25 September 2009

Even Ahmadinejad gets something right…


I’m pleased to report that, in his 23 September 2009 speech to the UN’s General Assembly, President Ahmadinejad of Iran made at least one sensible statement:

It seems that the roots of problems [in the world] lie in the way one views and perceives the world and humankind…

But even with that statement, he demonstrates his shallow thinking: if he would dig deeper, he’d find that the root problem is failure of the majority of people to answer correctly the fundamental, epistemological question: “How can knowledge of the world be obtained?”

As far as humans have been able to determine, the best answer to that question is to use the scientific method (which is as old as humanity): “guess, test, and reassess”. Instead and in horrible contrast, Ahmadinejad (similar to all theists) “thinks” that knowledge of reality can be obtained simply by wishful thinking. Thereby, they fall for the “proof-by-pleasure logical fallacy”: if it feels good, it’s true.

As a result, Ahmadinejad advocates some bizarre, feel-good “truths”, which he shared with the world in his UN speech as follows:

“God Almighty purposefully created the world.” [Really? What evidence supports such a notion? How can the idea be tested? And even before that: is it logical? For example, how could an omnipotent being have a “purpose”? Are you sure that your god would take kindly to your suggestion that He has an unfulfilled desire?!]

“All existence including power, knowledge, and wealth come from Him.” [Really? What data support such a claim? How can it be experimentally verified? And even if it were so (although, of course, it’s not!), then why do you keep vilifying the Jews – since it follows that their considerable knowledge, wealth, and even power was given to them by Him?! So, should you continue to defy your omnipotent god’s will?!]

“God created the world for humans and humans for Himself.” [Oh, do tell. Yet, in contrast to your claim, all evidence points to the conclusion that humans created gods for themselves!]

“God has created man for eternity…” [Really? Or is it, perchance, that primitive people (similar to you) were (and still are) afraid of death; so, they concocted myths about the illogical, oxymoronic idea of “life after death”?]

“God has obligated humans to live divinely and socially…” [Really? If so, then why do so many people (such as yourself) ignore the obligation of their omnipotent creator god?]

“True freedom and obedience to God are in balance…” [Yah, just like a slave is free – provided he does exactly as his master demands. As Mikhail Bakunin wrote in God and the State in 1874:

A jealous lover of human liberty, deeming it the absolute condition of all that we admire and respect in humanity, I reverse the phrase of Voltaire and say, “If God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him.”

“Obeisance to God means the acceptance of absolute truth, the absolute light, and the absolute beauty.” [Ain’t that cute? Never mind that “absolute truth” is restricted to closed systems (whereas reality is an open system), never mind that the phrase “absolute light” is meaningless (unless, of course, you can produce some non-absolute light), and never mind that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” If Ahmadinejad says it’s so, then by God, himself, it must be so!]

“God is omniscient and knows all that is revealed or kept secret…” [Not that there’s any evidence to support such a claim, but first, pray tell: is the second clause really necessary? What do you think ‘omniscient’ means? And second: how could anything be both omnipotent and omniscient? Being omniscient, He would know everything that is, ever has been, or ever could be; but then, He would be powerless to have new thoughts; therefore, He wouldn’t be omnipotent!]

“He is kind and merciful.” [Except, of course, toward those of us who think that He’s a concoction of primitive people, promoted by parasitic clerics and prolonged by power mongers (such as yourself), since they claim that, right up there with killing us, He gets his kicks out of torturing us for eternity in Hell.]

“All creatures are humble before Him and resign to His will.” [So it follows (so it seems) that we who consider him the figment of primitive people’s imaginations, the sting of con-artist, clerical parasites, and the tool of power mongers (such as yourself) aren’t ‘creatures’. Okay, I’ll buy that one: we’re better described as scientific humanists; but then, that makes all theists “creatures”. Hmmm. If you want some friendly advice, Ahmadinejad, I’m not sure that your fellow unscientific antihumans will appreciate your depiction of them as “creatures”. But if you insist…]

“God is alive and is the Creator of the universe and all life.” [Damn! And there I was thinking that the universe was formed by a symmetry-breaking quantum fluctuation in the original total void. Silly me.]

“Humans need to know God in order to realize a prosperous society in this world as well as to strive for a beautiful eternal life…” [And where did you say you put the evidence that supports such crazy ideas? Oh, never mind. A more important question is: how soon will you be willing check out the quality of your “eternal life”?]

And then, just great: Ahmadinejad tells us the “the Promised One” is coming and we’ll all live “under the rule of the righteous and perfect human being”, no doubt in an Iranian-style theocracy. But tell us, Ahmadinejad, what makes you think we want to be ruled by other than ourselves? Have you ever heard of the idea of a “democracy”, in which people rule themselves? No? I didn’t think so. It seems that you’re more into stuffing ballot boxes with “Yes-votes” for yourself.

In sum, Ahmadinejad, ideas about gods are as crazy as the idea of letting a madman like you possess a nuclear bomb. Still, I congratulate you on your sensible statement:

… the roots of problems [in the world] lie in the way one views and perceives the world and humankind…

I also agree with your

A global community filled with justice, friendship, brotherhood and welfare is at hand…

and your

Great developments in favor of humankind as well as its true and real rights are on the way. A golden and brilliant future is awaiting mankind.

A major inhibition, however, constraining humanity from realizing such possibilities, is the nonsensical and damnable “god idea”. Yet, progress is being made debunking wild speculations about gods, which are used as tools to manipulate the masses by parasitic clerics of the world and by power-mongers such as you.

www.zenofzero.net


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