Life – Page 14 – Doug's Views

March 12, 2012April 18, 2020

Framing Humanism Is Okay But Not At The Expense Of Honesty

Humanism is a strange collection of individuals in a stew of rationality, all of us looking for the truth for our world view. We, as Humanists, know we must work with believers and other theists to find common ground with the goal of bettering the human condition. Andy Norman, writing for the Humanist Network News, an e-zine of the American Humanist Association, tries to offer tips for dialogue on Humanism to non-humanists but does so by giving up honesty in the process.

Norman, in his essay “Framing Humanism, or How to Win the Culture War”, starts out great by explaining how we as Humanists could do a better job of bringing in new people or at least getting our message out by the use of Framing (where we control the meaning of our message), but then my alarm bells start going off when I read this:

March 9, 2012April 18, 2020

Before You Fall In Love With The ‘KONY 2012’ Video…

There is a viral video called “KONY 2012” by the group Invisible Children highlighting Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda – this is the same group that Rush Limbaugh supported simply because of the group’s name. It seems the group behind the effort to bring Kony down has not been completely honest about their full agenda.

Here is a short video discussing the “KONY 2012” effort:

February 12, 2012April 18, 2020

Eurythmics Mended My Broken Heart

A classic human milestone is one’s first broken heart. It can happen at any age but it does happen to all of us at some point. My first broken heart was during my college years when my first real love didn’t share the same feelings for me that I had for her. I hit a very rough patch that took several months to heal. It also probably cost me two friendships as they got tired of my blubbering depression and needing to talk about the event incessantly. Lucky for me I had the Eurythmics on my record player for much of that tough time and their songs helped mend my broken heart.

I had been a fan of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart since “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” but there were two albums specifically that got me through my melancholy: “Be Yourself Tonight” (1985) and “Revenge” (1986). I had picked them up at a local record store and already had dubbed them to a blank cassette so I could listen to the music while walking to class.

January 14, 2012April 18, 2020

Why I Hated Martin Luther King Jr.

My childhood nemisis
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are some people who have birthdays at inconvenient times. Some were born on or near Christmas or during some national tragedy like those born on September 11th. There are others who were born on leap day so they can only celebrate the actual day of their birth in years that are evenly divisible by 4. Back when I was in elementary school, my birthday conflicted with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Why did he have to be born the day after me? Martin Luther King Jr. ruined my childhood.

In my elementary school when someone had a birthday, they would bring in a treat for their classmates. The birthday boy or girl would get some kind of hat. The usual in my school was the paper crown you could get for free at any Burger King restaurant. We would also get to be first in line for recess, lunch, and for bathroom breaks. Then at a certain time, usually just after lunch the class would sing “Happy Birthday” and nosh on the treats. It was a special day and one I wanted to have very badly.

January 4, 2012April 18, 2020

National Atheist Party Is Too Thin For A Political Party

Read an article on the Washington Post about a new political party called the National Atheist Party. While I applaud the effort to get atheists more involved in the political process, trying to include a broad progressive platform into such a narrow religious belief label is the wrong way to go.

The National Atheist Party is a non-profit, 527 political organization devoted to issue advocacy. As a 527 they can’t endorse candidates. In their mission statement the NAP says: