Oh, stop panicking! I'm not going anywhere. At least not right now.
No, the title is in reference to an article I just read that I wanted to point out to you. It was written by BlackSun over at Black Sun Journal. As you might guess, the title of his post almost knocked me out of my chair - Getting Rid of the Middleman.
Fortunately he wasn't lobbying for my removal from the Athesosphere. The "middleman" in question goes by a different name - God. Here's some of what he says in the post:
"But religion has created an artificial need for divine love, divine compassion–which sounds all well and good, even transcendent, until we realize that it’s a backhanded compliment. If we acknowledge the need for divine love, for example, it’s inescapable that we therefore distrust human love. So when we invoke god in conversation, we are essentially devaluing ourselves and whoever we are talking to. Take for example these statements which are so ingrained in the language that even many atheists use them: “God knows.” “Oh my god.” “Goddammit.” And of course the ever-irritating “god bless you,” “god willing” and “With god all things are possible.”
"Let’s purge the language and our thought of these disempowering middleman phrases and concepts."
Friday, December 07, 2007
Time for the Middleman to Leave
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8 comments:
Get rid of the Evolutionary Middleman??
OMG, no! :-)
Thanks, Buddy! I knew you wouldn't kick me to the curb.
Evo:
You're not just any middleman; you're the evolutionary middleman. If we got rid of you, we'd all be chimps.
Yes, I know: Some of us already are.
At first I thought maybe you were going on a long trip. :P
Hey, how was that Steven Pinker book? I've been thinking about reading one of his books for a while? I really think you'd enjoy Darwin's Ghost. It's really easy for someone like me, who is self-educated on evolution, to understand. I'd say he reminds me a bit of Carroll, but I don't want to get your hopes up too high!
Well, As long as OG gets to hijack this comment thread, I just want to thank you for putting up the good music. Marley Rocks!
I be sitting here singing, mon:
Give thanks and praise to the Lord, and it will be alright.
Only Marley gets me singing that.
I read in the paper today, coincidentally, that he never won a Grammy. For Shame!
And did you see Paul McCartney in the "One Love" video? How cool is that?
The Pinker is almost at the top of my to-read pile! :-)
SI, I can live with Marley's mysticism. I prefer his political stuff though. The music is so great... you got me listening again!
All of my posts are available for hijack. I write; then you write about whatever you want. I'm not particularly an "On-Topic Cop". The only time I would say something would be if someone was twisting the meaning of my post. Other than that, I don't care.
And, hell, I'll talk about Steve Pinker and Bob Marley as much as you people want!
Ah, Bob Marley. Some of those goddy lyrics stick in my craw, but what great music.
In keeping with the political aspect, Evo, I wonder if you can find my favorites "Get Up Stand Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff." (I'm too lazy to search for them, because I can always hear them on my Ipod.)
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