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Get well soon, Christopher Hitchens - Page 2

post #51 of 58
8/31/10 at 7:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ThomasMN View Post
Yes it would. Group behavior is part of animal behavior. Isolating those that aren't part of the group is also animal behavior. Skapegoating, despite it's religious origins, goes deeper than the veneer of religion. Something bad happens, no one knows the cause (ignorance) then they blame the different. In this case their own children. Look at our own culture, see: beatniks/hippies/punks/gangstas/goths.

As the article mentioned the reasons for picking children is unknown. Maybe something bad happened at the same time a kid did something. This stuff usually takes place due to the correlation is not causation fallacy. Again, religion is just a thin layer covering human nature. If religion were somehow eliminated our inner natures wouldn't change.
I just can't agree. I don't see how anyone would tolerate a parent torturing their kid or shunning them if they didn't take the idea of "witchcraft" seriously. If the neighbors didn't seriously take stock in the idea that a child could cause bad luck (or whatever it is a witch does*), then it would be recognized as cruelty.


*for the record, I have an ancestor who accused someone of witch craft. It's a mark of shame on my family's honor (IMHO)
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post #52 of 58
9/20/10 at 2:41pm
Perhaps the Princess might be interested in this:

http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/dear-hitchens
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post #53 of 58
9/20/10 at 2:44pm
Thread Starter 
Heart warming stuff, thanks Martin I hope it cheers him up
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post #54 of 58
9/20/10 at 2:48pm
His latest essay is also up.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/fe...itchens-201010
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post #55 of 58
9/20/10 at 3:17pm
There was certainly no violence until religion showed up. No one group ever attacked and tried to kill another, different group until there was religion. And certainly no one has ever killed someone else other than in the name of religion.
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post #56 of 58
9/20/10 at 3:30pm
I know this is a silly thing to be irritated by, but why doesn't Hitchens just shave those last tendrils of hair? He looks more distinguished bald.
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post #57 of 58
9/20/10 at 3:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan S~ View Post
There was certainly no violence until religion showed up. No one group ever attacked and tried to kill another, different group until there was religion. And certainly no one has ever killed someone else other than in the name of religion.
Why, just yesterday I killed a spider because it was a Zoroastrian spider. Fuck those monotheistic arachnids.

You have a point there. However. Religion sure has given violent-minded people a focus and a justification for their actions. Religion has also given peaceful, intelligent people a focus for their actions.

I've said it before: Religion isn't the problem. People are the problem. (Or, if you please, religion doesn't kill people, people kill people.) (Despite my ironic paraphrase of the motto, my stance on gun control falls somewhere in the gray middle of pro and con.)
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post #58 of 58
10/22/10 at 8:49pm
Hitch on living in Tumortown.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/fe...itchens-201011
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