The Neo-Enlightenment

The age of Enlightenment occurred during the late 18th Century in the Western world. It should never have ended.

Ironically, it is the most irrational and superstituous people in the world, as I have previously discussed, who have ushered in this, a new age of Enlightenment. Rational people are feeling they have been pushed far enough by religion and political correctness. They’ve had enough, and they are starting to do what they didn’t do before: they’re starting to speak out.

It started with Sam Harris’s The End of Faith.  Then Dawkins’ The God Delusion. Then, of course, more followed. Hitchens, Dennett, Grayling. Then Pat Condell. And now something else is happening. The unthinkable. Cats are starting to be herded. The silent majority are motivating themselves. We’re seeing the Atheist Bus Campaign and the pledge against Thought for the Day. We’re seeing a resurgence of reason. A reaction among the people to being force-fed political correctness and religion.

This is the beginning of a new period to try to banish the idiocy of faith and superstition. This is the Neo-Enlightenment, and it will not be stopped.

Brand/Ross affair

No, they’re not having an affair (though it might be nice to spread such a rumour, so they get a taste of their own medicine), but here is a good article on this latest mistake by the BBC.

This is all part of the embrace of decadence.

The particular incident can be distilled into these points:

• These two broke the law under the Telecommunications Act (”[a person who] sends, by means of a public telecommunication system, a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”).
• There is no need for an “enquiry” (the tactic the BBC uses simply to create a delay in the hope people will forget about things). They should simply have been sacked.
• It was disgraceful of both Brand and Ross to betray confidence.
• Brand’s “apology” was obviously insincere and he has callously pre-empted his own sacking by resigning.
• Ross does not deserve £16,000 per day simply for providing “witty banter”. No doubt he often reflects on this himself and wonders how he gets away with it.
• These words “edgy”, “risky”, “pushing the boundary” etc., just mean puerile and juvenile and as close to needlessly offensive as possible. Let’s call them what they are.
• For typical example of Ross over-stepping the mark, see this interview with Cheryl Cole, and the look on Ben Stiller’s (and the other man’s) face (not to mention Cole’s) at around 1′20”. He then tries to wriggle out of it by jokingly implicating Stiller - who, rightly, is having none of it. This is crass, unfunny behaviour from an overgrown schoolchild. (Ross also uses the F-word in front of Cole - and the nation - as he does here too, when saying to her face what he would like to do to Gwyneth Paltrow. What a gentleman..
• The BBC thinks it is hostage to an ignorant public who love and demand puerile, irreverent, immature, bullying smut in the same way as commoners loved public lynchings in the past. They do, but it isn’t. It should set high standards, not lower itself to meet inferior ones.
• The BBC needs to have a complete overhaul of its licencing system - especially as it is now putting much of its content on the Internet and radio for free.

“Thought for the Day” campaign opens on PledgeBank

I have now activated my campaign regarding Radio 4’s “Thought for the Day” on the website PledgeBank:

This receiving support from the BHA and has now exceeded its target by over a thousand signatories. Please continue to sign up. The more who do this the better.

The economic situation

I see the current economic situation, in the UK at least, as the logical conclusion of the “Because I’m worth it” culture, with both sides to blame. Those sides being the consumers who yield to peer pressure and decide that things like televisions and Xboxes are vital accessories which they must have now, and the greedy traders who seem to think that merely shifting money around is a real job. Buying and selling currencies, derivatives, bonds, and creaming off money for yourself is not earning a living. It’s just a kind of legal robbery, a parasitic practice which contributes nothing to the world.

Banks, in their greed, took advantage of consumers’ greed, and unfortunately we all had to bail them out. Such a sprial has to reach a terminus. There’s more to it, of course, but the above factors are relevant and symbolic of the age of decadence. People need to wake up and reject the bad values continually promoted in trashy newspapers and in the media generally (for example the glorification of do-nothing celebrities) and realise that there is no substitute for the fulfilment that comes from working hard and living decently within one’s means. People need to accept personal responsibility.

Beyond Belief: Candles in the Dark

The latest “Beyond Belief” conference has just been filmed, with contributions from many participants who deal in facts and who actually know what they’re talking about . Don’t expect to see many “crystal healers”, astrologers, etc.

These are crazy times and it’s always hard to believe that the more we learn about the world, the more many of us are receding into the security of cave-man beliefs. Well, that’s just easier, as I’ve written before. It was ever so, but it was never glorified as it is now, and that is the dangerous thing. We now know better and this decadence and willful ignorance is leading to decline.

The videos will be available online soon and are launched with the following portentous quotation from Carl Sagan:

“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”

Carl Sagan - “The Demon Haunted World”

Atheist Bus Campaign

The Atheist Bus Campaign has far exceeded its target amount to put ads on London buses using the same slogan I have placed on my own more stark offering, above. We can expect, then, to soon see these adverts countering the offensive religious advertising we have to put up with all the time, which gets away with threatening people with hell-fire and damnation unless they believe highly unlikely things.

I especially like the prudent use of “probably” in the chosen slogan (and it is a high probability). This is conspicuously avoided by religious advertisers, who are - ironically - utterly convinced of that for which there is no evidence.

Observation

The best way not to get caught is not to do anything wrong.

Awe inspiring

The beginning of the film Contact, from the novel by Carl Sagan:

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Some things that are vulgar

Many people seem to have no idea what is vulgar and what isn’t. It occurred to me that I could help out regarding this issue by providing a list:

• Smoking (especially while walking and near others)
• Swearing (ditto)
• Snorting or coughing loudly exactly as you walk past another person’s ear
• Listening to your personal music loudly on public transport
  (especially through a loudspeaker)
• Eating on public transport (especially hot food)
• Shouting across people to get to others
• Spitting
• Drinking alcohol in the street or on public transport
  (the latter has now been made illegal, but is still, of course, commonly seen)
• Wearing wince-inducing spikes, rings or rivets in the face
• Having public phone conversations
• Addressing people as “mate” when you hardly know them
  (especially when they’re employing you)
• Chewing gum with your mouth open in the vicinity of others
  (or even when not in their vicinity, for that matter)

Virtually all of these things were outlawed by social etiquette in the past and would rarely be seen. Now, the sad fact is that one can hardly take a short walk to, or journey on, the London Underground without encountering the majority of them.

The funny thing is they’re not hard to avoid doing. It takes no effort. How curious that civilisations, after a point, go into reverse.

Skeptics in the Pub

This post seems to attracting some attention, so I’ve enhanced it with a few outbound links and will update here and there as I see fit.

This evening I managed to get to a Skeptics in the Pub presentation bravely given by a Young Earth Creationist. The man was not an expert in any area of science, and admitted that. Nonetheless, he made many valid points mainly regarding the healthy skepticism we should all maintain regarding all scientific theories, and I found his talk interesting.

The main problem with his position was that he failed to apply Occam’s Razor: postulating a being as complex and unlikely as God requires far more assumptions of the unlikely than does accepting evolution as a working theory. He also didn’t explain why he chose the Christian account of creation above that of any other religion. These failings, along with his limited scientific knowledge, are what made him made him ultimately unconvincing.

I don’t want to write much about him though. What really concerned me (as has repeatedly been the case, sadly) was the conduct of my “fellow” atheists at this event.

I expected this to happen. Many who spoke at the event were rude, abrasive, jeering and unpleasant. It was possible to detect the likelihood of this from their countenances alone before they even spoke, but when they opened their mouths it was unfortunately confirmed. Even the crowd here felt that some individual members occasionally overstepped the mark, and they booed and hissed at their rudeness. But other times they laughed along and encouraged vulgarity.

It is possible to make points without being arrogant, conceited and rude, as many of the people were. All points should have been made politely, especially considering how easy the man was to refute, and how outnumbered he was. Some did make points respectably, but they were in a minority.

What also strikes me about these meetings is how many out-right weirdos they tend to attract. There are clearly some “regulars”: uncouth middle-aged men, devoid of any style or social finesse, and yet apparently with very high opinions of themselves. These are always the ones who want the mic, and who proceed to ask long meandering questions that are just plain weird - never succinct or well considered, and never courteously or humbly posed.

If it wasn’t these oddball types it was other rugby-shirted arrogant types again asking idiotic questions which were really more statements, intended merely to boost their own egos, to try to get a laugh (and sometimes, simply to insult the speaker). There were these, and cackling, juvenile types shrieking with laughter at inopportune moments.

These are the types of supposed rationalist who gather at such meetings - not all are like this, but a worrying number are. (I use the term “rationalist” here not in its strict philosophical sense but informally as one who appreciates both reason and the use of empirical evidence.) They are the kind of atheist who must embarrass the likes of Pat Condell and Richard Dawkins too. Freaks, oddballs, social inadequates who flock to the meetings in just the same way as religious people club together, and who are in a sense just as bigoted and dismissive (one suspects some are more cynics than skeptics and would never believe in anything). Such people bring shame to the name of rationalism. One of them even said through the mic, and not ironically enough, that being an atheist he would teach any lie as if it were truth for financial reward. We don’t need these types.

I believe that, because of the crowd, this man even managed to come out on top tonight, overall - and that should not have been the case.

What is the answer? A greater amount of decent, intelligent people need to speak up in the name of rationalism, and turn up at events like this, so that these types are firmly outnumbered and put on the fringes where they belong. And we all need to insist on decent and dignified behaviour from rational people. It is of the utmost importance that we outshine the religious people not only intellectually but also morally, so that they have no high ground, so that we can demonstrate that religion and morality are entirely separate, but also because it is simply the right way to behave.

I have written before that there are two kinds of atheist. Atheism is not nihilism, though many religious people like to portray it as such. It need not be cynicism either. It should be life-affirming and positive, and atheists should be setting the moral example. For a long time Sam Harris did not even identify himself as an atheist, because of the negative connotations of the word. I entirely understand his concerns, and when he speaks of a “cranky subculture”, that’s the subculture I’m writing of here. But, actually, being atheist means you do believe in reason and evidence. Humanism (even better) means you believe in decent conduct towards your fellow human beings too.

It was a pitiful sight this evening, to be sure, but not only at the front of the crowd, as should have been the case. Silent majority of rational people who are not weird and do not have some strange ulterior motive: we currently have enemies even within our own side. If you care about your own future and about the future of free speech and civilisation, please stand up and be counted - you were never more needed than now.

A fantastic performance

Yesterday Andrea and I went to this performance at the Cadogan Hall, off Sloane Square in London. I am writing it up because it was so great.

I have been to many a classical concert and they are always good, even if the music is not outstanding or the performers are aloof. At least they are classical concerts and it is always something of an occasion. We spotted this event at the last minute and I suggested we go because the line-up of music was outstanding. I believe Sinfonia Concertante is one of Mozart’s finest compositions, a soaring piece which one realises is excellent from the very first listen. I had seen the word “Haffner” also and assumed we would also be hearing the Haffner Serenade (each movement of which is great) but instead we had Symphony No. 35.

All pieces were good, but Sinfonia Concertante stood out. We decided to sit on the balcony, above the stage, and I can highly recommend this location as it is not only cheaper than some other seats but it provides a great view of the musicians and their sheet music. From this angle we were able to observe the pianist’s fingers moving and almost felt as if we were among the orchestra. The acoustics also did not seem to suffer.

I had never heard of lead violinist Lawrence Power. Suffice it to say that at certain points during his virtuoso performance our jaws dropped and Andrea and I merely looked at each other. The man was entirely at one with his violin and played it with gusto and confidence, creating fantastic music. He actually smiled as he played, and rarely even looked at the music, instead looking around at his fellow musicians, as if both encouraging and acknowledging them. His partner in the fantastic interplay of the lead violins was Stephanie Gonley, and she played with great accomplishment, though without quite the sheer zest of Power, it seemed to me.

After this unbelievable performance, which we observed at close quarters, I nearly fell of my seat when I thought it was the same man coming out again to take lead piano for Mozart’s Concerto in B Flat K.456. It wasn’t him, but was the equally accomplished Igor Levit, who proceeded to give a brilliant performance, followed by Fur Elise as an encore. He also came across as a very likable person, smiling and, of course, really feeling the music.

There is a reason why the famous classics are famous, and it’s because they are the best. It’s great to hear pieces like this performed, and performed so well. This was £10 well spent.