Oh, dear, and this man is allowed to vote…
On working days my morning routine is pretty simple: channel surfing with the remote in one hand while taking sips of cappuccino from the cup in my other hand. A potentially dangerous routine as I found out on Saturday morning because I nearly choked to death with the cappuccino because of something I heard on TV. It was the LARRY KING LIVE show on CNN, hosted by a guest host-Joy Behar. She was talking to Steve Harvey, who has his own talk show, and the occasion was his recent book “Act like a lady, think like a man”-apparently one of the countless manuals advising women how to pick a good man. The only reason I paid attention to the conversation was to try my language skills and see how much of the conversation I can comprehend. And then I heard this:
BEHAR: Which reminds me, speaking of God, you say in the book that you wouldn't go out with a woman, I guess, a woman should not go out with a man that doesn't believe in God.
HARVEY: No, I mean, why would you?
BEHAR: Do you believe that only people who are religious are ethical and moral?
HARVEY: No. I just believe if you don't believe in God, then where is your moral barometer? That's just me talking. You can believe what you want to believe. But if you're an atheist, you're basing the goodness and morality on what? I mean, but what is an atheist? I don't really get into that. I've talked the people all the time. I'm an atheist. I just walk away. I don't know what to say to you.
BEHAR: Well, an atheist is someone that doesn't quite believe that there is somebody out there, some God out there.
HARVEY: Well then to me you're an idiot.
BEHAR: OK. Well ...
HARVEY: I'm cool with that. Probably not the right politically correct thing to say but if you don't believe in God, I mean, really, you have to have an explanation for this. You can't just tell me it spun out of a gastrous (ph) ball and then all of a sudden we were evolved from monkeys. Why we still got monkeys? There is too much open. I just believe that and if you don't believe that, then I don't like talking to you.
Feeling’s mutual, dude, feeling’s mutual. "idiot" is the one word on my mind for people like you as well.
BEHAR: Which reminds me, speaking of God, you say in the book that you wouldn't go out with a woman, I guess, a woman should not go out with a man that doesn't believe in God.
HARVEY: No, I mean, why would you?
BEHAR: Do you believe that only people who are religious are ethical and moral?
HARVEY: No. I just believe if you don't believe in God, then where is your moral barometer? That's just me talking. You can believe what you want to believe. But if you're an atheist, you're basing the goodness and morality on what? I mean, but what is an atheist? I don't really get into that. I've talked the people all the time. I'm an atheist. I just walk away. I don't know what to say to you.
BEHAR: Well, an atheist is someone that doesn't quite believe that there is somebody out there, some God out there.
HARVEY: Well then to me you're an idiot.
BEHAR: OK. Well ...
HARVEY: I'm cool with that. Probably not the right politically correct thing to say but if you don't believe in God, I mean, really, you have to have an explanation for this. You can't just tell me it spun out of a gastrous (ph) ball and then all of a sudden we were evolved from monkeys. Why we still got monkeys? There is too much open. I just believe that and if you don't believe that, then I don't like talking to you.
Feeling’s mutual, dude, feeling’s mutual. "idiot" is the one word on my mind for people like you as well.
posted by balance at
11:36 AM
11 Comments:
Thousands of years have proved that people have no problem worshipping the invisible, that wont change overnight, probably wont change ever. You can't argue with people who have been conditioned (or brainwashed if you like) into having deeply held beliefs that require no evidence.
Psychologically speaking when people pray to their God, who they can't see and only feel in their heart that he/she is there to pray to, it's a form of delusional psychosis as they're talking to someone who they can't prove exists.
Uh-oh, I could ramble on about why atheists have better morals than the religious.. something to do with actively searching for the truth as opposed to the closed circle that uses the concept of god as a copout to explain the unexplainable. Plus, God appears to have no problem with people breaking the 'thou shalt not kill' commandment as long as those being killed or demonised are not of the same faith, seems a little backwards/hypocritical. Morals come from an understanding of actions and consequences for anyone who has a self awareness, be they atheists, heathens, pagans, muslims, christians etc. but only religion teaches people that those who aren't of religious faith have no morals.
Religions were set up to keep the masses subserviant by convincing them that eternal damnation awaits then if they misbehave. Behave or suffer forever !!! Nothing particularly wrong with that, would be nice if everyone on the planet behaved - but historically the worst misbehaving was and still is actually done in the name of religion, kind of defeats the point really.
As George Carlin says "why are people praying to God on Sundays? It's his day of rest so he wont be listening !!!" :)
The militarised state control of the new world order doesn't sound so bad when you consider what religion has done to people's brains.
If I've offended anyone reading this who is of religious persuasion look up 'forgiveness' in the bible.
Sorry it took me so long to reply :)
A very thorough and accurate comment and I can add nothing to it but my consent :) Yes, I do think it is pointless and doomed to fail from the start to reason with people whose understanding and perception of the world as it was and is so impossibly differs from mine. And, yes, I’d rather say “brainwashed”.
Killing is only justified (in the broadest sense of that word) as a final option against a life-threatening behavior and as such is a reaction to an offensive act i.e. it comes as a follow-up to something initiated by someone else. It is justified in this case because one can not just sit and wait to be slaughtered like an animal. Am I the only one to think it is sick to kill a man in the name of life? I mean the freshest murder of an abortion doctor. The perpetrator is allegedly still unknown but I bet he will turn out to be a very religious man. And I don’t care if anyone will feel offended.
Hmm, whatever you and I may say will not change a single thing so I better stop here. I only wanted to share my amazement-it’s one of those cases when I know what I’ve heard and yet my mind refuses to believe it. For the sake of my inner peace I will bother with this matter no more. Useless battles are a waste of energy that better be directed to worthy causes.
Huge thanks for the comment, Kris-it is always a pleasure to hear what you have on your mind :)
And another thing.. ;-)
"all of a sudden we evolved from monkeys.." ??? the guy obviously needs to read up on darwinism and genetic evolution, first of all monkeys like chimps and gorillas are from a completely different dna 'branch' while our closest genetic ancestry link tracing back is with lemurs (ok, you could call them monkeys too but there's nothing like generalisation to confuse the issue), most people are surprised when they hear about this! It's not all of a sudden either!! it's over the course of thousands of centuries, chance mutations produce variants (look at the minorities of conjoined twins etc).. and if the mutated trait aids survival in a species then it will multiply, take over and become the norm.
The guy needs to do his homework, if he's not going to bother entertaining the concepts that oppose his world view then he is showing off his role of blind acceptance and making himself look decidedly dimwitted.
Even the concept of god evolved, the old testiment god was a wrath-riddled nutter who smited nations with righteous abandon, unlike the loving father of the new testiment. Ah, and the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians had many gods, racing around the sky in their chariots - Mercury, Venus, Zeus, Ra - most of which we can now study through telescopic observation and have discovered them to be planets and suns, not gods.
Here's a question that tends to baffle those who take the bible more literally than others, if man was made in the immortal image of god why was man (and I mean mankind as in male and female / Adam and Eve) made with reproductive organs? and Hey Presto the devout would say something like 'god was testing them', well, any supreme being with immortal wisdom should be able to get it right first time, god wouldn't need to testdrive his own creation of his own image.
'god works in mysterious ways'.. the ultimate copout to explain that which would otherwise expose the flaws in the belief system. Religion knocks people on the head with a hammer (Thor's hammer ha ha) so they don't question the authority of those in high ranking postions of earthly power (the control freaks). Harvey is just a symptom of this machine, we should all feel a little sorry for him.
Sorry, dear, I had an awful day at work.
Where was I…
You know what’s really wrong with this picture? This man is not an exception. His presence in the Larry King’s show was not to set an example of a freak; he was invited as a renowned guest. A couple of years ago I asked at least 5 of my closest friends what they thought about humans evolving from apes and all of them said they didn’t quite believe that was how it happened!
BTW, I didn’t know about lemurs either :)
Anyway, personally I have never questioned the credibility of Darwin’s theory of species although “theory” suggests there isn’t a scientific proof. But since it was introduced there isn’t a more reliable one and neither there are scientific facts disproving it. So, until little green (or grey or whatever colour space fashion dictates) land on Earth stating “So and so, we came here a long time ago from a galaxy far away and we made you as you are today and Arthur C Clarke was the latest in charge of our PR etc” I will trust Darwin’s theory to be the truth and nothing but the truth :)
I have nothing against religion, seriously. I believe in the freedom of choice and as far as I am concerned everyone’s free to believe in a god of his/her own choice…the same way I am free NOT to believe in any of the gods on the menu. I can understand why people would turn to religion. I guess they feel protected to know an almighty god watches over them. I don’t mind that. However what I do mind is when religion is used as an undisputable and ultimate excuse for breaking all sorts of laws easing the guilty ones of responsibility. There is one law for me-to treat other people as I want them to treat me. And I certainly hold myself accountable for all my deeds. “’cause God told me so” is simply immature.
“Ignorance is bless”, remember? Harvey doesn’t need our sympathy-he’s already blessed :)
Off topic: I very much enjoy LTJ Bukem’s music-thanks for giving me that CD!
Ditto. Like your good self I'm a do as you would be done by person. After what appears to be my 'anti-faith-in-the-invisible' rant I still tend to agree with the zeitgeist chap who, being religious himself, believes religion is good for those who require emotional solace. The main problem that occurs (objectively) from being part of a religious congregation is a tendency to develope into what can only be described as smug righteousness - a kind of 'I believe being religious means I have better morals than you so you must be inferior' attitude, adequately demonstrated by our good friend Harvey. ;-)
Definitely touched a nerve with this particular blog ;-)
Btw, my knowledge about the lemur genetic link came from a book called River Out of Eden by Richard Dawkins who gives immaculate explanations as to the mechanics of genetics and the evolutionary process. A very enlightening read. =)
& ET intervention with human development? Why wouldn't they? ..if they exist? For potential extra terrestrial races who possess interstellar space travel technology they'd be far in advanced of anything we've accomplished, we'd be like fleshy beasts in a zoo to them. I also don't hold with the notion of aliens looking humanoid, you only have to look at the variety of life on this world and mankind's arrogance in believing he's been the superior species from the word go, it's far more likely that if an alien species came out on top of their planet's evolutionary ladder they would probably not look human. I mean, who says the dinosaurs didn't develope rudimentary technology after their millions of years in control of the planet and their extinction was due to them using nukes on each other? Sounds preposterous but can't be proved against. :-)
Oh, & you're welcome re. Bukem's cool sonics, glad it's appreciated !! Only the best for you =)
There is a quote by Bill Hicks which I love and here it is:
You believe the world's 12 thousand years old? "That's right." Okay I got one word to ask you, a one word question, ready? "Uh huh." Dinosaurs. You know the world's 12 thousand years old and dinosaurs existed, they existed in that time, you'd think it would have been mentioned in the fucking Bible at some point. "And lo Jesus and the disciples walked to Nazareth. But the trail was blocked by a giant brontosaurus...with a splinter in his paw. And O the disciples did run a shriekin': 'What a big fucking lizard, Lord!' But Jesus was unafraid and he took the splinter from the brontosaurus's paw and the big lizard became his friend.”
As for the "smug righteousness" which Kris mentions above: I work with a born again xstian; she belongs to a mystical sect of the 7th day: she is the most sanctimonious person I have ever met -and she is also the most pessimist: I am sure the two are connected. I wish I could slap her face with one of the wet fish Jesus fed his congregations with.
She is an impossible person to work with, really.
I’m lucky not to have a personal experience with religious zealots. They are lucky not to be around me as well. Otherwise it would’ve been a heavy case of constant faith and temper testing.
Oh, Milla, that quote is hilarious :))) I don’t remember if I sent you the link to Rob Sheridan’s blog entry on his visit to the Creation Museum. In case I forgot here it is -it’s too funny to miss :)
And, Kris, to your question “Why would they”…maybe we were someone’s project in biology at school? ;)
Most likely the truth about life on Earth and the origin of human race (here I am talking as if I am not a part of it…but sometimes I do feel as if I am a species of my own, duh!) will not be revealed in our lifetime. But, although I do not know what the truth really is, I do know what it isn’t: no divine interference is to be hold responsible for it. Otherwise I would have just one comment: Lousy job, God! Try a bit better next time! :))
*Waiting for a lightning to strike me…No? Hmm…*
Milla, Bill Hicks was completely amazing but the bit he said about dinosaurs could easily be explained by the religious from a line near the beginning of genesis which says something to the effect of god making the beasts of the earth. Bill then goes on to say that with all the people wearing crosses when jesus has his second coming would he ever want to see a cross again? :) He sure knew how to get himself in trouble with the establishment, ;)
& Vera, far as I know, origins of life have been traced back to primordial enzyme production, pressure from the early violence of planet and star formation causing complex chemical reactions. And the moon (which was much closer to the earth zillions of years ago) rhythmically pulls on the liquids of this world creating tides, something similar to a breathing in and out.
& The question about advanced alien races having a fiddle with us boils down to why they would wish to remain anonymous? Just like God no one can prove they exist. If they were there they'd be watching nations of us beat other nations up in the names of opposing invisible supreme beings. Exactly how silly would the world look to them?
Hey guys, nice weekend to you both, x
Thanks, Kris, it was a lazy weekend. I could use more of those :)
No one said high intelligence goes hand in hand with high moral. And if a civilization has the knowledge and the technology to cross galaxies their superiority would be undeniable and unquestionable. Not to mention the relativity of time-maybe a thousand Earth years equal a minute somewhere else. Sure, so far aliens exist only in people’s imagination but you of all people I know should be grateful for that-try to picture your life without sci-fi books and movies ;)
And that’s my point-we don’t know for sure but we know we don’t know while all the members of the Club of the 7 days would probably stake their lives that a certain mighty power (referred to shortly as “God”) sometime ago (out of boredom, perhaps) snapped with fingers and, voila!, there was light, snapped again and there was Earth (or was it the other way around?). A difference in opinions is one thing (and most welcome if I may add; and I may because this is my blog); stiff minds that would rather kill than assume they might be wrong is another.
Yep, scifi, especially futuristic scifi is fascinating, akin to prophecy in a way, authors develop what we know about today and project a future based on current knowledge, this can serve both as a 'warning' (robots taking over etc.) and 'hope' (utopian societies, star trek 24th century - money has been abolished etc.).
For people who can grasp the enormity of the visible universe around us, i.e. it takes light 8 minutes to reach us from the sun but 4 whole years to reach us from our nearest star 'proxima centauri' & 70,000 years for light to reach us from the other end of this galaxy, then there are billions of visible galaxies at varying incredible distances from us, it's impossible to imagine that life hasn't developed elsewhere in the universe under similar circumstances. But for intelligent alien races to have reached a point where interstellar travel is achieved (or even intergalactic travel) there has to be a stabilising force in their own society that enables them not to destroy each other and wipe each other out so they can continue to evolve to advanced levels of sophistication and technology.
I.e. as long we have more than one religion on this planet people will fight each other over who has the best moral guideline rulebook for living by. Kind of like "No! my god is the one true god! Your god is false!", "My god dictates that anyone who doesn't believe in him is a heathen and therefore subhuman!" and hence.. "Your god is a pile of shit, my god can beat your god up anyday!" :) Obviously I'm making light of some dreadful situations that have occurred in the name of god.
For those of us lucky enough to objectively see the absurdity of the brainwashing techniques religion employs we can only gasp in amazement when, for instance, people drink the wine symbolising the blood of Christ and chew the wafer (symbolising his body) - because.. I was under the impression that drinking blood and eating flesh was cannibalism!!! (or atleast a mild form of vampyrism) something totally wrong yet acceptable to church going folk because they've been hypnotised into believing there's nothing wrong with drinking blood as long as its holy. Not satisfied with nailing the poor guy up on a tree thousands of years ago they're still draining him of his bodily fluids years later huh?
Infact the story of Jesus goes a bit like this.. A guy who preaches love, understanding and goodwill to all mankind is then nailed to a cross... The moral of the story, if you go around trying to be good you will get killed. Surely being good should be celebrated not destroyed? When viewed objectively there are all sorts of hypocracies involved with any religion, yet it persistently pervades societies everywhere (I think the dollar bill has 'in god we trust' written on it somewhere, as do the bombs they drop on their so called enemies) - people are scared of the unknown factors that impose upon them like mortality and religion gives them hope that they may live out their potential afterlife in a pleasant place. It's like they're being sold an insurance policy for their spiritual existance, the cheap and easy way out rather than the hard way of trying to create peace on earth during their lifetimes.
Some people live and learn others just live and live. =)
I'm not suggesting that only the gullible worship an invisible supreme being who hides from view like a coward, religion is a cleverly run population control device that uses mantra-like repetition and hypnotic suggestion in order to fabricate a total submission and respect for power/authority, everyone on the planet is susceptible because of its long standing history of being passed down through generations. The young are taught so they don't know any better later in life. Unless they start to question it. =)
After what could possibly be described as a blasphemous rant I have to add that satan is also a big fuckoff pile of shite too. =)
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home