May
28
Internet anonymity
Filed Under Life | Leave a Comment
When I play the Oriental game of Go on the Internet, I like to chat to my opponent. Of course, it is up to my opponent whether he/she wants to chat.
However, I am getting up set because many players simply ignore all that I type. When I question them, they see no problem in doing this, and not saying why.
I really have a problem with this - I really really should not get upset that they ignore everything I type. But underlying all this is the general anonymity on the Internet that legitimises a flippant, dismissive attitude to others. It is like a breeding ground for antisocial behaviour. Just as in a car when you cut someone up, they cannot address you face to face, so you have some anonymity, and can treat others without the respect you would give them if face to face.
May
26
The Happy Danes
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A survey a while back declared Denmark to be the happiest nation on Earth. The causes of this are necessarily multifactoral, but there is one overriding flavour to the Danes - a collectivism.
They have a very limited gap between the highest and lowest paid jobs and pay an enormous 50% tax to provide them with many social benefits. Compare with the Americans, where individuality rules the roost.
The Danes work together as a team, and reap benefits on many levels.
To illustrate, one of the more recent ways in which Britain continues to copy American ways is in litigation. Had an accident? Sue someone. No win no fee. You can’t lose.
Except that the whole nation loses, as the cost is paid heavily not just in increased premiums, but in a breaking down of social bonds. Bunting used in street parties in one town may only now be fitted if done so in accordance with rigid standards because there have been injury claims.
We focus on material things like motorcars rather than make public transport so good we can pedestrianise lots of streets. We would then see these strange creatures called children who are currently cocooned in houses, cars and school. What better, to have a new car or have social bonds?
May
26
The standard ‘defence’ by theists to such indiscriminately devasting disasters as the recent earthquake in China is that God works in mysterious ways. That his understanding and methods are beyond our comprehension. But as the same time, they endow him with an intimate, loving understanding of each and everyone of us, thereby knowing that we neither understand nor gain from these mysterious ways. The victims and families of victims of the earthquake feel intense pain and loss of life. The massive absence of compassion for these people is manifest. Did God really make all these people so as to allow them to perish so painfully and arbitrarily?
What is more likely - that the observable and measurable friction of tectonic plates underground caused severe vibrations that caused many buildings to crumble, crushing most within - or that God arranged for this as some kind of punishment for the victims, their families, or mankind in general. Without uttering a word of explanation?
If God is all powerful and loves us all, why fail to act when his beloved people are slaughtered? Why not arrange for any damage to be inflicted on prisons rather than schools?
May
26
If
Filed Under Atheism | Leave a Comment
God is supposed to be not only all powerful, all knowing, and all loving, but perfect.
Apart from being an impossible cocktail of attributes, it is way too easy to find Him behaving somewhat imperfectly.
If God is capable of stopping the painful deaths of thousands of innocent children in the recent Chinese Earthquake, then He is guilty of manslaughter through inaction.
Life on Earth is rich and diverse. There is a certain balance in all its inhabitants - we all have strengths and weaknesses. But the staggeringly enormous difference in the quality of life means that some people have a life beset by only the occasional set back, whereas others struggle with constant, enormous mental, emotional and physical burdens.
If God is all powerful, He is guilty of failing to give us all a balanced life. He allows extreme unfairness to persist.