by Jesse Galef
I recently discovered Abstruse Goose, a wonderfully nerdy webcomic. This recent comic seemed appropriate and touching:
Remember who our true enemies are. They are not the religious fundamentalists or the religious moderates giving them cover. Our true enemies are the dangerous memes that are influencing so many of our friends, family, and neighbors: that it’s admirable to believe without evidence, that homosexuality is unconscionable, that there can be no truth outside a particular scripture.
In order to combat these memes, we must encourage critical thinking skills, compassion, and a thirst for learning – effectively immunizing people against the mind viruses.
… Doesn’t that make satire a vaccine? Satire gives people a small, mostly harmless dose of the crazy so that they can recognize it in the future. It’s a fun thought.
Erp: Interesting. Many years ago I helped my aunt sort out some of her late mother-in-law’s... 
Peter Cross: The Age of Reason is sometimes published and sold without Part 3: Examination of the... 
Mark D: Let Ed sell his plane and give the money to the Red Cross 
nomad: You’d love it, Custador. It looks and tastes just like it sounds. Nomnom. 
Matt: I find it very interesting that there are so many people out there with such sad lives as to sit... 
Tyrrlin: Wow… I’d like to buy apostrophes for most of those commenters. Apparently belief in a... 
Mathurine: I’m not so sure that they wouldn’t have. The father in the case is... 
JonJon: I agree. 
4 Comments
Well said. It might just be our lack of humor that is damaging us these days. Life gets pretty tense when you take yourself too seriously, and no one takes themself as serious as a hardcore religious fanatic.
I love it. Satire vaccine.
Oh, and very well put, Joe Skeptic.
“Satire vaccine”. Give yourself a pat on the back for that one.
¿The religious fundamentalists and the religious moderates that keep and spread those dangerous memes are not our enemies? I guess that is true in some sense, but I found it misleading. It’s just like saying that the brute who handles the hammer that breaks my skull is not my enemy, just the hammer… I guess it is a war with several fronts.