Tuesday, June 29, 2021

On Medium: The Collapse of New Atheism and the Rise of Godless Culture

Here's an article that contrasts the folly of the broken-up, politicized new atheist movement with the cosmicist, promethean heart of a viable atheistic worldview.

Longtime readers may recall my earlier treatment of this in "Clash of the Atheists," and see "Scientism and the Downfall of New Atheism" for another supporting discussion.

10 comments:

  1. A very interesting piece. I particularly liked the brief mention of consumerism. I have believed for the longest time that it is an unsustainable system that will result in more harm than good. Hopefully, we can wake up and work together towards creating a better future.

    Btw, I left a couple of links on your previous article which might be useful with that article you are writing on life-affirming views. I hope you like it! As always, have a wonderful day!

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    1. Thanks. I talk about consumerism more in my articles on social infantilization and on environmentalism.

      https://medium.com/the-apeiron-blog/progress-and-american-infantilism-9fc1a826767?sk=2bc1fc33c13a0e54177beab8fd32629f

      https://medium.com/@benjamincain8/american-infantilization-and-the-age-of-reason-2da7faf92c34?sk=a76c121e43a5314438d12c81e04be822

      https://medium.com/the-apeiron-blog/hubris-and-alienation-the-roots-of-the-environmental-crisis-28c589ad00c9?sk=1a06b5b72ebd8df39ba91abe2fa3c401

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  2. I tend to think of the ''politicized'' word as having a positive meaning,as someone who understands politics.

    Hyperfemininity, as you say, is quite problematic also because it opens the door for the return of the hegemony of hypermasculinity.

    Too Weak to Too Strong.



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    1. I harshly criticize both hyperfemininity and hypermasculinity, using "hyper" as synonymous with "toxic" (link below).

      The politicization of new atheism spelled its downfall and pushed out the underlying (promethean, "satanic") issues that are at the heart of a positive atheistic worldview. I don't see how that politicization was a good thing. Not everything is merely political.

      https://medium.com/@benjamincain8/woke-lameness-and-toxic-femininity-a38f7e3cb3f3?source=friends_link&sk=be4703623bcd2fdf17441070d18b8f32


      https://medium.com/@benjamincain8/manliness-and-outsider-virtues-93824de870fb?source=friends_link&sk=cef33d727e3944f8a28e835b841f52b9

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    2. Politicization is when ordinary people stop leaving everything in the hands of politicians and other powerful groups.
      Of course, its excess or its misuse is bad.

      I am reading, I read slowly, and will comment more after reading.

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    3. Yes, I just said that one of the bad consequences of hyperfemininity is surrendering to hypermasculinity.


      ''including the modern myth of objective truth''

      What

      ''Thus, feminine atheists prioritize the fight for social justice, whereas masculine atheists are philosophical in that they defend truth regardless of the social consequences.''

      They're not philosophical because they don't care about the truth.
      They make use of some possible truths to try to enforce their ideology based on big lies especially from a legitimately philosophical and therefore human perspective.

      I think you're confusing their scientism with philosophy.
      These masculine atheists are looking like white supremacists.

      ''because modernity is a Eurocentric concept, so people in the Middle East who don’t belong to European or to Judeo-Christian traditions construe the prospect of their modernization as a colonial affront. Muslims who fight for civil rights in the Middle East should do so mainly within the confines of Islamic traditions.''

      This is also related to deeper issues such as mean differences in intelligence between these populations, in personality, and even the frequency of consanguine marriages, which could be related to the regional trend towards Islamic fundamentalism.

      ''If Christianity has nothing to do with Jesus’s ethics and lifestyle as they’re presented in the New Testament, “Christian” can be twisted to mean anything, in which case there’s no merit to being a Christian.''

      They must think:

      If Jesus forgave a prostitute, why not we

      Many atheists believe in blank
      slatism
      Their plans are to slowly replace religion with a global ideology.
      However, believing or not believing has a strong biological component.
      Thinking style, personality type, level of intelligence also influence us a lot in our personal choices.
      There seems a persuason demographic threshold.
      They managed to secularize most people, including the most religious, at different levels, but that doesn't mean they can't lose again, just because their achievements are more superficial than they appears.
      If the influence of religion grows again, new generations may become more ''religious'' precisely because most human beings are highly conformist to majority opinion.

      Let's be frank here, if there is a real atheist movement, it's just in the beginning.

      However, atheists fail to understand that most people need to believe in something to function normally.
      It takes empathy to put yourself in the shoes of this large population of believers.
      Without a belief in something absolutely strong that hides our imminent and inherent tragedy, they becomes emotionally disturbed.
      If it's not easy for us to bear with it, imagine for them

      Atheism simply wants to take the lollipop from these kids without giving anything in return.

      For now money and certain freedom has ''worked'', but until when

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    4. I agree that we need to believe in something to function in society. The modern world is implicitly an atheistic project, and Nietzsche's point was that we need something new to believe in. The ideal of the Overman was applied or misapplied in fascism, so that alternative became toxic after WWII. I suspect Anthony Kronman may be on to something when he talks about the aesthetic aspect of pantheism. That's the alternative I'm trying to work out in my writings.

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    5. I believe that as long as there is a free and empowered psychopathic elites, there will be false cults and especially if they are based on emotional blackmail such as belief in divinities/eternity.

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  3. Recently i wrote a text in which i wonder about how deep atheism has been imposed on formally self defined socialist or communist societies. Seems quite superficial. More about the emphasis on secularization rather than the real and systematic Imposition of atheism as a rule (with some freedom to practice organized form of believeries). It's more about lack of organized religion than the real application of atheism. Even so, real atheism also means the disbelief not only on divine gods... or myths but on earthly gods as well. In these societies, organized religion (a type of ideology) has been replaced by an identical but secular form of cults, in dogmatic rigidity and mythological narrative.

    Real and or systematic application of atheism as a social norm or rule not just implies in secularization of state but also in the emphasis on godlessness and then on the existential truths, universal equality: we are all the same, finite and fragile life and because we have just one life/time to live we need do it by in the best way, wisely.

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    1. It's paradoxical how atheistic liberalism can undermine itself by requiring tolerance for illiberal and theistic ideas. Communist regimes rejected liberalism and the freedom of thought, so they imposed atheism as a state religion. But that just means they prohibited theism and replaced God with science, the State, or the dictator.

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