Tag: myth

Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – 960,000 tons of what?

I’ve been crossing swords with a particularly tenacious Christian, “scientific christian” (you already know where things are going with that screen name) and the discussion has gone far and wide, though mostly staying around the idea of having evidence supports one’s claims. My apologies for anyone who commented in that thread and has thus been … Continue reading Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – 960,000 tons of what? →

What the Boss Likes – Brothers Bright, Whitestone Motion Pictures – Appalachian gothic

I'm very fond of American myths dealing with our own monsters and magic.  This started with reading stories about Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan,  a strange turn when I read "The Lottery" and the Cthulhu mythos, the stories about "Silver John" by Manly Wade Wellman, and into role-playing games like "Deadlands".    Southern gothic is a subset. … Continue reading What the Boss Likes – Brothers Bright, Whitestone Motion Pictures – Appalachian gothic →

Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – a star in the east…. wait a minute…

I think I’ve mentioned here on this blog somewhere that I ran the planetarium when I was in college as a work-study job. Every November and December, we ran a Christmas star show, which showed that the story was a lot of nonsense. But people still flocked to it because they didn’t pay attention and … Continue reading Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – a star in the east…. wait a minute… →

Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – fundamentalist white rural America

White, rural fundamentalist America is where I grew up.  This article on Raw Story (which seems to have come from Alter Net) gets it very much right. http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/the-dark-rigidity-of-fundamentalist-rural-america-a-view-from-the-inside/ "When you have a belief system that is built on fundamentalism, it isn’t open to outside criticism, especially by anyone not a member of your tribe and … Continue reading Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – fundamentalist white rural America →

Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – When you aren’t getting all of the story

I’ve been thinking about how people often don’t get the whole story. They can do this by willfully ignoring information, trusting unwisely, or by simple laziness.   This election is full of all of these, perhaps most blatantly shown in the idiocy of people here in PA buying more and more guns, because, you of course … Continue reading Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – When you aren’t getting all of the story →

Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – they’ll still be here, and that’s fine – now we remember

Even though I have known that the US had people who were ignorant and hateful, they were always in the background. In my lifetime, which consists of the late 60s and onward, we kept moving forward, incrementally sure, but we did move. The David Dukes, the vast majority of both my spouse’s and my rural … Continue reading Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – they’ll still be here, and that’s fine – now we remember →

Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – insisting on apologies for telling the truth

There’s an op-ed by Christine Flowers, a conservative Catholic with a problem. She isn’t happy that her religion is presented in a less than favorable light by some emails that are supposedly from the Clinton campaign, released by Wikileaks. She demands that Ms. Clinton apologize for what one of her staffers said. Let’s see how … Continue reading Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – insisting on apologies for telling the truth →

Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – a response to Dale re: prayer and free will

(10/20/2016 - I've had a lot of Christians follow recently and like this post, as well as other posts about how religion fails.  Not sure why this is, but I'm more than happy to see people approve and agree with my posts.) I’ve encountered a new Christian apologist on a friend’s website.  I’ll first put … Continue reading Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – a response to Dale re: prayer and free will →

Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – and one more instance of Christians telling just a little lie, Franklin Graham

Franklin Graham,  the son of Billy Graham, famous American Christian evangelist, was in Harrisburg today.   It was part of his tour insisting that one needs to pray for America.  He didn't endorse a candidate, but it's not hard to know who he wants to win, mostly because he has said it himself despites the claims … Continue reading Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – and one more instance of Christians telling just a little lie, Franklin Graham →