Standards

I recognize that I hold people to difficult standards. I hold myself to high standards and assume that other people can be held to the same ones. But apparently when it comes to things like common sense, human decency and morality, I'm disappointed each and every time.

http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/01/09/rick-warrens-support-of-condom-burning/

I'm a humanist. The idea of people causing others to get HIV and AIDS simply because an imaginary fascist in the sky says to do so (or they think he says to do so) is utterly beyond my comprehension. Condoms are not immoral - ignorance leading to the suffering and death of others is immoral. These people are no better than the Phelps family of bigots.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is forgetting that humans are animals. We have language and consciousness and independent thought (well, most of us do) but we are driven by the same biological processes as chimpanzees, bumblebees and all other forms of life. It is in our nature to procreate and have as many successful offspring as we can. Some people don't want to and that's perfectly fine. But we cannot ignore the drive that is there for those of us who do want it. As soon as puberty hits we are ready and nobody with any common sense would assume that they have the right to tell us we can't. The idea of sex as something dirty is completely ludicrous; no god worth worshiping would make you need sex and then punish you for having it.

Abstinence-only education doesn't work. We know that. Since we can't tell people not to have sex (even if you did, you don't have the right) then we need to teach them to protect themselves. There is no such thing as "divine punishment" and HIV is not a condemnation by any god. It's a horrible virus that leads to a horrible disease that needs to be stopped. Condoms don't stop it but they limit the spread until we can find a cure. They're working on it but it's going to take time.

But once we have it, the fanatics and idiots will need to find some other way to make everyone else suffer. It's particularly sad that they always go after the Africans first. Haven't they suffered enough? I just want to scream for these people to keep their imaginary Fuhrer to themselves. Clearly he doesn't want us to live up to standards. He certainly doesn't live up to any of mine.

Links

Here's me explaining programming to my brother:

• Computer Programming 101 - Abstruse Goose

A couple of climate change articles:

• Canada's forests, once huge help on greenhouse gases, now contribute to climate change - Howard Witt - Chicago Tribune

• Global Warming Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg - James R. Lee - The Washington Post

Turns out that yes, Wikipedia actually works as intended:

• Who The Hell Writes Wikipedia, Anyway? - Henry Blodget - Silicon Alley Insider

Finland is the most religious of Scandinavian countries, but this is a good trend. I do think it's at least in part thanks to the consciousness raising by a some popular atheist books and blogs.

• Church Resignations Continue to Rise - YLE International News