Thinking Unenslaved

It’s funny how it goes sometimes. During the week, between broadcasts, if you asked me how the last show went, at any given time, you might get a positive or a negative response. That’s partly because I’m my own worst critic, and partly because given whatever else is going on in my head at the time, I may or may not immediately be able to recall how good the show felt.

Last week’s show, however, was a definite “good.” Even despite Kile’s absence (and Kile, I sincerely hope your girlfriend is feeling better, and kudos to you for placing her well-being first), we had an engaging, informative show which included a lot of great discussion. I was a little tapped for resources by the end of it, which I attributed at the time to the showing lacking Kile’s input and the time such would have naturally consumed, but really, I think it was because Paul, Zach and I gave the general, overall topic of “Secularism and Humanism in Western Society a fairly decent spin.” Having Kile’s scholarly input would have been great, sure, but the rest of us are by no means slackers when it comes to being able to think and being able to discuss our thoughts.

It was truly an enjoyable time.

Towards the end of the show, Ryan (@NewYorkCreator) joined us on the air, and we started discussing several things that had to be cut off short as our allotted time ended. In fact, Ryan, Zach and I talked for almost another half-hour until Skype kicked me off again. I may take up my cable provider on the offer to “bundle” my services, including a VOIP line, for even less than what I’m currently paying. It’s funny how they work their prices, but that’s another story.

Anyway, after our post-show conversation, I’m looking to have an “enhanced” round table discussion on some very interesting topics—controversial topics, even. I’m hopeful that @AntitheistAngie can also join us next week, if she’s feeling better, because we’re going to start with Abortion Politics, and move through several other hot-button topics until we conclude with a recap on last year’s “Draw Mohammed Day”. Wouldn’t it be nice if it could be a large Round Table?

I think so.

Because, yeah, it’s getting kinda fun, and I really wouldn’t mind a little issue-advocating/vocal activism going on via the show. Nope, I wouldn’t mind that at all.

By the way, the song excerpt with which I started the show, and woefully neglected to inform my listeners about was from Civil Twilight‘s “You Will Leave a Mark.” Buy their album. They’re good kids.

Please join us again next week, 10pm Eastern, over at my site on BlogTalkRadio. Next week will be a very good time.

By the way, I’ve submitted the show to iTunes, but it has still not been approved. If you search iTunes under the name “Synthaetica”, you’ll find the old TalkShoe versions of the old ThinkAtheist Radio Show, but Thinking Unenslaved still doesn’t come up there or under its own name yet. Apple doesn’t give a clear way to make inquiries about the approval status, so I guess I have to wait a while. Sigh.

The most recent show streams are below.

yeah, okay, so using the show to get me posting more frequently was kind of a lame idea when all I do is post about the show, huh. okay, so i suck and i admit it. carry on.

it’s not that i don’t enjoy writing, it’s just that i always have an excuse to do something else, not the least of which is spending time with my lady. but her school has started back up, so maybe…just maybe…i’ll make some additional time to sit down and write.

anyway, i have a show coming up this wednesday. here’s the run-down.

Secularism & Humanism in Western Society Revisited

Who: Dawnne Gee (@Synthaetica), Paul Fidalgo (@PaulFidalgo), Kile Jones, Zach Garland (@Zachsmind)

When: 10pm EST, Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Where: BlogTalkRadio.com/Synthaetica

What: Secularism & Humanism in Western Society Revisited

See you there!

(the most recent episode will play below. so for the week after the show, this link will be relevant!)

Well, I screwed up in setting up tonight’s show, managing to actually set it up for March 2. I luckily got that straightened out in time to kick off the show when I actually wanted it, but changing the time screwed up the show link. I’m a dork, I guess. Shoot me.

Kile, Zach, Paul and I had a lively discussion tonight that ranged from Secularism in Western Society through to the Atheist Agenda’s “Smut for Smut” program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. We had a great time, as usual, and I think the subject matter involving secularism was pretty enlightening. A big thanks to Kile, Paul, and Zach for participating in another great show.

I note, however, that I sound a little like Kermit the Freakin Frog through my headset. Unfortunately, I’ve had massive problems getting a “Real Microphone” (condenser mic) to work in this place. I’m apparently bombarded by AM frequency bleed-over. Meh.

The revised show link is Round Table: Secularism in Western Society

The most recent show streams are below.

Wednesday’s show will be another round table with Kile, Paul, Zach and myself. The general theme is Secularism in Western Society: I’m hopeful that we can … er … “faithfully” represent the European perspective and not make the mistake of equating “western society” with “the silly stuff we Americans do.”

Perhaps we’ll get lucky and have one of our European friends dial into the live show. I’ll be twitter-begging for participants throughout the next couple of days. Other topics we may also address include: the problem with religious-based public education, and relationships between theists and non-theists.

Please listen in for a lively discussion of pertinent topics this Wednesday night at 10pm EST. We’d love to take questions and comments from persons of alternative points of view, so don’t be bashful! Give as a call and join in the discussion!

Who: Dawnne Gee (@Synthaetica), Paul Fidalgo (@PaulFidalgo), Kile Jones, @Zachsmind

When: 10pm EST, Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Where: BlogTalkRadio.com/Synthaetica

What: Round Table: Theificationisms

See you there!

This week, I’ve planned a “solo” show, which is actually designed to elicit callers-in. Yeah, I’m sneaky like that! You’re stuck with me, in other words, but you’re not really just stuck with me.

Thinking Unenslaved: Blog Talking

Luckily, though, thanks to the not-so-mysterious workings of my brain, my famously notorious co-hosts will probably be dialing in anyway. That’s because I’m focusing the show recent articles by some of my favorite bloggers, a couple of whom are, guess what….Paul and Kile!

As I set up the show, I have selected recent contributions from Paul Fidalgo, Martin Pribble, and Kile Jones, plus a recent YouTube video from Antitheist Angie. I’ve asked these contributors to dial in while I’m discussing their content. Martin may not be able to join us since he’s in Australia, though.

(I’m at work right now and can’t get to the locations of all the links I need to put into here. I’ll edit this post this evening with the links ~ sorry! ~ dg)

A good portion of the show will be a follow-up to the end of last week’s show, which we didn’t get enough time to spend on. I’m working on cleaning up the “management” portion of what I do, but in the mean-time, I felt the combined topics of Raising Hellions and Atheist Evangelism (under the general umbrella of Teaching Atheism) were worthy of more formative discussion. The articles I’ve selected play heavily into this topic.

Please join me at 10pm EST this Wednesday for a healthy discussion of these topics!

Tonight, we’ll have our first round-table discussion with Paul and Kile. Zach will be with us as well, riffing off my chosen topic, which can pretty well insert itself anywhere in the conversation. This format is a bit different from previous shows, and it’s the first time we’re doing it this way, so expect anomalies! I’m looking forward to a great conversation with Zach, Paul, and Kile tonight, and we’re hoping for some callers of disparate points of view to join us as well.

From the show page:

Kile will start with “secularism and religion in a liberal democracy” and how that works within the framework of the Establishment Clause and Free Enterprise. This should lead to some lively discussion between the panelists, and segue’s nicely into an anecdotal discussion on the “theification” of American and British politics at all levels of government (and its accompanying deification of conservative politicians), presented by yours truly. From there, we’ll get into Paul’s topic of “teaching atheism” from the parental perspective, which will probably naturally transition on its own into any of several directions.

I hope you’ll join us for a fun and informational time tonight!

Who: Dawnne Gee (@Synthaetica), Paul Fidalgo (@PaulFidalgo), Kile Jones, @Zachsmind

When: 10pm EST, Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Where: BlogTalkRadio.com/Synthaetica

What: Round Table: Theificationisms

please visit the American Atheists post on Christmas and familiarize yourself with the history of this “holy-day”, in case you weren’t completely aware of it.

and remember, “Jesus is the reasoning for the seasoning.” which is why fruitcake tastes the way it does.

Featuring content from thinkatheist.com, discussing humanism, and a little bit about atheist parenting.

LISTEN TO THE THE LIVE SHOW. This episode will air July 7, 2010 at 11pm EDT.

listen to the most recent ThinkAtheist Radio Show

Here in America, we’ve been a country for quite a while: around 234 years or so. I think it’s worth repeating, the great gift our founding fathers, many of whom were devout theists, gave us in this secular nation in which we live. They fought and died so that smaller minded people living today could turn the tables on their foresight with repeated attempts to undo the greatest gift that we were given.

We’ll talk about atheists in foxholes, too.

My guest for this episode is Ryan Hoffman, who also goes around under the name of NewYorkComic. He’s a funny guy, a great thinker, and a frequent contributor to the shenanigans going on in the chat room which distract me from doing the show.

If Wednesday night’s show was any indication, this one should be quite entertaining. I’m definitely looking forward to it! Join Ryan and me for a somewhat humorous take on the things that the the blowhards among us take far, far too seriously.

LISTEN TO THE PATRIOT EDITION ON BLOGTALKRADIO. This episode will air July 4, 2010 at 10pm EDT.

listen to the most recent ThinkAtheist Radio Show

Tonight’s show will feature content from the members of ThinkAtheist.com. I’ll be talking about some of the various blog postings, forum discussions, videos, etc, contributed by our membership. A little ad-hoc and free-form, but I think this may become a Wednesday night feature. Somewhat relatedly, starting tomorrow, those who purchased the 2010 ThinkAtheist Men’s Calendar will be inflicted with my mug for 31 days, so I figured the least I could do was give SOMETHING back to our community. See you at 11PM EDT!

LISTEN IN ON BLOGTALKRADIO

listen to the most recent episode

from the show description: “Tonight we have a return visit from Kile Jones which I’m very much looking forward to. We’re planning on discussing some select topics which will include dealing with the problem of practicality in the purely academic pursuit of philosophy, and we’ll also take on the application of humanism in education and in society as a whole.”

HEAR THIS EPISODE ON BLOGTALKRADIO

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listen to the most recent episode:

ok, so you know i spend practically all my “free time” on twitter. actually, that’s not quite true. since i took this job back in October, i can’t tweet much during the day, draft blog posts at all, or do any of the coordination that i’d love to be doing for collaborations, and with soccer and taekwondo atop the work gig, plus spending at least some time each week with my kids, leaves me very little time for playing in the online world.

that having been said, i set this blog back up to at least serve as a reference point for our radio shows over at thinkatheist.com. so, throughout this weekend, i’ll be linking up individual shows from our new digs at blogtalkradio.com. i’ll also be seeing what i can do to preserve the old shows that we did over at talkshoe.com, either importing that RSS feed or something so that they’ll still be available after iTunes drops them for lack of input. and speaking of iTunes, i’ll be looking into what i can do to get our new radio show registered with iTunes as well.

fyi, i’ll be posting show links with the embedded show streams under the dates the shows were aired, so all previous shows will come up as prior to this date. after i’m done with all that, i’ll try to get some other content up on here, related to some of our….shenanigans….on twitter.

peace.

from the show description: “We have a couple of ‘maybes’ for guests tonight. I’ve prepared some other material, following up on the general concept of “atheist parenting,” something which, you should be forewarned, I consider to be an oxymoron. We’ll talk about that and other things of interest to humanists, secularists, agnostics and atheists alike tonight, guests or not!”

HEAR THIS EPISODE ON BLOGTALKRADIO

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listen to the most recent episode:

from the show description: “It’s Father’s Day here in the United States, so tonight will be all about fathers and fatherhood. We’ll start off with our Founding Fathers and talk about the wonderful gift they gave us of a country established on principles which clearly distinguish religion and government. From there, we’ll talk about past and current church fathers and how they obfuscate the vision of the Founding Fathers. We’ll conclude with fatherhood/parenting issues for those of us who are atheists, agnostics, and/or secular humanists. “

HEAR THIS EPISODE ON BLOGTALKRADIO

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Visit ThinkAtheist.com

listen to the most recent episode:

from the show description: “A bit of an open forum tonight. I have a few topics I’d like to discuss, and some plugs for the good works of a few of my friends.”

HEAR THIS EPISODE ON BLOGTALKRADIO

Participate in the ThinkAtheist Radio Show Group.

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listen to the most recent episode:

from the show description: “We have a special guest tonight, Kile Jones (http://www.kilejones.com/). We’ll be discussing philosophical things, in which your host is probably largely out-classed, but it should be a fun time.”

HEAR THIS EPISODE ON BLOGTALKRADIO

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NOTE: I greatly enjoyed the interview and time with Kile Jones. I’ll definitely be asking him to join us again.

listen to the most recent episode:

from the show description: “It’s Wednesday again. The crazy meter has been leaning far to the right on Twitter of late, and it is now quite likely that the ecosystem of our entire planet has been irreversibly compromised as the byproduct of amoral, conservative politics. Lots to discuss, and I’ll be experimenting with a slightly revised format. We’ll see how it all goes starting at 11pm EDT.”

Participate in the ThinkAtheist Radio Show Group.

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listen to the most recent episode:

from the show description: “We’ll continue the discussion from Wednesday about some of the crazy stuff going on. I also have a (potentially) interesting analogy regarding the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the way people act in the public discourse. If some of the regulars come by (hint-hint, nudge-nudge, wink-wink, no what i mean?), we’ll hopefully put some plans behind upcoming episodes and other things. I owe ThinkAtheist.com a bit of a plug as well, so I’ll try to briefly walk us through some of the things going on at the site. After that, I’ll strive to also split other infinitives, like that one. As we discuss some of the religious/atheist interactions going on online, I’d REALLY like to have a caller or two to faithfully (pardon the pun) represent the religious side. Remember, we CAN work together to keep such interactions respectful and above-board. I’d like an honest, open discussion tonight, not a pissing match, please. I hope you’ll join us!”

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the most recent episode:

from the show description: “Synthaetica is on a mission. Things will be said. I figure it this way: if the religious right
can ‘wage war’ on atheism, then atheists can come out fighting. ”

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This player plays the most recent ThinkAtheist Radio Show Episode:

from the show intro: “Synthaetica is back after a a brief hiatus. Some hardware problems had to be tackled, along with some scheduling issues. Tonight, we’ll talk about the Texas Board of Education and the general dumbing-down of the American education system: something which should be of importance to us since it stems from fundamentalist religious roots. We’ll also cover some recent events, not the least of which is the creation of self-replicating synthetic cellular life, the Westboro Baptist picketing of the Dio funeral, and other “fun stuff”. We look forward to your participation and have high hopes for some diverse participation tonight. The education issue alone should be of grave interest to persons of all (non)religious persuasion. I’ll explain why tonight.”

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Please visit ThinkAtheist.com and if you’re not a member, join our growing community of free thinkers, movers and shakers.

The player below produces the most recent episode:

the second installment of the ThinkAtheist Radio Show at our new location. i was still having some sound issues and had to use the cellphone. that’s my bad, not the host.

The permanent home for this episode is here.

our opening show on blogtalkradio.com. more of an introductory thing, no set format or intent. i was also having equipment trouble and had to use my cellphone, so my apologies for sound quality.

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE

The player below will play the most recent episode of our show on blogtalkradio.com.

the following was originally published at my personal blog before i “resurrected” this one this past Oestre-tide. because i was rolling like that at the time. This is probably a more appropriate category for this blog, however, so consider this a kick-off to a new series.

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Abraham: Hey, son, let’s take a walk.
Isaac: Cool, dad. I’m tired of driving everywhere, anyway.
Abraham: Great. Hey, grab that bag for me?
Isaac: Sure, dad. What’s in this thing?
Abraham: We call it “Awesomesauce,” son.
Isaac: Can I try some?
Abraham: Hahahahaha…No.
….
Trudge, trudge. Gulp. Trudge, trudge. Gulp.
….
more trudging, gulping.
….
Abraham: Ah, let’s rest here for a bit.
Isaac: Good idea, dad. You’re pretty much all over the trail.
Abraham: Don’t be a punk, smartass. Why don’t you go get me some wood?
Isaac: Why do you want some…
Abraham: DON’T ASK ME QUESTIONS, BITCH! GET THE DAMNED STICKS!
….
Rummage, rummage, rummage.
Elsewhere…swig, gulp, fart.
Carry, drop, sigh, rummage.
Isaac: Is that enough yet, pops?
Abraham: You stop when I tell you to stop, boy.
Isaac: {sigh}
Abraham: Don’t you sigh at me, boy! I’ll beat you so hard your momma loses teeth!
….
rummage, carry, drop, sigh, rummage.
swig, gulp, fart.
etc.
….
Isaac: Dad. There’s no more sticks within a three mile radius. Is that enough?
Abraham: Shit…thassalotta sticks, boy. What the hell ya doin?
Isaac: DAD! You TOLD me to get the sticks!
Abraham: Did not!
Isaac: Did too!
Abraham: Son, donchu be tellin me what I did and didn’t do.
Isaac: ….
Abraham: Go get th’goat, boy.
Isaac: What goat?
Abraham: Nebbermind. I’ll get th’goat. You stack up these sticks real nice for a fire.
Isaac: Gah. Yessir.
….
(sound of Abraham peeing somewhere not far off)
grumble, stack. grumble, stack. sigh. grumble.
enter Abraham, sans goat, scowling.
Isaac: What’s wrong, dad?
Abraham: Nuttin’.
Isaac: Aw, c’mon, dad…the goat get away?
Abraham: Yeah, that, an’ I’m outta booze.
Isaac: Outta what?
Abraham: Awesomesauce.
Isaac: Oh. So what’re we gonna do?
Abraham: Uh…I’m thinkin…nap-time.
Isaac: Sounds good to me, I’m tired after all this work!
Abraham: Stop yer ‘plainin, boy! Shaddup’n lay down on them there sticks.
Isaac: Do what?
Abraham: You go ahead and lay on th’sticks. Looks comfy. I’ll jist curl up over here….
Isaac: On the sticks? You’re serious?
Abraham: Yes, I’m serious.
Isaac: The sticks where we were gonna sacrifice the goat.
Abraham: Well….yeah.
Isaac: On the pile of flammable wood.
Abraham: Yes!
Isaac: Made for a sacrifice.
Abraham: YES!
Isaac: Where things….die.
Abraham: Get on the sticks, boy, and don’ gimme no more’f yer damn lip!
Isaac: {sigh}
….
shuffle. climb. {sigh}
….
time passes.
….
Abraham: You sleepin, boy?
….
Abraham: You ‘wake, boy?
….
Abraham: Dammit.
….
shuffle, shuffle.
….
Isaac: DAD! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT KNIFE?!?!?!
Abraham: Ummmm….
Isaac: HOLY SHIT, YOU FUCKIN DRUNK BASTARD!!!!
Abraham: Aw, I was just kiddin’, kiddo. C’mon….don’t be such a prick.
Isaac: Jesus, man.
Abraham: C’mon, git down. Let’s go home.
Isaac: Gahhhhhh…..
….
trudge, trudge, trudge.
….
Isaac: Dad?
Abraham: Yeah?
Isaac: You’re the best daddy ever!

Reminder: ThinkAtheist.com Weekend Podcast on September 6, 10p Eastern. This Sunday’s general topic is Traditionalism. We’ll discuss several forms of traditionalism that are pervasive in our lives, especially these minor forms of religious traditionalism that are quite transparently fixed in our secular lives. There’s a possibility that Dr. Frink will be with us, so keep your fingers crossed! ThinkAtheist.com members: Please RSVP on the event page linked above!

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NEXT: Un:Enslaved contributor and fellow twitter-whore, @MovingToMontana, has designed something that every card-carrying atheist needs: the card to actually carry. Download yours today, tonight, or at some other convenient time for you. I’ll eventually get that link into the sidebar, too.

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and lastly….what i actually came here to do today….

Look. I’m fine if you want toworship a non-existent “God”, even if your only real reason for doing so is the gross combination of “that’s what you’ve been told to do” and “that’s the emotional crutch you need to have.” Really, it’s okay.

But. Each and every abrahamic religion is premised upon one common concept: FAITH. Without faith, your religion has no meaning, no purpose, no relevance whatsoever. And, functionally speaking, faith is the opposite of fact. So when you start spouting elements of your faith as fact, you have ceased contributing to the formative discussion. And worse, when you spout the “God is Love” stuff, you actively undermine the entire premise of your own faith.

Think about that for a minute. This isn’t a new argument from the atheist standpoint, but this is the exact problem with every abrahamic religion: your God is NOT “Love”. Your God is not even nice. Your God, according to your own Holy Books, is an insensitive, insecure, vituperative ass, wholly and exclusively interested in exactly one thing: the undying devotion and ego-massaging of vast numbers of human beings.

And what’s REALLY ironic about that is the fact (the proven, irrefutable fact), that the God described in your Holy Books is actually just a construct of human thinking. The irony is nearly overwhelming. You ultimately choose to believe in an imaginary God because certain persons from the Bronze Age who sought a slightly more insidious way to control the population (as opposed to simple, direct militarism) made up some quaint fairy tales for you to believe in. And worse than that, a lot of those stories are far from “quaint”. According to your Holy Books, your God is responsible for the deaths of millions, directly ordered the rape and murder of hundreds of thousands of women and children, and even struck down his own people for being as gullible as he supposedly made them.

Yeah, I know, you’ll cast that all aside and argue at me with the other self-contradictory stories from your book of fairy tales. And that’s okay. Just understand that when that’s all you do, when that’s the sum and total of your apparent ability to form cohesive thought, it becomes increasingly difficult for me to swallow the condescension. And yes, when you willfully confuse the concepts of faith and fact, I don’t even try.

photo credit: AP Photo/ Steve Ruark

“…American Catholic Bishops voted for a new ‘Do as we say, not as we do,’ policy.” Not that it was any different that ‘business as usual’, but i digress. alternate snarkery: The Mass Debaters Club adjourns for the eveningl   A young altar-boy was rumored to be near the south escalator. The search continues.   Hey! You in the cassock! We’ll have nun of that around here!   The stairway to heaven leads, somewhat predictably, downward. For some.