Since I've been around RRS for a while now, I have noticed some patterns.

One of these is the activity of certain "theist" posters who are inviting "discussion" on various issues.

Common to all such endeavours seems to be an agenda of fragmenting, or distorting, philosophical concepts, scientific theories and "logic", in order to establish that particular type of shaky mental ground which requires "faith" in order to make sense. An example of such posters is the notorious Paisley, who is a complete fucknut without even a faint trace of a clue - but he's still brazenly going at it with considerably more ambition than talent.

I suspect that these posters are playing for an audience. What audience? I suspect a third party, perhaps something like young-ish doubters who are naivly asking their religious slave-masters questions about philosophy, science and logic. They will then be directed towards RRS, where they are told they will find proof that theist philosophers can not only hold their own, but even excel whenever confronted with godless atheists who are sporting big words.

In order to establish a workable degree of mind control over somebody, you need to distort their sense of reality.

This can be done in a number of ways, of which "theism" is the most prominent. Either way, the objective remains the same: Guide the focus of your victim towards things that are unknowable - because this will deplete as well their natural zest for life as their intellectual self-confidence - and you may, when he or she has "ripened" to a sufficient degree, present whichever solution of "faith" that you are peddling.

A good definition of 'superstition' might be to say that it is a pathological mental state characerized by the patient holding excess "beliefs" as a bulwark towards something dreadful, real or imagined; such as death, the loss of self-consciousness (insanity), or imaginary forces of a supernatural persuation. The operator in this mind game is someone who's claiming to hold "answers" that will soothe or ease this sense of dread, and it always implies submission to a set of "statements" which it is taboo to question.

Although theism is by far the most virulent form of such rackets, it is perhaps no longer the most common.

...is as good as any example of how,

when you have acquired a taste for oriental women,

there can be no going back...

So... have you heard about the new low-fat communion wafer for Catholics who have too much mass?

It's marketed under the brand name "I can't believe it's not Jesus!"...

Which means that I get another mark on my damnability checklist.

Do I smoke? Check. Do I drink? Check. Do I curse, blaspheme and fornicate? Check, check and check.

I also work suring the sabbath - and I couldn't care less about that. I think religious people are stupid, particularly Christians.

I don't believe in holy ghosts, angels, virgin births, the immortal soul, God, Satan, Santa motherfucking Claus or whatever else have you.

I don't think that anybody who does "good" just because they want to score points with the Almighty are sincere.

The really funny part is that I am redeemed. Yes really.

Because I know that I don't steal, I don't lie, I don't bear false testimony, and I am not careless or callous about life.

So I guess my damnability gets ompromised by principles.

Hot Holy Tamale Train of Teenage Werewolf Virgins!!!  

It's a tough job being a devil in these times when you consider what passes for righteous men.

There are no words for how much I hate the Christians.

I want to see them suffer torture before they die. I want their blood to colour the fields, the streets, the houses.

I want none of their kind left upon earth. No men, women or children. They are vermin. They must be destroyed.

This is irrational, but it is how I feel. I feel no compassion, much less any mercy.

I feel only a white hot hatred that is so intense it gives me a headache.

I really really really want all Christians to die in agony. I hate them. There's no leeway. They must go.

I got an email about my being 'inactive' on the RRS site.

The reason for this is that I quite frankly find it a bit boring to engage in verbal cock-fights with idiots. And by "idiots" I mean people who believe in things that they don't have to believe in, something which forces them into an absurd position of having to defend something they cannot prove. The corollary of that is that they will resort to weirdness which admittedly has a bit of a circus-sideshow freak amusement value, but it gets really old really fast.

That being said, there are some interesting people on this site, but they are (almost) exclusvely on the "atheist" side of the fence.

And it gets kind of old to discuss things you agree about as well. But most of all it gets old - as in boringly ridiculous - to assume a stance of defence over that which someone once appropiately named 'the hobby of non-stamp collecting'. I saw a speech made by Sam Harris where he expressed more or less the same idea. There is an inherent danger in being forced to adapt and defend a position of being an "atheist" - because this label comes with a set of preconceptions. I myself don't give a diddely doo what woo woo nonsense people want to believe in, religions included, so what am I left with then?

What we now call The Classical Age ended with the murder of the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria in the year 415. On her way home, she was dragged out of her carriage, stripped naked, and flayed alive with broken shards and pieces of tiles and pottery, before being dragged through the streets and finally burned like so much garbage on a pyre. This obscene act was carried out by a raging mob of ignorant dogs, who next promptly proceeded to burn down the Library of Alexander, thereby forever destroying irreplacable works of philosophy and the other arts of learning. The age of Christendom had arrived.

For fifteen-hundred years and more, this scourge upon humankind was triumphant. The evil reached far and wide. Men, women and children were tortured and murdered. Priceless works of art and knowledge was destroyed. Entire populations were enslaved, stripped of their history and culture, and forced to take part in bizarre rituals of symbolic incest, cannibalism and pedophilia. Men were taught to be timid weaklings. Women were taught to hate their own bodies. All human beings were thought of as sinful creatures deserving of punishment for every stolen moment of earthly joy and vital desires that life has to offer. This cult of hatred nearly succeeded in destroying us all.

Lately, I have spent some time researching what's on the internet (A LOT!) about the 9/11 events.

I remember well how, at the time, I was watching the television with a friend and business associate. When the twin towers collapsed we looked at eachother in disbelief. There was no doubt that it was somehow a rigged demolition - but we had no idea how they - whoever they are/were - pulled that off. It was just one of those "WOW!" moments. (It should probably be mentioned that at the time, we were running a construction company and that we did a bit of demolition ourselves, so it is fair to say that we both had, and still have, quite a good and hands-on "feel" for how construction materials behave, even though none of us are accredited physicists or engineers.)

As the days went by it became blatantly clear that something sinister was going on. The "explanations" that came out defied as well common sense as known laws of physics. How could the plane that hit the Pentagon simply "evaporate", titanium-steel-alloys and all, but still leave behind DNA material enough to identify the passengers? And that alleged plane crash in Pennsylcania was even more mysterious. Where's the fucking plane?!?

According to George Orwell's dystopian novel "Nineteen-eighty-four", doublethink is defined as follows:

If my information is correct, Brian Sapient is celebrating his birtday today.

So hear ye hear ye:

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/379/12737_weapons.html

I encourage y'all - especially those who are interested in physics - to carefully read this article.

It is (or ought to be) well known that insofar science works towards favouring people in power, science gets funded. A considerable chunk of this "favouring" is focused on creating weapons of violent mass destruction, which may serve as agents of intimidation. On a larger scale, this reflects the human propensity to think that owning a gun will somehow make you more "safe". Preferably a big gun, something which can deliver shock and awe. You don't even have to fire off that gun, you just have to let it be known that you hold the power to kill and destroy; that you are a *big fucker*. This impresses people, and, through obscure psychological mechanisms, it will make them rally around your leadership.

It is today exactly 15 years since the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City.

What was it that happened on that day? Let's have a look at what Wikipedia says:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing

What I personally find a little strange about that explanation is that it doesn't even *try* to say anything about the other two (undetonated) bombs that were found in the building. According to Wikipedia, the Murrah building were (partially) blown up with an amateur rig that mostly consisted of ammonium fertilizer.

However that may be, a person, Timothy McVeigh, was apprehended, charged with the crime, and ultimately executed.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveightrial.html

Meanwhile, as can be expected, the conspiracy theories flourished, as they still do.

http://sheikyermami.com/2010/04/18/oklahoma-city-bombing-the-strange-case-of-tim-mcveigh/

However, the public seemed satisfied with the outcome. It was decided that - in face of evidence to the contrary - the Oklahoma City bombing was carried out by a rogue "survivalist" militia type of guy, which indicated to everybody what sinister people those are, and what they are capeable of doing, in all their government-hating madness.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/OK/ok.html

What cannot be doubted is that it was a terrible incident which brought a lot of grief to many people.

http://i39.tinypic.com/2e55af7.png

This is one of my favourite people dishing it out to "psychics":