The Freethinkers' Lounge

According to this quiz, I am a center-left social liberatarian.  That is a mouthful.

My Political Views
I am a center-left social libertarian
Left: 2.93, Libertarian: 6.65

Political Spectrum Quiz

Check it out if you haven't already.  Post your results.

Another quiz gave me a similar result, saying I would likely fit in with Democrats.  What an odd personal paradigm shift this is in the course of a few years.

Conservative/Progressive score: 11
Capitalist Purist/Social Capitalist score: 6
Libertarian/Authoritarian score: 2
Pacifist/Militarist score: 4

Disclaimer:  These are just quizzes.  Have fun.

I feel sorry for American Christians right now.  The diva Carrie Prejean is continually being trotted out by the media as some sort of admirable representative of Christian values, all while her behavior and sordid past continue to expose her as the spoiled, self serving, immature, hypocrite she is.  As a nonreligious member of society, I am ashamed and disappointed that segments of our culture are promoting and supporting this bimbo, but were I a Christian, I would be pissed at how she is being paraded around as a champion of "Christian family values."

For those who do support this woman, it is obvious their agenda has nothing to do with preserving Christian values, as she is, by their definitions, a sexual deviant.  Sure she has been apologizing for posing nude and (evidently) masturbating on camera, but her sincerity is questionable.  Are we to believe, in light of her behavior, she has honestly changed so much since her sexual escapades two years ago?  For those who love her, though, her time spent in amateur porn is irrelevant.  They do not truly care about preserving their sacred values so much as they care about promoting bigotry, and she unapologetically pursues that cause.  So long as she is willing to feed people their xenophobic Kool-Aid, they will cheer her and call it "sexual morality."

Prejean needs to grow up.  She needs to admit that she is an adult, and as an adult she made some decisions to engage in sexual behavior that violates the societal status quo—even though most everyone is involved in that sort of thing in one way or another, either as participants or spectators.  She should not apologize for engaging in that behavior because she does not owe us an apology.  She did nothing wrong in her erotic escapades, except at the point where she began touting her Christianity as if Biblical sexual morality is something she values.  Be consistent, Prejean, and admit that you are not sorry for what you did and that homosexuals should not be sorry for what they do.  Join us in the 21st century if you dare.

I will not hold my breath, though, as I imagine she will continue to fight for that false moral high ground alongside Bill Donahue, Ray Comfort, and Monica Dennington.

I remember a time not so long ago when educational television was legitimately educational and easy to find.  TLC, History Channel, and The Discovery Channel were all running respectable and entertaining programming which could effectively scratch the curious itch of those of us who woke up and decided we wanted to learn something that day.  Well those days sometimes seem long gone.

We All Need To Learn This

TLC was the first to go.  Its demise was set in stone as soon as it began running that horrible program Trading Spaces.  Soon they were running marathons of the runaway hit and looking to find more programming to appeal to the interior decorating audience.  Before long the entire line up of educational programming was abandoned for shows about wedding planning, gardening, home decorating, and fashion.  At least they had the good sense to stop calling themselves "The Learning Channel" once their network ceased to have any educational value.

History Channel Predicts Doom

A greater crime, however, began when the History channel began to cater almost exclusively to the "old men over fifty" [note] demographic.  Where the network once covered a plethora of historical topics, ranging from Egyptology to biographies to American history, the channel became almost exclusively focused on war.  The network incessantly aired hours upon hours of television about Vietnam, Korea, and the Civil and World Wars, occasional taking a breath to address Desert Storm and the Alamo.  Once their new audience was well established, they trotted out some Biblical shows which also appealed to the narrow demographic.  This set the stage for the apocalyptic programming as the Bible's Book of Revelation was paralleled with the "prophecies" of Nostradamus and Mayan astrology.  Now the History Channel has a bit of a broader scope than just war, but it is a scope filled with 2012 alarmism, Bible code quackery, and Shroud of Turin pseudoscience.  There is very little if any authentic information to be had here, but it overflows with bad information, enough to satiate even the most voracious conspiracy theorist or homeopath.

The Discovery Channel thankfully has maintained a degree of integrity, and its sister channel Discovery Health has some pretty good programming as well, but as time goes on and I see more and more pseudoscience creeping into the network, I fear its fall may inevitable.  The crap continues to draw ratings.

Unfortunately, we are left with only National Geographic, PBS, a teetering Discovery Channel, and an occasional piece from Animal Planet.  This may sound like a lot, but PBS is not a dedicated educational network, and National Geographic is not too widely available.  It is very common for me to look through the channel guide searching for something compelling and educational only to come up empty.

Casper

Well, it seems my woes will only grow from here.  If the backwards hogwash program Ghost Hunters has taught us anything, pseudoscience and the paranormal sell, and people will bend over backwards to avoid employing their critical thinking skills if it means they can continue to believe hauntings are real and the frauds at Ghost Hunters know how to find them.  I had the misfortune of learning from Skepticblog today—all love to them, of course—that a new network entirely dedicated to "investigating" paranormal activity will launch soon.  The Paranormal Television Network will be entirely dedicated to feeding the confirmation biases of the gullible masses who fail to ask themselves basic questions or bother investigating the legitimacy of the claims to which they are so dedicated.  If there is one thing we need in more of in our society, it is superstition.

People have been saying for years that television is mind-rotting cesspool, and I think the prophecy is becoming self fulfilling.  It is truly not the fault of the networks, though.  No, they have to air what draws in ratings, and when the masses demand nonsense, nonsense they will get while those of us on the fringe who care enough to think critically leave to find other venues of intellectual stimulation.

That may have come off a bit snobbish, but I do not care.  People need to learn how to think!

This is so controversial.

Leonid Meteor Shower

The Leonid Meteor Shower [1] [2] happens tomorrow, and I am stranded in a big city doing school work.  This would have been a great opportunity to pull out the telescope, but alas, my other obligations do not permit me to do so.

The best time for gazing is between 2 A.M and 4 A.M. EST.  I will try to look up through the city lights in hopes of seeing something.  I can occasionally make out stars in Atlanta when the temperature is sufficiently low, so perhaps I will see some of the Leonid shower through the bright city lights.

NASA has a peak visibility report available if you want to take a look.