Comment

Comment by Tom Sarbeck on November 6, 2017 at 11:24am

Charles M. Blow concluded with “...weapons against American democracy.”

Had Blow wanted to tell the truth he would have concluded his remark with “...weapons against oligarchy.”

Comment by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on November 6, 2017 at 10:39am

Russia used American technology and American companies as weapons against American democracy.

Charles M. Blow

LOL, well put Bertold.

Perfect Nietzsche quote, Loren!

Comment by Loren Miller on November 6, 2017 at 10:39am

One would think that prayers would be unnecessary for anyone residing in what should be perceived as the bosom of god's grace: his church ... yet crimes of all sorts have been committed in his supposed premises and under his aegis ... as though there were nothing he could do about it.

Comment by Bertold Brautigan on November 6, 2017 at 9:14am

Thoughts and prayers? Jesus Christ, you should pardon the expression, these 26 people were gunned down in church. I think the “prayers” part was pretty well-covered, you indolent dolts.

Charles F. Pierce

Comment by Loren Miller on November 6, 2017 at 5:06am

Doubt as sin. — Christianity has done its utmost to close the circle and declared even doubt to be sin. One is supposed to be cast into belief without reason, by a miracle, and from then on to swim in it as in the brightest and least ambiguous of elements: even a glance towards land, even the thought that one perhaps exists for something else as well as swimming, even the slightest impulse of our amphibious nature — is sin! And notice that all this means that the foundation of belief and all reflection on its origin is likewise excluded as sinful. What is wanted are blindness and intoxication and an eternal song over the waves in which reason has drowned.
― Friedrich Nietzsche

I wonder if Nietzsche was so much thinking of doubt on the part of atheists and skeptics as he was the insistence on unvarnished, absolute certainty in the belief in Yahweh by those still in thrall to the church. Any variance from the prescribed dogma is dangerous, because it can give rise to a schism at minimum and complete departure from the faithful at worst. And, of course, that dogma is nothing more than someone's say so, with nothing behind it.

Comment by Loren Miller on November 5, 2017 at 9:50am

Joan, for the record, you are also a woman with class ... full stop.

Comment by Loren Miller on November 5, 2017 at 9:50am

Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It’s us. Only us. Streets stank of fire. The void breathed hard on my heart, turning its illusions to ice, shattering them. Was reborn then, free to scrawl own design on this morally blank world.
-- Alan Moore, "Watchmen"

Watchmen was NOT a happy little flick by any stretch, nor is it anything like most other superhero movies.  Most superhero movies and indeed most ordinary movies wouldn't have such a blunt, naked statement like the above as part of the script.  A good thing, from where I sit.

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 5, 2017 at 2:22am

I am of the class of women who classifies people. 

Comment by Tom Sarbeck on November 5, 2017 at 12:39am

A mischief maker’s variation on that: there are two classes of men, those who classify people and those who don’t.

Comment by Loren Miller on November 4, 2017 at 7:00am

The world holds two classes of men – intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence.
– Abu’l‐Ala al Ma’arri

Certainly there are exceptions to this rule – Francis Collins of the Human Genome Project comes to mind – but one still has to wonder: WHY haven't such people applied their powers of observation, discrimination, and skepticism to their own faith?

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