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Jerry Falwell dies

Published

on May 15, 2007

in christianity, current events, fanaticism and religion

. 3 Comments

As I’ve just read in A Load of Bright, the man who once said:

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say “you helped this happen.”

about 9/11, and:

AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals.

is dead.

My feelings about this? The world is better off without him. I’m sorry if this offends anyone; apparently, someone recently dead is always to be “revered”. But I’ll save my compassion for those who deserve it, for those who actually try to make the world a better place, instead of a worse one.

Still, while I believe that Falwell was (much like Robertson, Dobson, Jack Thompson, and others) a disgusting human being, and a source of fundamentalism, intolerance and bigotry, I won’t actually cheer his death. Unlike what his followers believe, I’m convinced that this life is “it”, and, far from making our lives pointless, it makes them precious.

Besides, there are surely many waiting to take his place, and they will always have power, as long as there are people who want to be free from the responsability of thinking and deciding for themselves, who can’t deal with their lives and so need to believe that “hey, this is not the real thing, this is just a test,” and who want to be told that their own prejudices and bigotry are actually “moral” and “holy”, because, hey, the big guy in the sky hates all of ‘em too.

What will make the world a better place is not the death of the Jerry Falwells of the world, but, instead, the loss of their power and influence, because people begin to actually think for themselves. People shouldn’t be “good” simply because there is no charismatic bigot currently inciting them, but because they see those bigots for what they really are, and want nothing to do with them.

Pope threatens pro-choice politicians with excommunication

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on May 9, 2007

in christianity, current events, freedom and religion

. 2 Comments

News here. Of course, he’s talking about Catholic politicians (which may not actually be Catholic themselves, but who live in heavily Catholic countries — which handily coincides with his visit to South America).

While to any non-theist (or even simply non-Catholic) the threat of excommunication is as frightening as the idea of Santa Claus not liking you, if most of the populace is Catholic, the fact that a candidate (possibly attempting a re-election) has been excommunicated (“and by His Holiness the Pope himself!”) may influence polls and election results enough that anyone who’s been considering lifting some ancient and draconian abortion ban may end up not doing it.

What, you thought the Vatican only pulled the strings of kings and kingdoms during the Middle Ages? Think again…

20000 more U.S. troops to Iraq… what for?

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on January 11, 2007

in current events and politics

. 8 Comments

Yup, Bush is really doing it.

Is it just me, or does this remind you as well of “pointy-haired bosses” putting more and more money into a project that everyone already knows is doomed to failure, and will bring no profit at all, just because “well, if we pull back now, it will mean that whatever was already spent is lost”? Which is, if you think about it for 5 seconds, a fallacy - what was spent is already lost, the choice is between losing even more, or not.

If it wasn’t for the fact that the main goal of the war — and, in that, it’s been an absolute success — was always to make it so that criticizing the president in any way is “unpatriotic”, I’d think that the only reason that the U.S. is still there is due to the above - better to bury more money (and, in this case, human lives) than to admit a mistake.

Peter David has some nice comments on Bush’s speech as well, plus a newer post, where he writes:

The classic definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.

We’ve been sending troops into Iraq. The result? Civil War, fighting, and young people dying.

Bush’s solution? Send troops into Iraq.

Different result?

No reason to believe so.

Someone should do a dictionary entry for “Insanity” with Bush’s picture next to it.

Merry you-know-what

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on December 24, 2006

in current events and general

. 5 Comments

Here in Portugal it’s 2 PM right now, and in a couple of hours I’ll go and spend Christmas with my family. Before I do that, however, I want to wish you all a merry whatever-holiday-if-any-you-celebrate.

It may appear strange that an atheist like yours truly celebrates Christmas. However, not only is Christmas an originally pagan holiday (and much older than the supposed birth of Jesus), but, around here, it’s not really a religious holiday. We celebrate Christmas because of tradition, and as an excuse for the family to get together, possibly exchange gifts (though the increasing consumerism is certainly annoying), have a good time, and enjoy each other’s company… which, for some odd reason, is never done during the rest of the year.

So, whatever you readers celebrate, enjoy yourselves. If you don’t celebrate anything… do you really need an excuse to enjoy yourselves anyway?

Abortion

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on November 21, 2006

in choices, current events and freedom

. 4 Comments

Portugal, due to its heavy Catholic tradition, is one of the few “modern” / Western countries where abortion, except in cases of rape, danger to the mother, or heavy deformation, is forbidden by law. Early next year, there will be a referendum about changing that law, which, hopefully, will mean that we will finally leave the Middle Ages around here.

To me, forbidding abortion reminds me of this Robert A. Heinlein quote:

Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

In other words, some people just want to be left alone and decide for themselves, while others feel the “need” to control others, to decide what others can and cannot do. Much like the sodomy-as-a-crime laws that still exist in some states of the U.S..

To put it simply: “You’re against abortion? Fine, then don’t have one.”

However, some people have argued that, in Objectivist / Libertarian terms, abortion is an “initiation of force”, a violation of the fetus’ rights.

The common answer is that a fetus doesn’t have rights, because it’s not a human being; it’s a potential human being. In other words, to say a fetus has rights, then we should say that every sperm has rights, much like in the Monty Python sketch.

What do you think?

The video games industry fights back!

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on September 15, 2005

in current events, freedom, politics, video games and violence

. 2 Comments

In the state of Michigan, U.S.A, apparently a law forbidding the sale of “mature” (you know, what in a movie means PG, but in a game means M or even AO) games to minors passed. Even though it’s unconstitutional.

But, surprisingly, the video games industry is fighting back. For a change. About time, IMO.

Continue reading ‘The video games industry fights back!’

Liar, liar, pants on fire…

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on August 25, 2005

in current events, fanaticism, honesty, pat robertson, religion and violence

. 0 Comments

Pat Robertson now: “Wait a minute, I didn’t say ‘assassination’. I said our special forces could take him out. Take him out could be a number of things, including kidnapping.”

Riiiight…

Pat Robertson a couple of days ago: “If he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it.”

Tough luck, Pat. Video recording is a wonderful thing.

Why do we put up with it?

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on August 24, 2005

in current events, fanaticism, pat robertson, religion and violence

. 0 Comments

Maybe you have heard about it.

Pat Robertson, an American ultra-conservative “Christian” televangelist, has just said, in a broadcast, that the U.S. should assassinate Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. “It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.”, the idiot said. Why? Well, according to him, Chávez is “going to make (Venezuela) a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent.”.

Now, I’m not a Christian, but what confuses me is how anyone can believe that such a monster is one. I mean, this is not the age of the Inquisition, Crusades and so on, right? Christians today are supposed to have remembered the Thou shalt not kill Commandment, apparently forgotten in the Middle Ages. How can any Christian not instantly condemn that imbecile when he says “oh, let’s go kill that guy - he annoys us, and it’s cheaper than going to war again”? How can he still have listeners?

Remember that he’s the same guy who said feminism is a “socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”

He’s also the same guy who agreed with another nutcase televangelist that the 9/11 attacks were the fault of “pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, lesbians, the ACLU and the People for the American Way.”

And yet I’m sure that little, if anything, will happen to him, or to his very successful (!) TV program.

Technorati tags: Pat Robertson

Violence, video games and personal responsibility

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on July 27, 2005

in current events, responsibility, video games and violence

. 9 Comments

If you don’t think that this site is one of the most disgusting things you’ve ever seen, then forgive me for being blunt, but you have a problem.

For the last couple of decades, the media, sleazy lawyers (redundant, I know) and opportunistic politicians (there I go again…) have been, from time to time, creating media circuses because computer and video games are corrupting our children with gratuitous violence, blood, gore, disrespect for authority and, worst of all, nudity! That no scientific study (and there have been several) has ever linked real life violence with computer games is of no interest to these parasites - it is an opportunity to get richer (to a lawyer like the vermin above) and an opportunity to be seen as “protecting children” and “fighting for family values” (just check out Hillary Clinton, whom I had nothing against until now).

Continue reading ‘Violence, video games and personal responsibility’

casinos games

An insane world

Published

Pedro Timóteo

on July 22, 2005

in astrology and current events

. 3 Comments

A friend of mine had told me about this as she read a newspaper, and today my brother initiated a thread about it in my forum (in Portuguese).

Basically, Marina Bai, a Russian astrologist, sued NASA for… wait for it… “changing her horoscope” by crashing a probe into a comet, in order to study it.

Continue reading ‘An insane world’