Experiencing neither romance nor spirituality – A good comparison between not experiencing romance and not experiencing spirituality. I have often thought about this comparison myself. When I considered myself a new atheist, I was constantly annoyed by how much atheists talk about being spiritual. It’s fine to be spiritual, but it so overemphasized and exaggerated that it felt like a respectability politics tactic, one that failed to acknowledge or validate people who aren’t spiritual. And it basically blocked any potential conversation about what it’s like to not experience spirituality, in a world that thinks you must. Being asexual and aromantic spectrum has made me unapologetic about being nonspiritual.
Why books don’t work – The article argues that we don’t absorb information from nonfiction books very well, discusses why, and possible workarounds. Nonfiction books (and lectures too) are based on a “transmissionism” model of learning: an idea is described, and you learn the idea. But a better way to learn an idea is by actively engaging with it. I am wondering how to apply these ideas to improve my own blogging. Certainly when I blog about an idea, I learn a lot about it because I need to engage with it, but how do I encourage readers to also learn?
Prominent Atheist Sues Everyone, Shares Intimate Details of Sex Life with Court of Law – Rebecca Watson talks about Richard Carrier’s lawsuit against Skepticon, FTB, and others. If you watch the video, there’s a section reading out a long e-mail chain, in which Carrier hits on Heina, gets rejected, and just keeps going on and on. I appreciate that Watson shares some of evidence that Carrier himself has made public, because it’s quite comical how bad it makes Carrier look. Although… I hope she got Heina’s permission to make the video. I’ve long wanted to write about how ridiculous Carrier’s whole defense of himself is, but a) I’m not sure Heina would appreciate it, and b) nobody really cares about Richard Carrier, c) with the notable exception of one litigious asshole.
Small YouTube Culture (video) – Big Joel talks about the anxieties of youtubers who feel like they’re not getting the subscriber counts that they deserve. Yeah, that can be tough, because there’s an element of talent and skill, but there’s also an element of chance and external forces, and it’s impossible to say which is which. And essentially you end up playing dice with your sense of self-worth. Just like a real job.
Text blogging is like this too. In my experience, launching a blog is like, crickets for years. And I had no idea what to expect, because I had never read a blog so obscure as my own.
The Lesbian Flag: How did we get here? – Someone made a blow by blow timeline of lesbian flags and why there isn’t any sort of clear consensus on one. Yes, every single flag in the “mountain of flags” image is real. If your reaction is “so what?” good for you, keep that reaction. *grumbles about endless flag politics*
> When I considered myself a new atheist, I was constantly annoyed by how much atheists talk about being spiritual. It’s fine to be spiritual, but it so overemphasized and exaggerated that it felt like a respectability politics tactic, one that failed to acknowledge or validate people who aren’t spiritual.
This was one of the weirdest things to me about my first couple encounters with organized atheist groups. Prior that, all my experiences had been with family friends who were also atheist, and I guess we were all a particular unsentimental bunch because none of the many atheists I knew really embraced spirituality at all.
Cue then one of my first times actually attending an organized atheist event, specifically one about asexuality 101…where someone started wondering whether asexuals felt like they were missing out, because sexuality is such an important part of spirituality. That was….not the question I expected to encounter at an atheist ace Q&A event of all places.
Matuschak isn’t as clever or original as they think they are. All of these issues are addressed in the pedagogy of doing-pedagogy. That is to say, teachers know them.