Playing God

(Yes. Title from latest Paramore. Don't get why all the hype though. It's good but not great to me. Maybe it's a Twilight type thing. Speaking of which, a forty plus year old lady was reading Breaking Dawn on the train. Oh My! It is the end of literature!)

This is an embarrassing attempt by a believer to defend religion.

A plague of atheists has descended, and Catholics are the target

Seriously. How can something like that match up to the likes of Dawkins, Hitchens or Singer?
The article is written by Greg Cravens, Vice Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University.
I honestly feel sorry for Catholics and students of that university. His credibility is gone. I doubt any believers themselves would think that the article would do them justice.

Since you are unlikely to read the article, I'll show you some of the comedy.
He started off with:
"Attacking Christians is not really clever, witty or funny."

but apparently attacking atheists is.
Why would anyone start an essay with that but go out of your way to try to be funny in their essay? Oh, hypocrisy!

Now for my favourite part:
"This is not to say that believers - and perhaps especially Catholics - do not get seriously irritated by atheists. They do, but not because atheists are fearfully clever or Wildely funny."

So he thinks Wilde is funny. Oh my, wait, Oscar Wilde? The atheist? HAHAHA!
Hypocrisy or misinformed?
Not to mention that in itself is a lame attempt at trying to be funny.

Next, for the most disgusting part:
"In an average week of atheistic bigotry in the Melbourne media, we can expect to learn that Catholics endorse child molestation, hate all other religions, would re-introduce the crusades and the auto de fe at the slightest opportunity, despise women, wish to persecute homosexuals, greedily divert public moneys for their own religious purposes, subvert public health care, brainwash children, and are masterminding the spread of the cane toad across northern Australia."

He brushed those claims aside just like that. He rather devote his essay to unsuccessful attempt at wit, which he says isn't cool.
Let's see, Catholic sex abuse cases. Oh, not much, just an entire Wikipedia article about it. Let's not count the ones for each country. He offered no solution, no apology, nothing. As though it was not an important matter. Maybe he's part of it. Like wise for all the other "sins" he mentioned. No solution, just as though they weren't true. Only an idiot will think atheists made those facts up. Who's against Gay Rights? Who's against Feminist Rights?

Let me remind you, the upcoming atheists convention in Melbourne in 2010 (largest ever in Australia, which is what sparked the increased number of debate between atheists and believers lately) is funded entirely privately. World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney cost the government $185 million.

What's fair? You tell me.

If believers want to be taken seriously, they ought to come up with better arguments. So far, I have yet to witness a believer defeating a non-believer in one of these debates on religion. Either it's ignorance, or just not as intelligent. I think the former, they aren't stupid.

Believers, if you got this far, don't get me wrong. Most atheists don't hate you. We simply do not like you imposing your believes on to us. Public money in a secular country should be spent without the interference of religion. Islamic country can spend it on Islamic activity, it makes sense, but not secular country. If you want to practice your religion, do so, but don't impose it on others. You don't see atheists attacking Buddhism.


Your friendly atheist,
TY

Down Boy

Trapped girls raised alarm on Facebook

I am lost for words. The internet generation is indeed disturbing.


TY

Heal The World

I am not a part of Generation X. I am a part Generation Y. Hence Michael Jackson wasn't exactly a staple of my generation. But which kid who grew up in the 90s and 00s and had access to TV and the internet would never have heard of Michael Jackson, the Moonwalk, or seen the music video of Thriller? He isn't the main course in my childhood culture but he certainly was there. Ever present. Kids in school imitated his dance moves, his music would come on the radio and, who could've missed the allegations against him, not once, but twice?

But there was something more important, something worth more publicity, about Michael Jackson, that many never knew. His altruism. If altruism exist, it was Michael Jackson.

It wasn't until the events of late stirred me to read up about Michael Jackson that I discovered this charitable side of him.He had done so much for the greater good of humanity that I don't know where to start.

Firstly, his music. Humanity and human suffering have constantly been a prominent feature of his music. How many pop stars sing about the state of the world more than they do love songs that rarely mean anything? His efforts in the production of We Are The World had a profound impact in promoting awareness, perhaps rivaled only by Bob Geldof's Do They Know It's Christmas. Man In the Mirror, Heal The World and Beat It were all inspirational.

Secondly, his charitable donations. Michael Jackson was inducted into the Guiness Book of World Record in 2000 for the "most charities supported by a pop star". How many can claim that accolade? Only one. Many of those charities were at the verge of collapsing when he helped them. On top of that, in 1992, despite allegations against him, he staged the Dangerous World Tour, where all profits from the tour were donated to charity. All. He played 69 shows around the world, often requiring painkillers to get through them, all for charity. How many pop stars have done that? More importantly, how many will? I hope more will be inspired by him to do so.

Additionally, he founded the Heal The World Foundation. His aim was to heal the world, one person at a time. Needless to say, the 2003 allegations against him caused the foundation to take beating. It lost its tax exempt status, and its operations grind to a halt. However, as of 2008, the foundation has undergone restructuring and is now back. Jackson's untimely death would no doubt be a bump in the foundation's road to recovery, but let's hope it can continue his legacy.

Besides that, he has done numerous other good deeds. He often voiced out on issues concerning humanity, he bridged racial barriers, he visited hospitals and underprivileged homes. He truly gave humanity all he had.

Here is one man. Perhaps the greatest entertainer ever lived. He loved performing. Not for the money, but for the fans. A dancer and a musician whose talents are almost unrivaled. Every time he was knocked down, he came back up. The This Is It tour was to be yet another evidence of that. But above all, one man who gave everything he had for humanity. A man who had a dream, a dream to Heal The World. The world did not only lose the greatest pop star ever, but lost one of the greatest humanitarian to have graced the earth. Here's to hoping his legacy carries on. Let's start with the Man In The Mirror.


TY


As an aside, I thought the memorial yesterday was a very fitting farewell. Perhaps the most apt among the words by friends and families were those of Sharpton, to Jackson's kids.
"There were nothing strange about your daddy, it was strangeness that your daddy had to deal with, but he dealt with it."

Working Class Hero

US Congress passes 3.5-trillion-dollar budget plan

Finally, someone who sees the importance of health care and education. Now, Fidel Castro isn't such an idiot after all is he?'


TY

Space Oddity

I have a rather peculiar perception of the world. (That's not the revelation, knew that 32 millenniums ago.) But only today did I realise that, whenever I meet someone new, I have no interest whatsoever in things like where the person lives*, what the person does for a living, where the person is from or how many cars does the person have. Instead, I'm more interested in what the person likes or their thoughts on things.

It happens rather subconsciously. I'd much rather talk about their favourite writer or TV show than the fame and fortune they acquired last year. But now that I've given it some thought, it seems to make sense. I've never really been interested in all these material goods society seem to place so much importance on. Which explains it. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, I'm interested in what the person is, and not what the person has.

And this makes things rather difficult. Because as we all know, people like to talk about themselves. But unfortunately, the societal norm would much rather talk about what they have than what they are.

Perhaps this is why I am so anti-social.

Just to fit in. Oh, just to fit in.


On a related note(which might have contributed to my revelation), I highly recommend Oscar Wilde's essay called The Soul of Man Under Socialism. Print it out. Read it. Or just read it from there if trees are your thing. Well worth your half and hour or so. And no, it is not about communism. Don't be deterred from reading it just because of what you think it's about. The man is a genius.

For the record, I'm not an anarchist either.

And I'm done with Catch-22. Awesome, awesome book. Ought to review it later. Now on to Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. Oh and I don't know why, but the pages of this book smells really nice. Even from reading distance away. None of the books from the library has smelt good thus far.
Also wondering what people think about Oasis's latest album. I have yet to check it out despite being an Oasis fan. So What's the story, morning glory?


* Sometimes I do like to ask about where people live for the sake of car-pooling or to have a new train buddy. But it has never crossed my mind to do so for the sake of class-categorising.


TY

Far Gone And Out

I suspect this will be a long post. Haven't written in a while after all. The main theme for this post would be my view of humanity and my new approach to life.

You remember the scandal about that Singaporean MP's daughter's blogpost? Nevermind if you don't, here's a blog post about it, to fill you in on the details.

Anyway, that clearly shows the stupidity of the higher classes. Firstly, It's amazing how she criticises the poor dude on his English, yet aptly enough, she has no idea how to use capital letters. Not for names, not for the first letter of sentences. Smart kid. Secondly, I wonder if the girl knows that her dad is a member of PAP, a socialist party. She advocated for Darwinism so openly I wonder if she even knows anything about politics. Yet, happily enough, she dares touch on the topic of politics. Kids from Raffles Junior College aren't exactly very bright after all are they? The only thing she seems to be an elite at is making a fool of herself.

Well now for the best part, her dad defended her and her far right capitalist view. It's forgivable if the kid doesn't know PAP is a socialist party, but the dad? The person in the party himself? Genius. Absolute genius. And guess what? Wikipedia tells me her dad is from Raffle Institution, the top school in Singapore. Oh and Imperial College too. Top school, top univeristy. Not very smart though. Not bright at all. To top it all off, he wasn't fired or forced to resign, which allows me to conclude that Singaporeans have very different definition to "smart" than I do. Apparently everybody shared his views. The Socialist International should really revoke PAP's membership.

Fuck hypocrites.

I don't even know why there were so much debate about elitism after that incident. They don't look or sound very "elite" to me. Not the slightest bit. My dumbfuck mind can point out their stupidity in 2 seconds. If that's elite, I must be Einstein's reincarnation. Dumbfuckism would have been more appropriate. Since dumbfucks think they're superior.

Comes to show how society these days, are defined by the rich and powerful(not smart). They define what is "normal" and what is "elite". To paraphrase Gregory House "You see, skinny, socially privilege people, gets to draw this neat little circle, where everyone inside is normal. Everyone outside the circle should broken, beaten and reset, so that they can be brought into the circle. Failing that, they should be institutionalised. Or worse, pitied."

If you don't get where I'm coming from, read The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger and Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. The latter is also a major motion picture now. Watch it if you don't want to read it.

All this has made me give up on humanity. Humanity is dominated by selfish, ignorant, power hungry, STUPID and egotistic people. And I see no way back for it. It is going downhill, and it is irreversible. I am now officially a misanthrope. But no, I am not going to commit suicide, instead, I am going to embrace HEDONISM.

So to all my hedonistic friends out there, I'm sure there are plenty, this is to you(and now me, too).
“My doctor says that I have a malformed public duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes.”
-Douglas Adams

Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll, don't care about anything else you think you know.


TY

Shine A Light

PARIS HILTON'S LATEST STUNT!!!

Oh My God! Like so Totally Hot!



Hah, suckers! I bet I had 2 extra clicks on that link than I usually would get thanks to my "stunt".

Good article though, Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision Australia, writes brilliantly about what I've tried unsuccessfully to write about in more than a 100 posts now.

You really shouldn't blame your boyfriend for treating you as an "object" rather than a person if you idolise Paris Hilton.

Hopefully she turned up on time for the New Year's countdown. I don't think there were many Sydneysiders sober enough to accompany her for the countdown to the first 1am in 2009.

Anyway, I haven't been writing in a while because I didn't have anything to write about. Lately I've been doing lots of reading and watching lots of DVDs, and that's about it. I'd like to mention one book in particular though, as it brings a glimmer of hope back to humanity, despite the world being dominated by people like Paris Hilton. It's aptly titled too.

The Hospital by The River : A Story of Hope

by Catherine Hamlin

Here's the Amazon page.

If you're lazy enough to click on that, it's a story about a husband and wife, both gynaecologists, that took up a job in Ethiopia back in the 50s, and eventually staying on there and establishing the world's first Fistula Hospital. It is an entirely free hospital that is sustained mostly by donations.

The first few chapters are rather boring but once they get to Ethiopia, the story was just amazing. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Africa, especially Ethiopia, as it does have quite a bit about Ethiopia in general and life over there, not just about the hospital.

In other news, I have been considering starting another blog. Not to replace this one, but in addition to this. To write perhaps, about my academic life. But so far the decision is leaning more towards "no", as I feel selfish occupying a blog address for one post a year - hardly anything interesting about molecules and bacterias.

Anyway, the blog title comes from a song of The Rolling Stones, which is also the title of a Martin Scorsese film that follows a gig of The Rolling Stones' themselves in 2006. Truly amazing film/gig. I ought to dedicate an entire post to one of the greatest Rock N' Roll bands of all time sometime soon.


TY

The REAL Slim Shady

Grab your left, make your right one jealous.
-Eminem

I am pretty sure the political connotations in that quote was intentionally meant by Em.
Ah, another reason to love Em, he's a leftist too, not surprising though.

Now, you can stay at the train station with your cigarettes and beer, but I have to go save the cheerleader, save the world.


TY

Cocaine

I had an epiphany(or enlightenment or thought or whatever you want to call it) earlier today about entitlements.

It seems that we Generation Y have moved on from merely taking things for granted to thinking we are entitled to many things. I'm not saying that this does not happen among other generations but it seems far more prevalent in Generation Y, and I'm not the only one that thinks so.

It goes from simple things like thinking we are entitled to the right of way while driving just because it's green to thinking that we are entitled to our parents paying for our higher education. And I'm sure, when the time comes, we'd all think that we are entitled to our parents' possessions as well.

I think we Generation Y are not ready to shoulder the responsibilities of the world yet but it seems that we should be(you can tell that the baby boomers can't even count money anymore). So perhaps we should start by taking on more responsibilities and not take it that we are entitled to anything.

Some day to day events that I think you would find useful. I did.

• Do not think that you are entitled to the road just because it's green for you. Have a look left and right before you go. Baby boomers' eyesight aren't exactly getting better anymore. Also, give way to emergency services that are on an emergency mission, move aside, slow down, stop.
• Regardless of whether your parents have the money or not, do not expect them to pay for your education. Look for a loan, scholarship, job etc.
• Stop thinking that you are entitled to allowance. Don't ask for it, get your own money.
• Stop believing that the previous generation will pass down the world to you in one piece, learn about how they are destroying it so that you could fix it when you need to.
• Stop thinking that just because there is a shortage in your profession you are entitled to a job.

That's all I can think off for now.

Oh and this is a prelude to an essay I'm currently writing, on "Generation Y". I might or might not post it here. I'll see.

In other news,
Sienna Miller is now my latest favourite girl. So hot. Love her Edie Sedgwick accent on Factory Girl and her British accent on Layer cake. Sorry Scarlett.

Note: Apologies for the terrible sentence structure and broken grammar. Not exactly in a grammar-ry mood.

TY

City of The Dead

You shouldn't be surprised by the ignorance level of many city folks. It really isn't hard to believe many aren't aware of current happenings around the world, or important histories, or rather, common and important histories that are actually making a huge impact on them and society at large.

Don't believe me? Go around and find someone that doesn't know there is a Global Financial Crisis going on. Or someone who doesn't know that the man who killed thousands in the Middle-east and tortured hundreds in Guantanamo Bay will finally be replaced.

What worries me isn't the ignorance of society, but rather the ignorance of people in my generation, the generation that the future depends on. They seem to be so caught up in the material culture that they care more about what is Paris Hilton going to do next than the billions(not a typo) starving around the world.

True, they might be selfish and couldn't be bothered more by these people starving. But, shouldn't they at least find out who their Prime Minister/President is, or the Finance Minister, or if they're in the healthcare profession, the Health Minister(you should care even if you're not in the profession, after all, you need healthcare too right)? Sure, they know the names of these people, but do they know anything more than just the name? Their background? What do they have planned? Credentials?

Enough wordy stuff, feeling adventurous, I'm going to spontaneously come up with a quiz for you to self-test your ignorance. Let's see. (For best result, complete without consulting google/wikipedia)

1. Name the current British Prime Minister.

2. What is the current population of China? 2 significant figures will do.

3. In what year did the Berlin Wall fall?

4. What is the most significant global event of 1929?

5. What is the name of the device that scientist claim can create small black holes? Hint: 3 words

6. How does a nation gain automatic qualification for the Football World Cup?

7. Name the current United Nations Secretary General.

8. Name the African country that has been on the news lately due to internal war.

9. How many planets are there in the Sun's(our) Solar System?

10. What religion is the Vatican City significant for?

11. Name the current President of Zimbabwe.


I'm too lazy to provide answers, it's all over google anyway. Maybe I'll put it in the comment tommorow. Just a tip, number 11 was purely for entertainment purposes. The bastards are still fighting for that post over there while the rest of the country experience starvation, economic crisis, never-seen-before inflation, Cholera epidemic and billionaires who can't afford bread.

So, how many did you get out of ten?


TY

I'm So Sorry

Firstly, to the guy/girl that voted on my pathetic poll, thank you. I have since decided that I will start writing about 2 of those issues, War and Global Health, since I have been reading a lot on these 2 topics lately anyway. And I believe many issues within them require a little "putting into perspective", as the media has been wrongly portraying these issues.

As you should know already, even if you are more ignorant than I am, these are extremely broad topics. You could do a degree on each. So each of the 2 topics will be covered over several posts and even then I'll be choosing specific topics to write on. For war, I'll be focusing on the more recent wars such as the Gulf War, Rwandan Genocide and maybe Iraq War, Afghan War and the latest Congo conflict. It will be unlikely that I will cover much of WW II. For Global Health, my main focus would be on Healthcare systems around the world, as well as maybe, depending on how much I can read, epidemics and health in developing countries.

Oh and I will start in a couple of days(bout 4), when I am done reading about evolution, for exam sake. It's a wonder how little I know about my ancestors.

Now for the main part of this post. I would like to talk about religious beliefs. You might or might not know that I am an Atheist, and have no intention whatsoever to convert to any religion. But here's the thing, I try my best to respect every religion, from Islam to Scientology. I generally do not like to discuss religion, as people get way too sensitive about it, and as you can see I rarely, if ever, crack a joke about religion, even if people around me do. Many racial jokes, all with no bad intentions, but none on religion. This, in fact, is the first post on this blog that I chose to discuss religion.

Just so you know, I do not mean to offend anyone with my views here, or to convert you with my thinking, but I believe I have a strong point to make. My particular qualm here is with "forcing your beliefs on to others". You see I respect your religion, and I hope you respect mine(or the lack thereof). I'd just like to add that, I am very grateful that the majority of my friends thus far have been very respectful of my beliefs, or perhaps I dissociate myself from those who do not. Hence, this is not a generalisation, but is only directed to the minority who are so narrow-minded they do not deserve that brain size of theirs that evolution has gifted Homo Sapiens(from my textbook, we have a larger brain than our ancestors).

In particular, I cannot accept the statement "If you do not believe in God/convert to Christianity, you will go to Hell," or its other variants.

I hope this isn't from the Bible(I don't read it, so I don't know), or from other religious books(New/Old Testament). And I believe it isn't. It is simply a misinterpretation of it.

This phrase is flawed on so many levels that if you use it, you will only demonstrate your stupidity to all those around you at that point of time(refer to brain size comment above).

I will not need to list out all those flaws, you wouldn't like to read it either. I'll just ask those who do use the phrase one simple question.

If I do not believe in God/Christianity, what makes you think I believe in the existence of heaven and hell in the first place?

If that does not justify not using the phrase, Darwin says you should "Jump".

Lastly, I'd like to say that, religious beliefs are not required for a person to be "good". Intentions are what matters. Spiritual beings are only there to guide us, not move us. Forcing your beliefs on to others will only make you a hypocrite, as I believe many religions stand for freedom. Freedom of belief, includes the word freedom. If you do not believe in Freedom of belief, may I please ask you not to complain when your government limits your freedom of speech in whatever country you may be in.

Now, this is not meant to disrespect Holy figures, as there are many that I highly respect and have done the world more good than I ever would be able to, even if given 9 lives, but as before, only to the minority who I consider "misled". It is to those who think that their sole purpose on this earth is to "force their beliefs on to others", to spread the faith. What good will it bring, may I ask? Do they think by doing so, they will bring more good to this world than a poor guy/girl that risk their life trying to find a solution to starvation, trying to reduce child mortality, trying to bring an end to poverty? I hope they do know that even a scientist who has a minor breakthrough, or an environmentalist is saving more lives than them.

I recommend the movie The Cider House Rules. Have a look at the Doctor that works at the orphanage, and his stance on abortion(or the lack thereof).

Oscar Wilde(hehe, again), got it all right.
"We are not sent into the world to air our moral prejudices."
If God sent you on to this earth to "force your beliefs onto others", he wouldv'e just as easily made the whole world believe in Him.

Of cause, by agreeing with Wilde I am being a hypocrite, but that is one thing no one is free from, right?

As to why I am an Atheist and wish to remain so, it would take another post of similar length to explain, and I do not see the need for it. After all, MY beliefs are MY beliefs.

Thank you. Looking forward to more important and more intellectually stimulating issues. Back to spider catching.

The Concept

From now on, I'll be writing more about social issues, world happenings and "systems" around the world. I would say that I'm doing so for the sake of creating awareness among people, but really, who believes in all these altruistic act. I just thought, in order to write about them, I first have to read about them, and hence, but writing about them, I'm essentially educating myself.

I apologise if you are overly ignorant, because that would most likely render you incapable of understanding most things that I will be writing about. But fear not, if you are one of those who ARE ignorant, but wishes NOT tostay ignorant, I will try my best to go back to basics, but often I cannot go into too much details so I will try to put up links to articles, mainly by my best friend, but also some others that I think are worth reading. That means, you have to be prepared to do a whole lot of reading. After all, it's the knowledge era isn't it?

And since I am not Leonardo Da Vinci, I do not have an interest in knowing about everything, so I will be covering some issues in more detail, some in less, some more often, others not at all. But feel free to leave a comment* if you have some issues** you'd like my view on. At the moment, the few issues I have a particular interest for and would be discussing are:
War
Humanitarian Aid
Capitalism/Socialism
Healthcare systems
Global health
Biomedical Issues

In light of this, I have created a poll to the right of this page, purely for decorative purposes, feel free to use it. If there are issues you'd like me to discuss but are not on the poll, like I said, leave a comment on any of the recent posts. I have an average of 0.02 comment(s) a week so I read them all.


* I will not be allowing anonymous comments anytime soon. I believe people should take responsibility for what they write online, not hide behind their computers and comment like a 12 year old(or worse). However, I am open to criticism, just not the childish ones.

** By that I mean issues affecting millions of people around the world, not your personal issues, but I'd be happy to talk about that too, if you insist.


TY