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Ignorance at its finest...

Now while your reading this post try to keep in mind that I love my family, despite how stupid and narrow minded they can be.

When it comes to being an athiest, I definitely take it to the extreme. I don't believe in anything even remotely paranormal. I think the idea of ghosts, angels, magic, all that stuff is just a way to make our ordinary lives more interesting. But on top of this I also don't believe in conspiracies...at least the ones that are still based on speculation.

So needless to say I definitely don't believe the moon landing was fake, and I SUPER don't believe the whole 9/11 bull. But my aunt and grama do...which actually bugged me alot when I first found out. Not only do they believe the moon landing was fake and 9/11 was organized by the president, but they believe in astrology! My freaken grama thinks she can tell what kind of person you are by looking at yur handwriting because she's a self proclaimed wicken...and somehow this gives her the ability.

So once all this was out in the open they decided that they needed to prove their beliefs to me. My aunt told me that the full moon affects people. Like there's more babies born and more murders. I asked her what proof she had and she typed it into google and brought up the first article she saw and assumed that would be proof enough for me. So I told her I wasn't some idiot who was gonna read some random article by a random guy I didn't know with no credentials and no citations.

After that everything kept going down hill. I think we've argued about one of these topics at least once a week since we discovered our huge differences. I try not to bring it up, but I think the reason it bugs me so much is because I used to respect her a whole lot more than I do now.

My grama's no better too. My ex studies physics and i think my family bothers him more than me. Once when they got into the moon landing debate my grama flat out told him half way through that she simply didn't believe him. In other words: she simply didn't want to believe him.

Not only this, but they've actually told me that they feel sorry for me. When I asked them why my aunt said that not believing in things and having such a difficult mind to convince was sad. Like just because I can't read some random article and believe her makes my life dull. And when I tried to tell her that I was much happier not complicating my outlook on life with theories and just concentration on what actually exists; she just shook her head. Clearly she doesn't want to think someone can have a good life and think the way I do.

I'm baffled that this went unnoticed for so long. I used to think i was alot like my aunt, she was someone I looked up to and thought was pretty smart. Now I just think she's a lazy dumbass...I dunno what to thinkk about all this.

Any comments?

P.S: I'm sorry about my horrible grammar and punctuation, I'm terrible with both...

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on November 7, 2010 at 9:31pm

Interesting thoughts, but I think the correlation would have already been discovered using that idea if it were true. Animal bodies are made up of water...but they don't have tides and there are so many other differences between water in an ocean and water confined to an animal body.

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Permalink Reply by Carrot Hare on March 1, 2010 at 7:25am

I stumbled across this when my friend asked me why I didn't like rollercoasters as a child. I remember being called a wuss and stuff for not liking extreme rides but I just told them that I didn't need expensive simulated stimulation. My life was great enough once I accepted that life doesn't need cheap thrills and made up uniqueness to be a rich and full one. I enjoy going out for coffee and catching up with friends, going to a movie or taking my baby cousins for a walk. It's not ideal for most people but once you get around this obsession we have with excitement, it's all just as much fun as Wonderland. :)
And yes I totally know how lame that sounded LOL

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on March 1, 2010 at 3:28pm

Amusement parks...they make me nauseous now. I'm kind of sad that I can't ride the spinny rides anymore, but I'm a grownup now and can have orgasms instead...seems like a good tradeoff.

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Permalink Reply by TNT666 on March 1, 2010 at 9:49pm

I love amusement parks, being flung upside down and around. Heck I even like mini-golf with friends and a coupla drinks!

A guy once thought I had come after sex because, as he said: You screamed! And I answered, "I scream on roller coaster rides too, but didn't come then either!" :)

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Permalink Reply by Donald B. ZEPP on February 28, 2010 at 9:11pm

I agree with the unlikeliness of your changing these folks at this point.

I suggest you simply remember that half the people you run into are of below average intelligence and save your breath for those worth the discussion...

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Permalink Reply by Carrot Hare on March 1, 2010 at 7:26am

That was a both a burn on "these folks" and a compliment to me. :) You definitely have a gift with words lol, that was awesome.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Thompson on February 28, 2010 at 9:33pm

I've had to learn the hard way that arguing with someone about a subject which they are closed-minded about is worse than pointless, it's harmful. In regards to religion I came up with a litmus test. If someone is too closed-minded to answer my question then debating the subject with them will only cause grief for both of us.

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Permalink Reply by Carrot Hare on March 1, 2010 at 7:28am

Yeah I know, and I do try to stay away from the subject but we always seem to accidentally stumble onto it. And my family has this frame of mind where if you aren't able to defend yourself it means you've basically given in. And then comes the gloating...which it always does.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Thompson on March 1, 2010 at 12:41pm

You could respond with a defense which would make sense to them. "I simply have faith that it is the way I believe it is." While this would be an irrational position and it would undermine your future attempts to show how faith is defenseless it might just get them to stop pestering you. Use with caution. :)

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on February 28, 2010 at 10:08pm

Are there also things that you like about your family?

I see where you are coming from. In my opinion these types of religious do most of the things that Christians do, and while claiming to be open minded they are not. (I'm starting to think "open minded" belongs on the "misused word" list, the same as "energy" and "quantum"--usually it just means "you should think the same as me"). Some of my friends have friends that have to advertise being wiccan all the time, and I don't think they even realize that they are proselytizing, just the same as Christians. Would they be comfortable if someone started talking about getting saved? No, but somehow it's different to talk about their experiences with the Goddess, while assuming that the other person has the same religious views.

I've known quite a lot of people who flattered themselves by believing that they were psychic, and things like that. I've seen wicca attract a lot of otherwise intelligent people and I think they just want to feel like they're unique and special, with comments like "I've always known I was different", or calling it "the craft of the wise", etc. And then there were just people with outrageous claims of being able to manipulate physical objects with their minds--which they never even offered to prove (now I know I should just tell them "there's a 1 million dollar reward if you can prove it to James Randi!")

It doesn't make your life dull to not believe in mystical woo. It makes it sane (instead of just confusing and headache-inducing), so that you can focus your interest on things that are not only more interesting, but also true. And this is what I would tell them!

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Permalink Reply by Carrot Hare on March 1, 2010 at 7:39am

I love James Randi! X)

Ya know I don't think I've mentioned this, but I major in art. I paint and draw and I'm actually pretty good at it. I only say this though because I've busted my ass with my skills since I was able to comprehend what drawing was. After time I started to realize that being an artist the way I am and being someone who believes in nothing paranormal is kind of a lonely existance. Everyone around me believes in the supernatural cause it kind of goes hand in hand with art.
This post seems kinda sad but I was really just trying to mention how funny it would be to tell them all someone was offering a million to prove their abilities to him. I'm sure at least some of them would have been all over that.

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Permalink Reply by Martin B. Penkala on March 1, 2010 at 1:00pm

Yes I'm sure it's gotta be kinda lonesome being that way. I'm, I guess you can say, an "atheist mechanist" and have never believed in anything paranormal at all; it's all balderdash. But that does not reduce or diminish by one mote my experience of asthetic phenomemon. I have always found it absurd that people maintain that sort of outlook; that people without 'spiritual' beliefs cannot really truly think or feel like artists! What a simplistic heap of crap! lol! I love Carravagio and Bernini as much as any suposedly pious appreciator. I love the majestic Mass in B minor by Bach and don't need to believe in supernatural forces to do so. Yes, there are many people who seem to buttress their abilities in art by invoking some supernatural fiber or connection to some spaced-out Cosmic Flowstream of Inspiration blah blah blah,...because they, in some dim and murky way, need to believe that Real Art needs such a "source".
They can't handle the outlook that: hey, y'know, eh? -I am a sophisticated arrangement of molecules named Martin Penkala, and these collection can burst with a plethora of feelings in response to Art, without the substrate of some "Wonder Tissue" called the Soul, or Spirit or Mind. And gues what else? Gee - I seem to have comapassion, tenderness, empathy, andl ove just fine without that wonder Tissue!...