2006 February | Way of the Mind

Monthly Archive for February, 2006

Murderous children: innocents?

Published

on February 23, 2006

in collectivism, relativism, society and violence

. 8 Comments

If you don’t speak Portuguese, you probably won’t understand this news article, but it’s like this: a group of minors, between 10 and 15 years old, have just murdered a homeless man, in Oporto, Portugal. Apparently, they stoned and kicked him to death.

Surprisingly, not much has been said yet (though I admit I don’t watch TV or listen to radio, I only read news sites), other than a couple of politicians saying “I’m shocked!”. But, having lived in Portugal all my life, I can easily see where this is going. Politicians here, who sometimes remind me of Atlas Shrugged villains, are probably going to say that the kids are minors according to the law, that they aren’t responsible for their actions, that they are the true victims, that this is all society’s fault, that they can’t possibly be seen, or treated, as criminals, that all children are innocent, that this or that is to blame, and so on. In other words, collectivism, and the denial of that bothersome thing called “personal responsibility”.

I can bet that no one among them will be punished in any way. I really, really hope I am wrong… but I’ve seen how justice works here.

Me, my belief is this: by commiting murder (and it’s murder, make no mistakes), they lost the right to be treated as “innocent” children. By acting like adults, and doing one of the worst things an adult can do (killing an innocent, just for fun), they should be treated as adults, and punished as such.

What do you people think? Should their young age make a difference here?

Where God Went Wrong

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on February 15, 2006

in atheism and religion

. 10 Comments

(sorry, couldn’t resist using the title of the first book from Oolon Colluphid’s trilogy of philosophical blockbusters :))

Ebon Musings’ Atheist Pages has been a place where I’ve spent a lot of time recently - it’s a collection of atheistic texts and essays, extremely well written and argued.

A brilliant and slightly humoristic one is An Almighty Screwup. I couldn’t recommend it more. For instance,

Simply put, the Christian fundamentalist god is a colossal screwup. Anyone who reads the Bible can see for themselves that he just can’t do anything right. He designs an originally beautiful and immaculate creation which almost immediately becomes polluted with sin, suffering and death. Both times he tries his hand at creating free will, his created beings immediately turn around and reject him. He chooses a people and continually attempts to redeem them from their fallen state, attempts which continually prove to be complete failures. He dispenses punishments for the evildoers and the wicked that utterly fail to stem the spread of evil and wickedness. He deals with crimes and transgressions by lashing out in childish rage, killing not just the evildoer but, often, all the innocent people around him. His final, crowning attempt to save the world from its sin was almost unanimously rejected by his chosen people. And his repeated promises to return to the Earth to set everything right have now been thoroughly broken. I find it impossible to believe that an omniscient and omnipotent deity, if there was such a being, could so consistently and thoroughly screw up; the contradiction between what this god is claimed to be able to do and what I am told he did do is so stark that it defies all reason that such a being could actually exist. But even if he did, such a sorry excuse for a deity would be deserving of no one’s worship - which makes the audacity of his followers all the more incredible, to insist in the face of his long string of failures that he is a wise and loving ruler worthy of our adoration!

Really, give it a try. The entire essay is much longer, but it’s an absolute joy to read.

Islam: a religion of peace?

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on February 15, 2006

in fanaticism, religion and violence

. 1 Comment

As I said in the previous post, I have my reasons for speaking more against Christianity than against other religions, as it’s the one I “see” around me. But, in a way, Islam is even worse (and I am grateful that there are very, very few Muslims in my country).

Islam’s apologists say that it’s “a religion of peace”. The Martian has a great post refuting that, so I won’t repeat those arguments here - just read his post.

What I want to add is this: some people say it’s just the “extremists” that commit acts of fanatical violence and terrorism, and that “true” Islam isn’t like that. But… what’s true Islam? It should be what’s in the Koran, right?

If so, here’s what the Koran has to say about violence. And here’s what the Koran says about (in)tolerance.

“Religion of peace”? Maybe in the sense of “we’ll kill anyone who disagrees with us, then we’ll have peace”.

"Anti-Christianity"?

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on February 15, 2006

in fanaticism, mysticism and religion

. 1 Comment

This site’s religion category, currently, has a lot of posts where I condemn Christianity and its doings. Am I anti-Christian? Do I have a bone to pick with Christianity? Is that it?

Not exactly. You’d be slightly more correct if you said I was anti-religion, but that’s still not the entire truth.

What I really am against is irracionality. Religion is just one particular case of that.

Religion, and mysticism (here I use this word in the sense of “any belief in the supernatural” - I am aware that some people use the word for a specific type of beliefs), are irrational - they’re wishful thinking, they’re the (comforting) belief that reality isn’t real, but is changed on a whim. As Carl Sagan used to say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and no religion has any evidence supporting, it, other than “it’s written so in some old books” and “a lot of people believe it”. Therefore, to believe in something so extraordinary (it’s no more believable than Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny) without evidence is absolutely irrational.

I also say that while a few religious people may have done some good, as a whole, religion has only harmed the world, has only held back the advancement of humanity, and is guilty of more death and suffering than anything else in the world.

Why my focus on Christianity, and not, say, Islam? Personal experience, I guess. Islam is just as bad as Christianity, if not worse (more about that in a future post); it’s just that, living in Western Europe, it’s Christianity that I see around me. And when I study history, again, it’s Christian atrocities that come up. The United States (I don’t live there, but I read a lot of American blogs and news sites) are becoming more and more fundamentalist and irrational (just look at the choice of president) because of Christianity. I was raised a Christian. Is it any wonder that I speak more against Christianity than against other religions?

Saving Souls

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on February 13, 2006

in christianity and religion

. 3 Comments

(warning: this is a long one)

One of the biggest problems with Christianity is the devout Christians’ desire to “save souls”.

While the Old Testament (OT)’s Judaism wasn’t concerned to the afterlife - indeed, I don’t remember a single mention of heaven or hell in the OT -, to Christianity (especially Paul’s - not necessarily Jesus’) it’s perhaps the most important thing. After all, as a lot of Christians believe, this earthly life is really just a “test”, and what matters is what happens after your body dies - either you are saved and go to heaven, or aren’t, and will burn in hell, while being tortured by Satan and all his demons, for eternity.

Indeed, Christianity tells us not to become too “attached” to this world. This life, according to devout Christians, doesn’t really matter. Happiness or sadness, joy or suffering, are irrelevant: life is just a binary test, to decide whether your soul is saved or not. (Here, there’s a division: some Christians, mostly Protestant, believe that we are saved by faith alone, while others (mostly the Catholics) believe it’s faith and good works as well.)

So, let’s say you’re one devout (one might say “fundamentalist”, but only the Muslims are such… right?) Christian. According to your most deeply held beliefs, the only thing that matters is whether your soul is saved or not. Since you believe in God with all your heart, go to church, do whatever your priest tells you to do, and so on, you can reasonably assume that you‘ll be saved. Right? Hmm, so you have just achieved your life’s goal - you’ll be saved when you die, go to heaven, and all that.

Since the rest of this life doesn’t really matter, you don’t particularly enjoy it, so you wish you could skip the rest of it and just go to heaven right now. Unfortunately, Christianity also says that suicide is a deadly sin. What to do, then?

Continue reading ‘Saving Souls’

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The Sacrificial Worker, part 2

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on February 7, 2006

in collectivism and work

. 2 Comments

“Ahhh, you only complain about everything, instead of actually suggesting anything constructive!”

Far from it.

Let’s try a different format for this article: a FAQ (frequently asked questions) list. They aren’t necessarily “questions”, but you get the idea.

1- “I can’t go on vacation! What would happen to the rest of the team? We’re already overworked…”

They don’t have an obligation to do your work on top of theirs. They should either do their own work, or yours, or part of each - not both. And they should learn to say “sorry, we can’t do this, we don’t have the manpower to do it, unless we stop doing something else.”

2- “But what about the other teams, which depend on our work? Do we have the right to let them be harmed?”

The answer here is the same. I’m not advocating “excuses” in the usual sense, but, just like your understaffed team has a reason not do do all the required work, so do the other teams - “the XXX team couldn’t do their part, they don’t have enough people at the moment. They say they’ve already asked their boss to hire more people…”.

3- “The boss told me to dedicate all my time to project X… but if I do so, what will happen to the company? I’d need to take time from it to do all the maintenance work I usually do! I have to stay at work until later, and do both!”

Nope. First, get your boss’s orders in writing. (if he refuses, tell him, flatly, that you won’t do it.) Then, obey them. When the rest of the company (including your boss’s boss) complains that nothing is working, tell them what happened. Simple.

4- “This work is vital! The company needs it!”

If it’s so important, why don’t they hire more people, instead of leaving it to overworked, stressed, tired employees? It’s a lot easier to make mistakes if you haven’t slept well for weeks, you know.

5- “I’m an employee of the company, they pay me, so I have to do what they tell me to do.”

Not quite. You’re an employee, not property. And if they need you to do the work of 3 men, why don’t they pay you 3 times your normal salary? They don’t? Then you should do your work - competently and professionally. No less… and no more.

6- “This is an emergency situation! It’s only temporary!”

Is it? Emergencies, by definition, are short and exceptional. How long has it been like this, now? And, what’s worse, does your boss - assuming he cares about cutting costs and having all the work done, but not about your health or well-being - have any reason to change things? Or will he be better served by delaying the hiring of any more people, knowing full well that your loyalty - and gullibility - will make the remaing few do the work of many?

7- “My efforts will eventually be recognized, and I will be promoted, if I keep doing this.”

Wrong again. To anyone above your boss, it’s he that will be seen as extremely efficient, a great leader, who is able to cut costs, and do a lot of work with such few employees. Guess who will have the promotion.

The Sacrificial Worker

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on February 6, 2006

in collectivism and work

. 6 Comments

Raise your hand if the following is familiar…

Once upon a time, there was a nice little company. In it, there was a nice little department, and inside it there was a nice little team.

The members of that team were competent, and there was work for everyone. They weren’t overworked - they managed to leave at 6 PM every day, with all of the day’s work behind them, and then go home to their families and forget it all until the next day. On the other hand, they weren’t idle either - if one of them got sick, or went on vacations, for instance, the others certainly “felt” the added work, had to leave a little later, and went home tired. But they managed.

One day, one of them left. Nothing special had happened - he simply got a better offer somewhere else, and in a place closer to home. The other workers were a bit troubled by it, but their worries were eased as their boss assured them that they would hire a replacement soon.

Time passed, and no replacement came. It was, in a way, as if one of the team was gone on vacations all the time. The remaining members had to work harder, more time per day, and spent less time with their families. Worse, still, was when one of them did go on vacations - that mean everyone else got really overworked, and had to spend nights at work, and sometimes go there during weekends. Luckily, that didn’t happen during most of the time.

And the boss had an idea…

Continue reading ‘The Sacrificial Worker’