week 13 - The Day We Learned That Belief Is Self Destruction

Well, The Rapture day is come and gone. And all of the awesomely corny jokes are still filing out. I think it's great that people, or at least the portion of society that I am exposed to, were so incredulous to the whole idea. But unfortunately - others were not. And even more unfortunately - others were REALLY not.

But while the rest of the world just shakes their head at a small demographic (not even unanimously Christian) - I want to raise the question - why are we only shaking our heads at this religious prophecy and not at every single religious prophecy EVER? why aren't we laughing at belief?

Did we not realize that to believe in anything is equally as ludicrous as believing in the Rapture on May 21, 2011?

Religious belief, and it's justification as a virtue is what keeps people from listening - because believers believe that the challenge of faith in spite of any temptation is their rite of passage into heaven.

In this sense, the very definition that has long justified faith as a virtue is the very one which has come to prove beyond a doubt it's malign nature, just yesterday. The effect of religious belief is to hold, in spite of anything, that your belief is the right one. That's what is taught as righteousness - that faith is a virtue. This idea provides a unique armor for belief that has long held against rational attack.

But yesterday it was demonstrated quite clearly - by the victims of faith who abandoned their own lives - the actual rather than potential effect of belief on reality. And, not for the first time, but in maybe the most flagrant manner ever displayed - we all saw why if your god is telling you that you cannot listen, maybe it's time to jump ship.

NOT listening is NOT good.

The nature of a religious prophecy is such that since they are fueled entirely by belief - they will all be as completely irrelevant, irrational, and insane as the prophecy from yesterday. Their very nature says that they cannot be backed by evidence. And as time goes on, I believe that science will render them less and less compelling still. The lesson to be learned is that if you think that your belief is any more reasonable or relevant than the May 21st Rapture prophecy - you don't understand belief. And if your belief has a prophecy of similar nature, be prepared to defy reason just as the yesterday's victims have.

Yesterday many people were led astray by belief. People left their lives behind. People checked out of reality. Now, what makes them more wrong than anyone? Nothing at all. The only difference between them and anyone who believes is that they got the chance to live up to the prophetic demands of their faith. And if you think that these people simply picked the wrong belief, or chose the wrong reasons for their belief - I ask you; what is it that justifies any person's belief? The belief that we are brought up with depends utterly on the portion of the world and era which we live. There is NO way to decide which god or belief is right, and which god or belief is wrong. Long ago, polytheism was more popular than monotheism. But if we image a person today praying to the gods of a polytheistic religion (Ra, Poseidon, etc.), obviously their beliefs would be looked upon as ridiculous by virtually everyone. But really, those gods have never been disproven - it is only for the superficial fact that they have fallen out of favor that makes them at odds.

The other day my Mom was reading a story to my nephew about Egyptian gods - and she prefaced the story saying that we now know that such gods were false. Damnit Mom! Those gods - like any other gods are equally as credible as any around today! What makes Thor appear less likely than Yahweh? Popularity.

In a lecture someone once asked Richard Dawkins: "What if you're wrong?"

Dawkins responded "...There's no particular reason to pick on the Judeo-Christian God, in which, by the sheerest accident, you happen to have been brought up, and ask me the question 'what if i'm wrong?' What if your wrong about the great juju at the bottom of the sea?"

Why didn't yesterday's prophecy have too great an effect on the world at large? DISBELIEF. What if belief had it's way? What if everyone had just abandoned their societal posts - as that particular belief would have recommended? Theists have always bashed disbelief as something which isolates and disturbs people, and claimed that belief is something which lifts and connects people. Now we have glaring evidence that belief is self-destruction. I think it's reason to celebrate.

week 12 - How Can We Pretend To Be Puzzled About The Causes Of Conflict If We Understand The Unequal Distribution of Knowledge?

I was watching Conan the other night when they played a newly released video of Osama Bin Laden at his home watching TV. Conan prefaced the video saying that it reveals the simplicity of Bin Laden's lifestyle. The video that Conan aired however, was just a mockery, in which they dubbed in a roommate of Bin Laden's, trying to talk to Bin Laden and ask him questions. I forgot what the jokes were even remotely about, but it was the first time I had ever seen the video, and I thought that the premise of the unedited video was the same - just a video of Bin Laden sitting at home, vegging out and watching tv. So in my first encounter with the video I was mistaken into thinking that Bin Laden is strangely crude and lazy.

This is not exactly right though, as I understand now that in the video Bin Laden was browsing some sort of al-Qaeda news forum, or so I think. So Bin Laden is not as crude a figure as I thought the video was initially getting at - but still - the environment of the room does show the unrefined state in which he lived. And the concept still stands - this is the guy who leads al-Qaeda? The organization calling for global Jihad? Aren't these people supposed to be organized and informed at the least? How can he possibly be operating under informed pretenses while living like an ape?

But that's not what surprises me; no one is to be blamed for ignorance because ignorance is not a choice. It's astounding to think that we expect something more of those who cannot access the right knowledge. How can your ideals be pragmatic and sound if you have no access to the current world? It's no mystery why people act like lunatics when they are utterly misinformed! To me, the puzzling thing about circumstances like these are that we expect people to operate under a certain code of conduct despite having access to dramatically different (potentially rotten and fucking rancid) sources of information.

Digital with hand done type, 2 colors.

week 11 - private commission

This week I did a private commission. No image, sry.

This coming week I think I'll do two images to catch up for the one week where I did not post an image. They'll be weeks 12 and 13.