Yesterday I got into a bit of an altercation with a student during a lecture on screenwriting. I was teaching about how the protagonist’s journey from one way of seeing the world to a completely different way of looking at the world essentially structures the plot of the entire movie. She wasn’t necessarily arguing with that, but the real world implications of this insight clearly unsettled her. A quote by Wayne Dyer helps to sum up my approach to deconstructing this character... Read more
I’m constantly amazed by my wife (Heidi), who doesn’t appear to have any reading list at all. If she finds something interesting at the library or a friend recommends a book to her, she’s quick to pick it up and begin reading. On rare occasions, she even acts on my recommendations, the most recent being Frank Schaeffer’s Why I’m An Atheist Who Believes in God (which she enjoyed) and John Irving’s A Widow for One Year (which scandalized her). I,... Read more
When I saw this photo, I simply had to caption it. Read more
Let me begin by making one point clear: Unlike many of my peers, I really like the New Atheists. I’ve read numerous books and articles by them, watched countless talks and debates, interacted with some of them online (PZ Myers and Steven Pinker), and I’ve even had the pleasure of meeting a couple of them in person (Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett). Their challenges to religion and their advocacy of science and a rational, fact-based approach to reality has been one... Read more
One of the key ways we distinguish ourselves from the masses is through a definitive approach to life, whether it be trivial things like the way we dress, style our hair, the car we drive, or the music we enjoy; or more substantial things, such as the religious or political views we hold. Not surprisingly, it’s not enough for us to merely enjoy these things in and of themselves. In addition to becoming fans, devotees or practitioners, we also tend to... Read more
“We have to be able to criticize bad ideas–and Islam is the motherlode of bad ideas.” While no rational person would disagree with the first half of Sam Harris’ statement, his depiction of Islam as a veritable gold mine of fatuous propositions nearly prompted Ben Affleck to go Batman on him during a recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. Other commentators have been quick to pounce on Harris, calling him a bigot, racist, and all sorts of other nasty words. In... Read more
First of all, here it is in case you missed it. Sam Harris has written a lengthy blog post offering his perspective not only on his interaction with Ben Affleck but what he feels motivated Affleck’s hostile response. After the show, a few things became clear about Affleck’s and Kristof’s views. Rather than trust poll results and the testimony of jihadists and Islamists, they trust the feeling that they get from the dozens of Muslims they have known personally. As... Read more
“A loathing of modernity is one of the great constants of contemporary social criticism.” So says Steven Pinker in the closing pages of The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Pinker, and many others, see such angst underlying many contemporary movements, including environmentalism, religious fundamentalism, aboriginal rights initiatives, and even zombie apocalypse fantasies. Though they look different on the surface, these trends all share one feature in common: a fall from Eden narrative. Supposedly, in some far-off, pre-modern age, we... Read more
Eleven years ago, in response to the second Iraq war, my friend Brad Jersak created T-shirts with the logo pictured to the left. I bought one immediately and wore it proudly wherever I went. One time it even got me into a bit of trouble when I (stupidly) wore it while getting onto a plane. Lesson learned. Once it began to show some wear, it became my workout shirt, my running shirt, my “under my hockey gear” shirt and finally my paint... Read more
Hellbound
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