vLog Unspecial 02: Having Cake

Oi Space Travlers, I've got a hankerin' for some cake. No I don't want to eat it, I plan to simply have cake. I think if you tried it, you'd find it rather enjoyable.

Chapter 29, Verse 1: On Cats and Closing Doors

I was laying in bed Space Travelers, and a muse struck me. At this terrible hour, I crawled to my laptop and felt I had something to share. I'll soon return to my cozy bed, but first, this.

I raised a lot of animals when I was growing up. I had three cats, and they assumed three different characters: Little, fat and bad. They each had a very unique personality, and they would react to people in many different ways. Cats aren't really like dogs in that they don't really accept commands. Cats kind of do what they wish and certainly only what serves their (sometimes evil) agenda. I did learn one trick to manipulating a cat.
If I wanted a cat to go into a room, calling her and waving at her would never work. If I didn't prove to her that it was in her best interest to enter a room, she wouldn't. As a grew up, I noticed that if I closed the door very slowly, the cat would observe a dilemma and would always run to make it through the door at the last second (this is why we close the door slowly. No cat injuries...).I feel that life is often like this. So many doors slowly closing, and we unlike the cat sit in indecision. These doors often are new ideas, new experiences, and even the heart of another. Sometimes going through the door can be it's own reward. Free will is meaningless in stillness. We are alive when we move; when we exercise choice. I can't promise that every door you run through leads to happiness, but I know a lot of happy cats.

Meow Space Cats.

vLog Unspecial 01: Quit Playing on the Phone!

So sometimes you have to just do Space Travelers.

You just have to make something and know it isn't perfect. Here goes. No edits. No cool transitions. I'm not even using my good camera. It's just me and my web cam with some extra time.

Strange and Mysterious Bullshit.

Space Travelers, it's a story we all know. Tragedy strikes, be it natural or man made. Soon after, people flock in to weigh in what this "means."

People want to know why bad things happen in the world. They want to know why a god would either allow them to happen, or even perhaps make them happen. For me it's very clear: No god. For others, it's harder. They must reconcile so many conflicting concepts to protect the beliefs they hold dear. What torture.

No god did this. This tragedy is big enough without having to account for any gods that don't want to show up on gameday when humans are in REAL need.

But there are plenty of believers out there so wrought in cognitive dissonance that they think that a god lets us go through tragedy to make us stronger and so we survive. However, we don't all survive. Ask the Haitians. Many have already died. Many will die in the days to come, and they'll die hungry, alone, and scared.

There is no lesson from god here because there is no god. So while we wait looking for the lesson so we can feel better, it's ultimately just a means to advert our eyes from the real tragedy.

There is no lesson
There is no lesson
There is no spoon

The "strange and mysterious" line of reasoning used all to often by theist apologists.

In short: There is a reason a god holds out on us. It's for our good. If it doesn't make sense, it does to god, and that's what matters.

I say, weak sauce on that.

Holding out on us doesn't actually help us. We allow for this kind of illogical construction because we approximate it to our own experiences. You know... like falling off your bike when the training wheels come off, and dad lets it happen so you can pick yourself up? That's an analogy we like, but it's not fit with what we experience. If life is hard, like riding the bike and falling, then god isn't our father. Rather, gods are the training wheels, and we didn't learn to ride from our father, we learn from our neighbors who are trying to learn to ride their bike too.

Some theists resent the notion of blaming god, but accredit this to atheists. Only those who believe in a god can blame one. Similarly, there are those that see tragedies like Haiti, and blame... Haiti...

Watch at your own risk...

Sure Pat Robertson is just one guy, but he represents a focal point in the American religious landscape. His empire is built on supporters. That is the scary part. I struggle to separate his comments here the Westborogh Baptist Church's comments about the Tsunamis in the Thailand being a means of God to kill homosexuals. Am I the only one (surely not) to see that the only difference between the WBC and CBN is that CBN uses a powerful media platform to legitimize its bigotry?

When bad things happen, some blame god. It seems that there is another group of people, who sit on couches and write checks to CBN, who blame Haitians for the earthquake.

I think the idea that people blame god when things goes bad is a religiocentric concept. When things go wrong and people blame other things (or even themselves) they probably don't even get a blip on their radar, but when a god gets mentioned they spring to their feet and suddenly everyone is blaming god for everything...

Bless their heart Space Travelers, they only want to save me. But I'm still the heathen, who is a bobbin' and weavin'. Float like a butterfly effect, sting like the police (Rooooooxanne, you left the red light on, and our utility bills was high last month). I broke a stone, I bruised a brick, I'm so mean, I make medicine sick.


A last note. If you plan to donate to relief funds, make sure they are legit. I've been hearing about scammers on the news. How disgusting. Make sure your charity is vetted first.