Busted; Apology

[kingandy]

Busted, against all expectation, are apparently a "Punk-pop trio" with an "edge".

"They are a pop band who are cover stars of teen magazines, and are heart-throbs for a pre-pubescent audience.

"But they are also a rock band who play their own instruments, write their own songs and have a distinctly punky edge."

Those lovable rascals!

In other news: Have managed to offend entire Catholic church (or at least, the segment of it that reads pax_draconis' livejournal). I was foolish enough to suggest that the religion may contain some people who are stupid.

Really, genuinely sorry for any offence that may have been caused. The sentence "The stupid are more likely to breed than the intelligent, especially if they're Catholic" can, on reflection, parse as "...And that segment of the world that is stupid wholly intersects with that segment of the world that is Catholic." Particularly damning since the general thrust of the comment was about people who should never breed. The intent of the sentence, however, was "That segment of the world that intersects with both the Catholic church and stupidity are more likely to breed than those who are simply stupid or those who are Catholic, a conclusion drawn from the fact that stupid people breed a lot, and the Roman Catholic Church bans contraception. It is the fact of these people being stupid that makes them undesirable genetic stock, but the fact of their religion increases their breeding chances." But it was an LJ comment and not a newspaper article, and furthermore entirely incidental to the actual point, so I didn't feel like writing all of that.

Hopefully that reads as an explanation of the earlier misinterpretation (and poor phrasing on my part) rather than a weasly bigot trying to defend his views. Also, hopefully, nobody can take issue with my calling stupid people stupid; it is not a generalisation, it is part of the definition of stupid people.

The thought occurs that I should have split this post into two seperate ones, since I can't assign it an emotion of both "amused" and "plaintive". No, wait, I can. There.

Comments

[stsquad.livejournal.com]

When I was young my parents taught me to never discuss "religion, sex or politics" in polite company (note: this didn't mean we as a family didn't discuss it, we have always had lengthy discussion over dinner not having a TV when we ate, however I digress). Of course a lot of the really interesting conversations come from people having differing points of view and those 3 topics tend to be to ripe for discussion.

Not being religious myself (and a scientist to boot) it would be very easy for me to dismiss all people of faith as weirdo nutters. However I strongly believe in an individuals freedom of faith (with the caveat their not arseholes about it - you know killing people who don't follow their deity du jour and the like). I'm convinced most of the problems with religions are with the fact they are organised structures where a persons sense of what is good/bad and right/wrong is filtered through the interpretations of other people. Now I know a fair number of people who have some degree of faith in something. Generally they have considered what a given faith has to say and come to a choice to follow (or partially follow) its teachings. However often its the case that people follow a faith because their family/community do and they have known no different. This is often combined with following their local priest/iman/leaders interpretation of teachings without questioning it themselves ("you now like because they know 'cause they have been chosen by god and I'm just a humble follower"). Those are the ones you need to watch out for.

As far as the Catholic Church is concerned well I have similar issues with them as you do. In fact I have issues with Islam, Judaism, Scientology and even the Church of England. In fact about the only religion I've not had bad words to say about are the Buddhists because they seem so fluffy (although in a we could kick your
arse kinda way). And even then its probably because delved into to their teachings in much detail ;-)

On a side note I sometimes describe myself as a Christian given that I have little problem with the concept of a historical Jesus and the general thrust of his teachings that being nice to people is generally a better life plan than being an arsehole. Without getting involved with the complexities of deities and specifics about what is and isn't allowed. However as I yet to be convinced of the existence of anything supernatural I'm more correctly an atheist.

Wow, long comment. phew.

[kingandy]

You're missing the point - I don't have any issues with the Catholic Church. (At least, none that I was discussing there, or that I feel informed enough about to discuss to any degree.) I wasn't even discussing religion, I was talking about the tendency of stupid people to overbreed and mentioned the Church's official anti-contraception stance, not to say that the stance itself was good or bad but only to ... actually I'm not sure why I mentioned it. I think I had a good reason at the time. It was something along the lines of "if stupid people can't get the hang of condoms, how are they supposed to understand the rhythm method?" Which I think I failed utterly to communicate.

I'm still not entirely why jfs got so irate. I've been assuming he thought I was calling Catholics stupid, but thinking about it, when I told him I wasn't he said I was "slamming all of the adherants of that religion". The only real statement I've (intentionally) made regarding the religion is that they condemn birth control, which is patently true. And not in itself a slur.

So, still a bit confused, but entirely willing to apolgise. :)

breeders

[pkgem.livejournal.com]

I used to know a couple who practised the "rythmn method" of contraception; after the second child they still hadn't figured out it doesn't work.

[stsquad.livejournal.com]

So it seems - I was only going by your post as I can't see the thread in question (bad link/locked post?).

I would be happy to condemn the Cathloic Churche's stance on contraception as indefensible adherance to dogma in an era of overpopulation and HIV/AIDS. If fact the Cathloic Church has done much worse even as far having agents of the Church telling lies. However passing the association of a religion onto individuals of a given faith would be unfair (which I don't believe you would). People of many faiths often temper their adherance with a little common sense or qualified interpratation. As I said before its the unquestioning followers I get nervous of.

On the more general point of stupid people breeding more well thats simple application of ability. Pretty much everyone can figure out how to make babies with a very little practice - everything above that (contracpetion, education, getting jobs) requires more effort.

[kingandy]

Ah yes - pax_draconis has taken to locking his journal entries so only his friends can see them. Apparently I rate. ;)

PD was musing about why Darwinian forces had allowed stupid people to exist, and I posted the following:

Darwinian forces are royally screwed up when it comes to Humanity. Public healthcare and the general state of medical science means that all sorts of hideously malformed genes survive long enough to breed. The stupid are more likely to breed than the intelligent, especially if they're Catholic. We send our strongest physical stock off to war to kill each other. Basically, we're fucked, both mentally and physically.

[stsquad.livejournal.com]

Well to me that seems like a perfectly fair comment to make, I think others may well be a little oversensitive (a character flaw on the 'net). My statements would probably cause more offense than yours ;-p

[kingandy]

Ah, but that's after me explaining the situation to you, and furthermore you know me a lot better. On reflection, he may have thought I was accusing Catholics of having hideously malformed genes...

[stsquad.livejournal.com]

Well without seeing the full thread I'll just say:

If you go around life worrying too much about how other people *may* interperate what you say you'll not say very much, or nothing much intersting at any rate. As long as your clear in your mind what you mean and are prepared to clarify/debate/discuss you can always clear up misunderstandings later. That is of course assuming the people you may or may not offend are reasnoble people - I just ignore the unreasnoble ones :-p

However you did say you'd done these things by clarifying you were not trying to imply "all Catholics are stupid". So despite me knowing you better I'd still say your in the clear. I hope you believe if I did disagree with you on a point I'd say it, despite that fact the every one loves Andy!

[pkgem.livejournal.com]

If you take Richard Dawkin's view that it is the genes themsleves (not the physical host) that are the driving force behind procreation, then you have to take into consideration that genes don't have a consciousness. This means they don't care if their hosts are stupid so long as it is the kind of stupidity that allows them to breed lots before they die.

[stsquad.livejournal.com]

I dunno, you could probably extrapolate that to some of the scallies I've seen :-(

I'll have the pro-scally camp on me next ;-P

[ghostbritain.livejournal.com]

Scientific fact, but Buddhists are the happiest religion.
Studies have shown that some part of the brain which i can't remember is more active in happy people (let's call it the left side) whilst unhappy people have more active right sides (f'r arguments sake).
Buddhist meditation appears to be able to shift the balance of brain activity from Right to left, making people happier and generally fluffier.
It says here...