So Larry Darby has converted to Christianity and is closing down his law center? Well, as I write this, I don't know if it's true or not. I don't know if anything at all that has been said about Larry Darby is true, because all I have read is second-hand, rumour. None from Larry Darby himself. I don't know. So I'm not going to shoot my mouth about what he thinks or doesn't think.
But here's what I will shoot my mouth about. I'm sick of reading what "other atheists" say about him. It's nothing but collectivist rhetoric about Larry Darby having some kind of responsibility to think like and agree with "atheists" as if there is some kind of worldview at work here. Christians: these atheists are suffering from the same affliction as you. They think that they are a part of something big, and that that something is more important than they are. Atheism is not a collective, not a worldview, not a philosophy. Can we be human beings, please?
Larry Darby, as far as I'm concerned, can be as stupid and wrong as he wants to. He wouldn't be much different from the rest of us. I never wanted a representative, and no one else should want one, either. That does not mean that I have a responsibility or a duty to "the atheist community" to chime in and bullshit about something that I know nothing about, in order to fall in lockstep with other unbelievers. I have my information about the holocaust, etc, but why in hell should I have the least bit of interest in what Larry Darby says or thinks, because he once didn't believe in gods? I didn't have the duty to support him before, and I do not accept the duty to trash him now.
The reason I'm saying this is because many atheists around me seem very eager to join into ridiculous schisms, and Larry Darby is apparently a real convenient way to be a part of that. I have no problem with people having arguments--obviously. But "we're" not that cool, folks. This is not east coast/west coast. This would be the real courageous stand to take against holocaust deniers. That's like requiring me to state at the beginning of each show that I am against killing babies. Do we have time for this?
I will try and present my work for all of you whether you've made an official statement against someone who may or may not be an "anti-semite" (whatever that means) or not. Why the fuck should I care? I just want everyone to hear my work. If someone says something dumb, we're going to argue aggressively against it. But politics is stupid, and fake. Count me out.
1 comment:
Honestly, I have no idea who this guy is you're talking about, but something interesting you said jumped out at me:
"Christians: these atheists are suffering from the same affliction as you. They think that they are a part of something big, and that that something is more important than they are. Atheism is not a collective, not a worldview, not a philosophy. Can we be human beings, please?"
Sure enough, atheism is not a collective, and although many Christians try to deny it, neither is Christianity. While I think there is definitely an important place in blogs and online discussion groups for people to debate ideas and arguments, it's irksome when you see people attacking other people for changing their beliefs.
We are individuals, and we do have the right to make personal choices as to what belief system to adopt, and what groups to align ourselves with or not. I personally can't fault someone for holding any particular set of beliefs in and of itself, but if they give arguments and reasoning behind their beliefs, I can certainly weigh in on the soundness of such things.
I think that's why I like you and Francois so much, while there are many people out there that I have met who are atheists and agnostics that are simply full of crap, bitterness, and an vague unfounded sense of superiority, when I read your blogs, I largely see well thought-out reasoning.
The world doesn't need more atheists or Christians, it needs more reasonable people of whatever philosophical stripe.
Post a Comment