1. Ten Commandments' of race and genetics issued

Comment #213676 by jharps on July 18, 2008 at 6:49 pm

1. All races are created equal

Perhaps I was guilty of starting these comments with a less than erudite explanation of my reaction to the above commandment.

"WTF!?" was an expression of my dismay at the less than helpful use of language, a use which insidiously shores up what for many is the default position by the inclusion of the word create. Whether or not all races are equal (itself an ambiguous statement - it needs a vast amount of qualification), the inclusion of the word create only adds to the ambiguity.
My dismay that a group of presumably intelligent individuals, some of whom are scientists, would use such language prompted my response.

As an example of what I am trying to get at about the use of language, take the simple question "Do you believe in God?", a common enough question. In this case the insidious omission of the words "the existence of" prior to "God" allows the questioner to take a negative response as confirmation of the existence of their "God"; the responder then falls into their category of "lost souls" who know that their "God" exists but reject "Him" (and of course needs to be saved).

But back to the "commandment" in question, what possible benefit does the inclusion of the word "create" bring to that sentence? Does it add to its clarity? I think not.

A1420: I agree that "getting worked up" about it will probably not achieve much but highlighting insidious use of language wherever we see it is, in my opinion, something that any critical thinker might consider worthy of a spot somewhere near the top of their agenda :)

Ok..I'm done. I'll go back to lurking...

2. Ten Commandments' of race and genetics issued

Comment #212941 by jharps on July 17, 2008 at 10:06 pm

"1. All races are *created* equal"

WTF!?

3. Atheism's Wrong Turn

Comment #93348 by jharps on December 2, 2007 at 7:39 pm

Santi:

Seems your return key is not functioning. Or did you mean for us to have to work so hard?

Actually I *do* think it would be better if we all spoke the same language, then we would have a better chance to express the differences in our *thoughts and ideas* without the risk of them being lost in translation.

I also hope that if we come to use a universal language then it will be English, but for no other reason than it is my native language and I'm as lazy as the next person. But if it turns out that the language of the world is Chinese (or even Esperanto) then I'll be signing up for lessons in a flash. Something tells me I'll be pushing up daisies before that happens but I still wish it for our children.

"Let's let freedom be first, not state coercion"

A generally laissez faire attitude? A sort of turn-the-other-cheek policy perhaps?

4. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #92142 by jharps on November 30, 2007 at 12:24 am

@Diacanu

Maybe you would find this file conversion utility useful available from www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

The site is a bit painful to navigate but the software (once you figure out how to download it) does a superb job (and will convert MOV files to a vast number of other formats). Oh yeah, it's freeware too :-)

Dunno if it will work but the following link is a direct download. If you're worried about spyware etc then please check it out via google or your favourite resource before downloading. I use it all the time but then I might be an evil spammer/hijacker type of person ;-)

Hope you find it useful.

Direct download link:
http://www.erightsoft.info/GetFile.php?SUPERsetup.exe

5. Frequently Asked Questions about the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Security Trust

Comment #90370 by jharps on November 24, 2007 at 9:18 pm

eXcommunicate

Yep. I got that message from PayPal too.