So many articles, so little time
I have run across a lot of interesting news articles in recent weeks and I have had the opportunity to comment or link to very few of them.
So while I hate to describe this as a link dump (because the articles are intriguing and do not belong in anything called a “dump”), that’s pretty much what this is. However, I promise it will be a very interesting dump like those from Junkyard Wars, where you can find all kind of cool things and make a jet plane out of a bed frame and an ’82 Pinto or something like that.
Movies
Following on the heels of Transformers comes another 80′s cartoon robot movie: Voltron. Now that my childhood is summer blockbuster fare, I’m just waiting for Thundercats, Silverhawks and GI Joe.
The geek in me continues to look longing in the future to the movie screen as X-Files 2 is under works.
I’m already standing in line, as we speak, to buy tickets to see Prince Caspian. Now we get a chance to see him for the first time.
Atheism
Barbara Kay laments the slide “new atheism” has taken into what she calls “martyrish victimspeak.”
Renowned religion scholar, author and former Lutheran pastor Martin E. Marty has some advice for Christians dealing with Dawkins, Hitchens and their ilk: relax.
Pro-Life
Child: “Mommy, how did we pay for this big house?”
Mother: “Well baby, we sued the hospital and won $21 million because they didn’t tell us about a birth defect that you had. If we had known we would have killed you while you were in mommy’s tummy.”
Child: “Oh.”
Mother: “Never forget how much I love you and how glad I am that you are in our lives.”
Child: “…”
Media
And you wonder why Christians don’t trust the mainstream media? They continue to illustrate that they view us like a strange new creature which speaks in a difficult to understand language. Somehow us Christians are able to distinguish different meanings from the very similar words: evangelist and evangelical. According to Reuters, we also, unbeknownst to most of us, believe that “the country’s social ills stem from high divorce rates and teenage pregnancies.”
Politics
But while Reuters may not understand us, there is one group that is working overtime trying to – Democratic presidential candidates.
Republican candidate Mitt Romney had an interesting quote about his view on separation of church and state.
While Romney won the recent Iowa Straw Poll, the big news seems to be who came in second, former Southern Baptist pastor, turned Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who may have catapulted himself out of the also-rans.
Liberal netroots are not going to be happy about this. While the leading Democrats are out campaigning on getting out of Iraq now, most are quietly saying that it is going to take years and are conceding that getting out of a war is a complicated matter.
Global Warming
NASA has quietly corrected their temperature data that claimed 1998 was the hottest year on record. It turns out that after they were dragged kicking and screaming, the NASA data shows that 1934 was the hottest year and three others from the 30′s are in the top ten. Five of the hottest years happened before World War II.
While, NASA was changing their records to deafening silence, protesters were gathering at Heathrow to “combat” the airport’s part in the rising temps.
Sports
One of the best stories in baseball this year is the return of former Cardinals pitching phenom Rick Ankiel to the majors. After having a horrific collapse as a starting pitcher, Ankiel has repackaged himself as a power hitting outfielder. As odd as it sounds, it seems to be working. He had three home runs in his first two games.
I’ll have even more link dump goodness tomorrow.
Hey Aaron, that's what My Two Cents is for – why don't you just post it as one of those? That category is not just for me!
Atheism
I read the article you referenced and was surprised at the childish level of snarkiness and sarcasm it revealed. In fact, I'm surprised at you Aaron, linking to something so totally unfair and ridiculous. However, since you choose the epithet "ilk" to refer to the "new atheists" I guess my surprise is misplaced. Evidently, you too are unable to grant your opponents even an elementary level of courtesy.
To mention only one of the multiple distortions the author indulged in: It was only Dawson who proposed the word "brights" for atheists. Hitch expressly condemned such hubristic nonsense. It's too bad you seem unable to rise to his level of fairness when dealing with your opponents.
Another point: it was only after years of Christianist stridency and propaganda that his new wave of atheist assertion began. It is a fact that many of us feel under threat from the fundamentalist and evangelical authoritarianism rising to the highest levels of society and government, and we have ceased taking it lying down. We are no longer going to take your threats and jibes lying down.
According to Reuters, we also, unbeknownst to most of us, believe that "the country's social ills stem from high divorce rates and teenage pregnancies."
Haha. I was under the impression that those are the country's social ills. :-p
And law suits are really getting out of hand anymore. Well, they have been for years. But they do seem to keep getting more and more ridiculous.
Skeptic, a link does not mean approval. I link to things that I find interesting, not that I agree with. I found the commentary about new atheism interesting, especially what I pointed out that many have taken on the victim mantle to advance their cause.
I didn't agree with everything she wrote and would not use her tone of discourse or "snarkiness and sarcasm" as you put it. (Though I been known to enjoy both from time to time.)
As to my usage of the word "ilk," I thought about that one and really didn't like the word, but honestly I intended to do more for each story and simply did not have the time. It was the first word I thought about, knew it carried a negative connotation, but didn't have time to think through how to word it better.
So in that sense I do regret using that particular word, but it was not meant to convey any sense of an inability to "grant [my] opponents even an elementary level of courtesy."
As to the distortions in the column – have at it. In no way do I or would I vouch for everything that every one of these articles say. That's part of the reason for the blogosphere – to correct misstatements and missteps or to simply challenge assertions of those we agree or disagree with.
Just to be accurate, I've detected plenty of "martyrish victimspeak" emanating from conservative Christians of late as well. It seems to me that that is a weapon of choice among many Christians who love to whine about their inability to push their ideology on the rest of us.
I'm sure you have. I've seen some as well. It applies to every group. It is extremely tempting to wrap yourself and your cause in the cloak of victimhood, strut down the runway and dare someone to challenge you.
Political and ideological groups have seen the effectiveness of having someone with "moral authority" or victim status promoting a cause or a person. People are much more likely to listen to and refrain from harsh disagreement with someone who is they perceive as a victim.
Take Cindy Sheehan for example. When she first came out, anyone who dared to disagree with her was attack as being uncaring, insensitive to her loss, etc. She wore her victimhood on her sleeve and used it to advance her ideological goals. Some of the family members of 9/11 victims have done the same thing (on both sides).
I don't want to get into an argument about who started it because it is useless. It is an unfortunate fact of political life in today's culture. I disagree with it because I think ideas should be judged by themselves not based on which one has the most sympathetic spokesperson, but I'm sure if you go back and read the archives of this blog you'll find me engaging in it myself at some point.
It can be difficult to avoid, but that does not mean it should not be pointed out and in some cases ridiculed when it is used.
distortions the author indulged in: It was only Dawson who proposed the word "brights" for atheists. Hitch expressly condemned such hubristic nonsense. It's too bad you seem unable to rise to his level of fairness when dealing with your opponents.
That's a good point, but don't expect Christians to know such distinctions unless you point them out.
And just out of curiosity, are Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris viewed as essentially preaching the same message? Do they have distinctives? Do people gravitate away from the polemicism of Dawkins and to the more reasoned approach of Harris?