Guess what came in the mail today.

 
Elai
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Spoiler

inb4"deez nuts"

Can't wait to read this beauty. I've heard really good things about it. I found The God Delusion to be quite boring, so hopefully Hitchens' work ends up being bit more interesting.

Discuss other books we should read and/or opinions on this book.

Edit: My phone takes these huge fucking photos, I don't know why.

Edit 2: For those just joining us, here's a run-down of what's going on.

Page 1: Deals with religion as well as pessimism and why it's logical.
Page 2: Mostly off-topic until Iron man makes a joke at Verbatim. Then deals with the definition of enemy.
Page 3: Continues the "definition of enemy" discussion.
Page 4: Some veganism discussion, but lots of other stuff was said.
Page 5: Is just starting off, but everyone went to bed. It's still about veganism.
Last Edit: July 25, 2015, 03:33:09 AM by Prehisnake


 
Hahahaha very funny Zonda
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This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
meh, my mail today was more interesting than  Hitchens's verbal masturbation.


 
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fills his victims full of dread
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A religion-bashing book?


Korra | Mythic Inconceivable!
 
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uhhh...

- korrie
le ebin atheist bookz maymay


 
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A religion-bashing book?

That's a crude way of putting it.
Last Edit: July 25, 2015, 01:22:20 AM by Prehisnake


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Been meaning to get to Hitch-22 eventually.


 
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That sounds interesting, too. I have a lot of books I need to read first tho.
Last Edit: July 25, 2015, 01:38:59 AM by Prehisnake


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A religion-bashing book?

That's a crude way of putting it. But I haven't read it.

But that's clearly what it is. The damn cover says "how religion poisons everything."
"A religion-bashing book" is probably the most clear and concise manner in which to summarize the book.


 
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A religion-bashing book?

That's a crude way of putting it. But I haven't read it.

But that's clearly what it is. The damn cover says "how religion poisons everything."
"A religion-bashing book" is probably the most clear and concise manner in which to summarize the book.

Not necessarily. "Bashing" has connotations of incoherence and irrationality, which I'm sure is mostly absent from the book.
Last Edit: July 25, 2015, 01:39:23 AM by Prehisnake


 
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
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What's the point? I don't believe in any gods, but I don't feel the need to buy a bunch of self-aggrandizing novels to justify that.


 
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What's the point? I don't believe in any gods, but I don't feel the need to buy a bunch of self-aggrandizing novels to justify that.

I admire Hitchens quite a bit, and have heard great things about his book.

Could it also be that the topic interests me? Why do I need to justify what I'm reading?

If I had posted a picture of "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist" by Frank Turek (which I do own and have read), would you have said the same thing? Probably not.
Last Edit: July 25, 2015, 01:41:09 AM by Prehisnake


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A religion-bashing book?

That's a crude way of putting it. But I haven't read it.

But that's clearly what it is. The damn cover says "how religion poisons everything."
"A religion-bashing book" is probably the most clear and concise manner in which to summarize the book.

Not necessarily. "Bashing" has connotations of incoherence and irrationality, which I'm sure is absent from Hitchen's book.

"religion poisons everything."

That's a pretty irrational and unfounded statement to me, which thus leads me to believe the book is going to ignore any and all good religion serves, and go out of it's way to put religion in the worst light possible.


 
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
—Judge Aaron Satie
——Carmen
If I had posted "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist" (which I do own and have read), would you have said the same thing? Probably not.
Books about Christianity, as I've said before, have a much better reason to exist than books about atheism. Christianity is a set of beliefs. It has tenets, lore, and history. Atheism isn't a religion, but a lot of people are treating it like it is. There's nothing that a book about atheism should say outside of "I don't personally believe in a god." And there's certainly no reason to spend time and money on a book that pointlessly builds up what really breaks down to a negative assertion.


 
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A religion-bashing book?

That's a crude way of putting it. But I haven't read it.

But that's clearly what it is. The damn cover says "how religion poisons everything."
"A religion-bashing book" is probably the most clear and concise manner in which to summarize the book.

Not necessarily. "Bashing" has connotations of incoherence and irrationality, which I'm sure is absent from Hitchen's book.

"religion poisons everything."

That's a pretty irrational and unfounded statement to me,

The entire point of the book is justifying that, so I'm not sure how it could be interpreted as "unfounded". You could make the argument that it is irrational, because of all the "good things" religious people do. It wouldn't be a great argument, but a better one at least.

Quote
which thus leads me to believe the book is going to ignore any and all good religion serves,

I doubt it, but like any logical person, it's going to focus on the negatives rather than the positives. Especially since the former outweighs the latter.

Last Edit: July 25, 2015, 01:41:45 AM by Prehisnake


 
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This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
A religion-bashing book?

That's a crude way of putting it. But I haven't read it.

But that's clearly what it is. The damn cover says "how religion poisons everything."
"A religion-bashing book" is probably the most clear and concise manner in which to summarize the book.

Not necessarily. "Bashing" has connotations of incoherence and irrationality, which I'm sure is absent from Hitchen's book.

"religion poisons everything."

That's a pretty irrational and unfounded statement to me, which thus leads me to believe the book is going to ignore any and all good religion serves, and go out of it's way to put religion in the worst light possible.
Charity and morality can happen without God though.


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Whatever. Really not in the mood for this debate/


 
Elai
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If I had posted "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist" (which I do own and have read), would you have said the same thing? Probably not.
Books about Christianity, as I've said before, have a much better reason to exist than books about atheism. Christianity is a set of beliefs. It has tenets, lore, and history.

Which Turek's book isn't about.

Quote
And there's certainly no reason to spend time and money on a book that pointlessly builds up what really breaks down to a negative assertion.

There absolutely is. Especially if the author deems that that "negative assertion" is a serious harm, which Hitchens does.


"I don't have enough faith to be an atheist."

It's not about being a Christianity, it's about disproving Atheism. It's setting out to accomplish the same thing that Hitchen's book is trying to do, but reversed.


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A religion-bashing book?

That's a crude way of putting it. But I haven't read it.

But that's clearly what it is. The damn cover says "how religion poisons everything."
"A religion-bashing book" is probably the most clear and concise manner in which to summarize the book.

Not necessarily. "Bashing" has connotations of incoherence and irrationality, which I'm sure is absent from Hitchen's book.

"religion poisons everything."

That's a pretty irrational and unfounded statement to me,

The entire point of the book is justifying that, so I'm not sure how it could be interpreted as "unfounded". You could make the argument that it is irrational to say, because of all the "good things" religious people do.

Quote
which thus leads me to believe the book is going to ignore any and all good religion serves,

I doubt it, but like any logical person, it's going to focus on the negatives rather than the positives. Especially since the former outweighs the latter.
That's not being rational, that's just being edgy for the sake of being edgy.

No disrespect.


 
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That's not being rational, that's just being edgy for the sake of being edgy.
or, realistic

for the sake of being...

realistic


 
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this'll make for a good read, OP


 
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That's not being rational, that's just being edgy for the sake of being edgy.

It is absolutely rational to focus on the negatives over their opposite. We evolved to feel more intensely about negatives than positives.

Whether you feel yourself to be an optimist or not, there's no denying that negative emotions are stronger than positive ones.

You could make the argument that being pessimistic (Ex. focusing on the negatives) is as rational as being optimistic. But it still wouldn't make "focusing on the negatives" irrational, which is what you seem to be implying.


Quote
No disrespect.

None taken. I'm not the kind of person to feel offended once challenged.
Last Edit: July 25, 2015, 12:44:15 AM by Prehisnake


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That's not being rational, that's just being edgy for the sake of being edgy.
or, realistic

for the sake of being...

realistic
Nope. Just edgy.


 
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pessimism is the only rational perspective


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That's not being rational, that's just being edgy for the sake of being edgy.

It is absolutely rational to focus on the negatives over the positives. We evolved to feel more intensely about negatives than positives.

Whether you feel yourself to be an optimist or not, there's no denying that negative emotions are stronger than positive ones.

You could make the argument that being pessimistic (Ex. focusing on the negatives) is as rational as being optimistic.


Quote
No disrespect.

None taken. I'm not the kind of person to feel offended once challenged.
I take the good with the bad always. I acknowledge the negatives though, only a fool wouldn't.


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pessimism is the only rational perspective


 
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I take the good with the bad always.

Which is absolutely your prerogative. I only disagree with your implication that pessimism is irrational, which it certainly isn't.


 
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I take the good with the bad always. I acknowledge the negatives though, only a fool wouldn't.
and then you realize that there really is a deficit of "good" to take away from most things

maybe when you're older


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I take the good with the bad always.

Which is absolutely your prerogative. I only disagree with your implication that pessimism is irrational, which it certainly isn't.
I didn't say it was irrational, just edgy.

I think that being a realist is acknowledging both good and bad stuff. No extremes, just a balance.