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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
It was a bright, frigid morning in Ann Arbor, Michigan, two weeks before the University of Michigan let out for winter break, and the college town's numerous coffee shops were abuzz with the gentle tapping of keyboards, the whooshing of espresso machines, the occasional chatter—and the tinny strains of 1980s and '90s pop hits.
It's that last element of the sonic landscape that drives Gina Choe and Libby Hunter crazy. Standing just inside a cavernous cafe where The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" competed with a sizzling griddle, jostling coffee cups, and echoing voices, Choe said, "I came in here once, and [the music] was everywhere around me. Everyone was talking more loudly—I couldn't even hear my friend."
As Choe checked a decibel meter on her phone ("65, the level of loud conversation"), Hunter mentioned that the last time she was here, she had asked a counter worker if the music could be turned off. "The manager came over to my table, and she was really nice, but she said no, because of the 'atmosphere.' It's amazing how afraid they are to not have music."
Hunter, a retired middle-school music teacher, and Choe, a 2017 Michigan graduate who is working in a research lab while she prepares to apply to medical school, do not travel in the same circles, and might never have met at all had they not come together over a mutual love of quiet spaces—and a loathing for piped-in background music.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 26 2017, @08:14PM (4 children)
You seem to be lumping all religion together. There is a difference though, with "child-raping shit" being legit in exactly one mainstream religion: the one founded by a guy who married a 6-year-old and then placed his penis between her thighs regularly until, at age 9, he managed to have sex with her.
I'm an atheist, but damn it, I acknowledge that Christianity is the bedrock of western civilization. Buddhism isn't half bad; there are functional cultures in eastern Asia that don't involve killing infidels and raping children. Without a mild religion dominating society, our society is vulnerable to acquiring a horrible religion. Most atheists, myself excluded, make no significant effort to oppose horrible religions. If anything, they enable such religions by putting most effort toward opposing popular mild religions like Christianity.
Basically, it's a matter of a power vacuum. If you get rid of religion, a new one will spread like wildfire. That is a foolish gamble to take when the current religion is mostly harmless.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 26 2017, @08:32PM
This AC's ideas need to be published in all the atheist's publications. Maybe we can get him some talking time at the universities as well.
That old saying, "nature abhors a vacuum" is bullshit, because there's a helluva lot of vacuum in this universe. But mankind certainly abhors a vacuum. Leaders are gonna lead, whether they are fit or not. And, followers are gonna follow, no matter how unfit the leaders are.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday December 26 2017, @11:50PM
What? As someone who would be considered athiest I honestly believe all organized religion has a purpose but that purpose has been corrupted time and time again by power hungry psychopaths. I prefer that we treat all religion as horrible and work towards getting civilization to abandon it. And that's only possible by improving quality of life for as many people as possible through advanced technological means.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 27 2017, @01:40AM
The bedrock? They did a whole lot of nothing for thousands of years (even actively hindering progress and intellectuals) and then things started changing rapidly, and of course this is all because of Christianity and has nothing to do with other factors. I seriously don't understand people - especially atheists - who overstate the accomplishments of religion, to the point where religion is given credit for some advancement even though there is no evidence it was the cause.
Where's your evidence of this? What counts as "significant effort"? Do you think that where the atheist lives might influence what religion they might choose to oppose the most? Do you really expect atheists to try to fight horrible religions that mainly exist on other continents rather than focusing on problems in their own countries? I guarantee you that the average Christian does not make much of an effort to oppose horrible religions either.
Have you considered being a guest on Fox News?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 27 2017, @01:41AM
Christianity is the bedrock of western civilization
Actually, the foundation of all civilization is superstition nonsense.
The latest installment of The Jimmy Dore Show traces Christmas and Santa Claus from an ancient pagan holiday to the modern conglomeration of myths and commercial nonsense.
~35 percent of a 14 MB MP3 -- 05:45 - 19:00 [kpfk.org]
(A holiday timeslot substitution for Eric Mann's activist program.)
Available until late February.
If you don't grab the file by then, Jimmy's show is available elsewhere as a webcast.
Text versions:
How Did We Get From A Turkish Bishop To A Guy In A Red Suit & Flying Reindeer(Santa Claus) [penguinpetes.com]
The Anti-Catholic Evolution Of Saint Nicholas Into Santa Claus [alternet.org]
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