Freethinker's corner

I will not go quietly into the night!

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  • Human Survival… December 24, 2017

    Humanity is presently on a course to extinguish itself in the same way bacteria in a petri dish proliferate and die in their own poisons. This inevitable scenario was constructed by evolution.

    Humans like to deny that evolution created all living things. The evidence that it is so is all around and plain to see. They use up resources as if there will be no end to them. They produce toxins in manufacturing that build up in the environment. The air almost all creatures use is being polluted with green house creating gases as well as poisons they cannot breath.

    Many see what is happening. Others deny it. Unless all come to accept it all will be lost.

    Evolution cannot be denied. Human survival depends on rising above the limits of evolution. That aggressive violent nature, that greed instilled by evolution, must be fought, resisted. Humans must stop seeing other humans as competitors. Humans must go beyond simple reciprocity to near altruistic behavior. Pure altruism is impossible. Yet, if survival becomes the paramount concern, not just for the individual, but as a group, that is, that it is necessary for all to survive in good health and well being, perhaps incentive to cooperate will go beyond individualistic needs. If every member is onboard there will be success and it would cost nothing.

    Does that sound like “One big happy family”? It’s that or die. You choose.

  • Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? … December 23, 2017

    Most seniors and others on Social Security live from month to month… they Depressionspend all their income and merchants are grateful for the business.

    Trump and the callous GOP have made enormous cuts in this vital income. In ten years there may be no Social Security. They will have taken billions of dollars out of the economy. You cannot do that and not expect at least a recession, perhaps a depression.

    Depression 2They have given millionaires and billionaires a fantastic Christmas gift. For the middle class, they gave the dog a bone… and they’re taking that bone back in ten years.

    Our government, you see, has been bought by the likes of the Koch brothers and others. They are the puppet masters and Congressional Republicans are the puppets. Whether or not many of the Democrats have been bought is not the issue, as they all opposed this tax scam foisted upon the American people.

    THE REPUBLIC AS IT IS STANDS NO LONGER.

    Our elected representatives represent us no longer. We have a government totally at odds with the interests of its people. Even those that still support this administration do not realize that. Somehow the GOP has flimflammed its own supporters into thinking the GOP represents their interests.

    Will there be bread lines in ten years? Could be. Will people be living in the streets in greater abundance than they do now? Possibly. It all depends on whether enough people see the evil that has been done and act to remove the cancer called the GOP. If that can be done, maybe the damage done to the economy and the people can be reversed. If not, can you spare a dime?depression 3

  • Presently… December 18, 2017

    Perspectives depend too heavily on mood. Mood is too heavily dependent on the reception of outside information.

    The present variables that have created the mosaic which is your existence may or may not change, yet the perspective with which you regard them is so fragile that even without change, just the reception of information that threatens the stability of your existence, peace of mind, the mood, dissolves and unhappiness, anxiety, results.

    Nothing need happen in reality, yet, being told that some deep change is looming, is enough to destroy the tranquility.

    Having read literature exhorting the virtues of living in the present, rather than worrying about the future, or dwelling in the past, what value is anxiety and worry if the circumstances under which your life is maintained have not yet altered.

    Living in the moment is impossible, yet the ever moving present can be concentrated upon and felt. Noticing the surroundings, including the various sounds, smells, is a difficult task as your mind seems to endeavor to refer back, or worry forward. It is sometimes impossible to stay fixed on the present. It seems to take effort, energy to focus on the present. It can be done. Like a herky-jerky not so perfect showing of an old film, you find yourself drifting to the past or fretting of the future and must force yourself back to the present. Time seems malleable when viewed from this perspective, yet, it is fixed… or seems so when measured mechanically. Like water boiling, it seems longer when it is watched.

    With the present attacks being made upon the most vulnerable of society in the United States by the GOP, who hold people in little regard, focusing on the present, and the fact that changes have not yet been made in my own present existence, is most difficult. Knowing that eventually all may come crashing down, and the end may follow soon after, is disturbing. Despite the fact that nothing has happened yet, anxiety levels in the people and in myself are noted. I must stay focused on the present.

  • The World Would, Could, Be A Better Place… December 17, 2017

    The world would be a better place if not for the likes of people like Trump, Pence, and Ryan. Such people show such disdain for the rest of humanity that their absence would be a boon, instead of the bane it is. These excuses for human beings would rather grandma and grandpa were living in the streets or under a bridge. They would rather everyone labored in their factories until the flesh fell from their bones than be able to retire whole and healthy. Even upon retirement out of necessity these corrupted politicians would deprive them of healthcare in order to hurry them on their way to the grave.

    The world would be a better place without governments like Iran, North Korea, and many others. It would be better without religion and narcissistic leaders. Willful ignorance prevails worldwide.

    Capitalism promotes and serves greed. No purely capitalistic system should be permitted to exist, they are inhuman. Millionaires and billionaires should be eliminated worldwide. Why should one person drive a Mercedes when someone else starves. Democratic Socialism serves humanity better.

    Petty racism should be fought heartily with action and education. Race is a purely fictional creation. Differences in culture is the real thing people react against. Everyone should be encouraged to contribute to the limits of their own abilities rather than ridiculed because of their shortcomings.

    A worldwide minimum income should be established and maintained to lift everyone out of the debilitating throes of poverty.

    Without a world government I realize that these goals will never transpire. It is clear, however, that humanity is not yet developed enough to leave behind the concepts of country and sovereignty. Must we reach a point of near obliteration to reach that goal?

  • Why Seek Relevance?

    Does a rock on Mars seek relevance? Does it care? Has it sentience? Of course not. Then is it sentience that prompts a desire for relevance? What is relevance? Is it a desire that others take notice? Is it some need to be important in the scheme of things or others’ lives?

    Despite its lack of relevance the rock on Mars continues to exist. It does not poof into a fine powder and dissipate in the thin but swiftly blowing winds of Mars. It is, it remains, it doesn’t care. It can’t care.

    People seek relevance. It seems some sort of need perhaps born out of human socializing habits. An emptiness seems to occur when the realization that relevance has been lost. It appears to debilitate many leaving them paralyzed. It is a human flaw. In reality the noticing or not noticing of someone should not affect them. As long as personal relevance is acknowledged functions should continue. Is personal relevance necessary? Why is any relevance necessary? Is the bestowing of relevance a tool used by society to control its members?

    Amish that turn away from their faith are shunned by members that remain resolute. This is an effort to control it is plain to see. By extrapolation this can be applied to everyday behavior where people are ignored in order to change or control their behavior.

    On the internet there are people seeking relevance daily by saying and suggesting the popular politically correct issues and opinions. There are many sites where the host obviously speaks the right lines and caters the content to please the audience. It is never really confirmed whether the host holds true those things that appear. The host seeks relevance through the accolades of the audience. A human flaw. Without the accolades of an agreeing audience the site eventually withers, the host becoming disinterested. His or her life has been controlled by the shunning actively or inactively applied by the audience. If personal relevance were present or if relevance became irrelevant the postings could continue. The site would continue. Control by others thwarted.

    So be a rock, continue, and do not let others control you.

     

  • Schadenfreude… A Christian Trait… December 4, 2017

    Schadenfreude is a German term that translates “malicious joy”. The malicious joy is taken by one over the miseries suffered by another. It is another example of the human capacity to be cruel.

    This past week there was a lot of Schadenfreude expressed in the Senate.McConnell The GOP was carrying out their dream of initiating the destruction of Social Security and Medicare.

    A large and mostly ambiguous package of tax cuts designed to fill the pockets of the rich was passed by only Republican senators. Included in this package, in contradiction to Trump’s promise to leave it alone, were massive cuts for both Social Security and Medicare… the lifelines upon which the elderly depend.

    Schadenfreude, a sick joy taken when observing or hearing of the suffering of others. This act puts a lie to the proclaimed Christian leaning of the far right, including the Republicans of the Senate. Jesus was from all reports more of a socialist demanding his followers give away all they had to the poor. schadenfreudeYet, these callous and apathetic Senate Republican adhere to capitalism. Capitalism is a system based totally on greed. That is why Capitalism does so well, it feeds the greed, a basic sin. Greed is why these Senate Republicans are puppets of the rich, having been bought by the same. They are most definitely not patriots by any stretch of the word.

  • Loathing and Self-Loathing… December 3, 2017….

    Yes, this post is once again about that detestable topic: Feminism.

    I have been on Facebook for many years. In all that time I have found only one feminist that I respect, one feminist who most definitely does not hate men or boys. That feminist, self-proclaimed, is Christina Hoff Sommers. She alone seems able to see the inequities that feminism has produced. As she has repeatedly said, there truly is a war against boys and men.

    All other feminists that I have met online and in person have revealed, sooner or later, a deep-seated hatred of anything male. Many deny this fact. Yet, all have in conversations revealed disgust and hatred toward anything male. There have been no exceptions beyond Sommers.

    Many males have stepped forward in support of feminism. All have demonstrated a self-loathing, as one would expect of a feminist.

    I will hear no more from feminists. I will not argue with them, I do not even want to talk to them. On Facebook, when I find them I block them, male and female alike. The book is closed on feminism. It is an immoral hate group, yes they are loosely aligned, but taken together as a group, they are nothing but hatred. I pity the man that marries such horrid shams of humanity.

     

  • Humanity 101

    The more I am exposed to the society of humanity, the less I like humanity and the less I enjoy life.

    People speak what they are really thinking on Facebook. It is not a pretty sight. They use expletives, judge other people, condemn other people, figuratively hang other people, and otherwise demonstrate their lack of moral fiber.

    Religious are no different than non-religious. Democrats are no different than Republicans. Liberals and Conservatives are two sides to the same coin.

    A few people speak about the decline of civilization, in response most say ho-hum. Others make it their business to push humanity into decline.

    If there were another choice I would be there in a second.

  • It Will Fold Into Itself and Implode… November 26, 2013

    Everyone is seeking someway to become a minority, which today receives magnified considerations in the public eye. Extra effort is given to such groups to insure that their rights are paramount… even over the rights of others.

    When that group loses some of its power to garner special considerations efforts are made to point out discriminatory practices against that group… even if they have to be fabricated from whole cloth. For a time this renews the group which is favored with more privileges above and beyond other groups and non-groups.

    Usually the majority suffers the greatest loss of individual rights and is occasionally openly discriminated against with the public’s blessing.

    It can be predicted that eventually there will be a retaliation by the majority which will result in wide division, hatred, and violence.

    Society will in effect fold in to itself and implode.

  • Groupthink Eliminates Open-mindedness…

    It has been said that organizing atheists is like herding cats. They are all so independent. There are no doubt many reasons for this.

    Many left the church and aren’t too keen on joining another group.

    No two atheists are 100% alike.

    The phenomenon known as groupthink causes groups to develop or adopt ideological irrational beliefs for the purposes of getting along.

    This last one, groupthink, is the culprit in my opinion. Though it may not deter the formation of atheist groups, it does lead to their demise. As the number of independent thinking atheists abandon ship, those that accept the adopted irrational ideologies become more of a majority. Then the group becomes the ideology, and what was an atheist group becomes something else entirely.

    This is in process of all humanist groups. Soon, quite soon I fear, they will be ideologues for feminism. It is already a requirement for membership in that group that you support the edicts of feminism.

    I remain an atheist. I am independent. I will never join another belief system… including those that are in danger of becoming one. An “army of one” has new meaning for me.