Previews of Coming Attractions

[vovat]

My dad's old printer, which is what I have hooked up to my computer, has stopped working. I hope I don't have to buy a new one. I don't really even know how much they usually cost. Probably cheaper than getting an old one fixed, but more than I can afford.

The Bullshit! episode about Alcoholics Anonymous made a point of explaining how the organization taught alcoholics not to take responsibility for their own actions, instead turning to a higher power (like Hebrew National hot dogs, I guess). Some people insisted that a "higher power" need not be a god, and could be a rock or a tree (one person's actual examples), which is pretty ridiculous. bethje had told me about the religious aspects of AA before, but I have to wonder how many people are aware of them. It isn't something I associated with AA in the past. I guess if I ever become an alcoholic, I'll have to find a different way to sober up.

Beth and I are going to the Monster-Mania Convention this weekend. It sounds like it should be fun. Expect some comments on the convention in the near future, as well as a review of Button-Bright of Oz. (I've made it through eighty out of 123 pages of Button-Bright, so I should be finished reading it pretty soon.)

Comments

[vovat.livejournal.com]

According to the episode, the success rate of AA is 5%, the same as for people sobering up without AA. I do tend to be skeptical of statistics given on TV, though, because things are often more complex than just a raw number. That's probably a reasonably accurate figure, though.

You're probably right about P&T not totally realizing how hard it is to kick an addiction.

As for the religion thing (and this isn't really a direct reply to anything you said, just something I've been thinking about in general), I'm not anti-religion, but I'm not religious myself. I guess I'm more agnostic than totally atheistic, since I don't necessarily think there COULDN'T be a God, but I don't think there's enough evidence for me to become religious. I'm sure some atheists can be just as annoying and overzealous as the hardcore religious types. On the other hand, the United States Government often tends to ignore non-religious people, especially now that it's in the control of fundamentalist zealots like Bush and Ashcroft. When people make arguments like, "We should keep 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance, because it doesn't leave out Muslims or Hindus," they're ignoring the fact that it DOES leave out people who don't believe in ANY god, for whatever reason. Hmm, maybe I should make an actual post about this sometime, instead of just leaving it in a comment.

[revme.livejournal.com]

Hm, yeah... I think the number I saw was 10% (but that ways also listed as about equal). The thing that I sorta wonder, though is how many people go to AA with the intent of Sobering Up, and how many go with the intent of Fulfilling A Court Order. (Even though I do wager that a good portion of the Bullshit! ep was that it's sorta weird/creepy for the government to make you go to meetings of a(n at least Quasi-)Religious Organization. Which is kinda creepy, but it often seems that AA is one of the more benign Quasi-Religious Organizations to be forced into.) So, you sort of wonder. Or at least I do. But maybe P&T addressed that during the show, too, so... (Man, I hate not having Showtime. It means that I miss out on P&T, and it also means that I can't really talk about the show as well, just because I haven't seen it, so I've got to make guesses.)

I don't know. I've sorta waffled around myself w/r/t atheism v. agnosticism, but I've pretty much come down on the side of atheism. To me, it's not necessarily that there _isn't_ or _couldn't_ be a god, but rather that there's no compelling evidence thereof, and if forced to make a decision, I'd say "No." To me, agnosticism is a bit more open, that it takes the idea of there actually being a god a little more seriously (not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that or anything).

One of the things that pisses me off about atheism though is it seems that a lot of fundie types think that we're atheists because we _hate_ god. Which is just really silly, since, uh, it's kinda hard to hate something you don't really believe in. I don't hate god, and I don't love god either; I just... don't really think of him. Although, I'm an atheist because I haven't found any compelling evidence (as I mentioned above) -- if presented with some sort of concrete evidence that god exists, I would be _more than willing_ to admit that I was wrong. My atheism does come at least partially out of a love of science, and one of the things in science is that you're always willing to revise hypothesis. (Which is the really sorta baffling thing about the recent wave of apocalypse literature; they'll always have the Rapture or whatever, and _no one is convinced_. I'm sorry, but, uh, Revlations is pretty specific. If the oceans turn to blood after a bunch of people including most/all of the world's children end up just totally disappearing, I apologize to all my atheist brethren, but, uh, I'm gonna be gettin' on my knees and start genuflecting or whatever it is you're supposed to do to get in good with god, since at that point, he's pretty much said "Hey, how's it going? By the way, I'm totally real.")

But... yeah, annoyingness isn't something the religionists have a monopoly on. I'm sorta skeeved by some of the more vocal atheists sometimes, too. Like, uh, I have to admit sorta being all "eeeh" on the Brights. I dig what they're doing and whatnot, but, jeez, they really come off as really smug know-it-all types. I mean, for one, the BRIGHTS? Why don't they just call themselves the "Smartypants Smartguys Who Are Totally Smarter Than You" and be done with it? But... yeah. I tend to be much more sympathetic to them than, say, the folks who say that Christians Are Persecuted in this country because gay people exist or there exist movies for adults. I'm sorry, what did you say, oh, here, why don't you get back to me when an Atheist has a shot at becoming president, or when a candidate for same isn't asked by fucking Newsweek if he's Accepted Jesus Christ As His Lord And Personal Saviour, and it's actually something that people will VOTE ON. (Arr.)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, P&T did talk about people being forced to attend meetings of a quasi-religious organization.

I'll probably expand upon my views on the atheism/agnosticism thing in a few days (my Oz book review will most likely come first), but I will say that I lean toward atheism, rather than theism. I guess the thing is that I don't actively believe, which I guess would make me an atheist by some standards. On the other hand, I don't really actively disbelieve, either. It just isn't all that relevant to my life.

And I don't know who the Brights are.

[revme.livejournal.com]

That'll be pretty interesting... I typically like those sorts of things.

As for the Brights; I don't remember a whole lot about them, but it's sort of a movement by Richard Dawkins and some other folks as sort of a new Religious Classification or whatever, for people who are skeptics/atheists who are really into science and things. And he called it The Brights. I think brights.org is their site. It's one of those things where I'd probably _be_ a Bright if I didn't think that, y'know, identifying as such was sorta vaguely lame for the whole "Smartypants Q. Sciencelover" thing mentioned above.