Nihilists Have More Fun

 "Don't say gay" laws--Do they matter?  When I was in early elementary school, we didn't have a curriculum that mentioned sexual orientation, but I still learned about gay people in school. From jokes and insults, I learned that they were no good. If teachers aren't allowed to make simple statements about everyone being valuable and beautiful, that informal education is still going to be there, making sure children who are different from the majority know they are inferior. If a child has some inkling at an early age that they might like someone they're "not supposed" to like or want to dress a way they're "not supposed" to dress, barring teachers from saying a few positive words about LGBT people isn't going to make those feelings disappear. It only ensures that the voices telling these kids to hate themselves meet less opposition. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/06/13/chapter-3-the-coming-out-experience/ (See also ...

There are a couple people in my life who constantly remind me that the internet exists, and thanks to one of those people I watched a video interview of a guy who wrote a book called Is Atheism Dead? The interview was hosted by Sean McDowell, a friendly dad-like spirit who one of my internet mediums frequently feels the need to channel for me. I think Sean McDowell is a nice guy, and I really appreciate the effort he makes to bridge divides between people of differing beliefs. Simply because I’m familiar with his content, I think I will have to come back at some point to write some constructive criticism of things he could do better, but I do support his endeavors to make the world a more communication-friendly place. When it comes to certain of his views, and to some of the people he interviews though, my opinion may be noticeably less positive. Returning to the title of this particular guest’s book, the point I want to make about it is that it fits in perfectly to a pattern of choic...

I took these photos (really badly) a few years ago when my sister was getting rid of some of their old textbooks and found this book we both used for our science class in... I think it was 4th grade. This blog could be a lot more interesting I bet if I gave it a more specific theme like, "Surviving (name of my school)" and then all the posts would be about the weird quirks of having all your education up until age 18 take place within the same conservative Christian bubble. I could get a lot of posts just out of the textbooks we had. And then there would be all the material on the weird incorporation of politics into our classes and the swapping of stories about having seen demons and the awkward uncertainty about whether most holidays were really okay given their pagan elements and the banning of Harry Potter  and Pokemon  and the mixed messages about how you should try to go to a really good college but at the same time maybe you should just go to the college of worship our...

Actually, as you can probably tell, I don't hate nihilists. That just seemed like a good click-bait title for a post about internalized prejudice. You've surely heard of the topic of internalized prejudices before, probably in the context of racism or sexism. As you've heard, just because you belong to a certain group of people is no guarantee that you will see that group positively. If you grow up in a society that portrays people with your skin color or your chromosomes (etc.) in a negative light, to some extent you're going to think that your group and you yourself are no good, just as you were taught. You might for instance feel with great certainty that, while it's acceptable and barely noticeable for other people to express their culture, their attractions, their beliefs, their gender, if you were to express yours, it would be too political, confrontational, or abrasive.  I know I have this sort of internalized disdain for my own beliefs, but it's so stron...