Smart

So here's the thing.

I'm an elitist. I'll gladly admit it. I'm a misanthropist, sure. I recognize that I am smarter than most other people. This recognition is what leads me to misanthropy. Of course, my unhappiness is my own fault but it's unavoidable. I surround myself with people of middling intelligence and yet somehow am disappointed to the point of frustration when they continue to prove how correct I am. And then, of course, it amuses me when they think (and try to prove!) that they're smarter than they really are.

My choice in mate was extremely fortunate - the pickings are very slim and no one could do better than I did. <3>

Words

I've been feeling more and more confident about my writing lately. Dangerous. Maybe I will get around to writing something professionally one day.

Links

Frustrated trying to get your points across to under-informed republicans and independents? Then let disillusioned conservatives and/or former McCain supporters do the arguing for you.

• Wick Allison, former publisher of the National Review explains the appeal of pragmatic conservatism and how there's none of that in McCain: http://www.dmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?nm=Core+Pages&type=gen&mod=Core+Pages&tier=3&gid=B33A5C6E2CF04C9596A3EF81822D9F8E
  

• Alaskan conservative Dan Fagan on Palin and the claims that the Troopergate investigation is a partisan ploy: http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/528420.html
  

• Scott "Dilbert" Adams wanted to find out who the American economists prefer, so he commissioned a study: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/16/dilbert.economy/index.html
  

• Richard Cohen, an op-ed columnist of the Washington Post and a self-professed McCain fan, on the New McCain: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091502406.html
  

• The most bittersweet of them all, Elizabeth Drew, author of a 2002 book Citizen McCain and the 'Maverick' meme: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13541.html
  

 

Oh, YouTube. Won't convince many conservatives with this, but ridicule is fun when well deserved.

• McCain: "Fundamentals of the American economy are strong": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9zqn6DpZRU
  

• "Err, by fundamentals I meant the American workers!": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxg-9qcGlHY
  

• Of course he did. Does he mean these American workers? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWOZKeOauNI
  

He wasn't kidding when he confessed economy really isn't his strong suit.

Hello

Allow me to introduce myself. I go by the name Huxley here and elsewhere in the Intertubes. I’m a 26 year old Finnish guy, studying IT and business in Helsinki, Finland. Also where I was born and raised. My interests range from all things science, computers and other geeky things, to history, economics and world affairs, to an especially unhealthy fascination with American politics. The latter waxes and wanes roughly every four years, and is about to reach new heights of obsession.

I could forever sing praises of the fair hostess of this blog, whose idea it was for us to write here together, but I don’t want to embarrass her too much. Suffice to say that that I rarely, if ever, find myself disagreeing about anything with her. We share most of our interests, our secular liberal values, and our strongly atheist world views. She’s also the most important person in my life, and I believe our mutual nonbelief has brought us together stronger than reverence to any deity ever could. As far as I’m concerned, any celestial dictator who’d require us to love him more than we love each other, ourselves and our families, can go straight to hell.

I was baptized as a baby into the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, like some 82% of Finns, but my immediate family was by no means very religious. I got my dosage of childhood indoctrination in the mandatory prayer sessions, visits to church, and religious studies classes in the lower comprehensive school. Never took any of it very seriously, nor did the majority of other kids. It was just sort of watered down, easy, liberal Christianity for the masses. I called BS on it early when I refused to be confirmed into full membership of the church. It is still considered an important rite of passage over here, though the kids do it mostly because they get showered in more presents than they’ve ever seen before. I thought it would’ve been hypocritical for me to go through with it, and well, never was and never have been much of a materialist. My parents didn’t protest much. The most my mother made an effort was to warn me that someday I might want to marry a girl who wants a church wedding, and then I’d have to get confirmed as an adult. Granted, the odds were against me there, but it seems I have them beat. ;)

During my formative years I drifted about a lot, not really getting a grip until I was in my twenties. I was a smart student, but lacked the motivation and interest in the real world to commit myself to education or a decent job. No long term goals, no idea what to do with my life. I completed my national service, both in the armed forces and later in civilian service, enjoyed my time in both and discovered many things about myself. I realized that I’m actually very capable and good at getting things done once I’ve got my mind set on it. I also became friends with Jennifer, and we sort of grew together over time. So too did my new outlook on life grow. I’d considered myself an agnostic before, but once I took that small step into full blown atheism, it was like removing blinders off my eyes. One might say it was the perfect intellectual awakening, into the wonderful world of science and skepticism, in other words: to that which is real. Reality indeed is far more interesting, bizarre and wonderful than fantasy.

Richard Dawkins, with his book The God Delusion, set out to open the eyes of fence-sitters such as myself, and has surely succeeded. Much credit also to her who made me read the book in the first place. It’s a damn shame, and increasingly frightening that most people in the world are still shackled by religious faith. It may well be the most potent force of evil in the world, but surely not the only one. Free market fundamentalism, though in some ways a pseudo-religion itself, is right up there with communism, nationalism and fascism. It has taken its toll in Latin-America, Africa, Middle-East and Asia, and certainly on American democracy. I will elaborate on that in later posts, so let that be a teaser.

Disappointment

I love to read. This is fairly obvious to anyone who knows me and/or has spoken to me for more than ten minutes. I've loved to read ever since I was a child - I'd devour books almost as soon as I'd received them. It's an expensive addiction, especially now that I've graduated to things more complicated than The Babysitters Club.

I have a broad range of authors and subjects on my shelves. Among the non-fiction inhabitants are of course Harry and Lyra, but also Lestat and Scarlett. They share the space with Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Alison Weir and Elizabeth Wurtzel. I try to spread my trips to the bookstore so that they are few and far between because it's not unlikely that I'll scour the store until I've found more than $50 worth of reading. (I won't mention textbooks, which are required reading and very expensive.)

So today I was offered free books. There was a group handing them out in the science building on campus under a neon yellow sign that merely said 'FREE STUFF.' Intrigued, I went over to check it out and saw that they were handing out bundles of the following: highlighters, a guide to the New Testament, and Case For a Creator.

In case you haven't heard of it, Case for a Creator is described here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_for_a_Creator#The_Case_for_a_Creator
I'll basically just say: yeah. It's known for being a famous piece of biased trash written by an investigative journalist. (I should point out here that I'm not against bias - but I am against hypocrites who claim to be unbiased and then show bias - re: FOX NEWS.) Please note that he's honoured by Christian apologists but not scientists - though he's claiming to speak to both. For a debunking of the book, visit this site: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/paul_doland/creator.html

The girl at the desk said "Want a free book?" Not "Hi, I'm *blank* from Campus for Christ (http://www.usc.uwo.ca/clubs.asp?cid=29). We'd like to inform you about *blank.*" Just "Want a free book?" Anyone who hadn't heard of this book before, as well as its terrible bias (it claims Michael Behe as an expert on this...come on) might just pick it up and flip through it. Clearly they didn't think much of our intelligence levels since they were trying to lure us with the idea of free books and not explaining that they were offering up religion too.

So I walked away, sat on the floor, and started to write up a blog post about religion on campus. But it was too long and I didn't feel like posting it yet. Really I just wanted to mention that I'm irritated. These people walked into a science building and handed out religious propaganda. If I'd walked into one of their chapels to hand out On The Origin of Species, I'd have gotten into a great deal of trouble. How is it that it's prejudice to undermine their fairy tale beliefs but it's perfectly fine for them to disregard my faith in common sense and rationality?

So yeah. I didn't get a free book like I thought I would. Fuck you, Campus for Christ.

Apology

This is an apology to my American friends.

I'm sorry, but you're fucked. Like...really fucked. You live in a country where a woman who believes that God causes her to speak in tongues is popular and has a real chance at becoming the vice-president. It was bad enough when Bush Jr. was in the House; Karl Rove was behind him and it was so cynical that the rest of us could see through it.

But this is just like, wow. These people really believe these things. And they want you to believe these things. And if you don't, if you refuse, you are not a person to them and they want you out of their country.

You're wondering why I care. I'm Canadian, yes. I'm also more politically-minded than many people I know. "Shouldn't you be keeping your nose in Canadian politics and out of American politics?" I'd like to, trust me I would like that very much. If national politics existed in a vacuum and we didn't have to consider the ramifications of our neighbours, I would. But since the night I heard the announcement that Bill Clinton beat George Bush Sr. for president, I have known that our futures are intertwined.

There are three opinions now on how Canadians perceive Stephen Harper's relationship with George W. Bush. They are as follows:
1. Stephen Harper does anything that Bush asks him to do.
2. Stephen Harper is not Bush's puppet.
3. Stephen Harper does anything that Bush asks him to do but we love it because we're a god-fearing nation that wants to be just like the U.S. and let's go kill some Middle Easterners.

Well, the third one is a teensy exaggeration. But it's true, there are those conservatives who believe we're better off following the example given to us by the United States. It can be a good example, or a bad example. Generally we're much more liberal; we're fine with gay marriage and gay rights, we have public health care for everyone, we keep intelligent design out of the classrooms. There are those who find these things abhorrent but I'm happy with them.

But we are, as Homer Simpson once called us, "America Junior." We have a rich history but most of us know the American one much better. We have an incredible culture (many, really, spread out over the land) but we absorb so much of our culture from the U.S. instead. We have a beautiful land, enormous and housing some of the best people on the planet, but we like to travel to the U.S. instead. Your country even gets us involved in political disputes. Thanks for testing your missiles here, jerks.

(At this point, I'd also like to apologize to my American peeps because they're not Canadian.)

I'm terrified of the possibility that American "values" will permeate into Canada. We currently have our conservative government that is only allowing certain things (ie: gay marriage) because they don't have the Parliament majority to make it pass. I'm panicked by the idea that we'll be overcome by this pro-religion, anti-science, anti-sense garbage that's painting the U.S. a deep Republican red, reminiscent of blood. The politicians play into it, cynical bastards that they are, and the people just eat it up. Ignorance is not a "value" and it's not a trait that I ever want to have to use when describing the Canadian population in general.

I got into this topic when I was discussing Sarah Palin with my boyfriend, who's Finnish. He's also incredibly liberal and he follows American politics more closely than I do. He'd been listening to speeches given at the RNC and he was upset because the speakers (especially Sarah Palin) were giving speeches that were made up entirely of lies. And the crowds just applauded like it was gospel. There's this terror that runs through the hearts of liberals when we hear that this whackjob is popular. It's a terror that screams "They might actually win."

But there is hope, my friends.

Don't let yourselves get down. While she may be popular now, it's because no one knows her yet. Things will come out about her, of that I am certain. Her policies will reveal her motives and her inexperience; her family situation has already shown that her policies lead to failure.

When you hear speeches of her speaking and note the audience resounding in cheers, remember that these speeches are given to those who don't have independent thoughts. No one in the audience is there to question; the candidates will never speak to a group that would question them. These are speeches given at the RNC, in front of people who absolutely believe the wrong things, and will never learn the truth. You'll never hear Sarah Palin speak to people from Planned Parenthood because she won't allow criticism (and because -gasp- she'd be afraid that they're right).

My boyfriend called the Sarah Palin pick "Rovian," in that it's cynical and masterminded and really...evil. While McCain might not give a hooping funt about the poor, ignorant folks, he's throwing them a bone by presenting this idiotic woman to take over what will really become a useless position. And the worst part is that people think it's sincere. These people trust their politicians implicitly and believe that they know best. They don't.

So we have to hope that there are those who know better. And there are. While Obama and Biden might not be the ideal candidates, they're better than the alternative. Democrats have won the White House before, so this isn't impossible. Brave, brilliant, moderate men have held this power before (and some of those were voted in when only white men with money could vote - the Republican base!) and they can do so again. We need passion and we need hope. We also have to trust that people aren't blinded by shiny crosses and empty lies so that they can vote properly. I don't mind people voting Republican, so long as they do it while well-informed.

The world hasn't been lost to religion and ignorance yet. We just have to keep fighting.

Choice

I should preface this post by saying: I don't ever want to have an abortion.

(And now you're confused and wondering what I mean. A hook!)

I don't think I could ever bring myself to do it. Maybe in an extreme case like if I was raped. But I understand that there is a severe emotional and physical burden on a woman when she has one. There is a reason that there are counselors to deal with women in this situation. It is not an easy choice to make by any stretch of the imagination and I hope I never, ever have to be in that position.

But I believe that any woman should have the right to have an abortion.

Women who consider abortions are ones who feel that they cannot, for whatever reason, give birth to a child and raise it. It's not a form of birth control for these women, it's a last step that needs to be taken. Women are raped, condoms are broken, pills are forgotten. Women don't say "Oh, I don't like it when he wears condoms; we'll just get an abortion if anything happens." And any that do are in the absolute minority.

I'm not a strong person in any sense of the word and I already have some psychological issues with which I have to deal. To get pregnant before I'm ready is absolutely unfathomable to me. When I have sex, condoms and birth control pills are abundant. I'd use hazmat suits if they weren't so inconvenient. I have this (slightly irrational) fear of herpes already and the idea of getting pregnant is even worse to me. That said, I completely understand that things happen and if any of those things failed me I would feel safer knowing that I still had options open to me.

I was running errands on foot one day a few weeks ago when I met up with a large group of Pro-Lifers. I tried to ignore them as I went about my business but I did notice that a majority of them were either: a) male, or b) elderly. There was a particular elderly woman holding a placard (which said 'Morgantaler's Legacy,' with a picture of a mangled baby corpse by the way) while wearing a sweatshirt that bore the likeness of the Virgin Mary and had the caption 'PRAY PRAY PRAY' that irked me. But as I said, I tried to ignore them.

On my way back, I spotted a man in his mid-twenties engaged in an argument with a group of 3 of the Pro-Lifer men. He was yelling at them, absolutely livid. I said nothing; while I agreed with him, I couldn't deny their right to protest. I crossed the street, right towards a middle-aged woman who was telling a group of young, teenage males that "We need you to spread the word." One shouted back "I will!" as he biked towards me. Any boy who's stupid enough to bike on the sidewalk isn't one you want on your side, but I digress.

I didn't want to engage the woman in conversation, but I was curious. She was backed up right against the 'Walk' button I needed to push, so I had to get close to her to push it. The following is a paraphrasing of our conversation.

Myself: Just out of curiosity, is this a church group?
Woman: No, we're just a group of people who are protesting for what's right.

I took a few steps away, waiting for my light. The woman lifted her placard - it depicted a full-sized baby (clearly it couldn't have been a child that was aborted, as it was too big and fully-formed and third-trimester abortions aren't provided here) that was torn apart and mutilated.

Woman: So what are your thoughts on it?
Myself: I'm very, very pro-choice.

She lifted the placard again and made a sad face. It was like she was actually doing :( in real life.

Woman: Even seeing this?
Myself: Well, I know that that's not really what happens.
Woman: But it is! You have to face reality!

I turned away to wait for the light to change so that I could cross the street. I didn't want to get into an argument because it would only be a waste of (my) time. She continued to yell for me to 'face reality' as I crossed the street. I had many things I wanted to say to her, that I could have said to her. They wouldn't have made a lick of difference to her, nor would they have even given her pause, so I didn't bother.

When I went home, I did a quick Google image search. And I found the exact picture she had shown me - hosted on both rotten.com and a religious website. Amused, I felt better about myself and figured I'd leave her to her delusions.

I've been pro-choice for a long time and I can't remember not being pro-choice. I can think of several reasons for it, and I keep getting more as I age. But I think my favorite right now is the one from a biological perspective.

Biologically, we're meant to grow and survive and reproduce and die. This applies to everything, not just humans. Reproduction doesn't mean as much to some organisms; plants can give off seeds, which spread and germinate. That's easy. It requires relatively little energy, so they can have a lot of seeds at once and expect at least a few to take root. But mammals use lots of energy. We have live-bearing young, which require nutrients both inside and outside of the womb. So we need to be picky.

If you've ever taken a class on animal behaviour, you know this. We pick our mates to have the best genes. This means that our offspring will have a good chance to survive and reproduce so that the line can continue. All sexual species do this. Males are good for the provision of sperm and resources and not much else. Once they've provided the female with sperm, their job is to feed her and keep her safe until the offspring is born. More resources are needed for growth and development. A male mate with poor genes won't gather resources as well as one with good genes so there's no point in bothering with him unless you have to.

It's energetically expensive on a female to bear live young. The fewer you have, the more energy you put into each of them. A cat gestates for a few months before bearing a litter and she feeds them for awhile before she's good to go again. A human female holds one (or more) fetus for nine months. And that's a long bloody time. She takes time off of work before and after to raise the child, resulting in a lack of money which is a necessary resource for us humans.

This is where I'm going to hear complaints: biologically, an imperfect child is useless and a waste of energy/resources. The child may not or will not provide children to your line. Any species but the human species would have these offspring killed as soon as they were born. I'm not advocating the removal of those with disabilities from the world, only stating that in the animal kingdom they would not be allowed to exist. Biologically speaking, an abortion would remove them from the gene pool with a limited amount of energy wasted so that the woman could put her energy into another fetus. I am NOT advocating eugenics, nor am I saying that I myself would love a disabled child any less than another. Only that biologically, it makes sense to not have these children.

Women who aren't ready for having a baby are at a real disadvantage. They may not have the resources (or the ability to get the resources) necessary to raise a child and give it the chance to survive. A 16-year-old pregnant teenager isn't going to be able to provide the same life that a 32-year-old professional woman can. If she does it's likely because she has her parents/guardians helping out and she's draining *their* energy and resources.

Which will lead to the question: Why not put it up for adoption?

Adoption rates aren't 100%. Foster homes are brimming with unwanted children, and those taken from their willing parents. Giving up a child doesn't mean you're giving it to a better life, only that you're giving it to a life in which you're not involved. This happens in the animal kingdom too, but in species that produce many offspring at once and move on to create more. The idea is that only a few will survive anyway. Adoption is a great idea, one that I definitely want to look into when I'm able to have children. But while my heart may be large enough that I want to adopt every single abandoned child I know that it's just not feasible. Money isn't being put into these children and they're falling through the cracks.

I'm worried that I'm starting to ramble incoherently so it's best that I summarize now. Reproduction is energetically expensive and if a female isn't ready for it, she's wasting a lot of time and energy and resources that she can't afford. Waiting until she is ready is smarter both for herself and for her future offspring. There are circumstances where males with poor genes will slip in (ie: rape) and those should be removed from the gene pool if the female doesn't want to bother. There are also circumstances where offspring that won't survive will be born and the woman should gauge whether she's able to produce and raise the child, knowing the heartbreak and pain that it will cost her.

I want to make it clear that while humans are subject to the same principles as other animals in the kingdom, I know that we're not the same. But if we want to grow and develop as a species, to set ourselves apart from the other species, we need to continue to expand our ideas and ideals and recognize that we're all human beings. We all have different situations and we cannot force our beliefs on others. What I've outlined above will suit some people and it won't suit others. I understand that. But please, don't take a person's choice away from them.

Me

After a brief discussion with an American friend on the GOP vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, I was so hyped up that I wanted to start my own blog. It's nothing special, I'll admit, and nothing one can't find elsewhere in about a million places. I have an idea for my first real post (I've had it written in my head for weeks, long before I even wanted to make a blog) but first I think it's necessary for me to give an idea about myself. Context is rather important.

My name is Jennifer and I'm 24 years old. I was born and raised in Ontario, Canada. I have a younger brother and an older sister; I am very close to both of them, even though I go to school 6-7 hours away from them. I was raised by my workaholic father after my parents divorced when I was 7. He never instilled any religious beliefs in me - he didn't have to, and I love him very much for that.

I study biology at a major Ontario university. I've taken a few years longer than necessary to boost myself, and decide what I really want to do with my life. My major interest is in environmental policy and I'd love to be involved in making it, or consulting on it. It frustrates me that major environmental laws are often made by people who don't understand science and I'd like to change that. I understand that one needs to take into account various factors when making policy (economics, engineering, social impacts) and I'd like to put the science back together with those things. My biological interests focus more on evolution, animal behaviour, and ecology.

My politics are more liberal than those of most liberals. I have known and dated fiscal/social conservatives, fiscal conservatives/social liberals, and out-and-out liberals. My family's politics are diverse which can be both interesting and irritating. I believe that one doesn't need religion to be a moral person, and that corporations are not people. That religious principles should hold no sway over law, that women are socially equal to men and that education should be fully-funded.

However, I'm not one of those pussy "live and let live, don't do anything to offend anyone" liberals. I do not believe in tolerance for all things: the idea that we need to protect and accept religion's mandates on us while it takes our freedoms is one that repulses me. Tolerance is for people, not outdated ideas that are meant to repress us.

I am a nerd and I date nerds. I came from a family of nerds. I fully intend to marry a nerd and raise my children to be nerds. I play video games and read comic books, I read books on pathology and French medieval history for fun. I'm a know-it-all and I love to correct people on their spelling. I'm admittedly a fangirl, one of those annoying people who can whine over a movie because it didn't stick to the material upon which it was based. My musical tastes are eclectic at best, frightening at worst. I role-play, but I don't LARP (that's going too far).

I honestly don't know right now what this blog will be about. I might blog about how I am anti-theist, or about the need to educate people about science. I might rant about television shows or specific books. I'll probably write a lot closer to the Canadian and American federal elections. Or I might just talk about my cat a lot. Either way, I'm hoping it will at least be interesting if it doesn't at least help change minds.