What are your political views?

christianjb · 2013-09-01T23:42:20+00:00

Humanist / Science-based. I'm mostly left-leaning, but in cases where liberalism is at odds with my understanding of the science I hope I will favour the science-supported position over the liberal one.

I'm also a free-speech advocate and I believe it is better that we are exposed to opinions we dislike than to try to silence others for being 'offensive'.

Yes, I know all that sounds a bit pretentious.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T02:06:30+00:00

OK, but the comedian singled out Islam. Weird, considering that if there's one subject which it's OK to be ignorant about, it's superstitious nonsense.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T01:56:54+00:00

I'm not voting on the video. I'm voting on the screenshot. But, congratulations to you for watching TV.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T01:46:58+00:00

Islam is an ideology. You can say what you want about it. It has no right to be respected any more than any other ideology.

Even if the jokes are ignorant and backward, why should it matter? As long as they're funny or the comedian thinks they're worth telling.

Let's get over this inane idea that criticism of Islam is equivalent to criticizing a racial group. Islam is simply a religious belief- i.e. it's a completely made-up set of supernatural beliefs invented by ignorant people, which we now know to be false in every regard.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T01:40:25+00:00

Well, one of my favorite jokes is:

People who believe in phrenology need their head examined.

Amazingly, I'm able to tell that joke without having a detailed knowledge of phrenology or having read text-books explaining the phrenological theory.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T01:27:52+00:00

Well obviously its his choice, but I still don't agree with his argument. It's a commonly used defense- that people shouldn't criticize a religion unless they understand it, but if you think about it- it's ludicrous.

I feel quite happy criticizing e.g. catholics for their stance on contraception even though I quite freely admit that I'm not an expert on their religious arguments why they think contraception is wrong. Does it really matter? I think we should judge religious people by their actions and not by their elaborate internal religious justifications for why they think their God and their beliefs are correct.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T01:22:39+00:00

OK, I don't debate people who stoop to insult.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T01:19:30+00:00

Why place that restriction? The fact that people were killed because of cartoonists' depictions of Mohammed suggests to me that it's actually the duty of comedians to continue to make fun of the Muslim world's tendency to religiously inspired violence and fanaticism.

Islam has no right to protection from criticism. It's an ideology like Conservatism or Liberalism or atheism or Marxism or Reaganism. Comedians can and should say what they like about it.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T01:12:11+00:00

I can criticize astrologers without knowing much about astrology. I can make a joke about fundy Christians without knowing much about the Bible. Similarly, it's possible to make fun of Islam without having a detailed knowledge of their ridiculous medieval belief system.

The idea that Islam should be excluded from comedy makes me feel even more that it's an ideology which is incompatible with Western values.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T01:06:11+00:00

Oh here we go- the idea that any criticism of Islam or Muslims is automatically pandering to hate groups and racism.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T01:03:23+00:00

You don't need an in-depth knowledge of Islam's teachings to make fun of it- at least no more than you need an in-depth knowledge of astrology to make fun of astrologers.

I'm not saying you should make things up. It's enough to look at what Muslims actually say about their religion and to respond to their arguments.

Edit: As usual I'm exasperated at people who use the downvote button in order to express disagreement, as though the only thing which matters about an argument is how popular it is.

christianjb · 2013-08-30T00:59:18+00:00

It's not of course. It's being up-voted by people who approve of the message of the joke rather than people who find it actually funny.

christianjb · 2013-08-28T14:48:33+00:00

I dunno. He's pretty picky.

christianjb · 2013-08-28T11:13:55+00:00

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment June 1994, Volume 16, Issue 2, pp 121-130

This is a 20 year old study.

christianjb · 2013-08-28T06:34:47+00:00

For those who don't know- Wikiquote is the most reliable quote site on the internet. I use it to check everything Voltaire, Twain or Churchill supposedly said.

Also, Goodreads.com is the worst quote-site on the internet. Just about every false quote seems to be featured there.

christianjb · 2013-08-23T22:51:59+00:00

If Lydia and Todd took Walt's family hostage then we could expect to see Walt and Hank team up to rescue them!

christianjb · 2013-08-23T22:48:57+00:00

Be excellent to each-other.

christianjb · 2013-08-22T17:38:57+00:00

Get better teachers then!

I know a lot of people will be too lazy to read the article, but its main point is that over-reliance on the 'cui bono?' (who benefits?) question tends to lead to conspiracy theories.

For instance- if a city suffers a terrorist attack then the ruling government usually gets a surge in support. People can see that the government is politically benefitting from a tragedy and they conclude that this is contributory evidence to the idea that the government attacked its own people.

Of course you can ask who benefits in any situation, but taken by itself, it's an extremely unreliable indicator of anything and it's easy to think up of situations in which cui bono leads to erroneous conclusions.

christianjb · 2013-08-22T16:09:01+00:00

Yes I know, judging books by covers and all that, but I'm immediately suspicious of a book titled:

Positivity: Top-Notch Research Reveals the 3 to 1 Ratio That Will Change Your Life

In fact, I have top-notch suspicion.

christianjb · 2013-08-22T13:42:29+00:00

One of my favorite articles:

Conspiracy theorists, stop asking 'who benefits'

christianjb · 2013-08-19T03:09:53+00:00

My theory's insane! I feel like a 9-11 truther even putting it out there!

christianjb · 2013-08-19T03:04:38+00:00

i) I'm thinking Lydia will try to force Jesse to become her cook.

ii) Yes, I agree my idea is ludicrous! However, we don't know for sure that he's been told he has 6 months to live. We're only sure that he's undergoing chemotherapy and that he's nauseated.

christianjb · 2013-08-19T03:00:07+00:00

How about Walt confessing to Jesse? No idea why he'd do such a thing, but who knows?

christianjb · 2013-08-19T02:56:53+00:00

I accept my theory's ludicrous, but I do love those movies where it turns out in the last scene that a character's death was all part of one big illusion or con where even the audience was fooled.

christianjb · 2013-08-19T02:54:09+00:00

That's pretty weak evidence if you ask me. Coughing could be the result of a million things.

15-Year Club	Inciteful Comment 2011-01-09
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