Once upon a time, there was a group of creatures called humans. They evolve and live out their lives on a place they call Earth. Earth is basically a spheroidal rock that revolves around a Class 3 star (called a sun) in a galaxy named the Milky Way. No humans know where they came from, how they developed or why. This is a subject of endless debate and speculation that has led to a plethora of social organizations which humans call religions.
Humans have a limited capacity to think and a very short life span, given the eons that the universe has existed. Most humans live less than 100 earth years. A year is the length of time it takes the Earth to revolve around the sun. Humans seem to have two major characteristics that are shared throughout all members, clans and tribes of the species. The first is called Xenophobia. This can be described as a propensity to fear anyone or anything that is unique, novel or different.
In terms of their propensity for xenophobia, it has created many problems for humans. If the slightest genetic difference (an inevitable evolutionary probability) emerges between any groups in the species, it will lead to aggression, death and widespread destruction. Thus, such superficial differences as skin pigmentation, eye color, height and brain capacity have all resulted in combat between humans.
Xenophobia is even more marked when it comes to social differences between humans. Murders, wars, massacres and genocides routinely take place over issues like religion, geography, sports and a wide spread assortment of ideologies. One war went on for over thirty years wherein one group liked red roses and other group liked white roses. Another war went on for nearly one hundred years due to arguments over who would be in charge of French wines. Wine was a very popular beverage in the “middle ages” of Europe. These two examples only scratch the surface of the violence that has taken place in human history. They are not even the worse of the examples that could be given. A full catalog of the transgressions and violence between humans would be well beyond the scope of this paper. (See Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen Armstrong)
Since the dawn of mankind, humans have never evolved out of their xenophobia and even as I write, the most powerful country in the history of the species has selected a character called Trump to rule them. He promises to help eradicate anyone who is not White, rich or from a place called Europe. Trumps clan includes a group of humans who share money, power and prestige. This group has commonly not got along with other groups who have less of these characteristics.
So called “Rich” people have derived a variety of interesting approaches to marginalize and even eradicate those not of their tribe. One technique that has been remarkably successful has been called “The Trickle Down Economic System.” This strategy relies on convincing poor people (those who do not belong to the rich clan) that if they only give everything they own to the rich people, the rich people will eventually give it back with interest. (Interest implying that the poor people will get back more than they give)
A human once said that “a sucker was born every day” but truth be told, the numbers are much greater since the majority of the poor people in the richest country on the planet have bought into the “Trickle Down System.” Many other techniques such as taxes, rents, interest, loan rates and mortgages have all been designed by rich people to help bleed poor people to death. These strategies have worked quite well over the years as rich people now have more money than they know what to do with. Poor people are still waiting on Trickle Down to kick in and give them back some of what they gave to the rich. They will have a long wait.
The second commonality among humans is their ubiquitous Superstition. Superstition can be defined as: “A widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief.” Thus, humans formulate outlandish, extraordinary and even bizarre explanations for anything that they do not understand. Humans believe in things like ghosts, spirits, zombies, vampires, miracles, angels, devils, purgatory, limbo, heaven and hell. None of these things have ever been photographed or captured on video but humans insist they all exist. However not one of these superstitions can compare to the idea of a divine omnipotent being that humans call God.
Almost all humans believe in the idea of a supreme being who for some unknown reason supposedly created humans in his image. I use the word “His” to define this “God” since for the most part, he tends to be male. Most humans have no trouble accepting this explanation for their origin as long as God is their god and not someone else’s God. This jealousy may explain why few of the religions on the planet get along with each other. The God of most people does not seem to have an infinite capacity to tolerate the ideological or spiritual beliefs characterizing the diversity that exists in the human species.
To understand the supreme ironies and contradictions that this superstition of a god entails for humanity, we must dissect the qualities of their God to see how they play out in the minds of humans. The following are nine of the more powerful attributes or qualities that humans associate with God.
- God loves humans more than any other species
- God gave humans free will and that is why we can continue to destroy each other with impunity.
- God will come at some time in the end to judge humans
- God is all merciful
- God is all powerful
- God is all knowing
- God will answer your prayers
- God sent his only son to save mankind
- God created everything in the universe
God loves humans more than any other species:
The big question here is why? What did humans do to earn Gods love? Why would God love anyone who is greedy, mean, bigoted, prejudiced and disposed to kill creatures that their God has created? Furthermore, what did cows, pigs, chickens, fish and many other species do that would relegate them to second place in the universe? Animals do not kill each other strictly for the joy of killing. If I were going to love one species above all others, it might be the cuckoo bird, since it accurately reflects the beliefs of humanity.
God gave humans free will and that is why we can continue to destroy each other with impunity:
This belief fostered by most religions to explain the contradictions between a loving god and a vengeful god really falls flat if you think about it with any degree of intelligence. God wanted us to have free will so that we could choose whether or not to love him. However, if he were all powerful, why would he need love so badly? Secondly, if he really wanted to be loved, why not create a creature that inherently loved instead of a creature that had a great difficulty to consistently love anything except itself and money.
God will come at some time in the end to judge humans:
Why does there have to be an “End” time? If Jesus said “Judge not others less you be judged yourself” why is God going to be hypocritical and judge humanity? What criteria will God use to judge humanity? Why cannot he share that with us now so we can save money on trials and lawyers? Are things going to get better or worse for humanity? If worse, why wait? If better, why end it all?
God is all merciful:
Read the Bible (supposedly the word of God) if you think he is all merciful. I quote:
“The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies.” —Nahum 1:2
God is all powerful:
We are repeatedly told that God is omnipotent. He is all powerful. The obvious question is why he did not do a better job creating an earth and its species. Usually the weather is either too hot or too cold. There is too much rain or not enough rain. The planet has tornadoes, fires, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, snow, hail, freezing rain, volcanic eruptions and now global warming. If God is so damn powerful, he did a really poor job of making a planet where one can live happily ever after.
He also did a very poor job of creating humans. We live short lives and most of us die too soon of accidents, disease or sickness. If God was so great, why did he not create us with more robust and resilient features? Why do I need a raincoat to go out in the rain? Couldn’t God have made me waterproof? Would that have been too much to ask that an all-powerful God have done? Or how about making us more resilient to sunburn? I won’t even start on deer flies, wasps, mosquitos and horse flies. I think God needed a better architect.
God is all knowing:
If God is all knowing, why did he not foresee that Adam and Eve would eat an apple and that Cain would kill Abel and that his promised people would have centuries of persecution and that hundreds of wars would take place between humans and that people would destroy the earth he created and that everyone would alternate between love and hate for the very God who created them? God seems to have some blind spots in his omniscience that you could drive a truck through.
God will answer your prayers:
This does not seem very likely unless no one has ever prayed for peace on earth let alone to win the lottery. Humans have seen few years without war, terrorism or some other form of violence. During the Holocaust, I am sure that many of his promised people prayed to him but it did not do much good. I wonder what prayers God does answer. He does not seem to be much good at answering prayers that might help humans live happier and more fulfilling lives. I know, he has given us free choice. I have been praying that he takes it away but I guess he has not heard me yet.
God sent his only son to save mankind:
Supposedly God sent his “Only begotten Son to save the world.” This belief also beggars the intellect of any rational thinking being. Why send anyone? However, if the first effort did not work, why not send another? How come God can only have one son? Did God not foresee that sending Jesus would result in Jesus dying on the cross? What kind of a father would send a son on such a mission? Since God was all powerful, why not send Superman to kick ass and straighten out the Scribes and Pharisees? Even better, why not send an army of Supermen and Superwomen to earth and really get the problems solved?
God created everything in the universe:
When I was in the five grade in Catholic School, I asked the following series of questions and never received a good answer: “If God created the universe, who created God?” The reply I received was “God always was and always will be.” To which I replied with a second question: “If God always was and always will be, how come humans could not always was and always will be?” The reply to my second question was usually silence. It was about this time that I started to question the suppositions that many people had for how the earth was created. This meant that God and his angels and his saints all went out the window. I soon rejected organized religion for its many superstitions and hypocrisies. This was not very hard, since most of organized religion I did not see doing any favors for the human race.
By the way, since I obviously rejected creationism, I am still not a proponent of the big bang, small bang or any other scientific theory I have yet heard for the creation of the universe. Scientists can be as narrow minded and as superstitious as any member of any clergy I have ever known. Colin Tudge notes that: “Science has become increasingly narrow-minded—materialistic, reductionist, and inveterately anthropocentric: still rooted, philosophically, in the 18th century.” — Science Is in Danger of Becoming the Enemy of Humankind
Conclusions:
You may well ask what I believe or how I explain the fact that I am now writing this. You may wonder if nihilist or atheist would describe my philosophy of life or religion. You may ponder how I account for love, evil, hope and/or what role I ascribe to faith in living a good life. You may question whether or not I have a belief in life after death or whether I subscribe to the Hindu idea of reincarnation. My answer would be to paraphrase the great lines from Ecclesiastes:
“Superstition! Superstition!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly superstitious!
Everything is superstitious.”
Time for Questions:
Haven’t you had enough questions for today?
Life is just beginning.
“I do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no God. I equally cannot prove that Satan is a fiction. The Christian god may exist; so may the gods of Olympus, or of ancient Egypt, or of Babylon. But no one of these hypotheses is more probable than any other: they lie outside the region of even probable knowledge, and therefore there is no reason to consider any of them.” — Bertrand Russell
Once upon a time there was an old farmer and his wife who had a cow that suddenly decided to stop giving milk. It was a Swedish cow and you know how stubborn those Swedes can be. The old farmer was going to go out to talk to the cow but quite unexpectedly he choked to death on a bone in a piece of lutefisk. His wife now inherited the farm, the chickens, the pigs and the stubborn Swedish cow who would not give any milk.
Unbeknownst to all, there was a small little field mouse that lived with his family in the great barn. The field mouse had overheard the plight of the farmer’s wife and the arguments of the farm animals and was quite moved by their problem. The field mouse was an avid reader and many of his kind would have called him an intellectual. He was a follower of the famous Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg and also more recently the Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom well known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, superintelligence, the reversal test, and consequentialism. The little field mouse decided to try explaining the theory of the Anthropic Principle to the cow in the hope that logic would prevail where pure emotion had failed.
Recently, I was thinking of starting a bumper sticker business. Bumper stickers can do quite well in terms of bringing in revenue. They are cheap and inexpensive and everyone has something they want to show off to the world. If you go to any trade show or convention or some special events like Roller Girls, Star Trek conventions, Comic Cons, you will find lots of different bumper stickers at the various booths. Someone once told me that bumper stickers (selling for 1 or 2 dollars) were a bread and butter item for them. “Big expensive items hardly sold, but everyone had a dollar or two for a bumper sticker.”
Of course, a great bumper sticker business must start with great ideas that have universal appeal. You must cater to the masses. You must have themes that resonate with the common person. You can’t have bumper stickers that say confusing things like E=MC2 or Circumference= Two x Pi x r. You must have ideas that are simple to understand and that everyone can relate to. For example, one classic one that I have seen on many cars is “My Kid Kicked Your Honor Roll Kids Ass.” This of course expresses the clear concept that it is better to be a bully than be intelligent. This seems to be an idea that among Trump supporters, Tea Party advocates and many right wing extremists resonates very well.
One other example of a great bumper sticker has been around for many years. It is quite popular and goes: “God, Guns and Guts Made America Great.” This bumper sticker shows quite clearly that God loves guns and guts and thus favors Americans who have more guns and guts than any other people in the world. Statistics prove this fact as it is well known that there are enough guns in the USA for everyone to have at least three guns each for every man, woman and child in the US. Even as I write, gun manufacturers are working to improve this statistic. Ruger has a goal of selling two million guns this year and will donate a dollar for every gun sold to the NRA to help promote their goal of selling more guns. In no time at all, we will have 4 guns for every person in the country, thus helping our nation become even greater than it is.
But what the heck, you can still be fat and send drones and guided missiles to bomb the hell out of other people. Guts are overrated! If we can maim and slaughter our enemies, we will still win and that is what counts. Winning is a common bumper sticker theme and one that I have tried to utilize in the following concepts. I present these ideas as possibilities for my bumper sticker company. I am open to other ideas. Please feel free to share any great ideas you have for bumper stickers. When my bumper sticker company becomes rich and famous, I will share some of my profits with you so that you can also be “Great” someday. Thus, without further ado, here are my top ideas for “Great” bumper stickers.
I am working on other ideas but I thought this would be a good start. One caveat that must be admitted is that bumper stickers can offend some people; but as they say “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.” Furthermore, the people that buy bumper stickers usually have an innate desire to express themselves in ways that they can’t manage as well verbally. A truly challenging bumper sticker lets people say things that they could not express as succinctly or eruditely if left to their own linguistic devices. For instance, the NRA says that “When guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns.” Can you imagine the average person making such an eloquent defense of guns and assault rifles with such a short but biting comment? With one very unique phrase, millions of people have come to believe that they must buy a gun or be at the mercy of the millions of outlaws just lurking out there to rape and pillage their farms and homesteads, steal their cattle and ride off into the sunset with their women.
A great bumper sticker is an algorithm for self-expression. Those commie pinko intellectuals who can confuse you with their big words and high sounding concepts don’t stand a chance against a good bumper sticker. Bumper stickers let the average or even below average person duke it out on a level playing field with a Harvard college professor. One of my favorite bumper stickers says: “Just cause you’re so smart and went to school don’t mean you know anything.” Wow, is that profound or what! Take that you college Ph.D.’s that think you are so smart. “My son will kick your graduate son’s ass.”
The song goes “One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.” It was by Murray Head and was featured in the musical Chess. This was a story put to music about the battle between Bobby Fischer, the brilliant American chess genius and Boris Spassky the efficient machine like Russian chess grandmaster. (In the play, the antagonists are an American chess champion and a Russian chess champion and Fisher and Spassky are never mentioned but the characters are thinly veiled portraits of Fisher and Spassky) Ostensibly this was a chess match between two magnificent chess players. However, only slightly beneath the surface it was in reality a match between the United States and the 
Soviet Union for dominance of the world. (If you would like to hear the song, 
The match took place at the height of the Cold War between the Russians and the US. Everything from sports to ballet to politics was imbued with the animosity that characterized Russian American relations during this time frame. The match took place in 1972. Spassky was the defending world champion and Fischer was the United States great “Western Hope.” The Russians were well known for being the greatest chess players in the world and few would have ever hoped that the US could challenge them at what amounts to their national game. For the previous 24 years, the Russians had defeated all comers to remain the world chess champions. All eyes, all hopes, all dreams, all aspirations and all of the US national pride rode on the shoulders of Bobby Fischer. People who would not know the difference between a pawn and a knight were tuned into what would become one of the most epic battles of the entire Cold War.
Poker is a more popular game in the United State than chess. It is estimated that there are over 60 million poker players in the US, 
There are many claims to the “Great American Tragedy” but in my mind, few equal the tragedy of Robert Fischer. Perhaps at some level, I can find myself identifying with him. Not in terms of his anti-Semitic or anti-American opinions but certainly in his idiosyncrasies regarding his playing and his involvement in tournaments. When I was a child, we used to play a game called “King of the Hill.” You could only be king for so long and eventually either one or the entire group would pull you down. This game taught me that you can only “reign” for so long and eventually whatever greatness you have will be eclipsed by others. Great actors become has-beens. Great athletes become washed-up. Great singers become past their prime. Great politicians outlive their times. Great thinkers are no longer able to think great thoughts. Whenever we become “King of the Hill” there is only one direction to go.
I can only imagine what it must have been like to be Fischer. The entire esteem of the United States was riding on his match with Spassky. All minds and all hearts needed him to beat the Russian. We had to show the world that we were not only the economic and physical match for the Russians but we were also their intellectual match. The Free World, democracy and God were riding on the outcome of Fischer’s match with Spassky. Can you imagine the pressure that was riding on Fischer’s shoulders? The stress that he had to cope with would have been incomprehensible. I think it would have driven most people stark raving mad, which I sometimes suspect it did to Bobbie.
It is now almost 50 years later and we are still playing chess with the Russians. Obama and Putin have taken the place of Kennedy and Khrushchev. The game of chess is still pitted against the game of poker. World fortunes and prestige still ride on the outcome of matchups between us and the Russians. The pawns have become the Arabs while the rulers of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, ISIS, Iraq, Jordan and Europe fill in for the knights, bishops and rooks. Putin is the King for the Red side and Obama is the King for the White Side. The head of the Sunnis will fill in for the Red Queen while the head of the Shiites can fill in for the White Queen. Let the games roll on.
We have a concept called the Double Standard which denotes a situation wherein some behavior is generally thought of as unfair, inequitable or simply wrong. It is a much used term employed by sexists and racists. It is generally used as an argument against some actions being taken on behalf of a minority or other exploited group. Such groups include immigrants, women, children, the poor, Native Americans, Blacks, Latinos and many other underprivileged groups or groups wherein an asymmetrical relationship exists with the dominant power group. Let me give you an example before I define some terms.
A friend was arguing about the laws impacting the actions that business owners may or may not take in terms of delivering service to customers. The recent spate of arguments by the so called “Christian” Right against serving gays and other minorities whose religion or beliefs they disagree with was the spur or nucleus of his rant. He made the following analogy. “Suppose a Black man went into a White baker to have a birthday cake made and he was refused service? What do you think would happen he argued?” The reply given by his audience was, “It would probably be seen as discriminatory or perhaps even illegal.” He then argued, “Ok, so suppose a KKK member went into a Black baker and asked for a cake made for a KKK celebration and he was refused. What do you think would happen?” I replied that this seemed like an argument “reductio ad absurdum” or something taken to the extreme absurd. His argument was that it was not ridiculous and such situations are typical of the differences between how Blacks and Whites are now treated in our country or that a “Double Standard” exists.
What if you were very poor and you were going out with a very rich person? Suppose you gave gifts to each other on your birthdays. You gave a modest low budget gift from Walmart to your loved one. She/he in turn gave you an all-expense paid two week trip to Paris. Would you scream and yell that this was an unfair double standard? Unfair because you could not possible meet such a standard on your much lower income? You might want to argue that the example I have provided is ridiculous. However, it is no more ridiculous an example that many of the examples given by opponents of civil rights, affirmative action, equal pay, immigration laws, welfare and other measures to help create a more equitable society. (PC opponents are often guilty of such ignorance and there are numerous situations wherein they perceive that Political Correctness has created an unfair Double Standard.)
First: on what basis do we decide the symmetry of a relationship? Should we be looking at power, wealth, status, employment or opportunities as measures of symmetry? Second, when and how do we decide that relationships have become symmetrical and no longer need a Double Standard? Both of these questions are very difficult but they are also both critical since unless they are ultimately answered, the perception of unfairness will hover over any relationships where a Double Standard exists. This of course leads to such accusations as “reverse racism” and even claims that “Today White people are the real people being discriminated against.” (See 
The answer to the first question concerning metrics for determining symmetry is fairly easy. We need to look at metrics that will help to create a fair and just society. If we are attempting to create a level playing field for all groups in our country, then we must consider any measures that will help us to obtain this goal. There are measures for income, jobs, opportunities, education, incarceration and health that have and should be used to apply Double Standards when they will help to level the playing field.
This will be the war to end all wars. We are fighting for peace and justice. We have the moral high ground. Our enemies want to destroy the world. They seek a reign of terror and injustice. We are the good guys, it is clear. They are the bad guys, it is clear. Good guys have the right to maim and kill. We do it for the right reasons. God is on our side. This war will forever stamp out evil. We will march and sing hymns of praise to God. We will only kill those that need to be killed. Women and children that get in the way are collateral damage. We will save them from themselves. The world and history will thank us. Onward soldiers for God and country!
This will be the war to end all wars. If we don’t stop them now, they will soon be over here. We must take the battle to them and show them we mean business. We are not afraid. Have you ever heard of the Domino Effect? If we let them take one domino, they will soon take them all. Pretty soon, they will come to our country to take our dominoes. We must keep our dominoes for ourselves. No one else can be allowed to play with our dominoes. What are a few thousand or million dead people? We must destroy the village before we can save it. We fight for a cause that is bigger than any one of us. Forget yourself, charge the enemy. Do not take any prisoners. They would not be kind to you.
This will be the war to end all wars. We must be tough. No one who wants to win can flinch in the face of the enemy. Prime your rifles and mount your bayonets. Charge on command! Don’t think, just act. Yours is not to reason why. Follow your orders. The enemy will not hesitate. You must not give them any quarter. They will slaughter your wife and children. They will destroy your way of life. Heroism and medals await those of you who put your lives on the line for your country. Protect your flanks. Never retreat. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
This will be the war to end all wars. We have drawn a line in the sand and we cannot back down. The die is cast and we must stand up to injustice and tyranny. We will fight the good fight and God will be on our side. God asks us to be brave soldiers and to never fear. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Cowards die many times before their deaths but heroes only die once, though sometimes it is a slow lingering death. Never worry though, there is a special place in heaven for those who die in defense of liberty and justice and freedom. There are also many medals you can earn and if you die in the line of duty, there are posthumous awards which can go to your survivors or nearest relatives. Never fear, you will not be forgotten.
This will be the war to end all wars. We must show them we mean business. We are a nation of practical business people. We are a nation that wages war like a business. We do not mean to really kill anyone but it is just good business. It is nothing personal you know. We might even like you if the circumstances were different but it is good for the economy. Practical matters aside, you don’t understand our economic system. Perhaps, if we could kill you more impersonally, you would not object so much. We can build more drones and you will not even see them coming. We don’t want bodies on the ground; it is not good for business. Good wars like any good business must be pragmatic. If we kill a few millions of you perhaps you will understand that God wants us to succeed. You must put your own personal problems aside when your country needs you. Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. Be proud to die for your country and your economic system.
This will be the war to end all wars. We fight for the greater good. Right is on our side. Might makes right and we are the mightiest nation on the face of the earth. We are righteous and just and our enemies are cowards and liars. We fight to make the world a better place to live and for future generations. Our evil enemies only fight for themselves and their ill-gotten gains. Our battle is wondrous. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Our God is marching on. As he died to make men holy, let us die to make sure that all men are free. Ours is never to reason why, ours is never to make reply, ours is simply to do or die. There is no try. Greatness awaits us in heaven for this small price we must pay on earth. Never fear, you will get your rewards as all good soldiers must. Remember old soldiers never die. Their memories may fade away, but the glory of the valiant men and women who will give up their lives today to protect their native land will never be forgotten. Stand firm now, toe to toe, shield to shield, rifles to rifles. Be ready, be able and be willing. One can ask no more than that you are willing to give up your life to end all wars.
Aging Capriciously 