The cosmos doesn't care about us; that's why I think people have to care for each other. I mean, we have so-called Christians who could give two shits about the poor, the weak, and the downtrodden, and who actually think they are avatars and arbiters of morality! And, of course, because I'm an atheist, I'm somehow a bad guy, even though I can see this hypocrisy laid bare.
Wishes won't save you. What can save you is: 1) reason; 2) empathy; 3) action; 4) an open mind; 5) imagination; 6) hope. That'll save you while you're living. Be rational, be compassionate, be industrious, be adaptable, be creative. That will get you out of any jam.
And if you're a believer reading this, thinking "You're wrong, Mr. Atheist Man, only God and magical thinking can save you," I offer a simple proof: All evil (as we choose to see it) stems from the opposite of the 5 things I listed above. Just take the opposites:
- Reason: Insanity, Ignorance, and Stupidity
- Empathy: Cruelty, Ruthlessness
- Action: Laziness
- Open mind: Closed mind
- Imagination: Lack of vision
- Hope: Despair
Show me an insane, ignorant, stupid, cruel, lazy, close-minded, blinkered, despairing person, and I'll show you somebody who is not a good or worthwhile spirit, but somebody who is fucking evil -- or at best, somebody who is far from being an exemplary human being. And that person is likely to believe in magical thinking, and in wishes (and their dowdy, prim cousin, prayer). They can blow their qualms with atheism and atheists out their pious asses.
Sorry if this is more strident than you're used to seeing, but I got pissed off today when I saw that whooping cough is coming back, as is measles. There's an outbreak of it in McHenry County, one of the staunch, Republican "collar counties" around Chicago. *golf applause* Nice going, idiots -- you know why this is happening? Because you people aren't vaccinating your kids. You God-fearing, corporal punishment-loving, evolution-rejecting, science-loathing, atheist-fearing, hyperpartisan dolts -- you are endangering your kids, and you are endangering the rest of society with your ignorance. And equivocators, you can blow it out your asses, too -- me calling out ignorance and intolerance doesn't make me ignorant and intolerant, myself.
Track record of vaccination = good. History and evidence is on its side. Life before vaccination = BAD. Whooping cough = BAD. Measles = BAD. That this argument even has to be made is a testament to the pervasive power of ignorance.
And I say this because, obviously, I understand that a disease has no ideology, it has no faith, it has no politics, it doesn't care. It wasn't sent by a caring, benevolent God to smite thine enemies (or your faithful flock, for that matter); rather, it's an organism that will make you sick, because your life is bound up in your biology -- break enough rules of that biology, and you die (or if a disease breaks those rules for you). Vaccination is a means of using reason to find a way out of the deathtrap of disease, a way of gaming biology's grim calculus in our favor. And you want to reject that? Truly? Based on what? Oh, right, the misguided, evidence-free opinion of a former Playboy Bunny? Yes, magical thinkers, you're endangering us all with your fucking ignorance.
Anyway, enjoy your wishes today. And don't forget, you've got them in the AM and the PM, so there are two opportunities to make your magic wishes! Word them very carefully. And no need to vaccinate your kids, right? God'll sort it all out.
Seriously, that just pisses me off so much. Groundless, baseless, needless.
GRRR.
