People who criticize environmentalism like to say that it is a "religion." They think it's based on faith, a concept of doomsday, and that we believe that driving cars and building factories and polluting the sacred air and water is a "sin" for which we will eventually be punished.
That's funny, I thought I wanted clean air because I have this strange aversion to breathing poison. I didn't know that the air was so holy.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Ahmadinewhatthefuckinejad?
So Iran is letting the hostages go. No negotiations, no daring MI5 rescue operation, just "*yawn* whatever, here are your guys back."
Ahmadinejad says, "When we think of Islamic kindness, we are not expecting anything in return." This makes me think there are one of two things going on here: either this whole thing was a stunt to allow Ahmadinejad to make himself look like the good guy by "pardoning" the Brittish hostages, which is quite contrived seeing as international law says that if someone illegally enters your waters, you intercept them and turn them back rather than capture them, or there was some kind of back door deal made that convinced Mahmoud of the wisdom of releasing these guys.
Given that Ahmadinejad really wants people to believe that, "really guys, I did this out of the kindness of my heart. No one is coercing me to release these people in any way," the latter situation seems somewhat more likely.
What I can't wait to see is whether the confessions that the captives gave will be recanted, and what the right-wing crazies are going to do/say if they aren't.
Ahmadinejad says, "When we think of Islamic kindness, we are not expecting anything in return." This makes me think there are one of two things going on here: either this whole thing was a stunt to allow Ahmadinejad to make himself look like the good guy by "pardoning" the Brittish hostages, which is quite contrived seeing as international law says that if someone illegally enters your waters, you intercept them and turn them back rather than capture them, or there was some kind of back door deal made that convinced Mahmoud of the wisdom of releasing these guys.
Given that Ahmadinejad really wants people to believe that, "really guys, I did this out of the kindness of my heart. No one is coercing me to release these people in any way," the latter situation seems somewhat more likely.
What I can't wait to see is whether the confessions that the captives gave will be recanted, and what the right-wing crazies are going to do/say if they aren't.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
The Vacuum of the West
I'm not the first to point out that the wealth of the West has made its people fat and complacent, and left them content to work pointless jobs for base comforts and have no motivation to achieve anything beyond material accumulation. I'm no puritan myself. I enjoy material comforts, but I also have an appreciation for glory, beauty and creativity that far surpasses any desire for anything material. The contemporary Westerner has little appreciation for these things.
There are of course, Westerners who care about more than material comforts. Many devote a lot of time and energy to protests and railing against injustice on the left, and religion on the right. The left, however, does not devote itself to anything, only against what they see as being wrong. They offer nothing but guilt, repentance and flagellation. Those on the right, even the religious, focus more on the "evils" of homosexuality and obscenity than on the divinity of Christ.
The Muslim world has much the same problem as the Christian West. They are against more than they are for, and what they are for is some fantasy of an afterlife. They don't care about making the world better, they don't care about making people better, they only care about punishing and restraining people in order to achieve pipe dreams.
Both, however, make the left look pathetic. The left, largely, does not advance anything in this world or the next. They do have some sense of appreciation for glory and achievement, but what they find glorious is not the building of anything or the advancement of anything, but rather the destruction of authority. There is a lot of authority that needs to be destroyed, of course, but the left offers nothing in replacement.
There are of course, Westerners who care about more than material comforts. Many devote a lot of time and energy to protests and railing against injustice on the left, and religion on the right. The left, however, does not devote itself to anything, only against what they see as being wrong. They offer nothing but guilt, repentance and flagellation. Those on the right, even the religious, focus more on the "evils" of homosexuality and obscenity than on the divinity of Christ.
The Muslim world has much the same problem as the Christian West. They are against more than they are for, and what they are for is some fantasy of an afterlife. They don't care about making the world better, they don't care about making people better, they only care about punishing and restraining people in order to achieve pipe dreams.
Both, however, make the left look pathetic. The left, largely, does not advance anything in this world or the next. They do have some sense of appreciation for glory and achievement, but what they find glorious is not the building of anything or the advancement of anything, but rather the destruction of authority. There is a lot of authority that needs to be destroyed, of course, but the left offers nothing in replacement.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Where Do They Expect All These Palestinians to Go?
Larry Auster, in his approval of a townhall.com article by Ben Shapiro, advocates the expulsion of the Palestinians from the West Bank. Here's a copy of the e-mail I sent him about what seems to me to be an oversight in that plan.
Hello Mr. Auster,
I read your response to Ben Shapiro's article on expelling the Palestinians out of the West Bank, and as difficult as any proposed solution to Israeli security would be to implement, this seems particularly implausible. Not only would Israel encounter resistance from the Palestinian population, but also any country to which the IDF would attempt to send the Palestinians would resist.
As much as Arab governments like to talk about the plight of Palestine, their not too fond of actual Palestinians, and few countries are going to be willing to take in 5 million poor and poorly educated refugees. Jordan, the most geographically convenient place to move the Palestinians, would obviously refuse since the PLO tried to overthrow their king in 1970. Israel would have to force open Jordan's borders in order to push through all the Palestinian refugees, and that would embroil Israel in a war with a country with which it has had a reasonably stable relationship for decades. The same is true of Egypt and the inhabitants of Gaza.
Given that the West Bank doesn't share a border with any other country, I don't see how these refugees can be moved to any other country short of flying them or trucking them en mass over Israeli soil to Jordan, Syria, or Lebanon, and I doubt that would be a logistically or economically possible thing to do to an unwilling population.
So where do you and Mr. Shapiro suppose Israel would put all of these people, and how do you expect the IDF to get them there?
Hello Mr. Auster,
I read your response to Ben Shapiro's article on expelling the Palestinians out of the West Bank, and as difficult as any proposed solution to Israeli security would be to implement, this seems particularly implausible. Not only would Israel encounter resistance from the Palestinian population, but also any country to which the IDF would attempt to send the Palestinians would resist.
As much as Arab governments like to talk about the plight of Palestine, their not too fond of actual Palestinians, and few countries are going to be willing to take in 5 million poor and poorly educated refugees. Jordan, the most geographically convenient place to move the Palestinians, would obviously refuse since the PLO tried to overthrow their king in 1970. Israel would have to force open Jordan's borders in order to push through all the Palestinian refugees, and that would embroil Israel in a war with a country with which it has had a reasonably stable relationship for decades. The same is true of Egypt and the inhabitants of Gaza.
Given that the West Bank doesn't share a border with any other country, I don't see how these refugees can be moved to any other country short of flying them or trucking them en mass over Israeli soil to Jordan, Syria, or Lebanon, and I doubt that would be a logistically or economically possible thing to do to an unwilling population.
So where do you and Mr. Shapiro suppose Israel would put all of these people, and how do you expect the IDF to get them there?
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Fusion Fraud?
According to this article a researcher at Purdue University has created nuclear fusion using sound waves. The scientific community and the government are so skeptical about this prospect that they all seem to be assuming that it is the result of fraud or error.
The Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee, are investigating the discovery. Nobody at any other facility has been able to duplicate Purdue's results, but another scientist from LeTourneau University has been able to reproduce the experiment on Purdue's equipment.
The Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee, are investigating the discovery. Nobody at any other facility has been able to duplicate Purdue's results, but another scientist from LeTourneau University has been able to reproduce the experiment on Purdue's equipment.
A Theory of Divinity
Religion is the process of making up a reality beyond the one that really exists. The reason why people do this is because they are profoundly dissatisfied with reality. In part, this comes from the nature of human psychology. I think we are mostly designed never to be fully satisfied. We can nonetheless have a concept of what complete and total satisfaction would be like. All concepts of the divine are the result of imagining just such a thing.
Having given up on trying to find satisfaction in the material world, religions, especially Abrahamic religions, create a world where complete and unending satisfaction are granted.
Perfection, in the sense of something wholly satisfying, is something that most human minds crave, but are rarely able to find through the senses. The divine, therefore, can only be perceived by the imagination.
Having given up on trying to find satisfaction in the material world, religions, especially Abrahamic religions, create a world where complete and unending satisfaction are granted.
Perfection, in the sense of something wholly satisfying, is something that most human minds crave, but are rarely able to find through the senses. The divine, therefore, can only be perceived by the imagination.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Thesis
I'm going back to university this year to upgrade my current major in political science to an honours in political science which requires doing a bachelor's thesis. I had been mulling over the idea of doing something about Islamic integration in Europe, and comparing the various immigration policies to see which has been most effective at integrating Muslims into society, but I was worried that that would be too touchy a subject for a liberal arts university.
Instead I'll be doing something about China. I'm not entirely what I'll do just yet, but I'm leaning in the direction of looking at Chinese investment in Africa and what effects it has had. I've also been considering looking at more philosophical aspects of Chinese foreign policy (I'm also doing an honours in philosophy), namely how amoral China has been in its pursuit of the resources it needs.
China's growing wealth and influence gives it a lot of power, but it seems unwilling to accept any responsibilty. Take Sudan. China has so much money invested in the Sudanese oil industry that if they gave a shit about Darfur, they could stop the genocide there in a matter of days. China's internal policies are just as robotically pragmatic. Not only do they restrict the number of children a couple can have, and often resort to forced abortions if that limit is breached, they are also one of the few remaining countries to openly practice eugenics. People of lower intelligence are forcibly sterilized.
I'll have to do some more research to find out how much this topic has been examined and whether I can come up with an original idea about the subject, but I think the area has a lot of potential.
Instead I'll be doing something about China. I'm not entirely what I'll do just yet, but I'm leaning in the direction of looking at Chinese investment in Africa and what effects it has had. I've also been considering looking at more philosophical aspects of Chinese foreign policy (I'm also doing an honours in philosophy), namely how amoral China has been in its pursuit of the resources it needs.
China's growing wealth and influence gives it a lot of power, but it seems unwilling to accept any responsibilty. Take Sudan. China has so much money invested in the Sudanese oil industry that if they gave a shit about Darfur, they could stop the genocide there in a matter of days. China's internal policies are just as robotically pragmatic. Not only do they restrict the number of children a couple can have, and often resort to forced abortions if that limit is breached, they are also one of the few remaining countries to openly practice eugenics. People of lower intelligence are forcibly sterilized.
I'll have to do some more research to find out how much this topic has been examined and whether I can come up with an original idea about the subject, but I think the area has a lot of potential.
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