Atheist Revolution

Ecto 3: A Brief Review for Blogger Users

2009-06-28T07:41:00.002-05:00

I have been playing with the Mac version of Ecto 3 for a couple weeks now. After investing several hours into not only using the application but also reading all available documentation, I thought I'd share my thoughts. I've been using Ecto with Blogger, so this review will be most useful to those of you with Blogger blogs. However, those using other platforms may still find something of value.

I came to Ecto after reading many glowing reviews. Again and again, Ecto was described as the best desktop blog editor available for the Mac. I downloaded the 21-day trial and have been putting Ecto through its paces.

What Do I Like?

The main reason to consider a tool like Ecto is that it makes it easier to write blog posts when one is not connected to the Internet. For me, this is not a big deal because I rarely do this. However, I can see how valuable this would be if I was traveling regularly. In such a situation, I am fairly sure I would want an application like this.

The clean interface has grown on me, and I do like the Rich Text editor. The built in integration of Amazon and Flickr (now that I've managed to get the Flickr part working) are really nice touches. Not only is it easy to add my own photos from Flickr, but I can search all of Flickr by photo tags. Some of the image setting features are nice (i.e., being able to specify margins, float settings, and padding around the image). They do take awhile to learn, but it is clear that they are more powerful than I initially thought.

I also like how easily Ecto handles multiple blogs. It allows me to set general settings and blog-specific settings. Users with multiple blogs will find this valuable.

What Do I Not Like?

One of the first problems I encountered with Ecto was that there does not appear to be any way to replicate Blogger's post template functions. I have this set up in Blogger to do two things. First it contains the code to allow peek-a-boo posts. Since I can find no way to get Ecto to do this, I'd have to add the code manually to every post. Second, it contains the code to include the reminder to subscribe to my RSS feed at the bottom of every post. You'll see that I added that manually at the bottom of this post, but the point is, I had to do it manually.

Aside from the Flickr integration mentioned above, I am not crazy about how Ecto handles images. While it couldn't be any easier to get an image into a post, positioning it where one wants it is an entirely different matter. Of course, one can always move the image to the desired location in the source HTML, but being able to dragging it to the proper location in the text editor would be so nice. When one moves the picture around, the text which was repositioned to accommodate it, does not always return to where it was and has to be adjusted. I was also surprised that there weren't any options to add effects to images. Live Writer does this well, and this seems like a major oversight for Ecto not to include anything along these lines.

The primarily flaw with Ecto 3 concerns the documentation. This is not the most intuitive application, and the "extensive documentation" the developers claim is built into the Help menu is anything but extensive. Although Ecto 3 has been out for roughly a year, virtually all of the supplemental how-to material I could find on the Internet was based on an older version with a very different interface. In other words, it really wasn't of any value.

Ecto does have a support forum, but most of the entries you'll find there are old. Those providing the support do not seem to be particularly responsive. Worst of all, each time I tried to start a new thread to ask one of my many questions that had not previously been asked, I was treated to an error message.

Blogger-Specific Problems

Unfortunately, Ecto 3 suffers from at least one problem which appears to be specific to Blogger: extra spacing between paragraphs will appear unless one changes a setting in Blogger. This sounds like a minor problem except that as soon as one changes the setting in Blogger (i.e., Convert Line Breaks = No), all posts written prior to using Ecto will have their spacing messed up. If this is a new blog with only a handful of posts, this could be fixed fairly easily. For established blogs, it cannot realistically be fixed.

What this means is that one is likely to be stuck with Ecto's extra paragraph spacing on Blogger (you are seeing what that looks like in this post). Only you can decide whether this is a deal-breaker for you.

Although I am not 100% sure that this problem is specific to Blogger, I will mention it here as well because I have not seen it reported elsewhere. Whenever I publish with Ecto, I receive an error message about invalid HTML. It appears that ecto is somehow pulling text from my RSS feed and trying to add it to the end of the post. Fortunately, it will work if I just hit "ignore," but nothing I have tried will stop this error from occurring.

Lastly, it does not appear that there is any way to implement Technorati tags on Blogger blogs with ecto.

Verdict

As much as I want to like Ecto 3 and as often as I keep coming back to play around with it, I have a hard time recommending it to those who use Blogger and are not just starting their blogs (so that the paragraph spacing being wrecked on previous posts would not be an issue). All other issues aside, I think I'd be tempted to stick with it if it wasn't for that problem, especially if I regularly wanted to write posts while not connected to the Internet.

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Film Review: Religulous

2009-04-24T05:59:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I finally got around to watching Religulous
last night. As most of my Twitter followers predicted when I told them I'd soon watch it, I really liked it. This is one of those films that I will probably buy, not because I plan to watch it over and over but because I want to loan it out to as many people as possible so they will see it.

As I see it, there are two primary audiences for this film, each of which will experience it in very different ways. First and most obvious, there is the atheist crowd. For them, this film contains precious little in the way of new ideas. There really wasn't anything in Maher's film that I hadn't encountered previously. For us, the film is simply funny, entertaining, and reinforcing of how we already feel about religion.

I have always liked Bill Maher, but I tend to prefer him in smaller doses than what I received in this film. Politically Incorrect was generally about right; this movie was a bit much Maher for my tastes. Still, this was a relatively minor quibble.

Another minor (at least for me) criticism concerns Maher's apparent ignorance of the meaning of atheism. He is obviously an atheist but cannot quite seem to embrace the label. It seemed a bit hypocritical when he called for nonbelievers to come out of the closet and voice their doubts when he has not yet been willing to apply the dreaded atheist label to himself.

Aside from these issues, the film was funny and certainly entertaining. Many of the religious individuals Maher interviewed were certainly more articulate than what he could have found. Thus, I did not find the often heard criticism that he simply selected morons to be a valid one. In fact, I thought he used a reasonably good cross-section of the religious. Sure, it was skewed for comedic effect, but it could have been so much more so.

Who exactly is the second audience to which I referred above? I'll describe them as moderately religious people with a sense of humor. It is difficult to imagine religious fundamentalists being willing to sit through this film. However, I think that religious moderates may enjoy much of it. More importantly, I think that this is an excellent film to provoke thought and discussion among mixed groups of atheists and religious moderates.

I expect that religious moderates would encounter quite a bit of new information in Maher's film that might lead them to ask some important questions, seek out additional information, and engage in discussion. In fact, I think that this might be the primary way in which Religulous succeeds. I really wish I could have watched this with my parents when they were here recently.

Maher is one of those comedians who has a real knack for taking on political issues and using humor to engage an audience, entertaining and provoking thought at the same time. I think he accomplishes this feat quite well in Religulous. The mockery may sting a bit initially, but the religious moderate who is willing to think about what Maher is actually saying may indeed find the experience worthwhile.

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Film Review: Friends of God

2009-04-09T05:28:00.000-05:00

Cover via Amazon

I have not had the opportunity to see Religulous yet, but I hope to do so fairly soon. I did recently catch a documentary that I had missed when aired on HBO in 2007: Friends of God: A Road Trip with Alexandra Pelosi. It was indeed directed by Nancy Pelosi's daughter, but don't let that dissuade you from seeing it. Alexandra was far less annoying than her mother. I think this film is definitely worth seeing, and I'll provide a brief synopsis and review below for those who have not seen it yet.

Friends of God is both a road film and an intriguing documentary about America's evangelical Christians. Pelosi and her crew film their journey across the American bible belt and provide viewers with reasonably fair portrayal of evangelical Christians in this region. What sets this film apart from many others is that it allows evangelical Christians to discuss their beliefs without any sort of mockery or antagonism. In fact, Pelosi's stance through much of the film is that of a good reporter who genuinely wants to understand her subject matter.

The film does a commendable job of including both ordinary evangelical Americans and the famous ones often tasked with speaking for them. You'll see many of the current or former big dogs in the evangelical community, including Ron Luce (Battle Cry), Ken Ham, Jerry Falwell, and Ted Haggard. They explain what they believe and why. You'll also see how they work to mold their flocks of evangelical activists.

Comparisons with Jesus Camp are inevitable, but while there are admittedly similarities, Friends of God is not merely Jesus Camp light. I liken Jesus Camp to a kick in the nuts of the reality-based community. I feel sick just thinking about it. While it was an effective wake-up call that should be required viewing for every American, it was as much about shock than about education. As disturbing as Friends of God was (and it was indeed disturbing), I did not have the same visceral reaction. In fact, the tone was much more one of trying to understand the subject matter rather than using it for shock value. As such, it is probably a better film for the purpose of creating productive dialogue.

I was not previously familiar with Alexandra Pelosi, but it turns out that she is far from just someone with a famous mother who fell into this role. She started out covering politics in Washington, D.C. before serving as a network news producer for several years. She won an Emmy for her first film, Journeys with George (2000), and earned considerable praise from conservatives for her fair coverage of the 18 months she spent with George W. Bush during his campaign. In short, she was well suited for Friends of God and managed to pull it off exceptionally well.

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Book Review: Infidel

2008-08-27T05:20:00.000-05:00

I read almost exclusively nonfiction (Christian bible being an exception), and my two favorite topics are atheism and progressive politics. I've read most of the books on atheism that you've heard of and some more obscure ones. I picked up Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel expecting another interesting tome on atheism along the lines of Harris, Dawkins, Dennet, or Hitchens. I could not have been more wrong! Infidel is not a book about atheism at all. And yet, I cannot remember the last time I read a book as hard to put down as this one. If you haven't picked this one up yet, you owe it to yourself to do so. It is not to be missed.

I do most of my fun reading right before I go to bed. I typically curl up with whatever I'm reading for 20-30 minutes before turning off the lights and falling asleep. With Infidel, I found myself reading for an hour or two and wanting to ditch work to read more the next day. I found myself thinking about what I had read all day. There was something utterly captivating about the book.

Hirsi Ali's book is about her experience growing up in Islam, making a daring escape to the Western world, and finally embracing her true self. It is about feminism, the oppression of women in Islam, the experience of encountering freedom for the first time, and so many other things. Yes, she eventually discarded religion altogether, but that really is not the focus of the book.

What you will find is a story of incredible bravery, courage, and commitment to human rights. Hirsi Ali is a hero. There is simply no other way to say it. She is not simply an inspiration for Muslim women but for all of us reluctant to speak out or concerned that we cannot make a difference.

There are many lessons to be taken from Hirsi Ali's excellent writing, but I'll try to summarize one of the big ones as follows: Islam, not simply Islamic extremism but the religion itself, is a danger to humanity. Those of us in the West obsessed with multiculturalism and attempting to be equally tolerant to all religions are making a serious mistake by denying the realities of Islam. As Hirsi Ali says,

The message of this book, if it must have a message, is that we in the West would be wrong to prolong the pain of that transition unnecessarily, by elevating cultures full of bigotry and hatred toward women to the stature of respectable alternative ways of life.

The transition she's referring to is that leading to the modern world. She makes a compelling case that the values inherent in Islam are inferior in so many ways to those of Western democracies. We in the West are often taught to regard such claims as unacceptably intolerant. This book is a needed eye-opener.

In closing, I should offer a word of warning to you who are now considering reading Infidel. If you are not fairly open about your atheism, reading this book may make you feel like a douchebag, especially if you have whined about the obstacles you face.

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God: The Failed Hypothesis

2008-08-08T06:31:00.000-05:00

I read quite a bit on the subjects of atheism, Christian extremism, and politics. I suppose I should write more book reviews here. The problem is that writing an effective book review is quite a bit of work and reminds me too much of the sort of writing I do at my job. You'll have to make so with brief recommendations and mini-reviews. One such recommendation is Victor J. Stenger's God: The Failed Hypothesis.

In introducing his book Stenger writes,

In the present book, I will go much further and argue that by this moment in time science has advanced sufficiently to be able to make a definitive statement on the existence or nonexistence of a God having the attributes that are traditionally associated with the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God.

This is an apt description of what to expect. But it is also rather easy to present the core of Stenger's case in the briefest possible terms as follows:

Hypothesize a God who plays an important role in the universe.
Assume that God has specific attributes that should provide objective evidence for his existence.
Look for such evidence with an open mind.
If such evidence is found, conclude that God may exist.
If such objective evidence is not found, conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that a God with these properties does not exist.

Essentially, this is the process around which Stenger organizes his book. Again and again, we see none of the evidence that should be present if there was a god with the properties agreed upon by most Christians. But this really isn't the most damning part of Stenger's analysis. Consistent with Dawkins and many other prominent authors, he finds that the evidence leads to the conclusion that no such god exists. Simply put, "Indeed, Earth and life look just as they can be expected to look if there is no designer God."

I enjoyed the book. Stenger's Ph.D. is in physics, so it was to be expected that he went more into that field than many others. But I appreciated this perspective and found it a fitting complement to those from biology, anthropology, psychology, and other fields.

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Book Preview: A 21st Century Rationalist in Medieval America

2007-02-25T09:00:00.000-06:00

Have you ever thought about someday turning your blog or other material you have written into a book? Wouldn't it be nice to have a model of exactly how to do this in the most effective way possible? Good news! Just such a model will be published soon in the form of A 21st Century Rationalist in Medieval America: Essays on Religion, Science, Morality, and the Bush Administration by John Bice. The book has a May 2007 publication date, but John was nice enough to send me a preview copy. In this post, I will explain exactly why you need to get your hands on this book as soon as it is available.

Unless you just started reading atheist-oriented material on the web, you have probably encountered Bice's writings before. He is a freelance writer, currently employed by Michigan State University, where he writes regular columns from a godless perspective for The State News. I have long enjoyed his columns and was thrilled to hear that he was working on a collection of his writings.

A 21st Century Rationalist is quite different from many of the atheist-oriented books you have read, both in style and in purpose. Stylistically, it offers a collection of Bice's outstanding essays on religion and politics, many of which are expanded versions of columns which originally appeared in The State News. The essays are grouped into chapters on topics such as "Weird Beliefs," "Evolution & Creationism," and "Iraq War, Media, & Patriotism," but they are presented as brief essays (often no more than 5 pages in length).

But the real departure from other atheist-oriented books lies in Bice's purpose - writing for a mainstream audience which is expected to be predominately Christian. Remember, most of these essays originally appears as newspaper columns in a widely read mainstream newspaper. This gives Bice's book a much more accessible yet still unapologetically godless tone than many of the alternatives.

A 21st Century Rationalist is easily one of the most enjoyable, thought-provoking, and quotable books I have read in years. Bice's courage in spreading the godless meme through his writings is inspiring, and he has given us a model to emulate. Make room on your bookshelf for this one.

Tags: atheism, atheist, book review, John Bice, godless, secular

Stopped in My Tracks: Facing True Horror

2007-01-23T20:34:00.001-06:00

I love horror films, but I recognize that most of them are garbage, with few redeeming qualities. I'm okay with that because I find them an entertaining sort of escape. Of the countless films I've seen, only a handful have been so disturbing that I had a hard time dealing with them. However, I saw just such a film tonight. You won't find it in the horror section (it is a documentary), but it was easily the most vile, gut-wrenching, despicable, nauseating, horrific, I'm-going-to-be-up-all-night movie I have ever seen.

The film was Jesus Camp, and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get it out of my head anytime soon. I feel like I just watched more than an hour of sadistic adults psychologically torturing young children. I was not raised in an Evangelical tradition, and I had never actually seen the force of their indoctrination, its effects, and the spectacle that can only be described as mass hysteria. Atheist or not, watching that film made me feel ashamed to be human.

If I didn't already have ample reasons for being an atheist (not that any reasons are required when theists have no support for their case), this film would be sufficient. Whenever I am tempted to abandon blogging, avoid casting a vote, or decide that other issues are more deserving of my time, I need only to remember what I saw tonight. Something tells me that I won't have much of a choice.

Tags: religion, horror, film, movie, Jesus, atheist, atheism

Book Review: Letter to a Christian Nation

2006-12-15T08:19:00.000-06:00

You may have noticed that I've been reading Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris. After reading the diminutive 91-page book twice and taking some time to reflect on its contents, I'm ready to offer my review.

To get your most likely question out of the way first, readers of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason will find little in the way of new material here. For the freethinking reader, End of Faith is easier to recommend. While far from perfect, it offers a broader scope and more detailed arguments. Of course, it was also written with a different purpose and a different audience in mind. Nevertheless, Letter has merit as a concise summary of portions of End of Faith. It was an enjoyable read, even if it did little beyond reinforcing my views of Christianity.

To evaluate Letter to a Christian Nation and grasp what I believe is the book's central flaw, one must identify the target audience. Harris says that he wrote this book for a subgroup of Christians we could characterize as fundamentalist, socially conservative Christians who read their bibles literally. Writing a book for this audience guarantees Harris of two things. First, members of this target audience are the least likely persons to actually read the book, insuring that Harris' expressed intent of reaching them is doomed to fail. In the brief introduction, Harris informs the reader that his intent in this book is to "demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity." Can you imagine a fundamentalist Christian reading beyond that sentence?

Second, and far more problematic in my opinion, is that most of those who do actually read the book will see little relevance for them. Freethinkers will enjoy it, as it reinforces our views on Christian extremism. However, the large group of potential readers characterized by Harris as liberal or moderate Christians will simply conclude that he is right about extremist Christians but fail to acknowledge their responsibility for the maintenance of extremism (End of Faith was much more effective in this regard). I believe the book would be far more effective if it was directed toward moderate Christians, a group which contains many relatively open-minded individuals who might actually consider the information presented to them. As good as it was in parts, End of Faith was too unfocused, deviating on many irrelevant tangents. I sincerely hope that Harris will follow Letter with a similar book aimed at moderate Christians.

Letter is organized effectively in such a way that it permits Harris to attack (and the tone is quite attacking throughout the book) Christian extremism wherever it is vulnerable. Harris starts with the veracity of the Christian bible, moves onto morality, takes on the "evil atheist" myth, skillfully addresses the problem of evil, dismisses prophecy, tackles science and religion, and concludes with religious violence. In the slim volume, Harris provides freethinkers with powerful but concise arguments for opposing Christian extremists. This is where Harris really shines. In what has to be my favorite sentence of the whole book, he responds to the issue of religious tolerance by writing:

"Religion raises the stakes of human conflict much higher than tribalism, racism, or politics ever can, as it is the only form of in-group/out-group thinking that casts the differences between people in terms of eternal rewards and punishments."

I will remember that the next time a Christian argues that religion has been misused by bad people but does not actually lead to conflict itself.

Despite its flaws, I do recommend Letter to freethinkers, especially those who do not already have End of Faith on their bookshelves. In addition, I recommend this book to Christians who are not completely closed to the possibility that their religious beliefs are maladaptive. I actually bought a few extra copies of this book to give as Christmas gifts this year. Even if the book isn't ideally suited to moderate Christians, I imagine it will provoke some thought and discussion.

Tags: book review, Sam Harris, Christian, religion, atheist, atheism

Book Recommendation: Kingdom Coming

2006-09-01T11:06:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, and I highly recommend it. Author Michelle Goldberg describes the growing threat of Christian nationalism, synonymous with what I call Christian extremism, in America. This is a terrifying read for nonbelievers, but it is a threat we cannot afford to ignore. Fortunately, Goldberg offers a rational 3-pronged strategy for how progressive Christians and nonbelievers can confront the growing extremist threat.

Rather than providing a comprehensive review of this book, I'd like to highlight two emergent themes I found particularly informative. First, this book helped me to realize the true scope of the Christian nationalist/extremist movement. This is not just a handful of fringe lunatics. This is an extremely well-organized movement with a clear strategic plan, considerable grassroots support in every state, and a remarkable long-term commitment to reshaping America in their image. In Kingdom Coming, Goldberg shows how this movement first emerged in America and how their rise to power involved sustained efforts and the flexibility to move in new directions when blocked. She illustrated their use of churches as the key foundation of their grassroots political efforts and their use of homeschooling to deliver thorough indoctrination in the training of future extremists. One cannot help but be somewhat impressed with what they have managed to accomplish even if one disagrees with their goals.

The second insight I want to mention is closely related to the first but somewhat more difficult to express clearly. Many liberals and nonbelievers highlight the fascist nature of the Christian right. This is nothing new, but often ends up being little more than futile attempts to inflame the passions of a sympathetic audience. On the other hand, Goldberg builds a compelling case that the Christian nationalist movement is a totalitarian movement with striking similarities to Germany at the beginning of Hitler's rise to power. Let me be clear that she does not compare Christian extremist leaders with Hitler or claim that their followers are Nazis. However, she effectively demonstrates that the stated goals of the Christian right are anti-democracy and totalitarian, even fascist, in nature. The strategies employed by the Christian right and their attacks on gays, evolution, the "liberal" media, the courts, etc., are so similar to Hitler's early goals as he first started to gain power that it is impossible for a rational person to deny the parallels.

As I mentioned, this was a terrifying book. There were plenty of times when I had to put it down because I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep if I kept reading. I actually did spend two sleepless nights because I was so disturbed by what I read! But I want to repeat what I said earlier about Goldberg offering sensible strategies for what we can do to oppose the threat. She does not simply leave the reader hanging without workable solutions.

Tags: Christian extremists, Christian nationalists, religion, politics, Michelle Goldberg, Kingdom Coming

Book Review: The Jesus Puzzle

2006-01-06T06:19:00.000-06:00

I recently finished The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus by Earl Doherty and decided to provide a brief review.

Doherty's book makes the controversial claim that a historical Jesus of Nazareth probably never existed. Christians should not be so quick to dismiss this claim, however, because Doherty's evidence is drawn directly from their bible and a wealth of biblical scholarship. For example, he notes that biblical material written before the Gospels made no mention of Jesus, that the Gospels relied heavily on Old Testament prophecy to create a mythical Jesus figure, and that numerous revisions to biblical text were completed hundreds of years after the supposed crucifixion. In fact, if you really want to get a taste of Doherty's core argument, you can find it here.

Doherty's writing style is scholarly but still approachable. He quotes the Christian bible at length but also references material that was written before their bible, as well as the source material (referred to as the Q document) for the Gospel authors. He shows how the early Christian traditions that emerged in Galilee and Jerusalem were quite different and how these differences account for some of the apparent inconsistencies in the bible.

I found Doherty's case to be extremely convincing, and I am not sure that it can be effectively refuted. I must confess that this was all completely new to me. I had always assumed that Jesus lived, was simply a wise fellow, and was later perverted into what would become Christianity. I feel that I learned quite a bit about the way the Christian bible was written from Doherty's book, and I now find it quite likely that Jesus never lived.

Not only is The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus highly recommended, but it has acquired a coveted space in my Atheist's Bookshelf.

Tagged as: book review, Christianity, Jesus

Book Review: Exception to the Rulers

2005-11-22T05:43:00.000-06:00

I just finished reading The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media that Love Them, and while it does not deal with atheism, I think it is worth reviewing. Let's start with a brief synopsis:

From Publishers Weekly
Journalist and radio host Goodman brings her hard-hitting, no-holds-barred brand of reporting to an array of human rights, government accountability and media responsibility issues, and the result is bracing and timely. Goodman isn't about to let anyone slide by with easy explanations, not even then President Clinton when he called in on her daily Pacifica news show. And she is fierce and tireless in her commitment to dig behind official versions of the facts to get to very different stories. Her analysis of Iraq War contracts won by certain key Bush campaign donors will open many eyes, not only with its neat comparison of donation amount with contract value but also with its bold presentation of "Crony Connections." A gadfly's life in these turbulent times is neither restful nor boring, and Goodman's perspective on events like genocidal massacres in East Timor and mainstream coverage of the Jessica Lynch rescue is both important and alarming. Instances in which newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post have published stories based on leaked reports from unnamed government sources only to have to retract the stories later as being unfounded allow Goodman to argue that sophisticated news management techniques of spin, disinformation and controlled access to sources are undermining the reliability of media reporting. How, she asks, could journalists "embedded" with U.S. troops in Iraq be objective reporters of all that was occurring there, and whose interests were being served? These and other provocative questions power Goodman's stirring call for a democratic media serving a democratic society.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This is a reasonably accurate description of the book. Goodman takes on politicians (both Republican and Democrat), points out the cost of their ties to multinational corporations, and makes a strong case for why America desperately needs an alternative media. Fellow bloggers, we are part of this alternative media. I believe that the primary contribution of this book is the evidence Goodman provides to suggest that the American corporate-political apparatus uses the mainstream media as a propaganda machine to control the American people. You've heard about the military engaging in psychological warfare to "win the hearts and minds" of people in other countries, but you might not have realized that the same tactics are employed here. In her call for a strong independent media that is not controlled by corporate interests, I found Goodman to be a source of inspiration.

No book is perfect, but I have only two complaints about Exception to the Rulers. First, Goodman's description of her antics sounds an awful lot like Michael Moore and is often similarly inappropriate. For example, she recounts attending an awards ceremony where the main speaker was scheduled to give interviews to the media immediately after the ceremony. Unable to wait, Goodman interrupted the ceremony to question the speaker. She didn't seem to understand (or care) that most readers were not going to be sympathetic to this. If the speaker already agreed to answer questions at a scheduled time, making an unecessary scene does not help your case. My second criticism is that Goodman takes every opportunity to pat herself on the back by promomoting her show, Democracy Now! While I agree that the show is worth promoting as an example of independent media, the promotion was excessive.

Criticism aside, I recommend the book. It is both entertaining and informative. As a call for a strong independent media, it is likely to inspire those of you who provide this function.

Tagged as: book review, independent media

Book Review: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

2005-08-03T07:04:00.000-05:00

I just finished Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, and I give this book my highest possible recommendation. This is not a book about atheism or religion, but it is a book about how the world works. Few books have impacted me more than this one - I actually felt emotionally drained each night after I put it down.

The book is basically an autobiographical account of a man who was employed by the corporate world and sent to various developing countries to deliberately indebt these countries to the United States so that our corporate-imperalistic government (what Perkins refers to as a "corporatocracy") could enslave them. Specifically, he provided drastically overinflated economic forecasts so that huge loans from the World Bank could be justified to employ U.S. contractors (e.g., Halliburton) to build infrastructure projects in poor countries with desirable natural resources. The loans were intentionally so large that they could never be repaid, providing the U.S. government (basically owned by the multinational corporations) with leverage to move in and take the natural resources (e.g., oil).

At some level, I think that most of us realize that the world works this way. However, I was ignorant of the specific mechanics involved. I think this is the first book I have ever read that made me feel physically ill, depressed, etc. and yet determined to keep reading. Highly recommended, but beware...you will never look at the world in the same way.

Tagged as: book reviews

Book Review: The Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism

2005-07-27T15:00:00.000-05:00

While browsing on Amazon.com, I ran across this book by Hood et al. and thought it sounded interesting. Boy, was I wrong! I thought I'd provide a brief review to help prevent others from wasting money on this one.

The book claims to present "a new framework for understanding religious fundamentalism." This was why I bought it. I am fascinated with efforts to understand the psychology of Christian extremists, so it seemed like a sure thing. False advertising! There is virtually no psychology here. The book is about 90% history, and while interesting, it is incredibly skewed in favor of fundamentalism.

Here is the authors' "new framework" in a nutshell: The only way to properly understand religious fundamentalists is to understand them from within their own belief system. On every single one of the 254 pages, the authors use the term "intratextuality," their term for understanding fundamentalism by assuming that every word of the religious text is true and exploring reality from within that perspective. Not surprisingly, at least two of the authors turn out to be fundamentalists, and the book is very kind to fundamentalism.

My favorite part by far is that they use the phrase "objective truth" repeatedly to refer to biblical truth. They make absolutely no distinction between external, objective, empirically verifiable reality and crazy biblical crap. Even better, they dismiss all biblical contradictions by arguing that because the bible is the inerrant word of god, it can't be contradictory and therefore it isn't. Need I say more?

Anyway, this was a big disappointment. The title was extremely misleading, and I'd stay away from this one.