The Antisocial Socialist

symbioid  asked: "Existential origins, big bang, cosmos, where it's all going, shit like that? That's my question for you.
How do you feel you relate to the all o' this shit.
Do you feel any sort of "spirituality" with that or is it pretty secular atheist (I imagine the latter, but I've been surprised by friends I thought were pretty non-believing in any sorta afterlifey stuff ending up believing in something beyond, at least on a personal/psychic level). Cosmic horror? Cosmic Pessimism? Does it matter even if we have beliefs on that?"


I am in some ways fascinated and in other ways deeply uninterested by these questions. I remember when I used to get car rides all the time home from work with a colleague, who was a massive stoner. He'd often wonder things like "but what caused the Big Bang?" or "how will the universe end?" and he was baffled by how little I thought about them, since they don't affect me or anyone I know, and since there are smart people who went farther than Grade 11 science class who spend a lot of time looking into it.

I'm an atheist with caveats, which is that I don't actually care if there is a god or afterlife. I don't feel any spiritual phenomena or vibes, I've never had a genuine religious experience despite having tried to induce them by various means, and thus I think that at a very fundamental level, I am incapable of believing in gods. How do I behave basically feeling what awaits me after I die is a meaningless void? I try to make my life on earth meaningful in every way I can. How would I act if there was a loving God who cared about their creation? The same way I do now. How would I act as if there was a judging God who condemned sinners to a fiery pit for all eternity? Exactly the same as I do now, and when I'm condemned to Hell I will organize my fellow non-Christians, sodomites, and D&D players into a militant union with the demons and then we will storm heaven and make war on said judging God.

That said I despise 90% of vocal atheists in ways that I do not despise 90% of religious people. Most of humanity believes in some sort of religion or spirituality and I'm not interested in writing them off or condescending to them. Meanwhile the loudest atheists, both on the internet and at the state level when they get into power, just believe in a secular version of Christianity without the God bit. They push for economic and political policies that are identical to those proposed by Christian extremists. I came to this position during Elevatorgate when I realized I had more in common with my friend smhwpf 's church at the time, which sheltered refugees facing deportation, or my friend M's Sikh temple, which fed homeless people, than I did with anyone who professed lofty ideals about human potential but didn't consider 50% of the population human. 

I also believe in the value of ritual. I keep trying to connect with Jewish religious practice, and am put off by 90% of other Jews, but I do think there's something to be said for the value of ritual and community. I think having been raise secular Jewish makes me very chill about religion in general but wistful for a spiritual community. I would have liked to have been a Yiddish-speaking Bundist; that would have been perfect for me.

Ultimately I care about one thing: the actions we take in this world, with this planet and our nonhuman relations, in the here and now. If you are doing good things because you think God wants you to do them, that is rad and good, actually. If you think you're superior to people who do that, I have no time for it. If God is your excuse for bigotry against queer and trans people, or folks who get abortions, or poor people, I hope that a literal reading of the Bible is true and Jesus greets you in the afterlife with a steel chair to the side of the head for not listening to him when he was in fact pretty clear about this shit. 

Philosophy aside I low-key believe in ghosts and supernatural phenomena, not as a literal material thing but as a narrative device. I would have also been quite happy being a 19th century occultist.

So this happened. Lest I be accused of jumping to conclusions, I will state that I am not absolutely sure that some New Atheist Reddit troglodyte cracker fuck murdered three innocent young Arabs in a vicious racist act of terrorism, but it looks like that's what happened. And if that's the case, it's not really surprising; I know people like this IRL and not a one of them is all that far from a newspaper article that ends with, "...before turning the gun on himself." Pity this jackass didn't have the decency to do the last bit, but that's besides the point.

The point is, like any other white man that kills women or POC because just having straight white male privilege isn't enough for his special snowflake self, he is now mentally ill, a lone wolf, and the act will not be classified as terrorism even though it totally is. Other people made this point, and in a less ragetastic way, before I managed to get home to my computer, so let's talk about the other thing, which is the connection to New Atheism.

New Atheism, as I've said before, is Western imperialism by other means. The history of Western imperialism has consistently been one of smug, know-it-all privilege. Libertarianism being a strong current in American political culture, and one linked to atheism, it's not surprising that there's a substantial population of über-privileged, slighly educated, entitled shitbags who still hate and fear brown people but just can't get behind the whole Onward Christian Soldier thing. And these people increasingly have a voice. If you spend a lot of time online, you'll discover that they in fact have most of the voice. They certainly—particularly through their figureheads like Dawkins, Harris, Maher, and before he died, Hitchens—seem to be adept at grabbing the mic and speaking for all atheists everywhere, and in light of what appears to be a hate crime carried out by an atheist, I feel the need to speak out about it.

I'm an atheist. They don't get to take that label from me. Nor will I accept them being labeled as "fundamentalist atheists," or "atheist extremists" or any variation thereof, because no, they are not, I am. I'm not a moderate just because I get along with religious people and think the Flying Spaghetti Monster is lame and unfunny. I am, in fact, the most fundamentalist atheist you will ever meet. At a very basic level, possibly even at a genetic level, I am not just unwilling to believe in God, I am incapable of it.

So incapable that I do not feel the need to shout from every rooftop that I don't believe in God, because I actually don't give a fuck. As Elie Weisel put it, "the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference." I am indifferent to religion. Accordingly, I do not feel the need to go around converting everyone to my way of thinking, and I don't think I'm superior to believers (except New Age types; fuck those guys). It's maybe because I'm Jewish and most of the so-called New Atheists are from Christian backgrounds and feel kind of insecure, maybe, or feel the need to evangelize even though that's really fucking stupid, but it grates. There should be no atheist organizations, no atheist church. Should one spring up, all of the atheists should be run out of it (I volunteer to do this; just call me Atheist Jesus) and the building should be converted into affordable housing for the homeless.

The murders in Chapel Hill were only a matter of time. Violent racism—and in particular racism directed at Muslims—is socially acceptable amongst whites of means and education in a way that it wasn't a decade ago. (Of course, it was always there, but it was institutional; the personal variety was on the wane, as white robes and burning crosses were a bit of an embarrassment.) It has found, among other channels, an outlet in what BoingBoing termed the Redpill Right, that fetid swamp of conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, MRAs, and GamerGaters. These are people who are tolerated to a degree in circles that I am tolerated in, and it scares the shit out of me.

Hold the would-be leaders of this would-be movement accountable. Drag them into the sunlight. Demand Maher and Dawkins apologize for the excesses of their followers, just like we demand apologizes from Muslims every time some unhinged asshole who shares their religion kills someone. When they sprew their bile on the internet, dogpile and shame them. Turn being a Redpiller into something as socially unacceptable as being a soulbonded otherkin who never leaves their parents' basement. It was social media pressure that turned these murders into a story—I mean, Buzzfeed broke the story, ffs—and as this is primarily an online movement, it is probably up to us to do something about it.

I forgot to tell the story of getting Marinetti to that last vet appointment.

So I called a cab. When I got in, the guy was on the phone figuring out Koran orders. As in he was bulk-ordering Korans but the other guy had sent the wrong amount or something. He had not been sent enough Korans. Anyway, there was a lot of traffic so we started talking. He said he'd been a vet back in Pakistan and was working on getting his license here, but he'd only been here two years and was working as a cab driver in the meantime. I said, "well, welcome to Toronto, good luck, etc."

He said he really liked Toronto. Previously, he'd been living for six years in Scotland and hated it. Apparently all there is to do in Scotland is drink, fight, and curse the English, and there is a pub every 100 metres*. I thought the latter bit sounded pretty good, but then I said, "Oh, I guess you don't drink."

Which was enough to launch him on the most hamfisted attempt to convert me to Islam ever, with my dying cat purring on my lap. It was the worst conversion attempt I've ever encountered. Like, I would have done a better job trying to convert me to Islam. He wasn't even being a dick about it; he just couldn't come up with one argument that made any sense. (Example: He went from being a cell to a fully grown human, isn't that a miracle? I told him that I'm pretty sure that happens all the time. Also, you don't start with the "alcohol is evil" thing. That's like the worst selling point of any religion.)

Anyway, the whole thing was quite good natured and a distraction. I left him with the story of the Prophet Muhammad and the cat, which I think is a better argument for Islam than any of the ones he provided.

He said, "I'm banging my head against a brick wall, aren't I?"

"Yep," I said. "But you distracted me from thinking about how my cat's dying, and I really appreciate that, so thanks. Salaam alaikum."

So that happened.

* Which led to a funny discussion later with the_axel about how I wanted to go to Scotland now. Because it has pubs and castles. He pointed out that it is not all pubs and castles. I told him I was disappointed because I was picturing "castle, castle, pub" all the way down the street and apparently it's not like that.

It's a sad and strange day when I agree with anything that comes out of Jason Kenney's mouth, but broken clocks, twice a day, etc. Quebec's proposed charter of values that will ban public servants from wearing any religious symbol (but really we mean Muslim religious symbols) is so completely batshit insane that I'm amazed it got this far.

I wonder what even constitutes a religious symbol. I mean, I used to wear ankhs and pentacles and inverted crosses, not out of any religious conviction but because I was Goth As Fuck. In Montreal, would a Habs jersey count? I mean, it's really unclear. Also racist. And loopy.

There is a certain type of New Atheism that's essentially a continuation of White Man's Burden by other means. This is its exemplar.

Hey, can we talk for a bit about the newly established Office of Religious Freedom? I heard something about it as I was making my bleary way out of bed, but didn't quite catch what was going on. I was pretty sure that we had religious freedom in Canada these days, unless you say, want to take your own holidays off instead of getting the Christian ones off, or if you're a schoolkid forced to stand for an anthem that invokes a monotheistic god, or if you happen to be First Nations, with a history of having your religion shat upon and the present day pleasure of having the occasional asshole journalist draw a pay cheque for mocking your faith.

But mostly we have fairly well-defined lines separating church and state up here, so it makes sense, I suppose, that this is an office that deals with freedom of religion in other countries. Which is an important issue, I guess, but when you have a government that's cutting down on refugee claims and foreign aid in general, all the while screeching about smaller government and austerity, it seems like a weird priority. Perhaps I'm just biased on account of my atheism, but I feel like clean water and sanitation and food might be more important international aid issues to tackle first, and then once those are solved we can worry about religious freedom.

Not that I really want the Harper administration doing any sort of foreign aid, given that they spend our tax dollars on anti-gay groups in Uganda.

Anyway. We have an Office of Religious Freedom now, with one dude heading it and a $5 million budget. Said dude is Catholic and is dean of a private Christian college. His speech focused on the assassination of a Christian politician in Pakistan. It's pretty clear that the Office of Religious Freedom will focus mainly on the persecution of Christians around the world. And while I don't believe that anyone should be persecuted on the basis of their religion, I also think that various Christian churches in the West have shitloads of money to toss around, and perhaps that $5 million might be better spent on combatting malaria or providing generic AIDS drugs or something else a little more urgent.

There's also the interesting point raised by this editorial, which is:

Some wonder whether Ottawa will go as far as the U.S. has in criticizing trading partners or allies such as China, Saudi Arabia and Israel for treating minorities unfairly. And what will Ottawa say when religious beliefs clash with women’s rights, gay rights and so on?

$5 million isn't a lot in federal government terms, but I do find it interesting that governments that preach fiscal conservatism always seem to find money when they need to pander to their base. Which in this case, is not a base that actually wants religious freedom for anyone other than fundamentalist Christians.

"I'll pray for you."

(So far okay.)

"Do you believe in...do you, uh, believe?"

(Getting a bit personal here.)

"No."

"Oh. You should."

(Totally. Out. Of. Line. Plus now I have Cher running through my head.)

This has been a public service announcement brought to you by the Committee Against You Getting Punched In Your Smug Face.

---

Here, have a song to get Cher out of your head.

Some photos from today's adventures...

We got a slow start to the morning, and ended up grabbing coffee in a cute café across from the Monument to the Revolution:


This is the view. It's approximately a two-second walk from the Casa.

Then we went to the Basílica de Guadalupe.


I think this is seriously the best picture I've taken here.

( more )

Then we met up with the Mexican film editor and did film stuff. Wish me luck that the phone call we get tomorrow morning says that it all exported and burned correctly.

New and exciting blog the Eschatologist has an interesting and charmingly non-judgmental article on the redesign of the Left Behind novels and what the new covers say about how pop culture imagines apocalypse(s).



Aesthetically, I like the new typography—much more modern, fun, and refreshing. The old covers had an extremely formal design, with the horrible faux-stone 3D effect on the serif type. This made the apocalypse seem like a done deal, to be honest, which robbed the novels of any sort of suspense that their protagonists might, you know, actually lift a finger to attempt to struggle against evil rather than calmly waiting out the Tribulation. Also, the type on the old covers looked too much like a movie poster, which is presumptuous.

Image-wise, I am split. The photos for Left Behind, Soul Harvest, Appolyon, Assassins, The Indwelling, The Mark, and Glorious Appearing are clear improvements. Tribulation Force's new cover is terrible. It looks like a dull book on American policy in the Middle East. No one wants to see photos of faces on the covers of trade fiction books. It is simply Not Done.

The cover of the original edition of Nicolae is terrible—the new one is a much better photo, artistically speaking—but I agree with the Eschatologist that it kind of screws with the meaning. Carpathia is not supposed to look like an old Soviet bureaucrat. For fuck's sake. The original one is a terrible composition but at least it keeps the whole Antichrist-as-charming-visionary aesthetic.

I disagree with the Eschatologist on the cover of Assassins. I don't disagree that it's racist as fuck. It is definitely racist as fuck. It's prettier, though. The original looks like a Clancy cover.

I can't make up my mind on Desecration. Personally, I'm just not sure a book with dead fish on the cover will sell. Who is their target market, exactly? Does this target market like dead fish floating in blood and, more importantly, are they likely to either buy it to put on their bookshelves or give it as a gift? "Just what I wanted for Christmas, Aunt Maude! A book about dead fish floating in blood." Whereas on the old cover, it's clear that the Antichrist is rising and means business, and they manage to get this impression across without dead fish floating in blood. I'm just sayin'.

Both of the covers for The Remnant suck. Come on, book designer! This is a series about the end of the world—you really couldn't find a better photo to use?

The old cover for Armageddon is the clear winner. As a book designer, if I'm given the choice to show the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse or a helicopter flying over an explosion, I'm going to choose the former every time, if only because the movie Live Free Or Die Hard is pretty much the end of the story in terms of illustrating helicopters and explosions. Also, horses are cool.


What Would Sabotabby Do?

Both covers for Glorious Appearing are a bit shit, mostly because they missed the boat. That's the book where Jesus comes back and shoots laser beams out of his eyes and burns all of the sinners in a pit of lava (sorry, I guess that was a spoiler). That is the sole reason why anyone would pick up the book, to read about Jesus with laser beams shooting out of his eyes, and you're telling me that the designer couldn't be arsed to put that scene on the cover? What. A. Waste.


There, I fixed it.

I really like the new clock graphic, too. Subtle, Tyndale. Very subtle.

Still, this would be a very difficult book design project, both because a designer would have to actually read the books and also if you don't do a good job, Jesus will kill you with his laser eye-beams, so I doff my hat to the person tasked with this endeavour.

While making/eating dinner, zingerella and I discussed several perplexing problems. We felt that the internets might be able to help us answer them.

1. Would Dollhouse have been better (or, more to the point, able to grapple with the questions Whedon wanted to ask) if all of the characters except Adele were genderswapped?

2. What would happen if Angel had a calling to the priesthood?

And the most troublesome, and thus important, of all:

3. Can a cyborg perform baptisms or last rites in an emergency?

Help us, internets. You're our only hope.

ETA: zingerella adds, "Okay, but what about a replicant?"