Pissy Atheists

What's worse than a born-again Christian shoving the bible down your throat? It might be an Atheist waving Hitchens in your face. Well, I don't know if the Atheist is worse, but he's at least on par with the Christian.

I once went to something called a "Reason Rally" in DC (I'm an atheist) and, while I was impressed with a multitude of the speakers there, but the headliner was none other than Richard Dawkins and at the end of his speech, he trumpeted the rally cry of (quite literally) "Insult them thoroughly and publicly."

I'm sorry, but the Dawkins/Hitchens soap box speech gets old, especially Hitchens. I wish I could understand what he's saying, but unfortunately, I speak neither Asshole nor Fuckish. The sad thing is, the dude had some really great points, but they were so heavily punctuated with insults and obscenities that all I heard was "I'm a classless and pompous ass." It's like he's actively trying to project that image. Dawkins is a little better. He at least comes off as a rational person.

And the thing that tears me up is that these stupid little Atheist kids follow their example. The secular movement is a good thing. It encourages equal protection of the law. It encourages education and critical thinking skills. It supports the vital role of scientific understanding. And, most importantly to me, it encourages people to break down the barriers built by creed. But when its representatives make it a priority to abuse the viewpoints of others, it degrades the whole movement.

And honestly, who are you guys kidding? You're not crusaders for some great cause, you're bullies. You use inflammatory tactics that generally insult and demean your opponent. You say you're "taking a stand" or "proving a point," but that justification always follows an onslaught of insults, personal digs, and just enough worldly knowledge to make the opponent feel like they don't know what they're talking about. It's not a conversation, it's an assault, and people see that. It doesn't matter how right you are, nobody's going to listen to someone who presents their argument like a fucking asshole.

Think about it. The two biggest religions in the world are Christianity and Buddhism, and their figureheads were passive peacemakers who preached endlessly about the virtues of love, compassion, and service. The two most famous social leaders of the 20th century were MLK and Gandhi. Those people were famous not only because they were peaceful, but because they were effective.

Atheists are trying to liberate society from the bonds of organized religion. Or at least that's what they say, but they can't get over themselves enough to really think about how to implement it. Shit, we can't even get past infighting. Conversations between Atheists are fucking brutal. Way more brutal than conversations between Christians. Fuck.

Quote: "Terrorism"

Ok. I get it. People died, Boston was shut down, people are hurting. Death is always grievous, especially when it's unexpected. Especially when the people dying are innocent civilians.

What I don't understand is why we react so strongly to isolated events like bombs and shootings but we are apathetic and even sometimes vitriolic toward the death and destruction that happens every single day. In our country and around the world.

I mean, three people died. Three. I know that more were injured and I know that three families are grieving tremendously. But still. Three.

Why is it that the violent death of three people is more shocking to us than the thousands of violent deaths that occur everyday? Why are victims of bomb explosions more deserving of our consideration than the victims of domestic or gang violence? For that matter, why are we up in arms about a bomb exploding in Boston when we don't even pause for victims of the same fate in Afghanistan? I'm sorry, but victims are victims, whether they happened to die in a bomb explosion in Boston or not.

Also. Bombs. Why is it that the idea of a bomb exploding has us shaking in our boots, but the ease with which a criminal or psychopath can get a gun is not only ignored, but actually endorsed and supported by a large margin of people?

The American public's image of terrorism only encompasses immigrants, bombs, and public places. And for some reason, this woefully one-dimensional image of terrorism lurks in our minds, posing as the single greatest threat to the American way of life. It has us giving up core rights like a fair/speedy trial and illegal searches/seizures (but fighting tooth and nail to preserve the "constitutional right" to unlimited magazine rounds...)

We have expended so much time, money, and energy protecting ourselves from "terrorism." We have sacrificed so much. Yet we neglect those victims that live in terror every day from other forms of violence. Gang violence, domestic violence, human trafficking, police brutality, hate crimes, even deportment... And that's just in our own country. I haven't even touched Syria or Uganda. Or the terror that we've imposed on innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The summation of rage expressed by the American public about the Boston bombing compared to our complacency concerning other violence in our own country and around the world only confirms our ignorance, our ethnocentrism, and our utter and complete hypocrisy.