Falling From Cloud Nine

"Maybe now that it's summer, I'll write hear more often," he says, full of hopes and most likely excrement. I will really try to make this one shorter than a book though. I am positive that I get twenty tl;drs every post. A quick glance at posts past reminds me that I never wrote about the ridiculous evolution scandal on Taylor's campus last year. Seriously, how could I not touch something like that? If you are unfamiliar with aforementioned scandal, it revolves around a VERY poorly written article in our newspaper basically saying that Taylor shouldn't teach evolution in any capacity because it is in direct opposition with the Bible. He was responded to in vehemence in the next issue and so it went back and forth a few times. That's the gist at least. Now let's move into a section called (that's right, you guessed it):

The Beefs

Jedna) This kid was obnoxiously ignorant in his article on a public platform. I don't recall exactly, but I think he was either a philosophy or theology (or one of those other exceedingly pragmatic) majors. He was honestly just extremely uneducated on the subject matter he was writing about. Ergo, he should not have written about it. Yes, I understand free speech and editorials, but ignorance breeds further ignorance in a society of blind followers. I'm not saying our society fits that generalization, but there are undeniable evidences in recent politics, not to mention some of the protesting that has gone on, that a portion of our population can be described thusly. I know people generally always think they are right, but before embarrassing yourself publicly, wouldn't it make sense to talk to someone who actually understands the terms you are going to butcher in your article? At least then you could be wrong, but keep your dignity. Which brings me to:

Dva) This will probably be the most fun of anything I've written about so far. He was just flat out wrong. This was partially because he used some terms incorrectly. He used evolution and darwinism interchangeably. If you really want to know the differences, become a better person and go learn. Evolution is an accurate description of many real phenomena in our universe, plain and simple. Viruses adapt and mutate. If you've ever had the cold more than once, you are living proof of evolution. That being said, what most Christians have a problem with is the concept of evolution "on a scale of separated gene pools." If you really want to argue with me about it, we can. I'll probably win. That's really not what I want to get into...although:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transitional_fossils

fun fun. Seriously though, I want to address a couple specific arguments. A lot of Christians will say God could have created the world with fossils like ^those already underground. This is the same argument as God manipulating our perspective to see stars being billions of lightyears away. Like many of my other responses, my response to this is, "sure, he could." On the other hand, did he? Probably not. 

Oh wait, crap. I'm getting to the interesting point without addressing another kind of boring one...

Tři) Should professors at a Christian school be allowed to teach what they want or should they conform to the opinions of a select few humans? Uhh...well, short of "the devil is really cool, guys! Let's all dance naked around a fire and cover ourselves in the blood of a goat!" I think that's a pretty easy one, but it merits mention. Students are at school to learn and learn they should. If they are being taught to learn correctly whilst learning, the burden of whether specific ideas fit into their perspective and worldview is out of the professors hands, as it should be.

Čtyři) Well, this isn't really a fourth point, but damn just look at that word! Isn't it cool? Ahem. As I was saying, there is a part of being an intelligent Christian that is the ability to say it doesn't really matter in the long run. God did what he did and our faith doesn't necessitate understanding of his methods. However, the previous statement is also unfortunately lacking for one very important reason.

The Point

The pursuit of truth ultimately and absolutely is the pursuit of God. 

I mean, one of the names Jesus used for himself was "the truth." That statement should not be that much of a stretch. So why is it important? It is important because it means that science is never going to disprove God. Period. The only reason Christians generally frown upon scientific findings (other than the ridiculous hate perpetuated since The Age of Enlightenment) is because scientists have generally been in opposition of the church (see previous parenthesis). Atheist douchebaggery aside, I have said before that people only see what they want to see. If I want to look at the fossil record or the stars and see proof of God's lack of necessity and therefore probable non-existence, that's what I am going to see. But seriously, look where they have ended up: Our universe is one of an, let me emphasize again, infinite number of universes. That is how a portion of the scientific community has decided to explain away God with chance. They are using the word "infinite" in their theory! It is literally a tiny hop in perspective away of being theism. 

I want to be very clear though. This whole entry is written because Christians are guilty of the exact same thing: unwillingness to admit they don't have all the answers. There is no reason for any follower of God to fear science. The only thing to be wary of is the disillusionment that can be attained through limited perspective.

Eff. This is really long again. Oh well, people never change, right? I hope I made a good point somewhere in there. If not, sorry for wasting your life. Thanks for hanging on my every word.

E.

I Will Welcome The Reaping

I don't get to write anything anymore. Heck, I haven't even had a formal lab report to write up this semester. It sucks hardcore. No wonder all these computer scientists and engineers don't have the ability to communicate. Make all the "riding a bicycle" comments you want, but I know for a fact that after several years of not riding a bike, the first thing I did when I got back on one was not to take a corner at a 45° angle. Sure the basics of a skill stay with you, but not only are those basics generally viewed as pretty mediocre by others, everyone has the same basics and foundation. A skill's unique appearance is defined by what the owner personally adds to it when he or she goes beyond the basics. Maybe I'm going to regret writing this next year for my senior project, but thus far (which is a freakin' long time) I am unimpressed with the communication skills of the computer science department. Anyway, that's not really what I wanted to write about. Wait, last thing. I am also pretty pissed at what communication has devolved to in general. After sending out around thirty résumés (not including all the online applications), I have had two phone interviews with one company that I didn't even contact. Honestly, I don't even care that those are the only times I have spoken to someone. Who wants to talk to people? What pisses me off is that not a single person has responded with a "Sorry, we aren't really hiring interns this year," or even a "F*ck off, are you kidding? Why'd you even apply for this?" How much effort does that take? I will tell you: Two mouse clicks to open the email and open the reply, 49 keystrokes (since pretty much everyone has a signature already appended to all emails), and one click to send the email. I just tested myself - less than ten seconds total. Ten seconds, and I wouldn't be writing about all you HR people, calling you all assholes. Okay, maybe not all assholes. I'll give a couple the benefit of the doubt in a job they hate just trying to hate themselves a little bit less, but the rest of you...do better. </rant>

Moving on, let's do something more fun. I feel like writing about this boondoggle of an election coming up this November. I mostly write with my own generation in mind because this whole two-party thing is NOT cutting it. My wish is that when a person goes to vote, he or she has to listen to each candidate explain *ahem* his or her position on every major issue and then...eh screw it, wouldn't work. I know, everybody lies, the selfish bastards. What I really want is for everyone that votes to be educated on the candidates and actually care (God forbid). Honestly, if every voter cared, I think we'd elect an independent. As clearly as I can state this: we need to elect an independent. Not only have I not been able to put my faith in a single Republican candidate since the campaigning started, but even if I did, not a single one of them would do what they say they are going to do once they get into office beyond pretending to try. So the question must be asked, why do we only ever elect people from these two parties? I have seen a bunch of answers to the question, money being one of the most popular and probably also most correct, but honestly I think it is far more simple (pardon the generalization forthcoming); people, whether they hold, loosely or closely, to conservative or liberal ideologies, are all conservative (read "stubborn as hell"). The vast majority of people vote one of two ways: the way their parents vote, or the opposite way because they have some stupid immature urge to rebel. If you want to be treated like you are unique and special and individual, stop acting like a child.

I am not a conspiracy guy at all. However, I must concede on two accounts:

1) Kony (probably). Screw all the attention that's getting (not for the kids' sakes; it's just not actually about the kids).

2) The people in power have never wanted, do not want, and will never want people to be able to think for themselves.

I'm not saying I wouldn't want something similar were I the person in power. On the contrary, it's much easier to rule people who don't think for themselves and they are much more likely to keep you in power *cough* 50/50 chance *cough*. Fortunately for you all, I am not the person in power. I am the person with the opinion and the voice. Let's take my preferred alternative first: I would much rather everyone learn how to think. Life would be better. Period. On the other hand, I honestly don't give a shit if you choose not to think for yourself. I only ask one thing of you if that be the case: do not do anything that affects me, lol. It's the same mindset I have when participating in a discussion (heated, or not) with someone. I don't care if you disagree and defend your point; I'd be pretty confused if you didn't. Do not, however, blindly spew useless words out at me, or be the mouth from which someone else's bullshit spews. If I wanted to argue with someone else, or a farm animal, I would (though I think I might end up committed for the latter). It's like all those conversations in Friends when Joey tries to say something pertinent and everyone just gives him the "are you effing kidding me?" look. Only it's not cute when you are actually part of the conversation and are talking about things you don't know.

Okay, jeez how do these always end up being so long. No matter. The moral of the story is I really, really, (did I say really) REALLY do not care who is elected into office provided a single condition be met: everyone that put him or her there believes (implied education, knowledge, and understanding) that person has the best chance to do the best for the country at that time. I won't agree with everyone's choice, nor would I expect to. I just want the people that are involved with the choice to not be sheep. Sorry to anyone who was offended by my use of semi-colons, full-colons, three quarter-colons, waning gibbous-colons, evacuated colons, any other colons, and non-uniform point-of-view. I'm not going to proofread so I don't really care that much, but you have my condolences. Farewell reader. I release you from my blog. Go now and live in what way seems best to you.

E.

Die Vergewaltigung des Friedens

~"Where do we go to escape the end of the world?"

I know I haven't written anything about anything yet, so it may seem odd that I am starting with this, but Auschwitz is still at the front of my mind and I feel like I need to start here. I will post about teaching and youth events and all the awesome things that happened in the Czech Republic some other time.

I honestly cannot convey the emotions that Auschwitz invokes, but I don't think that it is entirely necessary to do so for me to make my points. This is a can of worms, no doubt. I just want people to think about things that have been forgotten. I apologize in advance because my thoughts on the matter are all one big conglomerate in my head and it is very hard to get everything out in any particular order that makes sense. I will try to make my thoughts and sights available as they happened and then talk about what I took away from the experience.

The first thing that I thought as I walked through the infamous gate with the words "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" stamped overhead was, "This is a bad place." The air is heavy and it feels like death. There is no other way to describe it. Even more disconcerting was later when the same feeling hung over Birkenau, a wide open field with only low structures. The air felt thick to breathe. Some of Auschwitz I's buildings have been converted to a museum, so most of the two hours that we spent there were spent going in and out of these buildings. The first few of these had multiple placards with information about the camp, but interspersed were glass cases with artifacts from the forties. There was an urn serving as a monument for the people murdered at the camp. There were cases thirty feet long, ten feet deep, and ten feet tall filled with shoes, cases with luggage, cases with pots and pans, cases with children's shoes and dolls and toys. There was a case with all the prosthetic limbs, crutches, etc. confiscated from those with need of them. We were told that anyone handicapped and everyone who could not work (excluding Jews) were immediately taken and killed. Probably the worst of the displays was a case spanning the entire room that was filled with human hair cut from the prisoners as they were processed. After this we were taken outside and shown the firing wall where prisoners were executed. The building next to this wall also served as the camp's prison building. A legend as we walked into the basement informed us of the common causes of death for the people kept in these rooms. Some of the cells were the size of the desk I am typing this on. Into these were dropped four people from above. They would die of suffocation overnight. The much more common cause of death was starvation in the majority of the cells. Following the tour of this building we walked across the camp to the original gas chamber and crematorium. We walked in and out of a room which hundreds of thousands of people only entered, thinking they were going to take a shower to be disinfected. This concluded the first part of the tour and we walked back to the visitors' center to travel to Birkenau. The second part of the camp was built with purpose rather than the repurposed barracks that made up Auschwitz I. The purposes were limited to mass housing and mass killing. The gas chambers and crematoriums at this camp were all destroyed before the Allies arrived, but seeing the rubble was quite enough.

I think I am going to leave it there for the description; there are a thousand other places you can read about the camp. There are three things I want to mention that were hitting me while I was there, or have hit me since. I had twisted my ankle pretty badly a few days before playing soccer with the gypsy boys. Another girl on the trip had hurt her foot as well. We got the opportunity to talk on the flight back to the U.S. As we were both walking around, we were compelled to let ourselves keep hurting. The thought crossed both of our minds that we would let someone cut off our injured feet if it could have saved just one person. I was thinking about that and the end of Schindler's List and realized how selfish we can be even when we are discussing sacrifice. The thought should not be, "I have to give this up." It should be, "Why didn't I give up more?" That is the place from which the ability to serve others comes.

The next thing that struck me was a reaction to a normal Christian reaction to hardship. The "God had a purpose" rationale is far too over-used in situations like this. Don't mistake me, though. That is absolutely true. Unfortunately, this statement has become a vehicle of neglect for many people. God wept for these people, for infinitely longer than anyone on earth can. That does not, by any stretch of the imagination, mean that we should not grieve and weep for them. On the contrary, if we truly claim to desire God's character to be our own, how can we dismiss his sympathy?

Lastly, people tend to move past the Holocaust and say, "Genocide is happening every day in Africa. We need to focus on that." Again, I agree wholeheartedly. There are some big differences though (at least in my opinion). I think they are best illustrated in the character of Adolf Hitler. This was a man who is arguably "the best communicator in the history of the world" (thanks Britt). He was able to convince the large majority of a society to follow him in a pursuit of perfection here on earth by the destruction of an entire race. This of course was not just any race, but the Jewish race, God's chosen people. There is just something innately spiritual about that course of events than we cannot escape from. I don't have any idea what it is, but I know it's there.

Anyway, those are just a few of the ridiculous number of things I have been thinking about since I got back. More to come.