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jakelafort posted an update 1 year, 9 months ago
Not necessarily christian nationalist. Not necessarily Trump as dictator. Rather it will be the gradual degradation of American democratic institutions.
Atheist Zone seems to be dying. Yo Enco?
Genesis of cults and extreme movements? Speak authoritatively and with conviction and you too can burn the kindling. Had a relative who stuck grass in his mouth and nose. Began pontificating and carrying on about history and destiny and how he was the Mahdi, the expected one. Immediately people began listening and following him around. Could have easily gained converts, acolytes and ultimately cultists. It is so evident to me that we as a species are as hollow as a long dead tree. Horrifying norms, treacherous and patently false narratives adopted by legions of mindless followers, mythologies as bases of morality, proof and truth be damned. Nothing is too cruel or stupid to be sacrosanct. Nobody is home. Yet we identify this group as evil and that group as good when it is just hollow trees inculcated by this or that current.
As for AZ dying, growth has always been slow. I hope Enco’s activity drop isn’t due to health challenges. I’ve not felt that his contributions were pushing us forward much, so I don’t miss him. I’m sure he represents a significant segment of Libertarians, whom I wish would come here more often. I forgot the name of the site that closed down, Atheist Nexus? I think there was a financial impediment, with a spiteful owner who could have at least recommended other websites for his members to join, if he really cared about the cause. That shutdown seems to be when Unseen greatly increased his activity here.
ThinkAtheist died first, while previous admins figured out how to steal and keep control of its Twitter account. I had ideas on how to make this theft more public, at least with my tweets on Twitter, and as a matter of principle, but Rebol decided not to let me pursue it. It looked to me like they had profitable activity going on there, with tons of followers. Plus, they were using graphics from the ThinkAtheist website. I’ve not told anyone publically about this, but I was paying $25 a month for a couple or three years, to keep the site from being deleted, in case we could eventually revive it. However, Rebol let it die after I missed a warning from him that something was about to expire. I got mad for a minute, but realized it was basically my fault for not paying closer attention at least monthly to rare messages.
My contributions to AZ haven’t interested members much, but Unseen’s have. He is professional writer. I’ll keep trying to improve and add posts now and then, even if only for my own interest. Side note, I accidentally recognized some of Unseen’s comments on YouTube by the topics he wrote about and the way he worded them. I made contact with him (for full disclosure), and we traded personal information.
I see “humanity” in different light and darkness from you. I strive to not be judgmental, and I sometimes fantasize that I’m an alien scientist in space, studying Earth Humans. I.e., with a standoffish kind of objective, data collecting purpose. I just want to know why humans/humanity act the way the do, and then volunteer my subjective POV in terms of what we might possibly do to enhance humanity’s personal experiences and caring for each other.
IMO, simply put, most of our dysfunctions are the result of human culture “advancing” too quickly, and unpredictably (e.g. if Mother Nature could explain how she lost control). Twenty five years or so ago, I invented my favorite screen name “Preternat”. I’m claiming that we’re all preternats, meaning that we’ve preternaturally, culturally evolved and devolved, for better and for worse, in significant ways that usurp Mother Nature’s control over natural evolution. My syntax or semantics are likely not perfect in my invented language and ideas, but I allow myself some poetic license, because it “feels” appropriate.
And i assume evolution explains that phenomenon as group cohesion would have been paramount. Furthermore the prefrontal cortex is immature until late in life and opportunities to implant beliefs are ever present and like niches in nature are filled.
Whatever point in history or in examining the present we see mindless followers. (The lets call em independents who are not swayed by this or that ideology are the minority) Mindless is apposite as so many beliefs/ideologies are utterly insupportable.
When you come to realize the truth of my assertion you are free to end the identity politics of good and evil. No more being judgmental. Blacks would act as slave holders in circumstances in which they have power. And have. This or that conquest would see the victims of conquest acting identically to the conquistadors had they been raised in the conquistador’s culture. Witch burners would be against use of carbon fuels if born in later centuries to tree huggers. The list is endless. There is nobody home. How we come to be who we are is biological and cultural and the two forces are inextricably linked.
I am not going to make personal assessments public.
yes, it was atheist nexus. It was far bigger than atheist zone or its progenitor. But even before it croaked it was dying. Activity in chat and in discourse was spiraling. Perhaps that is par for the course. IDK. That is cool that you attempted to keep site alive.