Happy Draw Muhammad Day!

In honor of Draw Muhammad Day, I have created a masterpiece. After five minutes using the amazing MS Paint Application, I give you the closest approximation of the visage of the Holy Muhammad Your Rockstar's feeble infidel hand could muster:

I've "picked on" (ie pointed out how silly) Xian beliefs for a long time now, so it's only fair I demonstrate my belief that all forms of magical thinking are ridiculous.

My reasons for participating in Draw Muhammad Day rely only partially on poking fun at Muslims though. See, there's a group of people out there who think that I not only have to accept their right to believe what they want (which I do), but to hold their beliefs in reverence and either threaten to kill me or fly a plane up my ass if I don't. That I will not do. This is my way of saying "take your global theocracy, stick it on an iron rod and fornicate with it".

2% Co Activate!

I know there are a lot of folks out there who share my love of a good 2% Company troll ass-smacking. I just wanted to point out they've made a brief but entertaining return.

Grab some popcorn and enjoy simple-minded donna get mad about the fact that she chose to visit a site where they say "fuck" and "shit".

Marvel at the straw man she sets up by saying

The choice of traditional treatments and/or alternative treatments should be left up to the individual.

as if anyone has stated otherwise. The Two-Percenters sum it up well by letting this idiot know that

Of course it should be left up to the individual, donna. Our site is all about making sure people are allowed to do whatever they want to do (as long as they don't trample on anyone else's right to do the same thing).

[snip]

What we do here is all about helping people to make an informed decision precisely so that they can do whatever they want to do, but armed with the facts. You seem to want them to blindly stumble through life, assuming that choice A is always as valid as choice B, and that just isn't so. This isn't fucking "chocolate or vanilla," here, you pathetic slime.

They also point out that people who hold donna's opinion are sometimes in charge of the healthcare treatment of those who are unable to make that choice, such as children or the elderly. Just one more reason why using that ridiculous, "I have no evidence so I'll try to make you look like a jerk" what's the harm "argument" is so galactically stupid.

Cordiality and Respect

I'd like to paraphrase a few things I've read on the ol' Nternets today.

Since when did "being cordial" require you to listen to someone's bullshit and allow them to continue?

Since when did "being respectful" mean that you can't apply the same scrutiny to said bullshit that you would to other beliefs?

Stupid Thing People Say #9 - I Was Skeptical at First, But Then...

How many times have you wanted to sucker punch the next person who basically tells you that they thought about something critically for a while but one day just decided to leave their brain at home in a jar?

Typically "I was skeptical at first..." is a rhetorical device to make the listener think that the person saying it scrutinized whatever silly belief they profess, only to come out a Tru Bleever™.

Unfortunately, they don't remain skeptical throughout the process and jump straight to some extraordinary conclusion which typically creates more questions than it answers.

I saw one of those terrible spook-u-mentaries on The History Channel today about The Shroud of Turin (Torino for non-xenophobes). One of the "researchers" said he "was skeptical at first" but somehow took that leap of faith that all Tru Bleevers take; disregarding all known and yet to be discovered natural solutions.

If this person had remained skeptical throughout, he'd take confirmation bias and wishful thinking into account. He'd also consider natural explanations such as medieval "photography".

But he wanted to believe. And, much like most of our fellow humans, the desire to Bleeve (accept extraordinary claims sans extraordinary evidence) caused him to skip over the entirety of human history to get to his desired conclusion.

I'm a Bad Atheist/Skeptic/Critical Thinker/Other Label You Made Up

I'm getting tired of all the holier than thou assheads out there telling me I'm not doing it right. Contrary to (what seems to be) popular belief, I represent all skeptics about as well as Wayne Brady represents all black people.

If what anyone writes does not fit your conception of "skeptic", then go somewhere they write articles that do. You can even get together with the rest of the activists and fellate one another while laughing at how dumb that Rockstar guy is.

This was prompted by this nitpicker who said that he understood the author's intent and almost said he agreed with it, but still found need to say he's doing it wrong.

Update 05-12-10:

The guy came back and commented that he was wrong. That takes big man-sized balls, and is exactly what the morons will never do.