The Two Stupidest and Most Dangerous Beliefs
seriously, these are a cancer on humanity's brain stem
There are two incredibly lethally stupid beliefs that remain stubbornly persistent despite the best efforts of good people everywhere to stamp them out.
These are:
Atheism; and
Born Special
Let’s discuss!
Atheism
It’s perfectly all right if you’re not sure what shape or form the Higher Power(s) take(s) or what the rules of spirituality and/or religion are. That’s called agonosticism. This also applies to people who specifically reject religion.
Atheism, on the other hand, is the belief that there is no Higher Power and that the universe is some kind of big clock with a lot of dead parts ticking around and interacting with one another.
Personally, I think that atheists are factually wrong, that a Higher Power does exist. But even if I’m wrong and they’re right, atheism is still incredibly dangerous and stupid.
This is because, in my entire life, I have never seen an atheist fail to go tumbling down the slippery slope from “there is no Higher Power” to “people are the Higher Power.” This is how atheism becomes lethal.
Everything from eugenics to longtermism to effective altruism to scientific racism to (trying to) control the weather to blocking the sun to burying trees underground to genetically altering food and insects and people and everything else is based on the atheistic belief that humans are the Higher Power.
A Higher Power gets to determine who lives and who dies and the rules for living for those deemed worthy enough to be spared. It’s wrong and it’s evil when it’s in the hands of human beings and there are a thousand different names for it but it all boils down to a profound disrespect and arrogance for the universe (aka Nature aka God’s Creation).
Whenever a human being gets deluded into thinking they’re a Higher Power, death, chaos, and destruction ensues every single time. Whether that’s murdering crippled kids or sterilizing crazy people or introducing rabbits to Australia, it never, ever ends well. Ever.
Sure, atheists put up a lot of fancy arguments about why they’re right, but at the end of the day, two things remain indisputably true: no human being has ever created life de novo, and nobody can accurately predict the weather (or anything else, like the stock market) even a week in the future. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar and a charlatan.
Human beings do a really, really terrible job at pretending to be Higher Powers.
Born Special
This is another ugly belief that’s been around a long time, unfortunately.
Being born special is different from being born unique (as all of us are unique in our own way) and from becoming special as a result of something you accomplish or do. A person who can paint a masterpiece or dive underwater 100 meters or raise 12 kids deserves to be called special.
What makes being born special so evil is two-fold:
Nothing you do/say can either nullify or amplify your specialness; and
By definition, if you’re special, then other people are not, hence you are superior to them
A lot of times, this belief that you’re born special has cultural or religious roots. In other cases, particularly with individuals suddenly discovering that they were born special in adulthood, it’s usually a clear sign of mental illness.
There are different processes for being “born special,” ranging from the Higher Power singling out your ancestors as part of an ancient pact to more complex schemes.
Again, just to be clear, I’m not talking about people who believe that EVERYONE is born special, only those who believe that just SOME folks are born special.
Regardless of how it came to be, once you believe that you were born special:
It’s okay to lie to, cheat, and steal from non-special people.
You can physically abuse and/or kill non-special people if you need to protect yourself.
You don’t have to follow any normal moral or ethical codes because your specialness is permanent and incorruptible.
Likewise, no matter how hard they try or work, non-special born folks can never attain your special status.
There are different rules for you and your fellow special-born than for the non-special people.
The laws don’t (truly) apply to you, and you are certainly not bound to obey them.
You have unique access to the Higher Power that non-special-born people can never share (or you yourself are the Higher Power).
Non-special people OWE you because you were born special.
Your life (and wealth, happiness, etc) is worth more than the life (and wealth, happiness, etc.) of a non-special person.
All of the above is what psychologists would refer to as pathological behavior. It’s sick and it’s twisted and it’s wrong, yet we’ve grown suprisingly tolerant of it in the past few centuries.
I do not care what religion or culture you come from - you’re not born special. Or, to put it another way, we’re all born equally special.
Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to judge someone by the content of their character or their accomplishments or the level of spiritual enlightenment they’ve attained or their generosity towards others or their success in business, etc., because these are the results of an individual’s effort.
But just as a rich man can lose all his money, a pious man can violate his spiritual code, a wise man can do something stupid, a loyal man can betray his friends, and a hard working man can turn lazy, this qualification of “special” is not permanent and must be earned.
People who are “born special,” however, never did anything to earn that status. They just magically inherited it by some process or another that was completely outside their control.
And the very second that you start thinking you’re better than other people purely on the merits of your birth, you get nothing but tyranny, bloodshed, cruelty, and parasitic behavior. Everyone owes you, but you owe them nothing. Everyone else must be moral and obey the laws and customs of the land except for you.
Not too long ago, they used to chop people's heads off or lynch them for espousing that kind of belief. Now, however, somehow we’ve become enthralled to special-born folks who continually spit on those they consider to be inferior, and it needs to stop immediately.