words?! Why not use simple words like 'front' and 'back'?"
Dad: "You're going into a scientific field, what did you expect?"
Later
Dad: "At least you'll know all these big words and when people talk to you they'll say 'You're so smart!'....while staring at your dragon necklace"
Me: "But that's the fun part, people are so easy to confuse!"
Dad: "You like confusing people...?"
Me: "Of course! That's why psychology is so much fun!"
Dad rolls his eyes and walks away shaking his head.

Reasons I Love the 21st Century

1. Air Conditioning - can't imagine living in Florida without it...
2. Telephone - much as I dislike using it most of the time, it's a fantastic invention...and under telephone falls cellphone with all it's wonderful gadgets.
3. GPS - never get lost, or if you do, you have a convenient thing to blame it on. Men get thier toys, and get away with never asking for directions!
4. Computers - and all the lovely stuff you can do on it. Wordprocessing, games, pictures, the list goes on...
5. Internet - the world wide web...do I need to elaborate more? Information at my fingertips.
6. Electricity - without which none of the above would be possible.
7. Ipods/MP3 players - now you can have your own soundtrack through life
8. Planes - can go around the world in WAY less than 80 days
9. Digital Cameras - makes even an amateurs pictures look good!
10. And the myriad other things that make our lives so much easier...too many to list!

I won't grow up!

I saw this comic on XKCD, and it really struck a chord. When exactly did I grow up? When did I become an adult and (supposedly) capable of making my own decisons? At what point does one turn from a "kid" to an "adult"? And do we ever really grow up?

Classes

I don't think I really did a post on when this semester started, which is what I usually do. Cover what classes I'll be taking, which I think I'll love, which I think I won't be so fond of. Alright, the semester is already half over, but why not do that post now? I'm taking five classes, all of which are psychology related classes. This should, technically, make me very happy, right?
Wrong.
My first class is Biological Basis of Behavior, and everytime I go to this class I am reminded why I tended to skip anatomy in High School, and why I will never ever follow in my father's footsteps. It falls under WAAAAY too much information, and is (in my opinion anyways) too fond of big words for its own good.
My next class is Fractals in Psychology. The title is a bit misleading...what it boils down to is trying to convince a bunch of psych majors that "math is fun! and pretty!" At this point, I'm convinced that mathematicians are more than a bit crazy. Considering my college algebra teacher had a tendency to refer to problems as being "adorable" and "cute", and this teacher says "look at how pretty it turns out!" would you really argue with me? On the other hand, at least he tries to make it entertaining. Such as creating a hypercube ( a 4-D cube) from whatever you can find lying around at your house.
Class after that is the one I like the most. Social Psych, which has always fascinated me, as well as making the most sense to me. While I'm not into researching myself, the research that comes from this area of psych is pretty interesting stuff, all about how relate in our social settings, and how our cultures and environment effect us more than we think.
Second to last class, is probably my least favorite, if not actually tied with my last class. Billed as "Evolution and Animal Behavior" I was sold on it by the "animal behavior" bit. O'course, when I went to the class I was in for a bit of a surprise....we were gonna be learning Darwin...doing almost as close as we could be to meeting the man, we would be reading his biography, autobiography, and his most well-known work, "On the Origin of Species". Which currently, I have to read a chapter a week of and then come up with questions on it. And he is NOT an easy read, despite what my teacher seems to think. Plus I happen to completely disagree with one main part of his theory and have to sit through a 3 hour long class of people who agree with it...It's my once a week torture session.
The last class, which I hate almost as much as Darwin, is my Research Methods class. Now, I'm not going into the research side of psychology, however, the college I'm currently at only has a research psych graduate program, so that's what a lot of their classes focus on. So, like it or not, I have to write a research paper. Fortunately not expected to conduct a whole experiment myself, but I think I may have to do that before I can my B.A. And I'm a wee bit behind on it.
Well, that's it. All five classes. Thank goodness the semester is halfway over. Just need to survive the rest of it.

Right Name...Wrong Person

I was out walking Mariner tonight and a van pulls up next to me, a Jewish man is driving it, and he has two little boys inside his car.
"Excuse me, are you Mak?"
"Yeah..." I'm a little puzzled, since I've never seen this guy before.
"Oh, I'm CB, I've been getting your invitations all summer."
"OHHHHH"
See, my step-father has the exact same name as this guy. And to make matters worse, this guy also lives RIGHT around the corner from us. So apparently when people were calling to find my address, they gave my step-father's name. I had honestly been wondering why I hadn;t gotten some of those invitations (and I went to the weddings anyway) but I guess that would explain it.
So, now when I'm missing an invite, I know where to look...either at this guy's house...or my next door neighbor.

A Walk-y

"Hey Mariner, wanna go for a walk-y?"
Mariner pauses in his barking and starts bouncing around. I grab his leash and harness.
"Sit!" I snap my fingers at him, trying to get his attention. He lies down.
"That's not sitting...but ok."
*baaaarp* he burps.
I laugh, put on his harness and take him outside. He does his business, then decides to get playful and grabs his leash in his mouth. After a brief tug-of-war, I manage to get him back inside, where I take off his harness and leash, (so he doesn't eat through his 5th harness, how he manages to do that, WHILE he's wearing it, I have no idea, but it's getting ridiculous). He goes back to barking at something in the backyard.

What if people treated cars like computers?

General Motors doesn't have a help line for people who don't know how to drive, because people don't treat cars like they do computers. But, imagine if they did....

Help Line: "General Motors Help Line, how can I help you?"
Customer: "I got in my car and closed the door and nothing happened!"
HelpLine: "Did you put the key in the ignition slot and turn it?"
Customer: "What's an ignition?"
HelpLine: "It's a starter motor that draws current from your battery and turns over the engine."
Customer: "Ignition? Motor? Battery? Engine? How come I have to know all these technical terms just to use my car?"

HelpLine: "General Motors HelpLine, how can I help you?"
Customer: "My car ran fine for a week and now it won't go anywhere!"
HelpLine: "Is the gas tank empty?"
Customer: "Huh? How do I know?"
HelpLine: "There's a little gauge on the front panel with a needle and markings from 'E' to 'F'. Where is the needle pointing?"
Customer: "It's pointing to 'E'. What does that mean?"
HelpLine: "It means you have to visit a gasoline vendor and purchase some more gasoline. You can install it yourself or paythe vendor to install it for you."
Customer: "What? I paid $12,000 for this car! Now you tell me that I have to keep buying more components? I want a car that comes with everything built in!"

HelpLine: "General Motors HelpLine, how can I help you?"
Customer: "Your cars suck!"
HelpLine: "What's wrong?"
Customer: "It crashed, that's what wrong!"
HelpLine: "What were you doing?"
Customer: "I wanted it to run faster, so I pushed the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor. It worked for a while and then it crashed and it won't start now!"
HelpLine: "It's your responsibility if you misuse the product. What do you expect us to do about it?"
Customer: "I want you to send me the latest version that doesn't crash any more!"

HelpLine: "General Motors HelpLine, how can I help you?"
Customer: "Hi, I just bought my first car, and I chose your car because it has automatic transmission, cruise control, power steering, power brakes, and power door locks."
HelpLine: "Thanks for buying our car. How can I help you?"
Customer: "How do I work it?"
HelpLine: "Do you know how to drive?"
Customer: "Do I know how to what?"
HelpLine: "Do you know how to drive?"
Customer: "I'm not a technical person. I just want to go places in my car!"

Mariner's 1st Birthday!

Mariner turns one today! Here's a pic of when we first got him, and one from today. Wow, has he grown....

Time and Travel: Florida vs. NY

Ask a Floridian how far a place is; and they will tell you not in miles, but in time. Not, it's 30 miles away, but it's 30 minutes away. Ask a New Yorker how far something is, and they will tell you in terms of blocks, "oh, it's only 15 blocks away". Time also is different for New Yorkers (or Nor'Easterner's in general) and Floridians. I have a 1/2 hr commute (30 miles) every day to one of my campuses, and when I tell people this, the reaction I get is: "that's so far! I couldn't do that!" But in NY, people will commute an hour and a half both ways every day. In Florida, everything is "15 to 20 minutes away." Anything above 20 is "far", but not much is very below 20.
But hey, even though my commute is considered far, at least I don't have my brother's! His commute is about 4 hrs, each way, 2x a week. So, 1/2, an hour at most, is not such a high price to pay. Still wouldn't do a NY commute though.

TED: Ideas Worth Spreading

The Internet as Random Acts of Kindness
A fascinating way to view the internet, thought I'd share with you guys. It's a bit long, but well worth it.

L'Shana Tova

Have a healthy, happy and sweet New Year! May we all be inscribed in the book of life, and let this year be the year Mashiach comes.
Chasima V'Chasima Tova!

Superpower Meme

Child Ish tagged me with Mike in Midwood's Superpower Meme, and since I didn't really have any other ideas of something to post, I figured why not? However, I am feeling slightly limited by having to choose just one power, after all, there are so many cool ones to choose from. (I had been going to type "they're all so cool..but I can think of plenty that would be very uncool, and useless.)
Ok, hmmm, which to choose? Mind-reading has always been one of my personal favorites, just because it would help me to finally understand people. On the other hand, I've read too much stuff to think that that would really help me. So, not mind-reading.
Oooh, talking to animals, another favorite! (For obvious reasons) I'd finally get what my pets are trying to tell me. THough, let's be honest, while animals are wonderful companions, I'm not sure they'd make such great conversationalists...no Dr. Dolittle-ing for me then.
Teleportation? Telekenisis? Telepathy? Teleportation would be cool, but I get the feeling I'd take it for granted after a while. Telekinesis would be cool, though it depends on how much effort it took (I'll admit, I'm lazy in the superpower department) Telepathy kinda falls under mind-reading, and is only really useful if there's someone else who has that power too.
Allright, I've got it. Shape-shifting, with no limitations. If I can imagine it, I can shift to it. How cool would that be? Gives me the ability to fly (another one I'd love), "talk to animals", and hey, I could even shift to dragon! (Yes, I added that in, come on, you guys didn't expect anything different, did you?)

Alright, I'm not gonna tag anyone, mainly because I'm feeling too lazy to try to link it. Anyone who wants to do the Meme (and I'd say go for it, it's fun, and gives you a post when you can't think of one) can do this.

The Newest Dog Breeds

NEW DOG BREEDS!

Collie + Lhasa Apso
Collapso, a dog that folds up for easy transport

Spitz + Chow Chow
Spitz-Chow, a dog that throws up a lot

Pointer + Setter
Poinsetter, a traditional Christmas pet

Great Pyrenees + Dachshund
Pyradachs, a puzzling breed

Pekingnese + Lhasa Apso
Peekasso, an abstract dog

Irish Water Spaniel + English Springer Spaniel
Irish Springer, a dog fresh and clean as a whistle

Labrador Retriever + Curly Coated Retriever
Lab Coat Retriever, the choice of research scientists

Newfoundland + Basset Hound
Newfound Asset Hound, a dog for financial advisors

Terrier + Bulldog
Terribull, a dog that makes awful mistakes

Bloodhound + Labrador
Blabador, a dog that barks incessantly

Malamute + Pointer
Moot Point, owned by.... oh, well, it doesn't matter anyway

Deerhound + Terrier
Derriere, a dog that's true to the end

Bull Terrier + ShihTzu
Oh, never mind....

9/11/2001

An infamous day in American History. Anyone old enough could tell you were they were when they heard the news. Possibly even what they had eaten that morning, to what they were wearing. 4 planes hijacked by 19 muslim terrorists. Two planes went into the Twin Towers, one went into the Pentagon, the fourth crashing in a field. Many people lost thier lives that day. Many people lost loved ones. And yet, even in such tragedy, there were many little miracles. That the planes didn't crash just a little later in the day, that people were delayed coming into work, that someone missed thier flight. Perhaps that day they had been slated to die, and yet were spared. For some, they don't want to remember that day at all, for it meant a change in our world. But, if we want to continue on, as a nation, as a people...we must remember it, and all it stands for. There are those who would see us dead for what we are and what we stand for. We might not want to remember, but we must never forget.

Uploaded Pics from My Camera

Decided to upload some pictured from my camera last night, and found some pictures of the pets (mainly Mittens and Mariner) Oh, and there's a picture of Sammy, my father's dog. Enjoy!

Root Canals and Laughing Gas

Today I had my root canal...or to be more accurate, part one of my root canal. I need to go back next week to finish it. As I type this, my mouth is still numb from the novacaine, though the laughing gas has probably left my system by now. Since i was given laughing gas however during the whole procedure I think my behavior was a little bit....off. I felt like I do when I'm hyper and giddy. Which basically meant I babbled a LOT. And when I couldn't (since they had my mouth held open) I started "singing" along with the music from the ipod I borrowed from CJ. Disney songs. The nurse started laughing at that. I also made weird faces when the novacaine started to kick in (I was already on the laughing gas for a few minutes before that). Overall wasn't so bad....though I really dislike being numb. And it's over. Till next Monday at least.
Add: Ok, once the novacaine wore off, not so fun. I felt like I'd cut my own my head off if I thought it would stop the pain. Instead I took advil and went to bed.

What to post about?

Let's face it, I don't get a whole lot of comments on here. Not that I'm compaining (ok, maybe just the tiniest bit...) But if I really wanted more comments, it would probably require me making this blog as something other than what it currently is. What would get me more comments? Posting on shidduchim, (which is a topic that has been just about bludgeoned to death by almost everyone) on politics (I'm a right wing conservative, but I refuse to get pulled into useless battles) or other contoversial topics. Now me, I'm not controversial. I like nice, easy simple...I LIVE with controversial people, they thrive on it. When you live with that 24/7, you occasionally need a break, right? Right. So I guess I'll stick with my blog as is, my online journal. A place to vent, share my observations...and generally let the whole world (or those who care at any rate) how my life goes. I'm just one blogger among many. I guess I should be happy I get any readers period. Thanks guys!
Edit: Getting my first root canal on Tuesday, wish me luck!