"It seems to me that to organize on the basis of feeding people or righting social injustice and all that is very valuable. But to rally people around the idea of modernism, modernity, or something is simply silly. I mean, I don't know what kind of a cause that is, to be up to date. I think it ultimately leads to fashion and snobbery and I'm against it."
Jack Levine: January 3, 1915 – November 8, 2010
LEVEL BILLIONAIRES OUT OF EXISTENCE
Interesting, or it is ironic, that people who make their living being deceitful (Penn & Teller come to mind) are people we are supposed to trust to identify deceit in others.
Penn & Teller, too, are about as solid in their presentations of evidence to support their revelations of deceit. It may be they are right (aye, there's the rub!), but they can't prove it; not by any reasonable standard of evidence.
You're just supposed to trust them, because they know how to deceive, and how deceivers work. Yes, yes, they do; don't they?
It's one of the weirder things about current pop-culture is that known deceivers are supposed to be more trustworthy. It's like ISIS being presumed to be honest as to their motives, I guess. When there is nothing that is to be considered an ultimate source of truth, when it's all relative, it has such an easy time of turning into just a bunch of ruses to get to where you want to go.
Randi and Jilllett got into hot water over climate change denial, before they both dialed it back when it was too much for their followers, just like in the piece you referred me to. Randi has a track record for doing exactly what that guy said he did, feigning some ridiculous excuse or health problem or claiming ignorance and "what do you expect, I'm just a little old magician".
He's most useful as a dead canary in the empty mine shaft that popular atheism is.
It's one of the weirder things about current pop-culture is that known deceivers are supposed to be more trustworthy. It's like ISIS being presumed to be honest as to their motives, I guess. When there is nothing that is to be considered an ultimate source of truth, when it's all relative, it has such an easy time of turning into just a bunch of ruses to get to where you want to go.
Randi and Jilllett got into hot water over climate change denial, before they both dialed it back when it was too much for their followers, just like in the piece you referred me to. Randi has a track record for doing exactly what that guy said he did, feigning some ridiculous excuse or health problem or claiming ignorance and "what do you expect, I'm just a little old magician".
He's most useful as a dead canary in the empty mine shaft that popular atheism is.
IIRC, Randi is supposedly a magician?
ReplyDeleteInteresting, or it is ironic, that people who make their living being deceitful (Penn & Teller come to mind) are people we are supposed to trust to identify deceit in others.
Penn & Teller, too, are about as solid in their presentations of evidence to support their revelations of deceit. It may be they are right (aye, there's the rub!), but they can't prove it; not by any reasonable standard of evidence.
You're just supposed to trust them, because they know how to deceive, and how deceivers work. Yes, yes, they do; don't they?
It's one of the weirder things about current pop-culture is that known deceivers are supposed to be more trustworthy. It's like ISIS being presumed to be honest as to their motives, I guess. When there is nothing that is to be considered an ultimate source of truth, when it's all relative, it has such an easy time of turning into just a bunch of ruses to get to where you want to go.
ReplyDeleteRandi and Jilllett got into hot water over climate change denial, before they both dialed it back when it was too much for their followers, just like in the piece you referred me to. Randi has a track record for doing exactly what that guy said he did, feigning some ridiculous excuse or health problem or claiming ignorance and "what do you expect, I'm just a little old magician".
He's most useful as a dead canary in the empty mine shaft that popular atheism is.
It's one of the weirder things about current pop-culture is that known deceivers are supposed to be more trustworthy. It's like ISIS being presumed to be honest as to their motives, I guess. When there is nothing that is to be considered an ultimate source of truth, when it's all relative, it has such an easy time of turning into just a bunch of ruses to get to where you want to go.
ReplyDeleteRandi and Jilllett got into hot water over climate change denial, before they both dialed it back when it was too much for their followers, just like in the piece you referred me to. Randi has a track record for doing exactly what that guy said he did, feigning some ridiculous excuse or health problem or claiming ignorance and "what do you expect, I'm just a little old magician".
He's most useful as a dead canary in the empty mine shaft that popular atheism is.