10:18 PM
Jon Power, attention whore
Mister Nizz
I stumbled upon a Mr. Jon Power's little Christmas gift to game geekdom recently, courtesy of Tom Vasel's blog.
By foolish, superstitious mythologies, I assume Power meant belief in a Supreme Being. Unless it's merely an astounding coincidence that he posted this list on Christmas Day, the day traditionally associated with the birth of Christ?
And he weighs in with his opinions on believers in Divine Creation:
Note that... you who believe in what you believe are, de facto, stupid. Now that's an elevated argument. Pseudo-Intellectual hate-speak at its finest.
And let's talk about praying-- to place this in context, this is in response to the comfort of the wounded praying to God on the battlefield, and was posed as an ironic reference: 'praying to scientists' wouldn't do the trick, as it were.
No surprise there, that last one. However, the concept of the sick and dying being comforted by prayer is shrugged off as something soldiers were ordered to do. Not having been on a battlefield, how would he know?
Again, the smug satisfaction and condescension of the true know-it-all.
I loved the evaluation of Rene Descartes, life long devout Catholic;
Harumph indeed.. changing the rules to fit a hypothesis would have had the REAL Descartes spitting in this guy's face.
And the afterlife gets short shrift...
It goes on and on. As you might know from reading my bio, I believe in God and am a practising Catholic, so (Duh!) I don't agree with this guy. This is not to say I ever thought that science and God are mutually exclusive. The Hand of the Creator is a hard thing to discern,and I credit Him with being subtle in his works. So yes, I do honor science and the achievements of the people 'honored' on this geeklist. Who are we to say God didn't use the mechanism of evolution to people the planet? Or that God doesn't work miracles through humanity? (I'm sure his response would be that this is a very convenient philosophy, but there it is).
Alas, the other side of the argument rarely grants the concession of manners.
The problem I have with it is the manner in which this so called "honor" of human science is in the sneering manner in which it is given. The faith of Christians, Jews and Moslems is depicted as myths and superstitions, our common God a "god-thingie". We are mocked, and our belief in the afterlife is pure "bunkum".
What a sweetheart.
Intolerance of this kind is nothing new and Christianity, particularly Catholicism, gets its fair share of this treatment. It's not very amusing to find it cropping up on Boardgamegeek, which is one of the few online communities that I did not associate with agendas. Consimworld seems almost like a pack of sweethearts by comparison-- and believe you me, we fight like cats and dogs over there, but we try to find a common ground. I used to think that the sysop, John Kranz, was a tad heavy handed in his moderation. I almost appreciate it now, seeing intolerance like the Happy Newtonmas thread popping up on BGG. Fortunately, God gave me a brain (rumor has it) and I can always ignore certain people. It's a pity that we can't filter some posters out like we can on CONSIMWORLD, or "stifle" like we can on The Miniatures Page.
At the heart of it,I don't think this guy is evil, just somebody who sponges up any kind of attention he can get, even the negative kind-- as evidenced by posting on Christmas day. He is to be pitied.
Hoorah! Today is Isaac Newton's birthday (it really is! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtonmas ) so let's celebrate humanity's discoveries in science and drive back those foolish, supersticious mythologies. (sic) Please add more scientific heroes with suitable games.
By foolish, superstitious mythologies, I assume Power meant belief in a Supreme Being. Unless it's merely an astounding coincidence that he posted this list on Christmas Day, the day traditionally associated with the birth of Christ?
And he weighs in with his opinions on believers in Divine Creation:
You're never to young to learn about Evolution through Natural Selection! Just think, we've evolved over millions of years, and there are still people dumb enough to think we were created by some mythological creature! What a laugh!
Note that... you who believe in what you believe are, de facto, stupid. Now that's an elevated argument. Pseudo-Intellectual hate-speak at its finest.
And let's talk about praying-- to place this in context, this is in response to the comfort of the wounded praying to God on the battlefield, and was posed as an ironic reference: 'praying to scientists' wouldn't do the trick, as it were.
I'll bet she didn't find any atheists on the battlefields. Nor for that matter, anyone sick and dying praying to scientists for help and comfort.
Why would you pray to a scientist? That's really stupid. Why pray at all? There are no voices in the sky.
I suspect, and this is only a suspicion mark you, that all the people on the battlefield were *made* to go to religious services and worship mythical creatures as part of being in the army. You know, there may even have been army officers who's entire job was to indoctrinate the soldiers in the um doctrine. If you didn't go to the mythical creature worshipping service, you were on a charge and faced disciplinary procedures.
And the dying on battlefileds (sic) generally call for their mother, I gather. Not having been on one thankfully.
No surprise there, that last one. However, the concept of the sick and dying being comforted by prayer is shrugged off as something soldiers were ordered to do. Not having been on a battlefield, how would he know?
Again, the smug satisfaction and condescension of the true know-it-all.
I loved the evaluation of Rene Descartes, life long devout Catholic;
We'll just gloss over his philosophical work, since that runs counter to this list's intentions. harumph.
Harumph indeed.. changing the rules to fit a hypothesis would have had the REAL Descartes spitting in this guy's face.
And the afterlife gets short shrift...
When you get to the end of your life, there is no comfort looking forward. That's when the liars descend and tell you to clutch this book, make this sign, and you will live for ever in Paradise. Bunkum!
It goes on and on. As you might know from reading my bio, I believe in God and am a practising Catholic, so (Duh!) I don't agree with this guy. This is not to say I ever thought that science and God are mutually exclusive. The Hand of the Creator is a hard thing to discern,and I credit Him with being subtle in his works. So yes, I do honor science and the achievements of the people 'honored' on this geeklist. Who are we to say God didn't use the mechanism of evolution to people the planet? Or that God doesn't work miracles through humanity? (I'm sure his response would be that this is a very convenient philosophy, but there it is).
Alas, the other side of the argument rarely grants the concession of manners.
The problem I have with it is the manner in which this so called "honor" of human science is in the sneering manner in which it is given. The faith of Christians, Jews and Moslems is depicted as myths and superstitions, our common God a "god-thingie". We are mocked, and our belief in the afterlife is pure "bunkum".
What a sweetheart.
Intolerance of this kind is nothing new and Christianity, particularly Catholicism, gets its fair share of this treatment. It's not very amusing to find it cropping up on Boardgamegeek, which is one of the few online communities that I did not associate with agendas. Consimworld seems almost like a pack of sweethearts by comparison-- and believe you me, we fight like cats and dogs over there, but we try to find a common ground. I used to think that the sysop, John Kranz, was a tad heavy handed in his moderation. I almost appreciate it now, seeing intolerance like the Happy Newtonmas thread popping up on BGG. Fortunately, God gave me a brain (rumor has it) and I can always ignore certain people. It's a pity that we can't filter some posters out like we can on CONSIMWORLD, or "stifle" like we can on The Miniatures Page.
At the heart of it,I don't think this guy is evil, just somebody who sponges up any kind of attention he can get, even the negative kind-- as evidenced by posting on Christmas day. He is to be pitied.
