Pj Fothergill

I got into some hot water yesterday for telling the general public that they were wrong for watching x-factor.

My actual words were “Fuck you at home for watching”. Now I see this form of nationwide affront no different to sticking the middle finger up at those who purchase products from Nestle or indeed get their fuel at Exxon Mobil.

I don’t much like the idea of parading clueless individuals in front of wealthy “know-it-alls” just so they and the public at home can smirk and chuckle at what we believe is a lack of talent. Yes some of the contestants are deluded, some need a reality check, but surely there are ways of doing this without getting an entire nation to mock them!

Maybe my words were too harsh, and I clearly offended a lot of people. So much so that amidst the onslaught of condescending retaliations I began to feel like Salman Rushdie post “The Satanic Verses”. Being a self confessed hypochondriac I started to wonder if my pet cat had been killed or if my house would be on fire when I got home, a form of self-flattery and blatant arrogance I might add. This led my brother to coin the term “X-Fatwa”, a genius bit of wordplay in my opinion.

I was told to apologise for my rudeness and lack of respect for other people’s tastes and opinions because of the offence I had caused. But why should I?
Surely taking offence is a choice! That can’t be argued with! So I don’t think I should have to apologise for people’s poor choices! And surely the ones that were that offended are the ones that lashed out for reasons of guilt and shame rather than upset at a foul word. People don’t like having their mistakes pointed out and thus retaliate with generous animosity.

I think the only part that I should rectify would be the part where I missed out the precise reasoning behind my statement (one which I thought was pretty obvious), and clarify the shame I think the public should feel for supporting such a cruel programme that is past off as “entertainment” and “exploitation but what the public wants”.

So many of my friends took it as a personal attack on taste when in reality, taste has nothing to do with it. I don’t blame someone for liking the taste of McDonald’s, or the taste of Nestle Chocolate Buttons, but I do blame them for not bothering to know the evils behind what they deem as “good taste”.
“Wow, this chocolate is amazing, unlucky that the company inadvertently killed babies in developing countries and is in blatant violation of the World Health Code”
“Yeah, this BigMac is amazing, shame about their ridiculously low animal welfare standards and blatant contribution to global obesity and de-forestation”

I don’t hate anyone, let me make that vehemently clear! But I do get upset and aggravated by people’s laziness and unwillingness to research and find truth. Just because it looks good doesn’t mean it is. A dog shit is still dog shit whether covered in tinsel or not.

No, on the grand scheme of things X-Factor is probably deemed fairly harmless. It doesn’t kill, it doesn’t discriminate according to race, it doesn’t contribute as such to global warming. But it does something that in my opinion can be just as bad. It bullies, it mocks, it lies, it judges wrongly, and gives false hope to the ignorant by leading them down a long path like an old donkey following a carrot on a string only to have the carrot snatched away and stumble bewildered and confused off the edge of a cliff.

The few that make it will only be worth what they are until their sales begin to drop, then, like a race horse gone lame, they are shot between the eyes ready for the next one to fill the producer’s banks. And I’m the one causing offence?

Yes, I am an opinionated individual, yes I have a hot-head. But I am also kind, passionate and will use the extremely little power and metaphorical voice to alert people to things that are just plain wrong. Watch what you like, like what you like. Just THINK about what you watch and THINK about what you like.

Until the next time I cause outrage

P.J Fothergill

Photo 128
Notes

nickholmes:

Dig it.

Text God

“Why don’t you believe in God? I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming and pointless. People who believe in God don’t need proof of his existence, and they certainly don’t want evidence to the contrary. They are happy with their belief. They even say things like “it’s true to me” and “it’s faith.” I still give my logical answer because I feel that not being honest would be patronizing and impolite. It is ironic therefore that “I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence and from what I’ve heard the very definition is a logical impossibility in this known universe,” comes across as both patronizing and impolite.

Arrogance is another accusation. Which seems particularly unfair. Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence - - evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition. If it did, you wouldn’t get a shot of penicillin, you’d pop a leach down your trousers and pray. Whatever you “believe,” this is not as effective as medicine. Again you can say, “It works for me,” but so do placebos. My point being, I’m saying God doesn’t exist. I’m not saying faith doesn’t exist. I know faith exists. I see it all the time. But believing in something doesn’t make it true. Hoping that something is true doesn’t make it true. The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn’t. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts.

Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?” You’d say, “Why would I?” I’d reply, “Because it’s a matter of faith.” If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’F—ing fly then you lunatic.”

This, is of course a spirituality issue, religion is a different matter. As an atheist, I see nothing “wrong” in believing in a god. I don’t think there is a god, but belief in him does no harm. If it helps you in any way, then that’s fine with me. It’s when belief starts infringing on other people’s rights when it worries me. I would never deny your right to believe in a god. I would just rather you didn’t kill people who believe in a different god, say. Or stone someone to death because your rulebook says their sexuality is immoral. It’s strange that anyone who believes that an all-powerful all-knowing, omniscient power responsible for everything that happens, would also want to judge and punish people for what they are. From what I can gather, pretty much the worst type of person you can be is an atheist. The first four commandments hammer this point home. There is a god, I’m him, no one else is, you’re not as good and don’t forget it. (Don’t murder anyone, doesn’t get a mention till number 6.)

When confronted with anyone who holds my lack of religious faith in such contempt, I say, “It’s the way God made me.”

But what are atheists really being accused of?

The dictionary definition of God is “a supernatural creator and overseer of the universe.” Included in this definition are all deities, goddesses and supernatural beings. Since the beginning of recorded history, which is defined by the invention of writing by the Sumerians around 6,000 years ago, historians have cataloged over 3700 supernatural beings, of which 2870 can be considered deities.

So next time someone tells me they believe in God, I’ll say “Oh which one? Zeus? Hades? Jupiter? Mars? Odin? Thor? Krishna? Vishnu? Ra?…” If they say “Just God. I only believe in the one God,” I’ll point out that they are nearly as atheistic as me. I don’t believe in 2,870 gods, and they don’t believe in 2,869.

I used to believe in God. The Christian one that is.

I loved Jesus. He was my hero. More than pop stars. More than footballers. More than God. God was by definition omnipotent and perfect. Jesus was a man. He had to work at it. He had temptation but defeated sin. He had integrity and courage. But He was my hero because He was kind. And He was kind to everyone. He didn’t bow to peer pressure or tyranny or cruelty. He didn’t care who you were. He loved you. What a guy. I wanted to be just like Him.

One day when I was about 8 years old, I was drawing the crucifixion as part of my Bible studies homework. I loved art too. And nature. I loved how God made all the animals. They were also perfect. Unconditionally beautiful. It was an amazing world.

I lived in a very poor, working-class estate in an urban sprawl called Reading, about 40 miles west of London. My father was a laborer and my mother was a housewife. I was never ashamed of poverty. It was almost noble. Also, everyone I knew was in the same situation, and I had everything I needed. School was free. My clothes were cheap and always clean and ironed. And mum was always cooking. She was cooking the day I was drawing on the cross.

I was sitting at the kitchen table when my brother came home. He was 11 years older than me, so he would have been 19. He was as smart as anyone I knew, but he was too cheeky. He would answer back and get into trouble. I was a good boy. I went to church and believed in God -– what a relief for a working-class mother. You see, growing up where I did, mums didn’t hope as high as their kids growing up to be doctors; they just hoped their kids didn’t go to jail. So bring them up believing in God and they’ll be good and law abiding. It’s a perfect system. Well, nearly. 75 percent of Americans are God- ‐fearing Christians; 75 percent of prisoners are God- ‐fearing Christians. 10 percent of Americans are atheists; 0.2 percent of prisoners are atheists.

But anyway, there I was happily drawing my hero when my big brother Bob asked, “Why do you believe in God?” Just a simple question. But my mum panicked. “Bob,” she said in a tone that I knew meant, “Shut up.” Why was that a bad thing to ask? If there was a God and my faith was strong it didn’t matter what people said.

Oh…hang on. There is no God. He knows it, and she knows it deep down. It was as simple as that. I started thinking about it and asking more questions, and within an hour, I was an atheist.

Wow. No God. If mum had lied to me about God, had she also lied to me about Santa? Yes, of course, but who cares? The gifts kept coming. And so did the gifts of my new found atheism. The gifts of truth, science, nature. The real beauty of this world. I learned of evolution -– a theory so simple that only England’s greatest genius could have come up with it. Evolution of plants, animals and us –- with imagination, free will, love, humor. I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer and pizza are all good enough reasons for living.

But living an honest life -– for that you need the truth. That’s the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end leads to liberation and dignity.

So what does the question “Why don’t you believe in God?” really mean. I think when someone asks that they are really questioning their own belief. In a way they are asking “what makes you so special? “How come you weren’t brainwashed with the rest of us?” “How dare you say I’m a fool and I’m not going to heaven, f— you!” Let’s be honest, if one person believed in God he would be considered pretty strange. But because it’s a very popular view it’s accepted. And why is it such a popular view? That’s obvious. It’s an attractive proposition. Believe in me and live forever. Again if it was just a case of spirituality this would be fine.

“Do unto others…” is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue there is. But that’s exactly what it is - ‐ a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue. No one owns being good. I’m good. I just don’t believe I’ll be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. It’s knowing that I try to do the right thing. That I lived a good life. And that’s where spirituality really lost its way. When it became a stick to beat people with. “Do this or you’ll burn in hell.”

You won’t burn in hell. But be nice anyway.”