Where the West Went Wrong and Where it Got Us

[Iason Ouabache]

The number one thing Christianity gets so wrong is this whole business of determinism.  They often repeat the mantra of "Everything happens for a reason" or "God's Got a Plan" or sing little songs like "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".  This is the biggest thing I had a problem with when I was still a Christian.  As a philosophy it completely denies the very existence of Chaos.  Everything has a reason or a purpose.  Nothing is out of place, nothing is superfluous.  Every part does something.  They use these little sayings as a security blanket to protect themselves from reality. They want Someone Else to be in control.  They want it all to make sense on some cosmic level. They want their narrative where Good eventually triumphs over Evil. 

Well, guess what.  The Universe doesn't give a fuck what we want. The word "purpose" is a literary fiction.  It's a grid that we place on our own reality to help us sleep at night.  We decide the purpose of something, not God. There is no Cause. There is no Effect. Everything is probabilistic. Whatever happens, happens. Whatever doesn't happen, doesn't.

The problem is that they can't see the glory in being a happy little accident of the cosmos.  The odds are incredibly stacked against you ever existing, and yet you are still here.  The powers of CHAOS and ORDER conspired to bring you where you are today.  It's not God who has you in His Hands, it's Eris. And She is ready to drop us at any time.

[Iason Ouabache]

PS.  I know this sucks but I had to write it out for my own sake.  Thanks to Cain for suggesting the book "Unholy Spirits" to me.  It's completely awfulness inspired me to write this.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

[Cramulus]

I enjoyed that.

hey, lemme ask you this
(not to be Old Hat or anything, but--)


if the world is random,
and the only forces at play are order and disorder,


               and not good and evil or any of that jazz

why be a "good person"?

and for that matter, what does a "good person" do / not do?

It's a meme that I think most many of us live by, even if we're not really sure what Good means.



Humor me,
I never took Ethics.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

See, I thought you meant the American West.

We never went wrong.

[Iason Ouabache]

I enjoyed that.

hey, lemme ask you this
(not to be Old Hat or anything, but--)


if the world is random,
and the only forces at play are order and disorder,


               and not good and evil or any of that jazz

why be a "good person"?

and for that matter, what does a "good person" do / not do?

It's a meme that I think most many of us live by, even if we're not really sure what Good means.



Humor me,
I never took Ethics.

Quick summation:  being a "good person" insures that the other apes don't lock you up/kill you. Ethics is a social contract that is mutually (for the most part) agreed upon.  We don't need a Cosmic Higher Power telling us how to treat each other.

[A.N. Other]

To put one's trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it. -Samuel Butler

[Iason Ouabache]

See, I thought you meant the American West.

We never went wrong.

Yeah, that's what I get for naming something after an REM song.  I need to rewrite it to put more emphasis on Western philosophy and less on Christianity. 

[P3nT4gR4m]

I enjoyed that.

hey, lemme ask you this
(not to be Old Hat or anything, but--)


if the world is random,
and the only forces at play are order and disorder,


               and not good and evil or any of that jazz

why be a "good person"?

and for that matter, what does a "good person" do / not do?

It's a meme that I think most many of us live by, even if we're not really sure what Good means.



Humor me,
I never took Ethics.

It's wiring the way I see it. We're genetically programmed to co-operate. Helps us succeed as a species. Once you get beyond genetics it's still practical. But, ultimately, there's no divine mandate. I'm only ever good when I can't get away with being bad

I live by a personal code of integrity. It's nothing more than an arbitrary set of rules that keeps the game interesting. Means nothing but you gotta do something to pass the time, right? Might as well be excellent.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

See, I thought you meant the American West.

We never went wrong.

Yeah, that's what I get for naming something after an REM song.  I need to rewrite it to put more emphasis on Western philosophy and less on Christianity. 

What's Christianity got to do with the West?

[Iason Ouabache]

See, I thought you meant the American West.

We never went wrong.

Yeah, that's what I get for naming something after an REM song.  I need to rewrite it to put more emphasis on Western philosophy and less on Christianity. 

What's Christianity got to do with the West?

I meant Western Civilization and not the western portion of the United States.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

See, I thought you meant the American West.

We never went wrong.

Yeah, that's what I get for naming something after an REM song.  I need to rewrite it to put more emphasis on Western philosophy and less on Christianity. 

What's Christianity got to do with the West?

I meant Western Civilization and not the western portion of the United States.

Oh.  Fuck those tards.