Negative Railroad

I was curious how atheists determine right and wrong. Without a command from G-d, isn’t good and evil just a matter of taste?

The google led me to a wealth of argument and testimony. Although they seem to spend far too much time berating non-atheists (mostly Christians), I saw an essential similarity in all the discussion.

Good, or right conduct, works out to be the same as what the faithful subscribe to. By culture and tradition, or for species survival, atheist morality seems to be rooted in the Golden Rule: Do on to others as you would have them do on to you.

The atheists seem very proud that they can reason their way to this shared conception without invoking a deity. They assure the audience that rape and murder are still wrong, and atheism is not (necessarily) just nihilistic hedonism. There are problems in the arguments I saw, but I expect those are issues of logical formality that somebody from Team Atheist has worked out.

We do not acquit ourselves morally by trying to abstain from a choice of evils.

Quoted from: Rant of the Day

A drowning person is a danger to another who attempts a rescue.

The act of saving a drowning person is immensely complicated by the panicked struggles of the victim to stay afloat and breathing.

Imagine I am lost at sea with at least one person who can’t swim. If I can swim, but am not a trained lifesaver, to preserve my own life I must push away from the non-swimmer. The non-swimmer will likely drown.

Does that make me a murderer?

God has a great work for you to do and if you are not doing it, it's not getting done.

Quoted from: Brian Dunbar

It ain’t stealin’ if you do it fast.

Quoted from: Moe Szyslak

In general, you can get help if you are doing your share but not if you are sitting on your butt expecting the Lord to push one way while you are pushing the other way.

Quoted from: Maxed Out Momma

I understand now. Finally, once and for all, what the purpose of war is. The purpose of war is to destroy myths. The purpose of war is to restore human faith in cause and effect. The purpose of war is remind humankind of its limits. And now I understand how that can be a good thing.

That’s Cobb, riffing on the pretty lies we tell to make us feel like good people. Advertisers create illusions to sell products. Light beer or gallons of cheap body spray do not attract hot girls. But young men want to believe this is so. It’s essentially the same operation when a giant food corporation touts its new organic brand to upper middle class shoppers. Or when a political action group makes believe that computer word games actually help feed starving children.

I regularly mention the illusion of false scarcity. My line usually goes something like, “It’s not a resource problem, it’s a technology problem. The best example is oil. Should Earth ever actually release all its oil for human consumption, any of the several substitues already known could be a viable replacement. Or something new will be found. If we put our minds to it.

What happens when the technology works too well? In Belgium and around the world, milk prices have dropped very low. At the current price, supply exceeds demand. In other words, for $4 per gallon, farmers will make more milk than people are willing to shell out $4 for.

Here it is, the last day of my experiment with extended rememberance. It has been difficult. Life really does get in the way.

Maybe that’s the point. Life should get in the way. Those who sacrificed did so to allow me to follow the path of my life. If I spend too much time looking backward, I stop moving forward.

It calls to mind our mission here at NRR, and the words which inspired it:

A time will come when someone asks you: 'What were you doing about it?' You can't tell them: 'I was just watching it. I was just an innocent bystander.' Let me tell you something: There are no innocent bystanders in this.

War is less costly than servitude…the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau.

Quoted from: Jean Dutourd

Government is not the only democracy in the USA. Labor unions, for example, are structured around the concept of majority rule.

All democracies are at risk of becoming tyrannies. Either by force of majority ignoring minority interests, or by insiders and operatives who work the system to their advantage over the interests of those they’re supposed to represent.

Workers at a Boeing factory in South Carolina decided that their union was no longer working for them. By secret ballot, laborers fired the union:

I read many excellent commentaries regarding September 11th, eight years after. Over at Daily Excuse, the chief procrastinator set aside excuses and called us to action:

Time flies and life goes on but we must always remember what happened that day. No longer did America remain safe from terrorism. Freedom is wonderful and precious but can be very expensive. So while we are out there wondering how we can retain our "natural beauty" or chose what church or movie theater or restaurant we want to go to remember that we here are very lucky and we need to protect and cherish that freedom. And we need to honor all those people who have died for the cause of freedom here and elsewhere.

Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we can achieve either one or the other, but not both at the same time.

Quoted from: Friedrich Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty

If you are not saved by Grace, you will be judged by Law.

Quoted from: Dr. Walter Martin

The slippery slope argument is common. We are warned against (A) because it will lead through (B) and (C) to something really crappy at (K) or (L).

“Don’t go near cannabis, because after one whiff, you’ll eventually end up dead in some toilet stall from a heroin overdose”

“If you listen to heavy metal music, you’ll end up a murderer and burn in hell for eternity.”

By more strict logic, each point in the progression must be weighed on its own merits. (A) stands alone. (B) stands alone. It’s not reasonable to reject (A) or (B) because of (K) or (L).