Back when I had free time (ha ha…sigh) I came across a neat little site/feature called StumbleUpon. Essentially, it allows users to add websites they like to the StumbleUpon aggregated index, which is sorted by topics. You can then “stumble” through the sites of any selected subject(s) of interest using a browser extension button that sits on your toolbar. Each time you press it, you move on to the next random website which matches the content that interests you. As a StumbleUpon user, you can rate websites on your own and add them to the aggregated content available to other users.
It’s a nice idea, however I was troubled by how the topics were gathered. Some of this, I admit, was for aesthetic or personal reasons – for example, I rather object to the separate topics “Liberal Politics” and “Conservative Politics” (under “Society”); I mean, really – are beliefs that easy to categorize? I know people who, for instance, claim to be left-of-centre but support NAFTA (if only because they work for companies that profit from the arrangement). My point being that political thought – like everything substantial – is inherently complex; if we choose to have supplied to us only the information we want to see (as opposed to a variety of differing viewpoints), our minds will turn to soggy cereal. Politics isn’t like music appreciation where one could be excused for only collecting mid-80’s Art Rock – our individual tastes in music won’t collectively affect society; however, when political information becomes individualised to the point of being cocooning, the result, I fear, is a mind which is incapable of seeing the larger picture, even if the whole picture may never be clear to us.
Anyhow… amongst other topics I selected, I chose the following, under Religion: Atheist/Agnostic.
First off, I thought it a bit odd that they would group these together, if only because there were no listed Religions that had been treated as such. Wicca was separated from Paganism for Christ’s sake. Anyhow, I squinted and pushed forward. What came about as I browsed disturbed me to no end…
But first, a fact: I’m agnostic 1.
…anyhow, what came about as I browsed disturbed me to no end: atheists were assholes. I do not mean Atheists (or atheists) in general, but – for the most part – the ones with websites proclaiming their atheism were overbearing assholes. Which I find hilarious.
The “proud atheist” sites (and I couldn’t come across any that didn’t fall into this category 2) almost uniformly included the following:
- Terribly disrespectful things to say about organized religion.
- Quotes from Einstein.
My first response was: leave Einstein out of this 3. My second response was: if these atheists were so enlightened, having supposedly thrown off the shackles of organized religion, why were they so evidently obsessed with religion as to put their refutations front and centre on a freaking website? It seemed so bizarre and irrational to see this in people who, supposedly more than any other person, espoused the rational above all else. Judging from this consistency, I can only conclude that the louder the atheist the more insecure they seemed to me. Further, as opposed to us agnostic types, atheists as a whole seemed unable to live comfortably without religion – as either a catalyst or muse.
This tangent takes me back to what I originally wanted to say: agnosticism is not atheism. Not by any stretch of the imagination. So why the hell would StumbleUpon group them together…yet find it necessary to separate Wicca from Paganism 4? I have no clue, and I’ve written to them to ask that they separate the two – or at the very least remove them as a subset of Religion.
Please fulfill my sense of irony by rating this article on StumbleUpon.
1. I’m not going to spend hours trying to define what agnosticism is or what it means to me. Let’s just say that I consider it the most sensible choice for me. If you would like a dictionary definition, try here.
2. This pertains solely to what StumbleUpon provided – this was not a self-directed attempt.
3. Why does everyone with a point to prove turn to Einstein?
4. Instead of making the former a subset of the latter.
Why does everyone with a point to prove turn to Einstein?
Because, somewhere along the “I Grew Up On The Flintsone’s” path, people figured that Einstein was the smartest man “ever”.
Now, in most scientific circles, you get Einstein mixed with Hawking.
I do love it when the “far superior” Athiests… er-hemm… “Humanists”… use Einstein too… I quote back to them…
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.“
Oh, don’t forget… The largest (new) organization of “Humanists” is a group called CFI (Center for Inquiry)… and guess who’s running that show??? CSICOP!
Hehehe … as I clicked to add my 2 cents I noted Matthew has beaten me to it … all I can add is ditto!
Interesting post. I think there is a big difference between atheism and agnosticism. I’ve gone through both myself but even I’m guilty of blurring the 2 together when describing myself. Not a good thing but you see it happening so often that you either fall into the habit or develop a well tuned agnostic affront. Ultimately I went with an organized religion but because in many ways I still hold onto my agnostic principles I’m considered an atheist Jew. What can you do? Good post.
“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality” (Albert Einstein).
My understanding is that agnostics are uncertain–whereas atheists are certain–that there is no god.
You have to use StumbleUpon quite a bit before IT knows what you like and don’t like. Scary isn’t it?
apostata,
You seem to have “stumbled upon” a basic truth”
“the louder the atheist the more insecure . . .”
That, of course goes for the ‘loudest’ practitioners of any religion or political persuasion. (Christian evangelists have always seemed, to me, to be the most insecure group among the religionists.)
Great blog!
Rgds,
Whymrhymer
Great blog which mirrors a lot of what I also believe. I stumbled upon one such site not long ago and was disturbed by the vitriolic assault on those of faith. Being one not to allow general disrespect of anyone I asked the question…why are you being rude? There follwed an onslaught of venom towards me. Not once did they answer any question I posed yet they sought to determine where I stood on the religion debate. Despite stating numerous times that I didn’t feel it was pertinent to their rudeness they persisted to question and try to ridicule me. In the end because I would not concede and answered every question posed to me in what I thought was a logical manner…they banned me…lol. If you want to read part of the discussion it is on my blog under the title…Does God Exist?
Once again…thank you for the post…I enjoyed it immensely.
Thanks for the feedback folks – good perspectives! Obviously this topic touched upon something not often discussed.