Tim Tebow's War on Christmas

It Getteth Better

Still on the Ground

I'm reading an article on the reactions of the people who thought that the rapture would happen today. Hi-larious. There have been numerous times over the years that some zealot said that the rapture would happen on a given day. Guess what, we are all still here. This dude, Harold Camping, who started peddling this schlock said that he was "bewildered" that it didn't happen. I'm sure that's the rated "G" version of what he was thinking. He apparently spent $100,000,000 advertising the event. That stat boggles my mind. Think of all the good that could have come from that money. Feeding poor people, getting kids school books, buying me a car. It's really sad how this stuff goes down, not to mention the people who profited from the idiots that actually subscribed to Camping. Someone, or a group of people, made tens of thousands of dollars on a scam where they offered to take care of people's pets if they got raptured, making them sign a contract and paying up front. Gotta love capitalism. Like the saying goes, a fool and his money are easily parted.

So, what is the lesson people should have learned today? Be a skeptic. Don't listen to zealots. No one really knws when the world will end, so when someone says they DO know, see them as the deluded person (or liar, whichever applies) that they are. Beware of false prophets.

Peace and God bless.

Poe's Law

A few weeks ago, I came across this concept called Poe’s Law. Essentially what it says is that it is nearly (if not utterly) impossible to tell a religious fanatic from someone doing a parody of a religious fanatic. There is a specific incident that happened that brought this up. Days after the catastrophic earthquake in Japan, a video appeared on YouTube of a woman saying that this was God showing his existence, that the quake was a good thing, and how she was happy that it happened. You can imagine the negative comments that were thrown her way (one of which may have come from me, but I don’t recall). Within a day or two, the video was removed. Shortly after that, it was revealed that the whole thing was a hoax. I admit it: I was duped (then again, so were many other people, some of whom are far more savvy than I). It was probably still a little tasteless given the timing, but I actually thought it was a funny video after the truth came out.

On a slightly more serious note, it probably doesn’t say anything good about certain segments of the religious community that Poe’s Law is, apparently, credible.