Hey RRS!!!!

mindcore's picture
Another Picture of Me

I just joined up. I'm a college student in Dallas Texas, though at 28 I feel to old to be a college student.

I study neuroscience, with the intention of becomming a neuroscientist and a professor. I am fat as hell, have long hair, lots of tattoos, and like to wear flip-flops.

 

 

I'm sorry that I got fat.

 

I recently started a podcast at http://mindcore.podbean.com, its a science podcast heavily inspired by the work of RRS and Greydon Square.

I cuss like a sailor, and act like I would if I was drinking with my friends instead of like I was in my professor's office hours.  

Recently I started going to a lot of forums trying to get my podcast heard, and I would tell people that my show was inspired by the RRS, and try to dicuss this approach.

I met with some resistance.

Brian commented on one of my blog articles on blogger and linked to a blog post that Kelly had made about atheists being hostile to their own.

 

So I became inspired with solidarity and decided to post this on my blogs:

Rational Response Squad

- Sorry to interrupt the Dawkins review-

My Public Endorsement of The Rational Response Squad

 

  That's right, there it is.

  What is the Rational Response Squad, well in a nutshell they are a group  of mostly young people (though age is no barrier) who set forth to promote rationality in our society.

 

 Sounds pretty harmless , that is until you figure out they consider the biggest irrationality out there to be religion.

  I have religious friends, many of you read this blog. Look I have no hostility towards you, but I do believe that what we think should be justifiable with evidence. This tends to put me on the side of the fence that says okay so you believe in God, why? And then as you answer about personal experiences I tend to think about well understood  psychological mechanisms of misattribution, that is, to think something  is causing something which it is not causing. Or you talk about the bible, and I think about how many other religions there are and how they have as much of a claim to the exclusive information on the creator as you do.

   Some of you who are religious have thought this through a lot more, and I respect that. I really do, some of you have come up with philosophical ideas that back up your relatively allegorical interpretations of scripture. Personally I have no quarrel with those of you that have taken this route. But the Rational Response Squad probably does.

And I think the Rational Response Squad is awesome!

 They take their views to the street and the net, with equal voracity.

One of their slogans is "Believe in God, we can fix that."

 To some this may seem offensive, but infused within it is the intrinsic respect for all people that presumes that you will defer to reason if confronted with reason.

 When I believed in God I seriously took the position that I should not be afraid of dispassionate and constructive argument, or books. Of course my faith did not survive my open mind. But if you're on to something real than this should not intimidate you.

  They also take on other frauds like Uri Geller, the spoon bending psychic from Israel, currently to be found on the show Phenomenon.

   My podcast takes a street level approach to talking about science, and I will fully submit, without a single doubt:

  I based the Mindcore podcast on the approach of the Rational Response Squad.

  I have heard interviews with these guys on the Humanist Network News, and Skepticality, and I have listened to their own podcast.

  They talk about philosophy, history, and science like these are topics best discussed with friends wherever you are, not exclusively academic issues. 

  These people fight for thinking  but not formal education.

  That takes courage, balls, and passion.

So there you have it: I endorse the Rational Response Squad!

 

I hope the big-ass font is not too annoying.

 

Now I'm here, down for the culture war.  

 

Your life is a love story!

thingy's picture

You appear to be a little

You appear to be a little vertically challenged? Sticking out tongue

Hambydammit's picture

Welcome aboard, and thanks

Welcome aboard, and thanks for the glowing recommendation!

 

Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin

http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism

Kelly blogged about this

Kelly blogged about this post here.  We're glad to have you here.

 

Welcome!

Welcome!

mindcore's picture

You know, for all the shit

You know, for all the shit talking this is the friendliest atheits or skeptic  site I've been to on the internet.

Your life is a love story!

Zombie's picture

Welcome, glad to have you on

Welcome, glad to have you on board sir. Smiling

mindcore wrote: You know,

mindcore wrote:
You know, for all the shit talking this is the friendliest atheits or skeptic site I've been to on the internet.

They hate us for our freedom mindcore, hate us for our freedom. [if you don't get puncline

 

Honestly, I think much of this might have to do with the fact that we recognize that there are different atheist groups, we're ok with that, but we also saw a gap in the atheist world.  There was not a place for what would commonly be called "new atheists" to unite properly.  I've seen many atheist communities divided on this issue and often it thwarted having the conversation that "new atheists" want to have (which isn't one about defending tactics).  This community takes that divide and says... let's have a place for the strident folk to unite.  The people who aren't scared to talk up.  I think maybe because we tend have a little more in common with each other than simply the word "atheist" we have a proclivity to be nicer to each other. 

I could be wrong, that's just a hunch.   

 

 

 

Welcome! Don't worry about

Welcome!

Don't worry about being 28 and too old for school.

I'm 43 and going for my second BA. 

"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin

mindcore's picture

Sapient wrote: mindcore

Sapient wrote:

mindcore wrote:
You know, for all the shit talking this is the friendliest atheits or skeptic site I've been to on the internet.

They hate us for our freedom mindcore, hate us for our freedom. [if you don't get puncline]

 

Honestly, I think much of this might have to do with the fact that we recognize that there are different atheist groups, we're ok with that, but we also saw a gap in the atheist world. There was not a place for what would commonly be called "new atheists" to unite properly. I've seen many atheist communities divided on this issue and often it thwarted having the conversation that "new atheists" want to have (which isn't one about defending tactics). This community takes that divide and says... let's have a place for the strident folk to unite. The people who aren't scared to talk up. I think maybe because we tend have a little more in common with each other than simply the word "atheist" we have a proclivity to be nicer to each other.

I could be wrong, that's just a hunch.

 

 

 

Word 

Your life is a love story!

mindcore's picture

Thanks

Thanks Zombie, cute kid.

Your life is a love story!

mindcore's picture

Its a bitch

Its a bitch. But I do love school, what can I say, I'm a geek.

Your life is a love story!