Intolerance of the Intolerant = Hypocrisy?

So, I recently subscribed to the Answers in Genesis magazine, a publication dedicated to spreading the creationist and Bible-literalist viewpoints, and refuting new evidence that comes to light that supports the evolutionary standpoint. I’ve done this because, being a former Bible literalist and creationist myself, I was shocked to discover the degree to which information was carefully filtered, and evolutionist arguments were twisted or removed from context, in order to bring me to the desired conclusion: that (macro-)evolution is a hoax, and creationism is the only standpoint that makes any sense.

So now that I’ve come to see just how contrary to the truth creationism actually is, I’m trying to keep myself abreast of current thought and misinformation that is spread from some of the major sources of creationist propoganda, so I can research them properly, and compare them with the actual information they purport to be refuting (strawman arguments seem to be the most common way to argue against evolution—that is, refuting positions that the opponent isn’t actually arguing—so the easiest way to discredit many of the arguments is to actually look up the original sources, verify quotes, and put them in their context).

Anyway, I just received a copy of Answers Update, a “monthly newsletter equipping Christians to uphold the authority of the Bible from the very first verse,” and I started reading the very first article, Goose-stepping to Zion?, which defends the Answers in Genesis organization against direct attacks from a new book, American Fascists: the Christian right and the war on America, by Chris Hedges, who, according to the article, draws comparisons between Bible literalists and Hitler-era Nazis. But, I couldn’t believe my eyes as I came across this passage:

Who are the people manifesting fascist tendencies 60 years after Nazi Germany? It’s those who, in the name of tolerance, will refuse to tolerate those who are perceived as intolerant (i.e., those who hold to absolute standards, such as Bible-believing Christians).

In fact, Hedges quotes (sympathetically) the late philosopher Karl Popper, who once wrote that we can “therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to be tolerant of the intolerant” (p. 1).

The inconsistency is so glaring to us. Hedges’ self-proclaimed open-mindedness and tolerance absolutely falls apart when he attempts to rationalize his (clearly obvious) hypocrisy.…

He also does not appear to understand that while he howls at Christians’ attempts to impose their views on society, Hedges wants to see that it’s his views that should be imposed.

Now, it may be that Hedges’ viewpoint is on the extreme-side: some of the quote that I’ve elided with an ellipsis includes the claim that Hedges has “publicly chastised liberal humanists who believe in inclusiveness and who express any willingness to dialogue with evangelicals,” which, if true, would be a rather extreme viewpoint.

However, I’m simply amazed that someone could find “intolerance of intolerance” to be hypocritical; there’s no such thing as “absolute” tolerance. If one were tolerant of intolerance, that one would in a very real way be passively approving the intolerance, and therefore not a true tolerance at all.

Moreover, it’s abundantly clear that even the most tolerant of people cannot tolerate every viewpoint: it would be insanity to call it hypocrisy for one to simultaneously claim tolerance and yet at the same time refuse to tolerate child molestation.

How unfortunate that they choose to attack Karl Popper’s conclusion, without bothering to even mention his very reasonable supporting arguments, in apparent violation of the popular evangelical exhortation, that in Biblical studies, “whenever we see the word ‘therefore,’ we should check to see what it is there for.”

You can read the full article online at AnswersInGenesis.Com, which was co-authored by the founder and CEO of Answers In Genesis.

I sorta Liked the fellow, actually

Another excellent piece by DagoodS at ExChristian.Net, responding to a debate between Christian author and speaker Rick Warren, and outspoken atheist Sam Harris. DagoodS takes issue with Warren’s appeal to the tired argument that Christians are perpetually claiming about atheists:

You’re more spiritual than you think. You just don’t want a boss. You don’t want a God who tells you what to do.

(Warren also states, “I’ve never met an atheist who wasn’t angry.” Guess I’ll have to introduce myself sometime.)

DagoodS refutes the claim quite roundly, discussing how pleasant and comforting it is to know that God has your back, when you’re out of a job looking for work and trying to make ends meet, or is ensuring you don’t slam full-speed into a tree as you dodge deftly between them during a skiing outing, or is keeping your child safe as you begin to realize that you’ve lost him or her while together at the mall. He clearly misses these assurances, as do I.

“Want” has nothing whatsoever to do with my belief there is no god. It has to do with evidence. In fact, quite the contrary, there are many things I find pleasing in a god belief. It does not make a god exist, however.

Please do check out the rest of this very well-thought (as usual) article.

Cannibalism in the Cars, Take Two

Well, I just recently was ecstatic to discover XeTeX, an extended implementation of my favorite typesetting engine, TeX, written by Dr Donald E. Knuth. This version adds features that I have long wished for in TeX, and the lack of which were in fact the chief reason I stopped using TeX on a regular basis: support for OpenType fonts, and Unicode text.

This finally afforded me the opportunity to re-work Mark Twain’s Cannibalism in the Cars (PDF of my latest version), using the “expert” font, Adobe Caslon Pro, instead of the original, basic Times font, support for which is built into all PDF readers.

I guess my next project would be to rewrite my résumé (PDF) using TeX (as I originally had it), which lately has been done in OpenOffice on Windows, to take advantage of my favorite OpenType fonts (OpenOffice on Unix systems does not currently support OpenType).

Excerpt from my setting of Cannibalism in the Cars

ThinkGeek’s “Office Space” Kit

Picture of the contents of the Office Space KitSo, ThinkGeek‘s selling this Office Space Kit. Contents:

  • Red Stapler (a mini version, not an actual Swingline [may jam])
  • Initech Mug
  • “Is this Good for the Company?” Sign
  • Starter “Flair” (“Sounds like somebady has a case of THE MONDAYS”)
  • “PC Load Letter” Copy Machine Sticker
  • Your Very Own “Jump To Conclusions” Mat
  • A Humorous 32-Page Book
  • TPS Report Coversheets (5 included)

And, at the time of this writing, it’s just $12.99! (I’m so getting one…)

Snowglobes As Art

Best freakin’ snowglobes ever. These guys do works of art that happen to be detailed and very interesting snowglobes. (Found via Penny Arcade.) At the precise moment I’m posting this, their servers are having issues; my guess is that a Penny Arcade reader submitted it to Digg.

The ones pictured here aren’t even the best ones (by far). They just made the handiest example to include in this post. Be sure to check out their non-snowglobe art as well.

Three very artistic snowglobes

No Earthsea From Ghibli Until 2009?

Japanese poster of “Tales from Earthsea”A year ago I posted that Studio Ghibli was doing another of their legendary animations for 2006, to be based on Ursula K Le Guin’s The Earthsea Cycle series of books. Studio Ghibli is famous for producing very excellent animations, usually under the masterful direction of Hayao Miyazaki, including Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

Well, here are some updates regarding that. The movie was indeed released in Japan last year, but it was not directed by Hayao Miyazaki, as I had expected; it was actually directed by his eldest son, Goro. I’ll note that it took roughly half the time (8½ months) to complete as Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle did (16-17 months), and this is Goro’s first-ever animation production. Combining these things with the fact that Goro probably (hopefully?) lacks the obsessive personality of his father, I have some small doubts as to whether its quality will hold up to those pieces. Still, his initial artwork was impressive enough to win the approval of the head animators of Evangeleon and the Lupin series, and it’s still been made by the excellent Studio Ghibli animators, so it ought to be better than anything we tend to see produced over here.

More depressingly, though, is that the movie’s FAQ mentions that the US won’t see a release of this movie until at least 2009. Why? Because the SciFi Channel still has the movie rights to the series thanks to their crappy miniseries, which had been a disappointment to Le Guin. So that would make a new reason to hate that miniseries (and I’ve never read the books, so I can only imagine how incensed the fan base must be!).

Teen Naïveté and Life-Changing Decisions

Reading something like this is just so sad. The UK’s Daily Mail reports on a 14-year-old, pregnant girl, Kizzy Neal, who reveals that “having a baby is now regarded as ‘fashionable’ among schoolgirls.”

When my friends see my bump they say they wish they could have a baby, then three weeks later they’re pregnant and don’t know what to do.

In a related article, the Daily Mail reported last October that pregnant teens were taking up smoking in the hopes of producing babies with lower birth-weight which would then lessen the pain of childbirth.

I discovered this story through Digg, which linked to a “re-reporting” article on FOX News instead of to the original at the Daily Mail. I believe I also discovered the October article via Digg back when it was reported.

Awesome-Looking New 2D Scrolling Adventure: “Aquaria”

I just discovered this totally fine-looking 2D game coming soon for the PC from an independant group of developers. The game is called “Aquaria”, and appears to feature a blue-elf who does a lot of swimming, and apparently can toss fireballs (underwater?) and stuff. I don’t really know much about it yet, but the trailer looks friggin’ awesome. Here’s the YouTube version, but you can get videos with a bit more clarity at the developer’s website.

I found out about this project from a Digg post from a few days ago that I saved away (I was at work) and finally got around to checking out.

Update: Looks like it will run under Linux systems, as well. This game just got that much sexier!

The Pianist Fraud

(Seen on Digg.) A British pianist’s masterful renditions of classical piano works have turned out to be fantastic hoaxes. She, and her husband who produced the albums, was passing off entire albums from other artists as her own performances. You can read the story at New Scientist; and the detailed, but entirely accessible, and totally damning, analysis at Pristine Classical.

Apparently, they used existing recordings, and tweaked the speed by a miniscule amount (so the timing could come out different), and adjusted the EQ and stereo balance. Despite all of these precautions, they were still found out through an automatic algorithm when a fan inserted their CD and discovered that iTunes automatically detected the disc as a different (the original) performer’s work!