The morning after Judgment Day

I checked out a few of the blogs by the usual suspects this morning, and noticed that the creationists are largely silent (so far, give ’em time) on the Dover documentary from last night…with one exception. The Discovery Institute’s Media Complaints Division is wound up over it. They have an eight-point “rebuttal” of the documentary that consists of many picked nits and regurgitated whines, and I thought about taking them on point by point, but then decided it wasn’t worth it. For one thing, it’s written by Casey Luskin, the DI’s small mammal mascot, who is something of an incompetent pipsqueak, so it’s hardly worth flicking him around any more. Most importantly, it misses the point of the program entirely.

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Student Post: Hurts so Good

I once overheard an interesting confession from a friend of a friend. This guy had been drinking and was admitting to his buddy that he just wanted to get into a fight, punch the next person that walked through the door, stir things up. That sort of thing. I complained to my companion that it was precisely this attitude that causes so much conflict in society and, though my friend agreed, he sheepishly added that sometimes he too enjoyed the thrill of physical violence.

I was reminded of the incident recently in a class on the origins of aggression when we read a passage from Journalist Bill Buford’s Among the Thugs. Buford spent eight years documenting violent episodes in sports crowds and riots. He wrote of the intensity of a violent experience:

I am attracted to the moment when consciousness ceases: the moments of survival, of animal intensity, of violence, when there is no multiplicity, no potential for different levels of thought: there is only one–the present in its absoluteness

If we really can find a sort of solace, release, or even satisfaction in violence, I think this says something about our race, and it makes me wonder if peace is really attainable. We may find it difficult to identify with violent people as we are now, but how would we react if a loved one were taken from us? Would we want revenge? Maybe revenge is the search for the relief that violence can bring however transient or ultimately tragic.

Sunday with Mother Teresa

An announcement from Minnesota Atheists:

Mother Teresa: Closet Atheist or Teflon Saint?

Sponsored by Minnesota Atheists

Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Bedlam Theatre, Minneapolis

Around the world Mother Teresa has become an unassailable icon of charity, love and endless toil for the benefit of the “poorest of the poor.” Her image as the savior of the poor people of Calcutta earned untold millions in donations, multitudes of awards, including the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, and a fast track to sainthood.

Persons who have questioned her mode of operation and publicized the true nature of her contributions have been widely and vehemently vilified. Now, with the release of some of her private writings, some are calling her a “closet atheist.”

Minnesota Atheists’ associate president Cynthia Egli will speak on the controversies surrounding Mother Teresa’s life and work and answer the question, “Should the Catholic Church canonize Mother Teresa?”

Complete schedule (everything is free and open to the public):

Noon – 12:30 p.m. – Social time.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. – Presentation.
1:30 – 1:50 p.m. – Break.
1:50 – 2:00 p.m. – Brief business.
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. – Open discussions.

Bedlam Theatre,
1501 6th St. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55454

This venue is exactly at the Cedar-Riverside light rail station in the West Bank area of Minneapolis. There is a huge FREE parking lot behind Bedlam Theatre.

Judgment Day liveblogging

The new PBS documentary on the Dover trial, Judgment Day (optimistically reviewed by NCSE! The Discovery Institute in frantic denial!) starts here in the midwest in about a half hour. I’ve got my diet coke, I think I’ll pop some popcorn, and maybe I’ll take a stab at liveblogging the show. Let’s hope it’s lively!

Feel free to chime in with comments as we go.

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Green UMM

One of the goals of my university is to go green: we’re working on wind and biomass power, we support local foods, we’re making a major initiative to add environmental studies to our curriculum, and we’re about to build a green dorm on campus. One interesting tack the green dormies are taking is to keep the public informed with a Green Dorm blog. So far, it’s awfully dry reading and its not really taking advantage of the medium well — each post is little more than a link to a pdf document from the planning process — but they are open to comment, at least.

Maybe they should consult someone who knows better ways of putting information on the web, though.