God is still dead. More than a hundred years after the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche put those famous words “God is dead” into the mouth of one of his characters, implying that the Christian concept of god had become untenable, this statement has become even more true, the point driven home with new evidence from science …
Monthly Archive: April 2008
Apr 29 2008
The emptiness of TV news shows
As I have repeatedly said, I rarely watch TV anymore, and don’t have cable at home, still using rabbit antennas to receive a few broadcast stations on the rare occasions when I want to watch. The one exception is when I am traveling. Since I initially feel disoriented and lack access to the books, magazines, …
Apr 28 2008
An Atheist’s Creed
In the course of writing many posts on science and religion and atheism, it struck me that I was tangentially making many statements about what I, as an atheist, believe. I decided to summarize those scattered thoughts into one coherent statement. Of course, I am not presuming to claim that all atheists subscribe to this …
Apr 25 2008
Neoconservatives, Al Qaeda, and Curveball
A year ago ago, I wrote a series of three posts (part 1, part 2, and part 3) about a fascinating BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares that charted the parallel rise of two groups: the neoconservatives in the US (whose ideology was formulated by University of Chicago philosopher Leo Strauss) and the radical Islamists …
Apr 24 2008
Podi Singham, 1925-2008
(My mother Gnaneswari Singham, universally known by her childhood pet name of Podi, died on March 23, 2008 at the age of 83. A thanksgiving service was held for her at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Thimbirigasyaya. Colombo, Sri Lanka on Saturday, April 19, 2008, 5:30 pm. Below are two photographs of her, one …
Apr 23 2008
The propaganda machine-15: The armies of the right
(For previous posts in this series, see here.) In this final post in the series, I want to look at the big picture. If you think of the ideological wars as being fought by armies, then to understand the role of the third tier pundit class one has to see them as non-commissioned officers (NCOs), …
Apr 22 2008
The propaganda machine-14: The role of the third-tier pundits
(For previous posts in this series, see here.) This fairly long series on how the propaganda machine was created and operates was necessary in order to understand the original question of how the phenomenon of third-tier pundits arose. The machine provides the soil that nurtures them and allows them to ply their trade. This is …
Apr 21 2008
The propaganda machine-13: Why journalists perpetuate the myth of a liberal media
(For previous posts in this series, see here.) Even a casual glance at the ownership structure of the media should be enough to dispel the notion that the media are ‘liberal’ in any meaningful sense. As for the owners, Robert McChesney writes in The Problem of the Media (2003): Many prominent media moguls are rock-ribbed …
Apr 18 2008
The changing problems of science and religion
(I will be away on travel this week so will be reposting an old series, edited and updated, that discusses the nature of science and the difference between science and religion. New posts start again on Monday, April 21, 2008.) In the previous posting, I discussed some of the problems that arise is reconciling science …
Apr 17 2008
Science, religion, and Ockham’s razor
(I will be away on travel this week so will be reposting an old series, edited and updated, that discusses the nature of science and the difference between science and religion. New posts start again on Monday, April 21, 2008.) A few days ago I was working in my backyard when I noticed that the …
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