Republicans
January 15, 2012
Colbert Super Pac's Romney Attack Ad
July 09, 2011
S.E. Cupp: Atheist, Theistic Apologist
Most of the religious skeptics that I know all have advanced degrees. They're pretty smart people, and many of them started out as religious people. But, there are clearly some pretty stupid atheists running around. Here's a clip of one on Bill Maher's Real Time.
S.E. Cupp is an atheist, as she points out. But, she's also a conservative commentator and as such she thinks the godless, liberals are just too mean to realigious people. I guess her disgreement over religion with those she defends is supposed to be evidence of her impartiality and objectivity. But, really she just repeats some of the dubious, yet popular reasoning of many theists use to avoid confronting the possibility that their views are mistaken.
First, she suggests that non-belivers, like Maher, are not in a position to understand religious beliefs because they do not ascent to their truth. Believers often adopt this argumentative strategy as a way of discounting any criticisms that the non-believer might make. They simply claim that the non-believer doesn't understand religious beliefs and therefore is not in a position to evaluate their truth/falsity. The problem with this claim is easy to see. If you must first accept a belief as true in order to properly understand it, then theists are not in a position to evaluate atheism. Obviously, the problem here is that first you have to understand what the belief actually is before you can evaluate it's truth or falisty. You don't accept the truth of a claim, then gain an understanding of its content. To do otherwise is completley backwards.
The second point is related to the first. Cupp appeals to the notion of a personal relationship with God or religious experience as the main basis and justification for religious belief. Have you ever noticed that when believers talk about their personal relationship with Jesus or God that the nature of this experience is left unspecified. They never describe the content of it in anyway that could be said to give intersubjective confirmation of their interpretation (e.g. "God told me to . . .") of their experience (i.e. their inner psychological, experience). This personal relationship and experience of God is never described in anyway that is analogous to our actual personal relationships. If you have to base your religious beliefs on some unspecified, private experience or personal relationship with God, then you do not have a very good argument for your beliefs. In fact, it's not an argument at all if they the truth of the premises cannot be intersubjectively confirmed. Our reasons and evidence have to be open to public scrutiny and evaluation.
Maher is right to mock Cupp here because she's giving credibility to a view that does not deserve credibility. Her views on religious belief, which are really just the same views that so many theists take up popularly against non-believers, rely on a radically incoherent form of epistemological subjectivism and a dubious claims about having a personal relationshp with a disembodied person.Cupp treats these popular theistic views as if they deserve intellectual respect, but they don't. So, I think Maher is basically correct to poke fun at her for suggesting that the brains of some people pick up a different channel that the brains of people that do not hold the same religious beliefs. When debating a theist, especially a conservative one, you have to understand that they are not engaged in argument to get to the truth of the matter, they are arguing to maintain their belief and to produce certain social arrangements. They aren't arguing evidentially or logically. They are arguing prudentially and ideologically. The fact that many theists adopt such dubious argumentative strategies, ones that they'd probably reject if the debate had different subject matter, in debates with non-believers is a symptom of it.
June 29, 2011
Stewart vs. Fox News
The Stewart vs. Fox News saga continues. Ever since Stewart's last interview on Fox they've been trading barbs over who is more biased.
Here's the key point. Fox News presents itself as a news agency. Even if Jon Stewart is not "just a comedian" and engages in political activism on his show the notion that we should hold Stewart to the same journalistic standards of objectivity and impartiality that we expect news agencies to live up to is laughable. So, please Fox News, stop trying to pretend that The Daily Show is equivalent to your one hour of news programing or your many ours of opinion shows like The O'Reilly Factor.
June 09, 2011
Rick Santorum: The Idea Of Climate Change Is A Liberal Conspiracy | TPMDC
Santorum was on Rush Limbaugh's radio show Wednesday, where he was asked whether he agrees with Mitt Romney's comments from last Friday, embracing the universally accepted science of man-made climate change.
Santorum replied:
I believe the earth gets warmer and I also believe the earth gets cooler, and I think history points out that it does that and that the idea that man, through the production of CO2 -- which is a trace gas in the atmosphere, and the manmade part of that trace gas is itself a trace gas -- is somehow responsible for climate change is, I think, just patently absurd.
Santorum continued that the idea of man-made climate change may be part of a liberal conspiracy: "To me this is an opportunity for the left to create -- it's really a beautifully concocted scheme because they know that the earth is gonna cool and warm. It's been on a warming trend so they said, 'Oh, let's take advantage of that and say that we need the government to come in and regulate your life some more because it's getting warmer.'"
"It's just an excuse for more government control of your life," he added, "and I've never been for any scheme or even accepted the junk science behind the whole narrative."
via tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com
Santorum is the anti-science candidate. Conservatives think climate change, evolution, and the notion that sexual orientation is influenced by biology are all liberal hoaxes based on "junk science." But, the GOP is a "big tent" party that has room for reasonable disagreement, right? Wrong! Mitt Romney dares to deviate from GOP ideology and Rush Limbaugh declares there's no way he can win the nomination. Meanwhile . . .
June 01, 2011
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on Sarah Palin's Bus Tour Media Stunt
Last night Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert ripped Sarah Palin's bus tour stunt a new one.
It does seem as though Fox News has one set of standards for Palin and another set for Santorum and Gingrich.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Sarah Palin's Bus Tour | ||||
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Colbert's line about giving money to Palin's PAC to send her around the country so she can learn about US History for only pennies a day cracked me up. Hilarious.
May 31, 2011
Sarah Palin's Next Reality TV Series: Running for President
As a journalist, watching the flailing press coverage of Sarah Palin's bus tour has been the most sobering experience since Donald Trump helicoptered into New Hampshire masquerading as a presidential candidate and a horde of reporters hung on his every word.
Most observers acknowledge that Palin's so-called "One Nation" tour doesn't have a coherent point, and even that Palin would be a weak presidential candidate. And yet, literally scores of reporters -- as many as 200 -- are following Palin around as she busily fails to say anything meaningful. Reporters unlucky enough to be assigned to cover Palin on Memorial Day created a #wheressarah Twitter hashtag as they raced around trying to guess where she would land next.
via www.salon.com
I guess running for President is Sarah Palin's next reality TV series. Unlike "Sarah Palin's Alaska," this one isn't on TLC or network television. Like Donald Trump's short lived reality show about his decision whether or not to run for President, Palin's show airs on cable news channels and is shot in a documentary/reality-show style. It follows follows reporters 'tracking down the hard news' about whether Palin is going to run in 2012. Be sure and check your favorite cable news channel for more information. Or, just turn on Fox News.
Skepticism about Michele Bachmann's Divine Calling
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appears to be inching ever closer to a run for president -- and as she has now said in her latest public statements, her prayers on the subject have now yielded a calling from God himself.
via tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com
If God wants Michele Bachmann to be a Congresswoman or President, then he should give the rest of us a clear, public, and unambiguous sign that this is his will so that we don't act contrary to divine will and thus immorally. I doubt we'll get such a sign.
May 21, 2011
Tennessee Senate Bans Teaching the Debate Over Homosexuality
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A bill passed Friday by the Tennessee Senate would forbid public school teachers and students in grades kindergarten through eight from discussing the fact that some people are gay.
Opponents deride the measure as the "don't say gay bill." They say it's unfair to the children of gay parents and could lead to more bullying. Supporters say it is intended to give teachers clear guidance for dealing with younger children on a potentially explosive topic.
The bill isn't likely to be taken up by the House before lawmakers adjourn this spring, but the sponsor there has said he would push it forward in 2012 when the General Assembly comes back for the second year of the session.
Passage would make Tennessee the first state to enact such legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In 2003, Washington defeated a proposal similar to Tennessee's, as did California in 2005 and 2006. A Louisiana law forbids the use of sexually explicit materials depicting homosexuality in sex education classes.
Under the proposal, any instruction or materials at a public elementary or middle school would be limited to age-appropriate lessons about the science of human reproduction.
The legislation was amended from the original version, which said no elementary or middle schools will "provide any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality."
To review. Do not talk about homosexuality, but be sure you "teach the debate" over Evolution. As another critic of the law points out, it may have other consequences.
However, a critic said the new wording could create other problems.
Sen. Roy Herron, D- Dresden, said it "may inadvertently prevent the teaching of ethics, morality and abstinence."
May 19, 2011
Identity Politics: From the Founders to Malcolm X and Obama
It's been an interesting couple of weeks in identity politics. David Barton and Prof. Richard Beeman were each on The Daily Show discussing religion, the Founders, and the Constitution. Some basic Dead White Male stuff regarding what the Founders intended regarding the sepeartion of church and state. Cornell West made some, er, suprising, criticisms of Obama. And, a Black Studies Professor and a Harlem activist debate black history and black consciousness on Democracy Now. Check out some highlights below the fold.
Continue reading "Identity Politics: From the Founders to Malcolm X and Obama" »
Colbert Tries to Make Sense of Newt Gingrich's Claims
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Breaking Newt | ||||
| www.colbertnation.com | ||||
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Not even Panderton 8000 can find away to reconcile Gingrich's contradictory claims. I'm sure some portion of the GOP base will find a way to so, though.
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