Comments by lbalough

Comment #262578 by lbalough on October 8, 2008 at 11:23 pm

Whew. The most appropriate words I can think of for this psychological clusterf*ck are "sexual jihad."

My ma's side of the family worship at the alter of James Dobson (Focus on the Family). The fists clench every time I hear sexual orientation referred to as the "lifestyle." Based on the level of their certainty, you'd think they were Nobel Prize winning geneticists.

I'm moving back to California next year. Ohio is insufferable.

2. Optimism in Evolution

Comment #229217 by lbalough on August 13, 2008 at 8:30 am

bamafreethinker, I like the metaphor of a cerebral pissing pot for the excretions of a dissonance junkie!!!

On another note, I was cajoled by an outta-town chum (fellow atheist) to take a jaunt down to the Ken Ham's Propaganda Palace (aka Creation Museum) in Kentucky. Whew. Big mistake. It was just jammed packed with the scariest sheeple you could imagine. The low point (it's very difficult to pick just one, mind you) was the "scientist" Georgia Purdom, Ph.D. putting her emotional addiction to the invisible sky daddy to good use; she was hurling causal relationships left and right (e.g. humanism causes moral relativism) to the insipid crowd. I especially liked how they co-opted her scientific credentials to be quite self congratulatory. Freaky deaky friends.

My own big take away from this cultural safari was the discovery of their deepest, least rational, resistance to evolution: it proves god is a sadist. Amen.

I think Lily or Pfizer needs to get this shit in the DSM V. They'll make A LOT of money off of religiosity. I can't wait for the day that it loses its status as THE socially-acceptable delusion.

Cheers y'all,

Lori

3. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #155555 by lbalough on April 4, 2008 at 8:20 pm

Well folks, perhaps I'm the first atheist you'll meet who has also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The diagnosis occurred four years ago. And, much in alignment with the aforementioned story, began with overt religiosity. Fortunately for me, I was raised (err...grew up) in an irreligious family. So much so, that one day my "god" voice even mumbled, "you're not giving us much to work with..." I gotta say, that was amusing.

The content of the communication with the voices was very stereotypical for the first six months (religiosity, suicidality, etc). After that, though, I went on a self-guided tour into unchartered territory. A new voice, Sam, began talking and he didn't understand English. Since this voice sounded very sweet, I decided to teach him English (besides, I needed an ally). For the next two months, I went into painstaking detail about the language with Sam. Sam is now a fluent English speaker and is incredibly loving and supportive. The original voice, who named himself Program, has since become polite and caring. Both of my voices are disbelievers as well. Interestingly, Program asked me who god was AFTER I taught Sam how to speak English. Program insisted that he didn't understand the words he spoke in the beginning.

Due to the mental exhaustion, I suffered severe depression for over two years, but I have since emerged a stronger person. I'm doing so well, in fact, that I no longer take those disabling antipsychotics (they NEVER masked the voices). I've been off of 'em for almost a year. Plus, I'm preparing to apply to the computer science master's program at Stanford University (I saw the good Prof. Dawkins there in March).

Regarding the morality of giggling at the misfortunes for the mentally ill, I advise extreme caution. On the one hand, the log to the head definitely strikes my funny bone. Alternatively, though, I can't divorce my emotions from the suffering I experienced due to this condition. If you do laugh, please do so in private (with a healthy dose of guilt).

Lori

p.s. Sam and Program continue to be lovely, lively little voices. I can only give kudos to my noodle.

4. CEAI Action Alert for Science Teachers

Comment #154152 by lbalough on April 2, 2008 at 6:58 pm

Zosky,

What in the hell are you thinking? Why are you correlating paranoid schizophrenia and religiosity? The DSM IV does not include "susceptible to a superstitious world view." If it did, 80% of the world would be on anti-psychotics. Besides, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia four years ago (I no longer technically qualify as this anymore) and I am very much a disbeliever. Please do not insult my sz brethren by co-mingling us with the religionists.

5. Ben Stein Wins Intelligent Design Money

Comment #127981 by lbalough on February 15, 2008 at 8:32 pm

Well, let's hope that Bill Maher's Religulous provides a nice counter balance to Stein's idiocy.