What I'd tell Peter Palumbo if I was American

Required reading from JT on the Jessica Ahlquist story.

Okay. All caught up? I'm not an American, but this pisses me off. Why? Not because she's 16. Jessica has proven she is the equal of any adult out there in terms of maturity, intelligence, and bravado. Not because Palumbo is a Democrat - both American political parties are filled with idiots and assholes. Not because it's harassment or anything like that.

It's because Palumbo swore this oath:

You being by the free vote of the electors of this state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, elected unto the place of do solemnly swear to be true and faithful unto this state, and to support the Constitution of this state and of the United States; that you will faithfully and impartially discharge all the duties of your aforesaid office to the best of your abilities, according to law: So help you God.

The Rhode Island State Constitution even allows for a secular affirmation. But I'm guessing the above is what Palumbo swore. And I'm damn fine with that. He can swear by whatever god he deems holy enough. Sweet. But here's the rub: he swore to defend the Rhode Island State Constitution, as well as the United States Constitution.

Rhode Island's constitution declares:

[The Constitution], therefore, declare[s] that no person shall be compelled to frequent or to support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever, except in fulfillment of such person's voluntary contract; nor enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in body or goods.

The United States Constitution states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Here's how my letter would look:

Radar's Teddy Bear

You may not have seen M*A*S*H, but this teddy bear is the link used by Radar O'Reilly in his evolution towards becoming an adult. As the series progresses, Radar's reliance on his teddy bear lessens; when he leaves the 4077th, he leaves the teddy bear behind. At the end of the series, it is buried in a time capsule with other relics like Henry Blake's fishing lure, Father Mulcahy's boxing gloves, and one of Klinger's little black dresses - a memory of the boys who became men, the men who never came home, the women left behind, and of course, instruments for future wars to be fought. Symbolism was a very important part of M*A*S*H.

One of the more pivotal moments in Radar's character development on the show was the episode where Hawkeye disappointed and yelled at Radar. For the majority of the series, Radar had been portrayed as the proverbial dog nipping at Hawkeye's heel; in this episode, Hawkeye was devolved from hero to human in the younger Radar's eyes. He realized that our heroes are people too, that they make mistakes - and sometimes critical ones.

Sometimes, I am reminded of this when I look at the atheist movement. Though atheism is an old concept, the modern mobilization online is very young. Heroes are cast up - people like Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennett, and Harris. And then sometimes it casts them down (I am reminded of Dawkins's involvement in Elevatorgate, for one, and Hitchens's support of the Iraq War). Stephanie Zvan recently called out DJ Grothe of the JREF for similar ideas.

The movement is still young, and we still cling over-much to the teddy bears of the movement. To the idea that big names are heroes, rather than humans. We shouldn't be shocked when an old, privileged white guy like Dawkins comes out on the stereotypical side of an issue for his particular social groups. We shouldn't be shocked that Hitchens supported an illegal and ill-advised war.

Another word for this is the "sacred cow". But atheism (and it's related sibling, skepticism) is based on evaluating facts. Let's evaluate facts and realize sacred cows do not exist. Dawkins & co. are perfectly capable of making mistakes - as are the newer wave of atheists like Hemant Mehta, Jennifer McCreight, JT Eberhard, et al. When these people err, the gravity of their error is equal to their status in the movement, if we allow for those persons to become teddy bears. Hoisting up teddy bears is dangerous - because it means they can bring the whole tent crashing down when we remember that they are truly human.

Randy Cunneyworth's English Problem

Randy Cunneyworth's term as head coach of the most storied sports franchise in Canada, the Montreal Canadiens, is only a few games old. He has a lot of things to worry about. The Habs are losing games, Carey Price can't stop a puck, they can't put a power play goal in. Their top scorers aren't scoring and their defense is hardly playing at all. But the big reason why he's being criticized in the Montreal media right now is because he cannot speak French.

A lot of people are asking what the big damn deal is. And really, I can't blame them. Understanding why a coach must speak both French and English to get along in Montreal involves learning a little Quebec history - and it involves considering the social ramifications of having an Anglophone running le blue, blanc, et rouge. So, let's look at it, then.

Frank Burns vs. Rick Santorum

You might have heard that Rick Santorum almost won the Iowa caucuses. This man is a paragon of Christian conservatism - that is to say he's a racist, homophobic, Islamophobic hypocrite. So, in honour of that, I present a little quiz:

My beef with the Winter Classic

I remember when they announced the NHL Winter Classic. I was pretty excited. It was a great idea - an outdoor game in a huge venue, giving tens of thousands of fans to watch a hockey game. Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh, and the game was pretty awesome too. Fantastic ending, even if the snow had gotten thick enough that it was tough to see Sidney Crosby's OT goal. Regardless, it worked for me.

But the Winter Classic is currently on, and by all signs on Twitter is coming to a wild conclusion. And I could care less. And let me show you why:

Building a community: atheism isn't enough

Jason has a particularly long post on dissent. Stephanie Zvan concurs, and elaborates. But I think it all comes down to what Maryam Namazie said regarding this issue:

After all just because someone’s an atheist doesn’t necessarily mean they are pro-equality, anti-war, socialist, secularist, and so on...when we only focus on atheism or ex-Muslim or Muslim or … we miss the class, political and social dimensions that are most crucial in determining our allies and our enemies.

Problems with #FirstWorldProblems

Your "First World Problems" are actually just "World Problems".

A bit of an older link, I know, but this hashtag has been bothering me for a damn long time, and I finally found something to say about it.

The term "Third World" has dropped out of use by real geographers and economists who study the differences in economies and social power between the modernized developed world and the still-developing world. Sadly, the views of the average North American are skewed by commercials like these:

Gideon Bibles have no place in Canadian public schools

You'd think you wouldn't have to say that, eh? Well, apparently, it's not as obvious as I'd like.

“I'm not even a Gideon. I'm just a concerned Christian parent in a country that's still 70 per cent Christian,” said Rev. Mark Koehler, pastor at First St. Matthews Lutheran Church in Hanover, Ont.

“We've taken prayer out of school. We can't say certain greetings at Christmas time. We don't want further erosion of our Christian faith and heritage to happen.”

Atheism and equality do not go hand in hand.

Required reading for this post:

Rebecca Watson
Greta Christina
Jason Thibault
Greta again

To summarize: Rebecca Watson notices that assholes on reddit use a 15 year old girl as a sex object, and makes the note that atheists aren't necessarily in favour of equality. Jason points out that it's good that Rebecca shows off how idiotic the atheist movement can still be, reminds us that we are obviously not infallible, and that we should use her ability to really push the assholes out of the woodwork to fix our problems. Greta points out that by minimizing what is going on you're really part of the problem, and then another random asshole threatens her and tells her to shut up.

See, this is a problem, from start to finish, and it's a clear reminder of one simple fact: not believing in a god doesn't equal not being part of the fucking problem. I can't pretend to be perfect, but I try to follow the advice of people like Greta, and Jen, and Rebecca, and make sure that I think about what I say. These sorts of people who sexualize an utterly unsexual and totally inappropriate situation for cheap thrills are pretty low.

But what scares me more is that when attention is called to it by a man, they don't say anything (like when Jason called them out) - but when a woman speaks up (in this case, Greta Christina), they tell her to shove a knife inside of her and shut up. Call our behaviour bad? Shut the fuck up woman, have some genital mutilation, and get back in the kitchen.

How do you fight that sort of idiocy, aggression, misogyny? You call it out, even if you're a blogger who has no following. You remind the people who are at the front lines of the fight that they're not alone. And if you see it...you call it out. Don't give people a pass just because they figured out there's no god. Sometimes that's just the first epiphany people have to have before they sort shit out.