Censorship

‘No God’ campaign upsets Christians

January 8, 2009

Not really a a surprise there then. This is one of those delicious ironies that crop up from time to time where some idiot is completely unaware of just how ridiculous they sound. To give a bit of background, comedian Ariane Sherine in Britain dreamed up a campaign of bus ads proclaiming,

“THERE’S PROBABLY NO GOD. NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE”

(Image from smh.com.au)

The campaign was backed by serial atheist Richard Dawkins and funds were required. Asking for 5,500 pounds sterling, they actually raised well over 100,000 and the campaign went into full swing. And then the Christians started moaning. The campaign organisers must be loving it – you can’t get better advertising than some religious body complaining about your work. In this case it’s Christian Voice, a plainly fundamentialist group of fools that think they speak for Christians by “analysing current events in the light of scripture”.

But the issue is not one of atheism or religiosity. It’s one of free speech. These Christians would fight for their right to advertise their ministry, but what’s good for them is not good for anyone else apparently. And that’s where the truly ridiculous comments start to come in.

Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said:

“There is plenty of evidence for God, from people’s personal experience, to the complexity, interdependence, beauty and design of the natural world.
“But there is scant evidence on the other side, so I think the advertisers are really going to struggle to show their claim is not an exaggeration or inaccurate, as the ASA code puts it.”

Yes. He really said that. Apparently, there is ample evidence for God but “scant evidence” that there’s “probably no god”. Why are these people so fragile?

I think that Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, has a handle on it when he says:

“I am sure that Stephen Green really does think there is a great deal of evidence for a God (though presumably only the one that he believes in), but I pity the ASA if they are going to be expected to rule on the probability of God’s existence.”

I’ll be watching this story for more entertainment.

Church excommunicates author

By alan

November 30, 2008

I read about this today over at David B Coe’s weblog. It’s truly astounding. Various churches around the world never cease to amaze me with their antics, but this is one of the best ones for a while.

Author Jeremy F Lewis wrote a novel called Staked. The book deals with vampires and werewolves and all sorts of murder and mayhem. And love finally triumphing over all I expect. That’s pure speculation on my part, but it fits the paradigm.

Anyway, Jeremy’s non-denominational church (<– oxymoron alert) has decided that, according to the author himself, ‘by writing the book, I committed the sins contained within it. They also felt that I’d aimed the novel at young children (which boggles the mind) and that it teaches and encourages the use of vulgar language. Though I disagree wholeheartedly with their decision, I can’t really say they took the action they took in order to be mean… they appear to have been acting out of genuine concern.’

Sure, it’s probably not meanness. It’s astoundingly stupid and self-righteous. The church actually told Jeremy to renounce his book and stop promoting it and, when he refused, they “withdrew fellowship”. Jeremy says that this wasn’t exactly excommunication but it amounts to pretty much the same thing.

Unbelievable holy bullshit strikes again. The most vocal religious people really are the worst marketing team for religion. David Coe says on his blog “out of respect for Jeremy and consideration of the church itself, I won’t publish the church’s name here”. Well, I wish I could find out what church it was, because I’d happily name the idiots. You would think a church, based on the “teachings” of the most successful fantasy novel of all time, would recognise fiction. Then again, maybe that’s exactly the point. They obviously don’t. In the same way that Jesus really did rise from the dead and absolve us of our sins, Jeremy Lewis really is a foul mouthed, sex crazed vampire that fights werewolves. Or something.

Anyway, the upshot of all this, of course, is publicity that Jeremy Lewis could never have dreamed of. Once again the church manages to achieve exactly the opposite of its aims. I’d never heard of Jeremy Lewis before, or his novel Staked. Now I’m very well aware of it and so is everyone else thanks to the wonderful power of the internet. Way to go, Jeremy – I hope you sell a million books on the back of this. And who would want to be a member of such an idiotic organisation as this “non-denominational church” anyway.

Here is Jeremy’s website and here is Staked at Amazon.

Further information regarding ISP filtering

By alan

November 26, 2008

Following yesterday’s post about GetUp! getting behind a petition against the government’s proposed ISP filtering, here’s some corroborating info from our ABC. It’s written by someone that works with an ISP, so there could be a perception of bias, but all you need to do is check the facts.

Here’s the article.

GetUp! petition against ISP filtering

By alan

November 26, 2008

GetUp! is turning out to be a very powerful organisation that has been campaigning against all kinds of things that are really worth campaigning against. Draconian laws in the “war” on terror, antigay laws, infringement on civil liberties and so on. They now have a petition up against ISP filtering. Get on board and add your voice.

Hat tip: Evolving Thoughts.

Obscenity arrest over Manga comics

By alan

November 25, 2008

You thought the Bill Henson “scandal” over here was a bit of an overkill? Sure, I find his images morally questionable, being that they are actual photographs of naked children, but this poor bastard is facing five years for reading a Manga comic: Christopher Handley and the obscenity trial – via Neil Gaiman’s blog.

And on a completely unrelated note, but a very interesting one, slashdot is reporting that robot soliders would be better than human ones. Not the obvious, being better at fighting and surviving, but actually more ethical. It’s a pretty solid argument when you think about it. Plus, if both sides were using robots, it could look pretty funny, given that robots currently look like this:

asimo and usb robot Obscenity arrest over Manga comics

When they should really look more like this:

terminator robot Obscenity arrest over Manga comics

Also from slashdot recently we have other scientific news that reminds us that science fiction isn’t all about the future any more, in the form of nanotech fabric that can’t get wet and the ethical question of whether or not we should clone neanderthals, simply because we can. I’m reminded of that great line in the first Jurassic Park movie where Jeff Goldblum’s character observes, “Everybody was so busy wondering if they could, they didn’t stop to think whether or not they should.” I paraphrase as I can’t be bother checking the exact quote.

Anyway, I’d say there are plenty of neanderthals still around, like the arsehole that stole the number plate and rego off my bike at the weekend. Come on, scientists, bring back something cool like a sabre toothed tiger.

The Evil Dead – Ultimate Edition

By alan

September 27, 2008

I remember first seeing The Evil Dead so many years ago and thinking it was awesome. I recently came across a DVD for sale that touted itself as the Ultimate Edition. It has two discs, with loads of extras and all sorts of goodies.

I haven’t got around to checking out all the extras yet, but I did sit and watch the movie again yesterday. Man, what a great film. This is something that is a true cult classic; it’s even spawned a musical. The effects are pretty ordinary, but it was made in 1981. The story might seem cliched watching it now, but at the time it wasn’t.

Written and directed by Sam Raimi, it’s a fantastic effort for a first movie. It propelled Bruce Campbell to absolute stardom and spawned sequels every bit as good as the first. Interestingly, the sequels are more camp and funny than the original. It struck me while I was watching it that it’s actually a pretty scary movie. The comedy, which is very evident in the sequels, isn’t so obvious here. There are some really toe curling gore moments (such as the pencil in the ankle – not just stabbed, but really ground around in there) and some truly spooky moments with good jumps. And, as fas as I know, the only tree rape ever committed to film (which was banned in some places).

The whole thing centres around the Necronomicon, the Book of the Dead. Originally this concept surfaced in H P Lovecraft stories, supposedly written by the “Mad Arab” Abdul Alhazred, and was subsequently referenced in other fiction. Lovecraft greatly approved of this development of his ideas, calling it “a background of evil verisimilitude.” In one of those fantastic examples of fiction becoming “fact”, there are people out there now that consider that there really is something called the Necronomicon, with many booksellers being asked if they stock it or can order it. Do some web searching and you’ll come across some really entertaining stuff.

necronomicon1 The Evil Dead Ultimate Edition

The Necronomicon (one version of it anyway). Supposedly written in human blood and bound in human flesh.

And check out the imdb trivia page about the movie here. Some really funny stuff on there. If you’re a fan of this genre, check out the movie again. The claymation effects and dodgy make-up are dated, but it’s still an absolute classic.

Muslims demand murder of Knighted author

By alan

June 19, 2007

“If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honour of the prophet Muhammad, his act is justified.”

Yes, that’s right. Adherents to the so-called religion of Peace are at it again. The quote above was from the Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister, Mohammad Ejaz-ul-Haq in response to the Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday honours list for the author Salman Rushdie. Ejaz-ul-Haq also said, “The West always wonders about the root cause of terrorism. Such actions are the root cause of it.”

So, Knighting a writer for his outstanding contribution to world literature is justification for the murder of innocent civilians that had nothing to do with the book, the Knighthood, the religion that claims to be affronted or anything else remotely connected. Sounds like more barbarian chest beating to me from people desperate to justify their violence. Then again, what do you expect from a religion that has world domination as a central tenet?

The Pakistani parliament passed a unanimous resolution deploring Rushdie’s honour as an insult to the feelings of the world’s Muslims. Rushdie spent around a decade in hiding after the Ayatollah Khomeini denounced his book The Satanic Verses as an insult to Islam and the prophet Muhammad and issued a fatwa calling for his murder. In 1998, when the Iranian government said that it would not support the outstanding fatwa, Rushdie emerged from hiding. Now there are fears for his safety all over again. Apparently Ejaz-ul-Haq was later forced to clarify his statement and claimed that he was speaking about the wider causes of terrorism and not of Sir Salman specifically. Yeah. Sure.

rushdie Muslims demand murder of Knighted author
Salman Rushdie

According to the Sydney Morning Herald:

On Monday Pakistan’s religious parties ordered supporters onto the streets of two provincial cites. Effigies of the Queen and Sir Salman were burned while some protesters chanted “Kill him, kill him.”

rushdieflagburn Muslims demand murder of Knighted author
Brainless idiots jump at the chance to burn another flag. (Pic from smh.com.au)

Pakistan’s lower house Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, said, “This is a source of hurt for Muslims and will encourage people to commit blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammad.” It’s ironic that he doesn’t consider calling for the murder of someone for a book they wrote some kind of blashpemy against all humanity. After all, is it not written in the “holy koran” “when you kill one human, you kill all of humanity”? Of course, as usual, religious zealots are picking and choosing what suits their current agenda as they have little else to occupy their feeble minds. There are even those that consider non-Muslims to be less than human and apostates even worse.

The Iranian foreign ministry’s director for Europe, Ebrahim Rahimpour, said, “The British government’s insulting, suspicious and ill-considered act is an obvious sign of Islamophobia which has terribly hurt the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims.” What a load of bollocks. Has he asked all 1.5 billion Muslims? I’m sure the large majority of them consider statements like that far more damaging than anything Salman Rushdie has ever written.

Bible in a plain wrapper

By alan

May 17, 2007

I’m going to be away for a week or so, on a well deserved little holiday, so don’t be surprised if things are a bit quiet around here. However, before I go, I thought I’d leave you with this bit of entertaining news via Reuters in Hong Kong:

More than 800 Hong Kong residents have called on authorities to reclassify the Bible as “indecent” due to its sexual and violent content, following an uproar over a sex column in a university student journal.

If this was to go through, the Bible would only be available to over-eighteens in a sealed wrapper. Not a bad idea when you think about it. It helps to avoid the unconsented indoctrination of the young. I vote for all religious texts to be put in a brown paper bag and kept away from kids. Perhaps they should only be allowed to be read by people of high school age or older and only if they take religious education classes.

And religious education is not Christian studies or Muslim studies or anything like that. It means study of religions, plural. All of them. Let the kids learn about all the religions in the world and make up their own mind about what they think. How progressive.

The Hong Kong complaints follow the launch of an anonymous Web site called truthbible.net which claims that the Bible “made one tremble” given its sexual and violent content, including rape and incest. The website bears this banner along the top:

warning Bible in a plain wrapper

The English translations reads:

LEGAL DISCLAIMER WARNING: THIS WEBSITE CONTAINS BIBLE MATERIAL WHICH MAY OFFEND AND MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED, CIRCULATED, SOLD, HIRED, GIVEN , LENT, SHOWN, PLAYED OR PROJECTED TO A PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF 18 YEARS.

OK, no under-eighteens, we get it.

Interestingly, local protestant minister, Reverend Wu Chi-Wai, said, “If there is rape mentioned in the Bible, it doesn’t mean it encourages those activities.”

Yeah, right. Just like it doesn’t encourage belief in a magic Jew that was his own father and died for our sins. And it doesn’t encourage people to “bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.” (Deuteronomy 17). Just like the Koran doesn’t encourage the conversion or extermination of all infidels as in IX. 5-6: “Kill those who join other gods with God wherever you may find them.”

I think those folks in Hong Kong are onto something. We should give all holy texts an MA rating.

Scrotum defended

By alan

April 16, 2007

In a quick update to the previous post here on The Word about the use of the word scrotum in a children’s book, I have to share the words of the author herself. In an article she wrote in the LA Times in response to the whole ridiculous controversy, Susan Patron eloquently and plainly states a powerful case. In particular, this paragraph stood out to me:

Of course, adults are right to fear a word in a book, although not, as in this instance, because it names a body part. They are right in the implied assumption that books have enormous power and influence. Children who read widely understand more about the world; they have a foundation for making better decisions. They think, and because of that, they may even challenge their parents’ beliefs. For some, a scary idea, but isn’t a thinking child preferable to one who accepts the world at face value and has no aim to change it for the better?

I have a new hero. Read the entire article here.

Scrotum, a word too far for kids?

By alan

April 11, 2007

Susan Patron was on a roll. An author and librarian, she wrote a book for nine to twelve year olds called The Higher Power Of Lucky. It got a decent print run of 10,000 copies to start off with. Then it won the Newbury Medal, considered to be the most prestigious literary award for Children’s Literature in the US. Another 100,000 copies were quickly printed and rushed out.

poweroflucky Scrotum, a word too far for kids?
The Higher Power Of Lucky

Then all hell broke loose. Why? Because she had the outrageous gall to use a real word. The word in question is scrotum. By anyone’s standards that’s a good word. It’s got substance to it. Patron describes it beautifully in the book:

“Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much. It sounded medical and secret, but also important.”

The word appears on the first page, but the book is about Lucky preparing herself to be a grown-up, Ms. Patron said. Learning about language and body parts is very important to her. She overhears the word through a hole in the wall when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog on the scrotum. (Man, that’s bad luck for the dog!)

Scrotum, a word too far for kids?
Susan Patron. She writes words like scrotum!

Naturally, people have thrown a fit about the book and it has already been banned from school libraries in some states in the South, the West and the Northeast. Librarians in other schools have suggested that they may well follow suit. It’s been a hot topic among librarians online since the book was initially shipped. Am I the only one that gets some perverse pleasure out of imagining evangelical librarians in a state of frothing horror, running around in circles screaming, “Scrotum! No!”? Then again, I’m sure that’s not exactly what they’re doing. They’re probably not actually frothing yet.

People are concerned about the vocabulary lessons that would result from reading this book to kids. Why?

“Sir, what’s a scrotum?”

“It’s a part of the body that only male people and male animals have. After class, go to the library and have a look in the dictionary for it.”

There. The kid got an answer to be going on with and a lesson in using a dictionary. If the kid actually has the wherewithal to go and look in a dictionary, then they’re probably not the sort of kid that would be scarred for life by knowing what a scrotum was. They would actually be a more rounded and educated individual.

These are the same knee-jerk, conservative librarians that tried to get Harry Potter books banned because they claimed that those books promoted witchcraft and Satanism. Even though there’s nothing illegal or wrong with the Wiccan religion and Satanism is not even hinted at in the books (and so what if it was?) Of course, to someone blinded by dogmatic Christianity and on a Crusade, that’s not the point and they’ll fight to force their views on everyone. Sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox now. For a little while.

You know the thing that sticks with me the most about this whole debacle? Talking about the book and the word scrotum, Patron says she took the idea from a true incident involving a friend’s dog. That poor dog!

Still, Patron must be loving all this free publicity.