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Creatures of Habit

Photo by Sarah Tarno.
Photo by Sarah Tarno.

Recently it has been suggested that the concept of virtue can be understood as something like a skill. Like a skill, virtue is a disposition that requires habituation, where such habituation, however, cannot be reduced to mere routine. It has been central to this view that these two modes of practical knowledge, skill and virtue, are clearly distinguishable from mere habits.

According to this picture, skill and virtue are particular species of the more general categories of “acquired capacities” and “acquired tendencies.” Both rational and sub-rational animals are meant to have acquired capacities and acquired tendencies. A trained dog is said to have the capacity to control its sphincters, and if it is well behaved, it tends to exercise this capacity. An adult person has the capacity to fulfill her promises, and if she is virtuous, she will tend to fulfill them. According to this picture, only the capacities and tendencies of human beings are rational. The capacities of sub-rational creatures are mere habits. Thus skill and virtue are conceived as the rational species of two more general categories, acquired capacity and acquired tendency. They are meant to be more general because they also apply to sub-rational animals. I call this the Modern Approach to habit. It rests on the assumption that the contrast between acquired and not acquired capacities and tendencies, i.e. between habituated and non-habituated capacities and tendencies, is intelligible independently of the rational sub-categories.

I criticize this view and oppose to it what I call the Orthodox Doctrine of habit endorsed by Aristotle, Aquinas and Hegel. On this view, the relation between capacity and tendency on the one hand, and habit on the other hand, is not the relation between a genus and a species. Rather, habit is a formal feature that properly belongs to the idea of a rational power. According to this doctrine, sub-rational animals cannot, properly speaking, have habits; only rational animals are creatures of habit. While mere animals possess their capacities “immediately” or “by nature”, humans equip themselves with a “second nature” through repeated actions. A human is the creation of her own activity.

The opposition between the Neo-Aristotelian and the orthodox doctrines of habit thus comes to this: on the Neo-Aristotelian conception of the distinctions within the general category of capacity, the opposition rational/sub-rational is applicable to the concept of habit. There are rational as well as sub-rational habits. According to the orthodox doctrine, the rational/sub-rational opposition is not applicable to habit, since the latter constitutes a structural moment of rational capacities. There are no sub-rational habits. There are only good and bad habits: i.e. the two ways in which a rational capacity can be actualized. The wisdom of this orthodox doctrine is evident from the difficulties afflicting the Neo-Aristotelian account. So let us consider habit in its three principal dimensions: acquisition, act, and subject.

In the categorical framework of Neo-Aristotelianism, the conceptual capacities distinctive of humankind form a sub-category of acquired dispositions. Let’s assume for the moment that this is correct. What are we to say of those exemplars of our species who have yet to acquire any second nature? What are we to say of our first nature? John McDowell gives the following response: “Human infants are mere animals, distinctive only in their potential.” McDowell does not maintain that newborns belong to the class of beasts and brutes; he rather advances the thesis that the distinction between us and animals obtains at the level of first nature. An infant differs from mere animals not through its activities but through its as-yet unactualized capacities, its predispositions. Thus, when, in the course of their development, children acquire conceptual abilities and tendencies, they are actualizing a capacity that they were born with. In other words, human infants differ from mere animals by virtue of a second-order capacity, a capacity to acquire abilities. A rational second nature is thus the actualization of a second-order capacity that is in-born, and hence a first nature.

But if this capacity distinguishes us in virtue of our first nature, then the question arises as to whether the capacity to acquire rational capacities is itself a rational capacity. For mere animals can have a second nature as well, and therefore have the ability to acquire abilities. The capacities that they acquire, however, are—unlike ours—not rational. The question is what this means for the corresponding second-order capacities. What sort of distinction is there between their second-order capacities and ours? Are ours rational?

Aristotle, Aquinas, and Hegel deny that humans think from birth. A human infant differs from a mere animal in virtue of its predispositions, not in virtue of the (supposed) fact that it thinks. Infants first acquire concepts, which are applied in judgments, through practice. So why doesn’t the problem that these predispositions must themselves be rational capacities arise here? This problem only crops up if one assumes that the rational/sub-rational contrast applies to the concept of second nature. That is what leads to the question whether the relevant second-order capacity is itself rational or sub-rational. In the context of the orthodox doctrine of habit, this question makes no sense. Wherever first and second nature – ability and power – come apart, it is already settled whether the capacity in question is rational. It is the hallmark of rational lifeforms that their essential capacities are operative in individual exemplars only as mere predispositions. The spirited actuality of the human infant – and thus its mere being as “natural spirit” – consists precisely in the inactivity, the uncultivated indeterminacy of its essential vital capacities. It is precisely this unfinished quality of the individual, this dependency that is the material perspective, whose formal complement is the original sociality of humankind.

Matthias Haase is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago (beginning Fall 2016), and scholar with the project Virtue, Happiness, & the Meaning of Life.


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Confessions of a Pharmaceutical Sales Rep

The above video was brought to our attention from a patient of ours who happens to be a medical doctor.  The woman in the video is a former pharmaceutical sales person and speaks about the amazing ways in which Big Pharma tricks doctors into believing what they are prescribing has no downside.

Big business is big business no matter what the company is selling.  Just because the pharmaceutical industry makes drugs that are supposedly good for us (their words, not mine) does not mean they aren’t in it to make as much money as they can possibly make.  The problem is that these drugs are dangerous and Big Pharma tries at every turn to mislead the public and medical professionals to minimize the potential dangers of drugs.  Did you know that 106,000 people per year die from the negative effects of properly prescribed drugs? That number is almost as high as the number of people who die from stroke each year.

I recently read an article about the cholesterol lowering class of drugs called statin medications.  It was a sort of tongue and check article that touched on this subject.  It was written by a chiropractor who works in a hospital.  He has frequent interaction with medical doctors because of this and is privy to the conversations that most people don’t get to hear.  In his article he said that he’s overheard some physicians saying that everyone should be on statin medications because of their “health benefits” and almost nonexistent side effect profile.  He went as far to propose, sarcastically of course, that we should just start putting statins in our water as a measure of public health.  After all we already put fluoride in the water.  Why not add a little statin in there too!?  The problem is that statins have little health benefit and have a very large side effect profile.

Big Pharma is trying to spin these types of ideas day and night.  Anything to increase profits and crush the competition.  At some level, people who work for these corporate giants want to help people and cure diseases.  The problem is that the people in charge care about one thing – money and power.  Power begets money and money begets power.  Once those two things are in the fold, you can forget about honesty in terms of research, marketing and maybe worst of all, political policy.  While they don’t directly control legislation, their 2500+ lobbyists do a great job making sure their interests are well taken care of.

There needs to be a change in the way Big Pharma is regulated.  If we do not, health care prices will continue to increase and America will continue to be one of the unhealthiest nations in the world.

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One response to “Confessions of a Pharmaceutical Sales Rep

  1. I have recently published a novel; “Side Effects”…available and It is a raw, gritty sometimes brutal story of addiction, greed, grace and redemption set against the backdrop ofthe fictional Humboldt Pharmaceutical Company. With over 25 years in the pharma industry readers might be interested in my point of view.

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Ribbon-cutting Ceremony Held for New Foundation Park

Foundation Park 5Westfield – The Westfield Foundation announced the establishment of Foundation Park and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, June 11, 2016 with Mayor Andrew Skibitsky, members of the Town Council, the Downtown Westfield Corporation (DWC), and past and present Trustees of the Westfield Foundation in attendance.

Foundation Park is a joint project of the Westfield Foundation and the Town of Westfield commemorating 40 years of community service by the Westfield Foundation.  Foundation Park, which is located across from the South Avenue Circle, will be used as a venue for Jazz Night and other Town events.  The area is scheduled to be completed with landscaping and lighting by early July, so it can be used as a venue for the DWC’s Sweet Sounds Downtown Jazz Festival, held on Tuesday evenings in July and August.

The concept and the design for Foundation Park was created by Craig Stock, who was awarded a plaque by the Westfield Foundation in recognition and appreciation for his time and effort in creating the park, as well as for his extensive community service for the Town.Foundation Park Russ and Craig 3

On behalf of the Foundation, former Foundation President, Russ Finestein, thanked the following companies for contributing either materials or labor to help create the park: Weldon Materials Inc., T. Fiotakis Construction, Harol Landscaping & Construction, A & N Landscaping and Craig Stock Landscape Design.  Finestein also thanked the Mayor and Town Council for their support, as well as the Town Administrator, James Gildea, and the Town Engineer, Kris McAloon, and the employees of the Westfield Department of Public Works, for their hard work in establishing the park.

Lastly, Finestein also thanked current and past Westfield residents who have donated or bequeathed funds to the Foundation, which now manages over $15,000,000.00 in restricted and unrestricted funds.  The Foundation uses a portion of these funds each year to provide grants benefitting the community overall and many art organizations, health-related programs, social service agencies/programs and education.

Further press:

TAP Westfield


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Why It’s Worth a Watch Wednesday – Suspense & Stilettos

This week, Amber West and I review two female-driven dramas on Why It’s Worth a Watch Wednesday—the short-lived Whedon series, Dollhouse, and TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles

What do we get when a Boston detective and her best friend/medical examiner solve crime together?  Two strong, female characters and plenty of laughs.  To be clear, these women aren’t perfect—they both have issues and insecurities—plus they are nothing alike.  But regardless, they make for one fun hour of television viewing.

First we have Detective Jane Rizzoli, played by Angie Harmon.

Detective Jane Rizzoli

Rizzoli hails from a working class family: her dad’s a plumber; her younger brother (Colin Egglesfield) has just been released from prison; and her other little brother (Jordan Bridges), who idolizes Rizzoli, is following in his sister’s footsteps, much to the dismay of their overbearing mom (the fabulous Lorraine Bracco).  She has been stalked, tortured, and scarred by serial killers; she doesn’t have much luck in the love department; and she’s trying to fit into a man’s world.  I know, I know; it’s 2012 and there are plenty of female officers on police forces across the country; but in Rizzoli’s case, her squadron is full of men.

Rizzoli & Isles – Jane and lil’ bro’ Frankie

Then we have Medical Examiner Maura Isles, played by Sasha Alexander.

Dr. Maura Isles

Isles was raised by her adopted parents (her mother is played by Jacqueline Bissett), where she learned to focus on her studies and adapted a fabulous sense of style.   How many medical examiners do you know who examine dead bodies and perform autopsies in stilettos?  Her biological father (John Doman) is a Boston mafia boss, a fact she learns after discovering that a corpse on her morgue table shares her DNA and was later identified as her brother.  Her biological mother (Sharon Lawrence) is a world-renowned doctor, who has invented scientific techniques to help identify victims.  But here’s the kicker—Isles’ biological father told her biological mother that baby Maura died at birth.  Of course, he did it for their protection, but still…

Friends Forever…

Regardless of their differences, the girls have each other.  Or at least they did—season two ended with Rizzoli shooting Isles’ dad.  Even though Isles has a difficult time admitting her true feelings for her biological father, he’s still her father.  Will their friendship survive?  Of course it will… it already has.  Sorry for the spoiler…

Frost & Korsak in pursuit…

The series, based on the novels by Tess Gerritsen, also stars Lee Thompson Young as Rizzoli’s new partner, Detective Frost, and Bruce McGill as Rizzoli’s former partner/senior detective, Vince Korsak.  Frost and Korsak are like salt and pepper—they complement each other beautifully,  but like Rizzoli and Isles, they are nothing alike.  Here lately, Frost spends most of his time in front of the computer and leads Rizzoli’s little brother, Frankie, around (he’s dying to get out of the uniform and become a detective), while Korsak works most of the cases by Rizzoli’s side.  Throw in Dr. Isles and Rizzoli’s mom, Angela, and this group really meshes together well.

Mamma Rizzoli…

If you liked Crossing Jordan, you’ll also like Rizzoli & IslesIf you liked Angie Harmon on Baywatch Nights, Law & Order, and/or the short-lived Women’s Mystery Club, you will love her as Jane Rizzoli.  If she wasn’t an actress, I might actually think Angie was in law enforcement.

The episodes are particularly fun when Rizzoli & Isles go undercover together…

So how does Rizzoli & Isles officially rank?  If I were rating the show in comparison to Dr. Maura Isles’ lifestyle, I’d say GTV.   But Rizzoli isn’t fine wine and gourmet meals… she’s more of a beer and sandwich kinda girl.  So, I’m going with the MacTV rating—pop open a beer, make a pastrami sandwich with au jus on the side, and boil some Shells-N-Cheese.  It’s probably not great for our cholesterol, but it sure tastes good goin’ down.. am I right?

The girls like their rating…

What do you think? Do you watch Rizzoli & Isles?  How would you rate it?  Who’s your favorite character?  Have you read any of Tess Gerritsen’s books?  I’d love to hear from you!

Now click over to Amber’s blog and see what she thinks about Joss Whedon’s short-lived series, Dollhouse.

Come back next week when Amber and I review something..it’s summer time and the heat is taking a toll on our planning ahead.

Remember to stop by the #watchwed hashtag in Twitter to discuss any of today’s reviews, or to mention any television programs that you’d like to see on Why It’s Worth a Watch Wednesday in the future.

And, remember to check out my YA Mystery novel, Football Sweetheart… now available on Kindle!

A Recap of The WatchWed Review System:

GTV (Gourmet TV): Everything we want and more
MacTV (MacNCheese TV): Guilty pleasure. Not perfect, but is satisfies
GMacTV (Gourmet MacNCheese TV): A combination of fine wine and comfort food
JFTV (Junk food TV): It’s not great for us, but we’ll go back for seconds
TBPTV (Twice Baked Potato TV): Part gourmet and delicious, while absolutely horrible for our cholesterol
SSTV (Still Simmering TV): It has potential, but the jury is still out
NIV (Nyquil Induced Viewing): Perfect for that late night television sleep timer
LOTV (Liver&Onions TV): Do we really have to explain? Blech

This entry was posted in Television, TV Reviews, Watch it? and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to Why It’s Worth a Watch Wednesday – Suspense & Stilettos

  1. Pooh says:

    Love Rizzoli and Isles!!!

  2. tomwisk says:

    Liked Angie Harmon on Lawnorder and Sasha Alexander on NCIS. Love them as Rizzoli & Isles. What I like most is TNT leads in with reruns and the prior weeks episode.

  3. I love this show. I had to get past the characters being so different from the books, especially Isles. She’s not nearly as weird and quirky in the books. Maura Isles is definitely my favorite character.

  4. With The Closer ending its run, Rizzoli & Isles will become my favorite show still in production. In addition to everything good you said about the show and the characters, Neither Angie Harmon nor Sasha Alexander is difficult for a man to look at.

  5. Thanks for the summary! I’ve been flirting with the idea of this show for a while and it looks like I’ll have to check it out, because it sounds fantastic!

  6. Love this show–definitely one of my favorites! I have read all of the books as well, but they really don’t parallel on another very well. Even the character descriptions are very different (Rizzoli is described as short ugly in the books–definitely not a description befitting of Angie Harmon). Still, I love both the show and the books. 🙂

    For even more amusement, both title characters have Twitter accounts (@JaneRizzoli and @MauraIsles), and they tweet in character throughout the week, for a fun between-episode fix. 🙂

  7. Pingback: Thrilling TV: What Rocks Your Tube? « August McLaughlin's Blog

  8. Pingback: Why It’s Worth a Watch Wednesday – 2012, A Year in Review | Tiffany A White's Ooo Factor

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European Union Trademark No. 000872085 (3-D) Trademark register: EUIPO Status: application refused

Word mark

Logo design: Stones for building, bricks ; Other building materials

The European Union Trademark for this logo was filed on 09.07.1998 for goods and services in class(es) 19 at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The current status of the trademark No. 000872085 is 'application refused'.

Trademark information
RegisterEuropean Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)
Filing date09.07.1998
Nice classes19
Goods and Services (the trademark is registered for the following goods and services)
Class 19 : Sloping stones for constructing supporting walls.
tmdb is a free trademark search website of publicly available records. tmdb does not guarantee nor warrant the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of the data.


text:
Clemson cleared a hurdle last season. The Tigers got past the cynics–looking for a “Clemson moment” when the Tigers would self destruct just when they appeared ready to make the giant step forward to the top of the mountain.

They won all of their regular season games. They won 14 games overall, which was the most of any Clemson football team–ever. They overcame mistakes. They stepped into the Orange Bowl in the Final Four semifinals and blew past Oklahoma.

And they gave Alabama all it could handle in the title game, coming up short in a 45-40 loss.

No, Clemson earned the respect it wanted. Now it wants respect and its first national title in 36 seasons, It has arguably the best QB in the country in Deshaun Watson, who is every bit as good as his reputation.  The rest of this article is available to subscribers only – to become a subscriber click here.


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This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 3099067.

16-18 May 2017
Asia World Expo,
Hong Kong

The TCCA presents CCW 2017: Understand The Needs Of The Modern End User To Optimise Your Network

Gathering a truly global audience for the 19th year

Deadline approaching!

The early bird rate expires on March 24! Register to save up to €200!

Why attend Critical Communications World?

Unrivalled networking

CCW 2017 provides efficient and innovative ways to meet the right business connections over the three days including speed networking, power roundtable sessions, interactive demo tours, our bespoke networking app, informal networking receptions, site visits and much more...

Exhibition features

CCW 2017 will feature two high level seminar programmes and zones dedicated to Future technologies and Data apps & control rooms providing you with the opportunity to hear from end users and leading solution providers alike on the latest technology application case studies. With the return of CCLive and live social media feeds, attendees will be able to digitally follow the event via live screens ensuring they do not miss a minute of the event.

Join the debate! CCW 2017 Congress

The Asian market is going through big developments and provides a wealth of opportunity, with some regions just starting to move away from analogue to other regions really innovatively using their TETRA networks whilst incorportating broadband solutions. With an expected attendance of 650+ delegates, the 19th annual congress will walk the delegate through the critical communication developments in Asia by region through country specific case studies, deep dive panel sessions, live polling, interviews and challenger sessions - a new addition to this year's congress!

A dedicated VIP programme

CCW's VIP programme provides an exclusive service for global C-level end users and network operators to enable them to maximise their development and networking time at the event. VIPs have the opportunity to take part in closed door networking sessions, attend our exclusive VIP networking reception, take part in private exhibition tours, speed networking sessions as well as have access to all the congress and exhibition has to offer.

Market leading exhibition

CCW 2016 welcomed 156 exhibitors with 48 companies showcasing for the first time. Next year's CCW is set to be even more diverse with 150+ solutions providers expected with products ranging from the next killer app, encryption and wearables, TETRA and LTE solutions and control room technologies to name a few! With our numerous networking zones including hospitality bars to work stations, attendees will be equipped with all the facilities to network as well as catch up with the office.

The chosen meeting point for end users

With a 50% increase in end users at CCW 2016 from utilities, transportation, emergency response, government and network operators; CCW 2017 is set to attract global decision makers with a high proportion of end users from the Asian market. Following from the first end user pavilion at CCW 2016 (Critical Communications Finland), we are delighted to announce that a Hong Kong pavilion will feature for the first time at the event, led by the end users in the region.

The world's leading conference and exhibition dedicated to critical communications

Critical Communications Professionals
Global Speakers
Countries Represented
Site Visits
Networking Parties

About the TCCA

The TCCA represents TETRA, the most successful mission critical communications voice and narrowband data mobile standard in the world. Now available with TEDS supporting wideband data, we support the further development of the standard and promote its increasing adoption by professional users in a growing number of market sectors across all continents. For critical broadband data communications, we are driving the development of common global mobile standards.

Follow the link below to find out more.

Critical Communications World 2016 Highlights

Thank you!

Critical Communications World 2016 was our largest to date with 3626 critical professionals and 156 exhibitors in attendance. A big thank you to all of our speakers, sponsors and exhibitors without whom the event would not be possible. With a 50% increase in end users, more interactive demo tours, digital additions such as CCLive, live social media feeds, three new seminar theatres, two new zones, the first end user led pavilion and a new VIP programme; the positive feedback from our attendees has been overwhelming. Critical Communications World has truly placed itself at the heart of the global critical communications community.

So what next? Hong Kong! Building on this year’s success and with 75% of exhibition space already confirmed, we are already planning the 19th annual CCW with site visits, VVIP attendance and the first Hong Kong Pavilion already confirmed.

Now is the time to get in touch! If you’re interested in speaking, sponsoring, exhibiting, being a media partner, attending as a VIP or even writing some articles in the lead up to CCW please contact the team.

See you in Hong Kong

Interested in speaking at Critical Communications World?

2017 Gold Sponsors

Mission Critical Operator Partner

DAMM is a world-leading provider of scalable, flexible and user-friendly digital radio infrastructure systems to industrial, commercial and public safety customers. Built for the future of critical communications, the DAMM Multi-Tech Platform enables voice and data communication across technologies, including TETRA, TEDS, DMR and Analog in one single system. Meet us at CCW!

Case Study: TETRA, safety first and China Light Power

Launching its TETRA upgrade project in 2016, CLP plans to use its network for at least the next 10 years. Find out why the company chose to invest in TETRA and the impact this will have on its workforce.

Have you seen our Chinese website?


text:
Crane operator charged with manslaughter in Philadelphia building collapse

Reuters News
Posted: Jun 08, 2013 4:52 PM

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A crane operator who police said tested positive for marijuana use on the job was arrested on Saturday on charges of involuntary manslaughter stemming from a building collapse in Philadelphia that killed six people and injured more than a dozen.

Sean Benschop, 43, accompanied by his lawyer, turned himself over to police to face six counts of involuntary manslaughter and 13 counts of endangering another person, Philadelphia police Sergeant Mike Veasey said.

Police said Benschop was assisting with a building demolition on Wednesday when a wall of the structure collapsed onto an adjacent building that housed a Salvation Army thrift store filled with shoppers and staff.

Toxicology reports on blood samples taken from Benschop after the accident showed he marijuana in his system, police said.

Benschop's attorney, Daine Grey Jr., told reporters outside the police station that his client was not at fault for the collapse.

"This was an accident, but Mr. Benschop is not responsible," Grey said in remarks aired by a local CBS television affiliate. "We believe in time the facts will show that he is not responsible and that the responsible party will be held accountable."

The four-story building that was under demolition on Market Street in Center City was once home to a store that sold X-rated books and videos, according to authorities.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter on Friday recommended random drug tests for heavy equipment operators and other safeguards as part of a sweeping set of reforms after the building collapse.

The city will also require demolition contractors to provide a site safety plan to protect pedestrians and adjacent property.

Attorneys representing survivors indicated they intend to sue the building owners, Richard Basciano and the STB Investments Corp, and the Philadelphia-based demolition company, Griffin Campbell Construction.

Among those injured was Nadine White, 54, a mother of three and a clerk who was working at the thrift store when chunks of concrete came raining down on her, burying her in the rubble, her lawyer Robert Mongeluzzi said in preliminary court papers.

Another was mother of three, Linda Bell, 50, who was shopping in the store when the collapse occurred, her lawyer Joseph Marrone said. She was buried under the rubble for about an hour before being rescued.

(Reporting by Dave Warner; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Peter Cooney and Gunna Dickson)


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Andrea Mitchell: Cuban Healthcare Highly Regarded

Katie Pavlich
Posted: Mar 28, 2012 8:15 AM

MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell is in Cuba this week as the Supreme Court of the United States hears arguments for and against government run healthcare. Part of Mitchell's coverage in the communist country includes the Cuban healthcare system where wait times are long, care is limited, good care is only for the rich and medical facilities are unsanitary. Regardless, Mitchell referred to the Cuban system as "highly regarded."

Notice how the doctor in the clip said, "You sometimes have to change your own bed sheets."

Click here for shocking photos from Cuba's medical facilities:

Liberals pushing for free health care often site Fidel Castro's fiefdom as evidence of how to do it right. Problem is, foreign leaders, celebrities, patients and media are shown only the good stuff that is maintained for PR purposes and for the Cuban elite.

Humberto Fontova wrote about this for us in "Cuba's Free and Fabulous Health Care." If you haven't read it, please do -- it is a great tutorial on the truth about Fidel's glorious hospitals.


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Chip in to help us send a bus full of fracking fighters to PA Governor Wolf’s inauguration so we can show him we’re ready for a fracking ban starting on his first day.

In two weeks Tom Wolf will be sworn in as the new Governor of Pennsylvania. When that happens, he’ll be poised to regulate, ban or curtail the biggest fracking state on the East Coast - and the next door neighbor to New York, which banned fracking last month.

So far, Wolf has indicated that he’d rather tax the fracking industry and regulate it, rather than ban the practice outright.1 But there’s a lot more room to negotiate with Wolf than his predecessor, who supported fracking in state forests, next to schools, and required virtually no oversight of this dangerous and unproven drilling practice.2

The key to convincing Wolf - a first time Governor more used to spreadsheets and board meetings than the rough and tumble world of politics3 - is to show him that a huge number of Pennsylvanians don’t trust fracking in any form, and want the practice to be banned, not just regulated. To really convince him, we need to show him we’re ready to fight for a fracking ban on the first day he takes office.

Can you chip in to help us send a bus full of fracking fighter to Wolf’s inauguration in two weeks?

  • $25 buys a seat on a passenger bus for one fracktivist;
  • $100 rents a passenger van for 10 people;
  • $1000 rents a 56 seat bus, so we can bring hundreds of fracktivists to the inauguration.

Last Month Gov. Cuomo made a historic decision to ban fracking in his state of New York, based on the recommendations of health and environmental experts. Now attention is turning to the next big east coast state where fracking has already been underway for years - Pennsylvania. If Cuomo’s decision was a shot across the bow, Wolf could sink the whole fracking battle ship.

We know that Cuomo only made his decision after months of constituents showing up everywhere he went to demand a ban. Now, it’s up to Pennsylvanians to apply that same pressure to Gov. Wolf, starting on his very first day. While this fight is led by local activists like our friend Karen Feridun and her allies in Pennsylvanians Against Fracking, we can lend a hand so that they don’t have to fight alone.

Click here to chip in $5, $25 or $500 to help a PA fracktivist get to the inauguration.

Thanks for always riding the bus to a frack free future with us,

Drew Hudson, and the team at Environmental Action

PS - do you live in Pennsylvania or nearby? Want to attend the inauguration on one of these fracktivist buses? Click here to get more info from our friends at Pennsylvanians Against Fracking about how.

1 Nick Field, PA-Gov: Wolf Reiterates Support for Fracking After NY Ban, PA Politics, December 17th, 2014
2 Nick Field, PA-Gov: Corbett Expands Drilling to State Parks and Forests, PA politics, May 23rd, 2014
3 Wolf for Pennsylvania bio page.

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Ebert Presents At The Movies 2011

  • 2017-03-24T15:30:00-04:00s at 2017-03-24T15:30:00-04:00 on PBS
  • 2011-01-21T00:00:00Z
  • 30 mins
  • 1 day, 1 hour, 0 mins
  • United States
  • Talk Show
Christy Lemire of The Associated Press and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of Mubi.com are co-hosts of "Ebert Presents at the Movies." The two critics discuss and review movies every week and also introduce special segments featuring other contributors, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Roger Ebert. The new weekly program debuted on January 21, 2011. Distributed via American Public Television (APT), it is carried in forty-nine of the top fifty markets, representing more than 86% national coverage. The program is produced in Chicago at WTTW, where Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert began taping "Sneak Previews" some thirty-five years ago. The executive producer is Roger’s wife, Chaz Ebert, and the director is Don Dupree, who logged fifteen years as director of "Siskel & Ebert" and "Ebert & Roeper."

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we’re home

 we made it with very little excitement on the way.  other than when we arrived at d/fw airport and they told me my itinerary had been cancelled.  but the kids were still good to go.  took a few minutes but the nice united employee – the only nice united employee we ran into – fixed it all up and had me flying with them.

here’s the kids 15 minutes after take off.

we had been at the airport since 4am, so i guess a nap was in order.

2 thoughts on “we’re home

  1. Hi,
    My name is RJ and my family are christians and were invited to do missionary work in Chiang Mai. I really want to go but we are worried that are children might just be too young (1 and 3 yrs old). Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

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text:
One-Story Atheism

A reader directed me to this fine TED talk where an African speaker illustrates how stereotypes of Africans are the result of people having only one rather homogenous story about Africa upon which to base their conclusions. She begs listeners to expand their familiarity with more stories.

Ironically, and refreshingly, the speaker also confesses she has done the same with the immigrant Hispanic population in the USA.  She recognized that getting multi-storied approaches to everything is very difficult but suggests that at least we should be aware of the limits of our one-story views.

Many liberal/progressive Christians complain that some Atheists often rant against a different versions of Christianity than their own.  These Christians may also speak out against fundamental Christianity and thus feel the Atheist’s criticism are inaccurate. Atheists responses I have seen are:

  • Well, all the varieties of Christianity are dumb-founding, it ain’t my fault
  • But all Christians share similar silly beliefs even if the particulars vary
  • Even if you don’t hold fundamentalists views, by using the same jargon and merely re-interpreting the same myths they use, you tacitly supporting their autraucities.
  • Your flavor of Christianity is a small minority — I am speaking to the majority.
  • Your version of Christianity is too wiggly — you can escape all criticism because you commit to nothing yet you still love the label.

I myself am obviously very critical of many aspects of Christianity, but I feel focused criticisms are important and gross generalizations are often unfruitful.

 It is my experience that Atheists who are significantly or deeply familiar with more than one form of Christianity, are often less prone to over-generalize  about ALL Christianities and less quick to off-hand reject the objections of Christians who seek to be understood on their own terms.With a similar lack of background, I find that many Atheists overgeneralize about ALL religions.  Likewise, my experience seems to suggest that those Atheists who are careful to focus their criticisms tend to be those who are deeply familiar with more than just Abrahamic religions. There are so many religions in the world, we can’t be familiar with all of them, but if you are going to criticize them as a whole, it is best to broaden your experience so as to help avoid the temptation to inaccurately overgeneralize.
Well, those are my impressions. And I realize that very few “One-Story Atheists” frequent my blog, but the phrase had an interesting ring to it so I thought it may be useful.  Is it possible to accurately criticize religion without a broad familiarity of several religions — perhaps, but it is very difficult.   My posts on Hinduism offer a taste of non-Abrahamic theisms and my posts of Buddhism explore a non-theistic religion. I hope those posts help enlarge your multi-story approach to religious dialogue.   I would love to hear your thoughts after you answer one last poll! 🙂

Filed under Philosophy & Religion

46 responses to “One-Story Atheism

  1. hjaltirunar

    Well, my response to the charge from these liberal Christians is that their view is probably the minority in the group that atheist activists are most concerned about, so we give them much less focus. And to that I often add that it’s not very clear what liberal Christians actually believe.

  2. One-Story Atheism or One-Story anything can pretty much destroy any hope of a productive discussion. I’ve seen it happen again and again.

  3. This is a partial answer to a question I’ve been trying to work out how to ask, if you see what I mean. I’m very interested in the way atheists often seem to share a huge amount of their interpretation of the Bible with fundamentalists, and this has reminded me to get back onto that subject.

  4. Thanx, hjaltirunar, I added your objections to the list — indeed those are also common objections to progressives. What would help is when criticizing Christianity, words like “some”, “many”, “a few” and such may help avoid reactive dialogue as believers who may thus feel a little less misunderstood.

  5. You got it, Recovering Agnostic. I too, when first approaching blogging was rightfully accused of coming from a limited, reactive perspective. It didn’t mean I still didn’t have valid objections — but they needed refining, filtering and restating. Likewise, it allowed me to see more clearly deeper principles that have nothing to do with the superficial doctrines.

  6. I think the first three commentors all raise very important points. In fact, I’m almost embarassed for the majority of atheists when they are arguing with a catholic priest, say, about this fundamentalist version of God and I know very well that the chances are the priest also thinks that a ridiculous story.

    I once pressed a very liberal Christian on what about his beliefs were particularly “Christian” in any historical sense. He did not like that. Hmm… post idea!

    I must say though, I think the atheist focus on Christianity is in some ways a narrow or inadequate approach. Perhaps not in the US, but in Europe there is another faith that is growing, not at all accommodationist, and prescribes some pretty nasty beliefs and practices. I’m surprised to hear fewer European atheists speaking out against that one.

  7. DaCheese

    Well one reason why some atheists may avoid criticizing Islam is that they(/we) don’t want to get lumped in with all of the cultural/ethnic bigots who are already denouncing muslims as terrorists, etc. It’s actually easier to attack the dominant local religion, because people are less likely to mistake your criticism of the religion for criticism of specific cultures or ethnicities popularly associated with that religion.

  8. Yeah, I think you’re right. Still, atheists don’t seem so afraid to be painted with that claim when they slam Christianity (say, as anti-Christian bigots). I don’t see why being called one sort of bigot is really worse than being called another. *Shrug* I suppose I just don’t get how criticizing the enbaggification of women could be mistaken for bigotry. On the other hand, if it is bigotry, I guess I’m a bigot (proud of it too)!

  9. sgl

    how about a no-story taoist:
    “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.”

    @sabio re: “Many liberal/progressive Christians complain that Atheists often rant against a different versions of Christianity than their own.”
    you need to follow your own advice — change “Atheists” to “*some* Atheists”.

    i’d suggest that the loudest Atheists (eg, dawkins, harris, hitchens) are reacting mainly to the loudest political christians. theologically, the amish/mennonites are far from the mainstream, but i doubt atheists give them much thought. amish probably don’t believe in evolution and only school thru 8th grade, but the amish don’t try to force anyone else to do the same, so i don’t see that anyone much cares. so it seems to me that it’s really a political discussion, not a religious one.

    hence, the political forms of christianity and the political forms of islam are the ones that generate the reactions. if taoists, buddhists, or neopagans start politicizing their beliefs into gov’t policy, then i’d expect they’d get a lot more scrutiny too. i’d expect, altho i don’t know, that there’s a lot more criticism of fundamentalist hinduism in india than there is in the usa, because that’s where it’s political power is. it’s a pointless argument in the usa because they have little or no political power.

    @james re: “In fact, I’m almost embarassed for the majority of atheists when they are arguing with a catholic priest, say, about this fundamentalist version of God and I know very well that the chances are the priest also thinks that a ridiculous story.”

    i’d suggest that if the catholic priest would clearly state that he didn’t believe that fundamentalist version and thought it ridiculous, then the ‘debate’ would quickly be over.

    however, the priest can’t or won’t say that, leaving you with only a guess (“chances are”) rather than certainty of what the priest believes. why is that? i suggest it’s because the priest would quite possibly be defrocked if he told his real views, because they likely conflict with official church dogma. so why is that the atheist’s problem instead of the priests’/catholic church’s problem? because altho the priest may not believe it, the laity often do, and the official church hierarchy can’t afford to back-pedal on the pope being infallable or any other official church pronouncements.

    i once saw a survey on the percentages of priests/ministers who did not believe the bible was inerrant. catholics were the most conservative, with only 25% believing the bible was not inerrant. (so, chances are the priest actually did believe the fundamentalist version, or at least the catholic version of the fundamentalist version.) the most liberal was methodist ministers, where ~75% did not believe the bible was inerrant.

  10. exrelayman

    I think you and I are mostly on the same page. I have read your comments at more blogs than this in order to form that opinion.

    However, one aspect of your comment here doesn’t ring true to me, perhaps you could support it? It is the protestants that came up with sola scriptura, largely in reaction to such non scriptural concepts as papal infallibility, purgatory, indulgences, etc. I thought Catholics were less tied to scripture than protestants. Perhaps your recall about that particular poll got confused? Of course, perhaps not, it just seemed like a result out of phase with what I thought was common knowledge.

    But in general, keep up the good comments. I have learned things from you.

  11. I agree on the over generalisation point. Why don’t the new atheists just say that their focus is on conservative, jerry falwell type christianity and not the liberal, wishy washy ones? Just a little blurb on the preface or something.

    BTW, Interesting survey sgl. Do you by any chance remember where you read it?

  12. exrelayman

    Rather than a ‘one story’ atheist, I think of myself more along the lines of and ‘equal opportunity’ atheist. If you believe in deities or entities, and are adamant in maintaining faith in things that have no reliable evidence in the empirical world, then I think you lean to far on the gullibility side of the spectrum leading from too gullible to too skeptical. I require good evidence, available to any investigator, before I can accede in belief. Some may say I lean too far to the skeptical side – nobody’s prefect!

    I don’t find it necessary to know all the intricacies of all the worlds faiths in order to reject them if they advocate belief in things for which there is only weak or subjective evidence. I myself have a bit of faith that the atheists who grew up Muslim or Hindu and are now atheists are as well versed in those faiths as I am in Christianity, and trust their thinking because it parallels mine in one basic requirement – provide good evidence and I will change my mind. A practical consideration enters in – do you have to examine each faith, or can the overriding general principle proposed here render that vast undertaking unnecessary and overkill? My present answer to that is embodied in the foregoing. As with all things, new information may change my thinking.

    One last word. Although I find a detailed investigation of all the world’s faiths unnecessary, I am very much enjoying the exposure I get here to the mythologies of the East just for the sake of entertainment and being more knowledgeable about how people think in other parts of the world.

  13. @sgl:
    If the priest doesn’t believe what he is tasked with defending, that’s ‘his problem’, indeed. The interesting question is why it should be the case that he wants to avoid that outcome, even if it means he has to defend views he doesn’t agree with (same question for lawyers, mind you).

    I am embarassed in that circumstance in the same way that I’m embarassed for that cousin at the family dinner who can only engage in political discussions by parroting talking points from NBC or Fox.

  14. sgl

    @exrelayman, @andyman409 re: survey

    i once looked and could not find the original survey i remembered. however, i did collect some useful links i did find that second look, so here they are in raw form, with some overlap, so you can peruse them yourself, or as a starting point for further searches:

    i suspect that if the new atheists gave more qualifications, it wouldn’t make much difference in how people react to them anyway. i suspect liberal christians think that jerry falwell doesn’t speak for them, and look around at the christians they know, and he doesn’t speak for them either, and assume the rest of the universe knows that falwell doesn’t speak for them. however, i suggest that much of the rest of the world does *not* know that. liberal christians assume that, but fundamentalist christians assume falwell speaks for everyone who identifies as christian.

    eg, my ex-gf was from japan, and a grad student at a major university where 20% were asian, very few hispanic (at least visibly hispanic), and most of the people in her program were politically liberal. she could hardly believe when i told her that city-wide, there was only ~2% asian, and about 20% hispanic, with about half conservative republican. then one day we went to the rodeo, and i pointed out “here’s your conservative republicans”. later we went to a huge flea market in the poorer section of town, and she was definitely the only asian, and i was definitely a minority as a white guy, and i pointed out “here’s your hispanic population.” suddenly the statistics were far more believable on a gut level.

    the point being, unless you have some contact with them, it can be hard to believe they exist, even if read statistics about them. if everyone you know is a liberal christian, it won’t really sink in that fundamentalist christians exist in large numbers, and vice versa, and it will affect how you react to criticism and such as well.

  15. CRL

    Actually, the Catholic church does not mandate a literal interpretation of the bible. I know people who have learned evolution from nuns, with no scandal involved.

  16. CRL

    When I decided to memorize the location and capitol of every country in the world, it was Africa that stopped me. Just the sheer number of tiny, close together countries, more than anything else, makes it the most challenging continent to learn. And, as many of the boundaries are somewhat artificial, learning where every country begins and ends is less helpful than it would be in Europe or Asia. Perhaps more importantly, there is little voluntary African immigration to the US. So, while when thinking of Europe or Asia, I can tie a person I know and a language which I’ve seen and heard to most countries, Africa is just a of a blur of strangers and strange languages to most Americans, myself regrettably included. Thus, the lazy route is just to think of Africa as Africa.

    For most people, I think this may be what gets to us with religion. There are so many tiny, close together varieties, that, even if one wanted to, one could never learn about all of them. Thus it is tempting to give up trying because one can never fully succeed.

  17. People here do seem to have some stereotypes about liberal Christianity. We are actually the mainstream of the religion, and fundementalism/evangelicalism and its doctrines are quite new historically speaking. Just because they are the loudest doesn’t mean they are the majority and it certainly doesn’t mean their version is somehow more Christian – it actually warps any long-established traditions and doctrines. Tosay you can’t tell what they believe, or that they don’t really believe in Christianity, or don’t commit to a belief, or are “wishy-washing” is just judging something you aren’t really familiar with. Catholicism, for instance, if a tough example, because they share some doctrines with fundamentalists but not others – officially, not secretly. Whether leaders in a particular denomination believe the official line is a completely separate question. Many denominations officially have liberal views and don’t hesitate to say so. And they firmly believe that those liberal doctrines ARE what Christianity is about and will tell you why. It’s not watered-down, it’s just different.

  18. Christine, very nicely voiced what I was about to say. I grew up Presbyterian USA, one of the main line denominations, and I later grew into a more evangelical/biblical literalist faith, which was a far cry from the church of my upbringing. Sadly food ministries and the other community services provided by liberal/progressive churches don’t make for anywhere near as exciting news as Koran burnings and other controversial things done by extremist churches.

  19. hjaltirunar

    Christine, I think this idea that fundamentalism is a modern phenomenon is really just liberal propaganda. While the label “fundamentalism” was new, if you look at the points of fundamentalism, those were points that had been believed for a long time. Take for example the virgin birth (one of the points), I’m pretty sure belief in that isn’t some modern thing, but the fundie stress on that was a response to the widespread rejection of that doctrine in modern times.

  20. Earnest

    @ hjaltirunar: as a wishy-washy Christian, and in defense of Christine, the fundamentalist ideas may not be new, but the churches of the proponents often are. I think you will find in general that the most durable churches with the most followers tend to be more moderate and/or mutable in their stated beliefs. I don’t have any hard numbers for you, but I imagine that the Catholic church for example is far less followed in the US now compared to the past. If the Catholic church is growing now, I imagine this growth is in developing nations. I assert this is from the top-down approach to dogma in Catholicism.

    Europe also has many churches going vacant if their belief systems stay static, while new churches do spring up with new versions of an old theme. I assert it is the newness of the version, and its resonance with the feelings of local young people that makes these new churches arise and thrive.

    History is littered with examples of Christian groups that died out when their belief systems over time did not match local custom. The Shakers are an obvious example in America.

  21. I agree completely that we atheists tend to over-generalize religion. I have recently become quite aware of it in myself. (I generally save my rage for the Cesspit of Misanthropic Evil (Vatican) and Poop Bene-dick’s slavering hierarchy minions.)
    However: Despite the foolishness and misanthropic nature of their shared beliefs, there are many stripes of Christians that we never hear from. I call these the moderates. These moderates are to Christianity as the Silent Majority was to Republicanism.
    The entire diadem (heh heh) of Abrahamic religions will continue to suffer this over-generalization as long as the extremists hold the microphones – and they’ll hold those microphones until the moderates rise up and silence them.
    Even so, Christian beliefs are and shall remain both foolish and misanthropic.

  22. @ Fester
    You agree and say:

    “I agree completely that we atheists tend to over-generalize religion.”

    Then you conclude:

    “Even so, Christian beliefs are and shall remain both foolish and misanthropic.”

    I contend that you contradict yourself. What thinkest thou?

  23. @DaCheese & James
    I see a few reason most Atheist blogger do not criticize Islam:
    (a) They are unfamiliar with it
    (b) It is not the dominant faith in their area and not a threat
    (c) they hesitate to criticize Islam because they fear death threats and such?
    (d) they fearing sounding politically incorrect

    I don’t agree with you that it is (d) is a major influence in their decisions. And I think (b) is not as influential in their choice as you’d imagine. But I could be wrong.

  24. @ sgl,
    Good correction, thanx — done. Hard to be diligent, isn’t it?

  25. Sabio – My apologies. No contradiction, merely a lack of qualification. Read instead: “Even so, the core Christian beliefs of original sin and redemption by crucifixion and resurrection are and shall remain both foolish and misanthropic.”
    I’m a little surprised I’d have to spell that out for you.

  26. @ fester
    Sorry to surprise you, mate. Since this post is exactly about that issue, sgl corrected me too. And I went back and corrected the post. I was happy for his correction. It think it is very important to take care in these issues. Much of my blog is focused on that very principle.

    For instance:
    As you know, there are many very different flavors of Christianity. So I don’t think we can talk about “core Christian beliefs” unless we specify the particular sect of Christianity you wish to discuss.

    For example:
    There are many different atonement theologies and each has different ramifications in a believer’s life. (see my post here). I think some atonement theologies are more harmful that others. And indeed I think many Christians hold their atonement theology in non-harmful ways. I am not discussing the “truth” of their propositions, but how those propositions influence their lives — those two notions are very important to keep separate.

    Does that make sense?

  27. sgl

    originally i meant to have winking smiley icon after my “follow your own advice,” but glad you corrected it anyway. in practice, putting in too many qualifiers – particularly of the “some”, “often”, etc type – turn the message into fuzzy mush.

    perhaps the real issue is not clearly defining the subgroup or behavior you’re really concerned about.

    for example, in my own mind, i divide religious people into 2 types — those that use religion to try to improve themselves, and those that use religion to try to improve everyone else. the first group, of the ones i’ve met personally, are some of the nicest people i’ve met. however, the second type that tries to improve everyone else, are (in my opinion) at best obnoxious and arrogant, and at worst dangerous and evil.

    and that’s why i pointed out the example of the amish/mennonites, as they keep to themselves and don’t try to boss anyone else around (so far as i know).

    (of course, there are probably other categories and subcategories, such as christian scientists and jehovah’s witnesses whcih refuse medical treatment for their children due to their religious beliefs, and all those other sorts of subcategories would have to discussed too for a complete analysis. but the bossy/keep-to-themselves axis is the primary one i use personally.)

  28. Yes, that makes sense – but it also makes sense that ALL CHRISTIAN sects believe in original sin and redemption by crucifixion and resurrection. That’s what makes them “Christian” by definition. If they don’t hold those core beliefs they’re not Christian.

  29. @ Fester
    Again, even “original sin” has all sorts of very different variants, and as I said, “redemption” has many variants.
    I think you are trying to tell us what the definition of “Christian” should be. Don’t you think that definitions vary from person to person? And so when talking to people, it is important to come to common terms with each other.

    See what you think of my post today called, “Expecting God” — I thought of you when I wrote it.

  30. One-Story anything limits conversations on any front. Also it would be interesting to know what everyone defines as being familiar with a religion. I’m sure definitions vary greatly.

  31. I’m not telling you what the definition of christian *should* be, I’m telling you the definition as I understand it and have understood it for the last 40 years.
    But I get your drift now – along with one-story atheism you’re promoting one-person-christian-theology. That’s accommodationism on a massive scale. How can you hope to sustain that? Alice in the Ukraine believes “A” and Alice in Milwaukee believes “B” and Alice in Boulder believes “C”. Do you hope to coax christians out of their one-story-christianity one individual at a time? What a nightmare!
    Personally, I reject accommodationism: belief in things that cannot be proved do not reserve accommodation or respect. People who believe in things that cannot be proved DO reserve respect – but they’ll not get accommodation or respect for their beliefs from me.

  32. Earnest

    @ Sabio: Exactly.

    @ Fester: there may be more diversity in Christian belief types than you currently perceive. Sabio (and others) have some great posts on high and low christology. I would suggest that your position has its greatest validity with regard to high christology. On the other hand, the lower the christology becomes within the believer the more personal and less doctrinal the system can become. So there are some who declare themselves to be Christians who do not necessarily require these specific things that you mention to be true for an intact faith. Just to be clear.

    I think that you have every right to claim that any one of my Christian beliefs is silly. However I would suggest caution if you attempt to define what proper Christianity should or should not be. Such talk contains a certain flavor of religiosity.

    So back to Sabio’s point. Compare the following two statements:
    “All Christians are delusional”
    “All people who believe that their own body will be magically exhumed from the grave at the Second Coming of Christ to walk the streets of Jerusalem is delusional”

    I think you will agree that the second statement is more difficult to assail than the first. The point is that you may be more difficult to argue against if you cultivate a perception of the diversity of beliefs in your potential opponents, and go after specific beliefs you find troubling with your arguments.

  33. @ Jessica:
    You’ve got it! I agree with you. But you beat me to my next post. You’ll see.

    @ sgl:
    You divide religious people in 2 piles — intersting. I think people are very complex mixtures: depending on settings, some people may be both a person who tries to help self and someone who tries to change others. Heck, your web presence is you trying to change others. I don’t think that is a bad thing either.

    I have know pushy mennonites and read about pushy amish too — I think your dichotomy is not as clean as you’d imagine.

    @ Earnest:
    I agree.

    @ fester:
    I agree with Earnest who wrote it very clearly — even if Earnest is a totaly befuddled, sloppy, Christian-of-sorts. 🙂 [note, Earnest is a personal friend]

    I may be an “Accomodationalist” but that would defend on your operational definition of the word.

    I do think my approach as useful, but I can see why perhaps you would think it delusional and useless.

  34. I think there’s a lot of difference in terminology here. I certainly wouldn’t classify belief in a virgin birth as fundamentalist. That indeed has been around forever and most of Christianity still holds it as official doctrine.

    For instance, I would see fundamentalists as having an inerrant (not just infallible – there is a difference) view of scripture along with sola scriptura (the bible is ALL they need). This is often combined with proof-texting and ultra-literal “plain text” interpretations. Not only does that lead to particular (often, but not always, ultraconservative) views, but a particular attitude about truth and certainty which makes them… well, obnoxious.

    In my definition, then, Catholicism is not fundamentalist. And it IS mainstream, by any definition. They have a much more thoughtful view of scripture (the inerrant stuff is indeed new). They have common positions with fundamentalist, but not always. They believe in evolution, for instance. And although they are socially right they are economically left (unusual in the fundy circles).

    The church I’ve been attending lately is Anglican. Definitely mainstream and very traditional in terms of liturgy. They believe in a physical ressurection and (likely) a virgin birth, and evolution. They explicitly do not have an inerrant view of scripture and admit more than just scripture as authority. They are HARD to the left socially and economically and put their time and money where their mouths are in this regard. Inclusive since before inclusion was a term. (Women in business in the 40s, LBGT ministries in the 80s.) They’ve been marching our Pride for twenty years or more. But they are one congregation in The Anglican/Episcopal fold, which is quite split these days over the left/right divide (but interestingly still on the same page in terms of what scripture is and how to use it).

    Fundy or not is different from mainstream or not is different from left or right, or even asshole or not asshole. It’s much more complicated than that and lots in between.

  35. @ Exrelayman:
    Your said:

    I don’t find it necessary to know all the intricacies of all the worlds faiths in order to reject them if they advocate belief in things for which there is only weak or subjective evidence.

    I think a problem here is that some people confuse “rejecting a belief for themselves” vs “thinking other people’s beliefs are so stupid that they can’t serve that person well.”

    Such a confusion, muddles the discussion.

    @ CRL
    I agree, the sheer number of religions is mind boggling. As long as they don’t tell me that other believers are going to hell or can’t marry their believers, I have no problem. Well, and don’t oppress women, gays, children, stop science ….
    Ooooops, tall order for many religions, isn’t it?

    @ Christine,
    There are lots of varieties of ‘liberal Christianity’. I don’t want to get hung up on that here. I especially don’t want to try to decide which group is bigger. “Bigger” in my book, doesn’t matter in religion.
    BTW, my list was meant to be a list of what is often said. My theme here is that learning about faiths outside of your own can change the conversation immensely — for theists and atheists alike. Sort of non-controversial, you’d think.

    As to your last comment, Christine, you do understand that this post is not about trying to define the various flavors of Christianity, right? It is about the value of learning about other non-Christian religions — especial non-Abrahamic and how that influences inter-religious dialogue. You may enjoy my short post on “Religious Prescriptivism

  36. I was reacting to the responses to my previous post re: fundamentalism has been around due to virgin bith views and on the fundamentalism of Catholicism. Unless we mean the same things by the terms, can’t really have a meaningful discussion. Was explaining terms in my pervious comment…

  37. But, yes, thanks for the reminder we’re not allowed to talk about anything other than the strictest sense of the intent of your original post. I thought it was ironic that on a post about understanding different denominations and faiths that people seemed to think they got the differences and yet really stereotyped them. But, yes, how dare I talk about that… See ya.

  38. Christine, I was simply trying to draw the focus back on target. A lot of the atheist commentors were getting off on telling us what Christianity *ought* to be — I suggesting to reign that in. It is a policy of this blog (if you’ll read it) to try and discuss the blog topic. So I occasionally try to return to that issue if I people wander off too much. It is not strict, just a suggestion.

  39. Christine, I’ve enjoyed you comments, along with the whole discussion. As I stated earlier, I appreciated your clarification and defense of liberal Christianity. Despite my not being a Christian, I have many wonderful Christian friends, with sometimes greatly varying beliefs, but all held just as dear, and lived to the fullest.

    Clarity is something that is important to Sabio, he often adds to or corrects his posts where need be, and tries to make sure the discussion doesn’t get too far off track.

    I agree with your statement “I thought it was ironic that on a post about understanding different denominations and faiths that people seemed to think they got the differences and yet really stereotyped them.” I felt that way too.

    I hope to see you comment here some more.

  40. There is a general tendency in the comments sections of the triangulations posts to argue tiny details – details that often have little to do with the main point of the post or, certainly, the main point of a comment.
    I’ve seen this over and over again.
    I do not find this splitting of theological or philosophical hairs either stimulating or enjoyable. Such activities are too similar to those I experienced in seminary – in my opinion just so much worthless mental masturbation not worth serious consideration on any level. That’s one of the reasons I left the seminary.
    And that is why I leave following this blog.
    Enjoy yourselves – I have bishops and cardinals to discredit and battles to fight against Christian Privilege and battles to fight against the incursion of religion into the politics of my city, my state and my nation.
    You all enjoy yourselves.

  41. Bon Voyage, Fester. When you first visited this blog, I clicked on your name, visited your blog and said to myself, “This fellow will probably not stay around long.” And when I challenged your comment on this thread, I said to myself, “Fester is not going to take well to being challenged.” It is good to know my intuitions are fairly accurate. I agree with you: I don’t think my writing or picky, detailed thinking serves your cause at all. Live long and Prosper Fester.

  42. rautakyy

    @ Sabio Lantz, I know a bunch of other religions than the Abrahamic ones, though most of the other religions I am familiar with are ancient and most of them have either died out, or represent very small minorities in the world today. They give interresting perspective to how religious thinking evolves within cultures.

    I am perfectly happy to respect peoples beliefs, as long as they find such values as compassion and love as the most significant messages in their faith.

    However, religions do tend to have strong defence mechanisms and stronger these sociological mechanism are the more people these religions seem to controll. Politics and religions are difficult to separate, because politics are based on our values.

    Liberal religious people, wether Christian, Muslim, or what have you seem less prone to use their religion as an excuse for hatred, discrimination and violence. And of course, atheists are just as capable of being assholes as any religious fundamentalist. It is just that atheists do not draw their ethics from any supernatural source, wich could not be questioned. However, in politics, when values are formed from ideologies, questioning and skepticism may just as well be forbidden, though the ideology was not a religious one.

    People have a legion of reasons to have faith in the supernatural and a nother religion not to have that same faith. I think in general atheists are better informed of other religions, than most theists are.

    The other religion, is most often seen as wrong and even evil by the theist, so it is interpreted by the very worst representations it gives of itself. And this is an attitude taught for generations. Religion gives myths as facts and the atheist is simply a person who asks why would this be so. Because myths are hardly ever actual facts, or easily proven to be such the theist is offended by that question.

  43. @ rautakyy: I agree. Well said.

  44. Sweet of you, Mike. But I am indeed aware of Sabio’s blog policy (it was genuinely a reminder) and I find it insanely frustrating, which is why I almost never comment here. I found people’s views of liberal Christianity to be strange to me, which was fascinating, but, alas, I came to this fascination here, where it’s relegated to the vast world of “off-topic”, so I suppose I’ll never know. I’ll try to restrain myself from commenting in future, as is my normal approach, so I don’t end up getting too interested in what people are saying.

  45. decourse

    I’m a little late to this discussion, but let me add an observation. Note that I am an ultra-liberal Christian, so perhaps I’m projecting here, but nonetheless…

    A liberal Christian may believe in a literal resurrection, but probably doesn’t believe that you should. This is one of the key distinguishing features.

    James asked the question about what in liberal Christianity is “Christian” in a historic sense. I would argue that modern liberal Christianity is closer to modern mainstream Christianity than modern fundamentalist Christianity is. And both are equally far from early pre-Constantine Christianity. If you brought Paul of Tarsus into a modern megachurch, I doubt he would recognise it as “Christian”.

  46. @ decourse,
    Do you feel that “One-Storied” Atheism affects religious dialogue? [the poll shows that about 30% don’t!]
    Why or why not?
    Are you significantly familiar with any non-Abrahamic religions and has that influenced your “ultra-liberal Christian” position?

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Morning Greetings

I am constantly surprised when people abuse morning greetings. Perhaps they had poor childhood modeling or perhaps it is their personality. But morning greetings are not a time to tell us how you feel!

It is amazing how many different ways people can inflect the simple words “Good Morning”. This post would be best done as a podcast where I could imitate all the varieties. But imagine people at your place of employment who creatively insert their feelings into the simple words “Good Morning” and add things like:

  • God, I’m so damn tired.
  • Yeah ‘good’ for whom?  Life sucks right now.
  • I wish I weren’t here!
  • I feel crappy.
  • I hate this place.
  • I had a horrible night sleep.
  • Damn, I hate these cramps.
  • Sure, life is great for you — who cares!

“Poor me” greetings are OK if they are rare, but some people are chronic abusers of the courtesy agreement behind morning greetings.  I have explained this to my children a few times, and given a few of our younger employees a talk on the purpose of “Morning Greetings”;

 “Look,” I’d say, “everyone has shit going on in their lives. It is arrogant and selfish to assume it is just you who is unhappy on any morning. Our morning greetings are a way to acknowledge our common walk through life, to be polite for just a moment during yet another day and acknowledge that your feelings are not the center of the world.”

Some people get it, some don’t.

If nothing else, we should certainly remember courtesy in our morning greetings — this is a good place to begin the practice of remembering others. Thoughtfulness is hard to do all day long, but we can use morning greetings as a time for awareness: a time to hold up the feelings of others for a five-seconds.

(Note to readers: I have moved the part about harsh comments to the next post because they were separate issues.)

Filed under Philosophy & Religion

13 responses to “Morning Greetings

  1. TWF

    I mostly agree, especially with the overall theme of the post, but not completely.

    If it’s someone I know well, or the people I work closely with, I would rather get an honestly intoned “Good Morning” in whatever flavor is appropriate for them at the time. It helps me understand how they are feeling and if there are problems I should inquire of and possibly help them work through, or if they are just a bit tired at the moment, and so maybe that opens the door for conversation as to why, to view them more completely as a fellow human than as just a co-working cog in the machine.

    However, for more casual acquaintances and strangers, I totally agree.

  2. Yeah, I agree with your caveat — sort of. But I still think the most mature way to do it is to give a healthy “Good Morning” and then let people know your feelings more directly. But that may be asking too much.

  3. This reminds me of what Covert Bailey once said: don’t you hate it when you ask people how they’re doing, and then they tell you! 😉

    I agree that at work we need to be professional; although this sounds like a war between morning and night owls. My coworker and I are very close and we’re both night owls. (I go to bed at 10 pm but I have chronic low blood pressure, so I am definetly cranky in the am).

    As a night owl, what I most want is to NOT be chatted with in the morning. I do say “good morning” to 99 percent of my coworkers. But if I trust someone, I might comiserate if they also hate mornings.

    Men don’t get to complain when women express pain about their cramps. Sorry. 😉

    Very good point that there’s a human being on the other end of the comment box. I often preface my words with “I’m not trying to be a jerk here……”, that almost always makes for a very civil debate.

  4. exrelayman

    Rejoinders to Good Morning: Says who? /Wanna bet? / Bah Humbug! – oops, since Scrooge, the last one is totally yesterday.

    Is Good Morning a claim or a query? The responses vary accordingly. Good Morning may not be optimal (it would have been nice if our ritual greeting was something like Wishing You Well) but it beats the heck out of Get Lost.

    But I mean, what the heck are ya sposed to say, something like Have you reviewed Keplar’s Laws lately?

  5. This is a lovely post, Sabio. I very much enjoyed it.

  6. @ amelie :
    Smile, concerning morning people and cramps.
    I guess saying “I’m not trying to be a jerk here……” but then say, “but you are a stupid fool”, then the word “civil” still does not apply. Prefaces like that, or smilies only work if the content is civil. 🙂

    @ exrelayman :

    @ the warrioress :

  7. I totally hate this. Morning greetings are meant to be completely empty because everyone (well, maybe just me) is sleepy and a wee bit on the grumpy side and just needs some coffee before getting down to stronger emotions.

  8. @ James,
    Exactly what do you totally hate?
    Do you hate giving morning greetings? Do they seem like perfunctory nonsense to you?
    Do you feel I was saying that you greeting needs to be filled with joy, love and exuberance?
    Well, don’t write back until you wake up, grumpy! 🙂

  9. Dexter

    Morning Greetings – its all about the superficial ritualistic behaviors that gives us the necessary ‘warm and fuzzies’ to make it through the day.
    The sugar of life.
    They make us feel good, make others feel important or needed; but only lasts a few seconds. Then you have the the sugar crash,,, the in depth and needless responses that will leave you more mentally exhausted.

  10. @ Dexter,
    I agree. So we start with a little sugar and the follow-through is drastically important.

  11. I once belonged to a business leads group that met every Tuesday morning at 7:00. Imagine a room of 30 or so people pumping hands with big grins on their faces and, when asked how they were, would exclaim “Awesome!” or “Fantastic!” I’m not a morning person nor am I given to hyperbole, but I did my best at being cordial and upbeat.

    But there was one meeting, while I was suffering through the pain of a herniated disk, a guy named Joel approached me, hand extended, and greeted me with the customary “Good morning! How are you today?”

    I shook his hand, looked straight at him and said, “Horrible.”

    Confusion crossed his face and he said, “Oh…” He turned and walked away.

    I guess I should have said, “Fabulous, Joel!. And how are you?”

  12. @ Paul,
    Right, I get that.
    Here is how I have done it. “Morning, Joel! Yeah, I am not doing well this morning– bad back pain– have you ever had it before?”
    Or something like that.
    In other words, still cordial, but honest. I would try to avoid using the moment to make fun of the greeting, or its superficiality or to embarrass the other person — well, at least not on a stronger day. 🙂
    I still contend that greetings are good things and how we learn to move with them in light of their obvious shortcomings is a mark of our minds.

  13. Steve Schuler

    Some years ago I encoutered the notion that one should never tell others about the hardships they were experiencing in life. Firstly, about half the people you tell don’t care at all about your problems. Secondly, the remainder are all to delighted to know that you are experiencing trouble!

    So, manners aside, I prefer to deprive those mean hearted folks who might gain some pleasure from my pain that small bit of joy in their day. I know, it’s a bit selfish of me, but what can I say?

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Welcome to the Fei Home

The Finite Element Interface to Linear Solvers (FEI) is a general interface for assembling finite-element data into a linear system of equations. It is an abstraction layer that insulates finite-element application codes from linear-algebra issues such as sparse matrix storage formats and mappings from nodes and solution fields to distributed equation spaces. It puts a common face on various linear solvers, allowing finite-element applications to switch from one solver library to another with minimal changes to application code. FEI provides natural mechanisms for assembling finite-element data such as element-wise stiffness arrays and load vectors, boundary-condition specifications and constraint relations. It accepts data from multi-physics problems, allowing arbitrarily complicated elements with multiple solution fields per node, and cell centered fields. It is designed for use in distributed-memory parallel finite-element applications, to assemble and solve distributed linear systems using scalable underlying solver libraries.

Under construction…

Under construction…


text:
Devoxx: The story so far

Stephan wearing the Brazilian flag at the opening keynote
  • European conferences are different (and cool) because you get to hear even more languages spoken than you usually do in London (apparently the most diverse city in the world for spoken languages).  I think the idea of a Paris Devoxx with 75% of the talks in French is brilliant - I’m always banging on about diversity, we shouldn’t expect developers to learn in English only.
  • Really great to meet up with some of the people I met at Java One and am starting to feel more a part of the global community.
  • Seems to me there are slightly more women here than at the other conferences I’ve been to, and not just because Regina and I pulled together four women for a panel on women technologists.  And once again, a lot of guys asking why this is, because they want things to change.
  • A highlight was seeing my namesake, AutoTrish, up on a cinema-sized screen in front of hundreds of people at Dave Farley’s Continuous Delivery presentation.
  • Building on from my twitter revelation at JAX London, I’ve found twitter very useful here for messaging people I want to meet up with, but also for chatting to new people and making new friends.  It’s not quite as intimate as JAX London though because there are billions more people here, so the chances of actually bumping into the twitter friends is much lower.
  • Have had lots of interesting conversations with people about the Open JDK, which I guess is the logical extension of the interesting conversations I had about the JCP In San Francisco.
  • A community event like this is different to an event like Java One, because a single organisation isn’t calling the shots.  It’s interesting (and great) that Oracle and Google can both be here talking about the cool stuff they’re up to.
The Diabolical Developer
Conferences are clearly something that appeal to me - I love meeting people and chatting about interesting and (sometimes) intelligent things; I love learning stuff and indexing it away, possibly for future references; I love hanging out with people like the LJC guys (Ben, Martijn and John); I love kicking around ideas of what more we can do at LMAX with our lot (Mike, Dave, Dali).

Dave’s Continuous Delivery
I’m really looking forward to my panel this afternoon, I’m going to be ranting about how we target women for tech jobs.  Should be fun.

Nice ‘tash!
Shameless plug: Mike and Dali are raising money for men’s health with their rather awesome ‘tashes.  It took guts to stand up on stage and present with that handlebar, please give a penny or two:


text:
View Full Version : [ubuntu] [SOLVED] kde menu items appearing on gnome

April 22nd, 2008, 06:17 PM
After a large automatic update this morning (22apr2008), I noticed several additional menu items under Application>Other. It looks like a few dozen KDE menu items have appeared even though I run Ubuntu with the gnome desktop. I've attached a screenshot here to show some of the files. 'crypto', cddb retrieval, dma-channels, file associations, etc, are just some of the programs appearing. All seem to be kde. I can probably remove the unneeded menu items, but was wondering if there is something I need to change so this does not happen again. I started with xubuntu 8.04 beta, and have since switched over to ubuntu 8.04. (Xubuntu is still a session option at startup)

John Simone

April 22nd, 2008, 06:23 PM
I think these icons are actually corresponding to real programs that the update installed for you. So, Just deleting them will not remove the actual programs.

Go to Applications->Add/Remove then view the installed (marked with a check) packages and then remove packages that are not needed.

Note: you can filter the shown applications in the Add/Remove window by category. So you may use the "Other" filter.

April 22nd, 2008, 06:29 PM
Will do. Thank you for the quick reply.

April 13th, 2009, 12:11 PM
hey I have exactly the same problem i am using Ubuntu for about 3 years without problem now installed:Ubuntu 8.04 (hardy),gnome2.22.3, kernel 2.6.24-23-generic.
I am always using gnome. wanted to try KDE so I made KDE default and didn't like it. after I return back to gnome i found all these KDE items crowded in other menu. trying to remove them from add/remove applications didn't work coz 90% of these applications are not present, and they were obviously installed after I activate the KDE. i dont want to remove them by editing other menu, i need a real solution, may be by uninstalling KDE with all its application.


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