One of the best new rules that Bill Maher has done.
Epic takedown of so many!
I am quite ignorant of most things political - by conscious choices - but still I must say that Bill Maher is a wonderful speaker - even better than Tony Robbins IMO.
He actually said some things that 100% mirror my own world view, here:
In the very last minute, starting with 'Let's remember...' - I've never heard a more concise explanation for such murderous behaviours & it is sad for it to be so very true.
Yes Religulous was a good movie.
Below is one of the best examples of religious extremists being put in their place:
Right at the end "If you gave Falwell an enema, he could be buried in a matchbox"
A big fat windbag who fostered fear & hate...drained of his fecal collection - shrinking to such a small size ??
Very amusing & well said I agree.
However - all the excess skin left over from housing all that fat (well financed by his blind followers...) would need tanning so as to make many, many pairs of shoes for poor, needy folks BEFORE the remaining bulk would be reduced THAT much !!
For millenia all sorts of wars & slaughters have been made using justifications made up as coming from invisible friends which nobody EVER has seen or had a cup of tea with, which is just absurd.
Finally (just IMO):
It is long past time for our species to stop ARGUING & killing over religions;
And instead=>
Just STOP RELIGIONS.
(That is, if our species desires to remain viable...but perhaps that is not the case.)
On a related note - that is to say, related by way of the goodness in an ending...
I worked for someone who managed a busy store, worked ~50 hours weekly, looked after an infant AND 100% managed the family household while her husband stole whatever he could & used it for drugs & booze.
Just so happens she stayed with him ONLY because her religion told her if she left him, she'd go to hades.
This went on for years & there's more to the story, but for this telling here is the short of it:
The completely useless, destructive husband finally did just ONE thing that supported & assisted his family=>
He ended his life - thereby allowing those left behind to collect survivor's benefits AND freeing them from his terrible downward dragging.
Did the remaining family members live 'happily ever after' ??
Of course not - but at least they had funds for rent, groceries and heat.
The harmful phantasm of religion remained, thereby creating certainties of unreasoning emotional difficulties.
I do understand the tragic consequences of religious zealotry as well as secular zealotry, and the will to end such behavior. But it's one thing to end religion, but quite another to end human zealotry. If somehow we were able to get beyond religion, however defined, and atheism, and become totally secular beings, would we be free from the will to impose our ways of thinking on others who did not think like us, or would we remain zealots? There have been many arguments about whether we would be better off in a secular society or a religious society with no definitive answer. What we're really after, I believe, is a society of people who are not zealots, who do not impose their differing perspectives on one another, and, most importantly, live the examined life, live by applying the Socratic method or way of thinking to all aspects of life, and, as Bill Maher expressed, doubt and think for oneself. In other words, the examined life is worth living.
Very well put.
Religious zealotry is the thing that worries me the most in America.
Religion simply centered on being a good person is probably still necessary and not necessarily a bad thing. It is understandable that people and families need some sort of structure and comfort when it comes to death and challenges in life. In a way, during life, "faith" is a roundabout way of maintaining positive thinking.
But the zealots are the people who prevent progress. And the problem is their acts impact other people and prevent progress for many other people. Whether they be religious zealots or gun zealots or materialistic zealots.
There are a bunch of people who discard environmental science (and presumably leaving future generations with a huge debt burden) because they believe in the rapture. These people are as nuts as ISIS!
Even in the Vatican they accept science and don't do mental gymnastics. How is it that religious Americans dispute the word of God's representative on earth?
Wise words here friends !!
I suggest that there are a couple of things which require clarifications...
1 - What is referred to here as 'zealotry' can be more accurately described as:
Obsession - which changes the view in that our species tends strongly towards obsessive behaviours.
2 - All existing religions that have 'god(s)' depend upon the above as NOBODY has ever been in the company of said 'god(s)' - not anybody, not nohow, not EVER.
Putting the above together into a somewhat coherent whole we then get way too many large groups of people who are perfectly willing to become 100% murderous for the imagined 'glory' of a totally, absolutely imaginary concept for which they are supporting a delusionary obsession.
A side mention:
Upon my infrequent travels I pass a sign on the highway which says 'Joseph Smith Birthplace', which makes me snicker each time I see it...and why, you may ask ??
If someone tried to do, in most recent years, what that man pulled off in ~1827 - they'd either be in prison or the loony bin already, rather than having been able to make a global phenomenon which even has its own private welfare system as well as its own secret meetings and even 'special underwear'.
At its highest levels its zealots fully buy into the notions that after death each married couple will become gods of their very own extraterrestrial planet, forever.
Like I said before - this would aim any aspiring cult leader pretty straight to the loony bin today, if only via the tender mercies of DHS.
Too much to take coming from a doubter like myself ??
OK, then I suggest a fascinating book called 'Under the Banner of Heaven', which for me, was greatly enlightening - having been saddled at that time with what I must call a (mentally ill) Mormon (former) friend.
Again I refer to the wise & wonderful words of Mr. Maher in the clip I posted before:
"...That we learned how to precipitate mass death, before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it. That;s it....Grow up - or die."
References useful for anyone who may be curious enough to look:
I think the main thrust of this thread is that the current state of man is something that needs to be overcome, something that we need to evolve from into a higher, more enlightened existence, which has been the conclusion reached by many throughout history. In other words, what we are now must be left behind as we change into a qualitatively different being. Change takes time.
"Evolution is not finished; reason is not the last word nor the reasoning animal the supreme figure of Nature. As man emerged out of the animal, so out of man the superman emerges."
Sri Aurobindo, Thoughts and Aphorisms (1913)
"Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly."
Diogenes
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