Yes, I am a "narrow mind addict". I listen to Gene Cook's show "the narrow mind" on Unchained Radio
But why, I hear you yell, it's a Christian radio show??
Well, basically, I listen to Gene Cook for the same reason I listen to Mysterious Universe - not because I believe half a percent of what is presented, but because I find it so extremely entertaining to see how far people can delude themselves.
Perhaps I'm just easily amused? I admit to being addicted to podcasting in general, but it's difficult to find truly entertaining content. I find blatant delusion entertaining - so sue me ;)
Gene has a particular amusing segment on tuesdays called "Covenant Theology" (whatever that means). It's a couple of guys arguing - vehemently - insane minutiae of the Bible, and it reminds me the fervor with which some geeks fight over if the Enterprise D's phaser would blow up the Death Star or not.... I just shake my head about the level of emotion discussion of obvious fiction can sustain!
Another show that used to be fun is his "Atheistic Wednesday". Gene used to have Atheist callers, but I guessed he scared them off... of course, not because he has an actual argument, although he seems to think so (he had a smug comment in his last show about why Atheists no longer "dare" to call in, insinuating that he had somehow out-argued them).
The reality is that Gene actually doesn't have any argument at all. He is a presuppositionalist.
For those not "into" the whole thing: "Pressupositionalism" isn't an argument, it's an apologetic method. Gene even admits this, point blank. To make a long long story short, presuppositionalism is a complicated shell game of circular reasoning, shift-the-blame tactics, and other nifty little "tricks" that makes the unprepared atheist "appear" to lose face (but only if you don't see through the blatnatly transparent "argument" itself).
Presuppositionalism is really a fancy way of holding your hands to your ears and saying "la la la, not listening", but with a lot more words, but a lot less substance.
Gene even had a 7-part "exposé" of presuppositionalism, which I think was a big mistake (from his point of view). Before we all suspected pressupositionalism was totally vacuous - now we know it is totally vacuous.
But I like Gene. I think he is sincere, and his heart is basically in the right place. He is simply not intelligent enough, philosophically sophisticated enough, or cynical enough to see through the blatant silliness of what he believes.
He has some friends, though, which are a pretty nasty bunch. His old moderator "TreyFrog" (from the time he used to have a forum) explicitly said he though "heretics should be killed".
Other "friends" of his are more philosophically sophisticated than Gene, but much less intellectually honest, just parroting the presuppositional shell-game retoric with razor precision, without actually presenting any arguments of any kind.
I've advocated multiple time to be a guest on his "Atheistic Wednesday" but never received a reply on the subject. We'll see. This coming Wednesday I will actually have time, but we'll see what happens.
Anyhow, Gene recently dubbed me "narrow mind addict of the week", which is fun, but smells like a sign of desperation, if he has to dub his atheist listeners as the top addict... ;)
/Z
5 comments:
Zap wrote: I find blatant delusion entertaining.
So do I. Nice blog.
But I like Gene. I think he is sincere, and his heart is basically in the right place. He is simply not intelligent enough, philosophically sophisticated enough, or cynical enough to see through the blatant silliness of what he believes.
I was dismayed at some of the treatment you received recently on the Narrow Mind Aftermath. It has to be said, though, that you give as good as you get.
Hey Zap,
That was an excellent summary of what's going on at Unchained radio.
I have to say that I listen to this podcast for exactly the same reasons as you do - entertainment and the wonder at what people are ready to believe.
I agree that Gene is sincere, which makes it all the more scary when you hear his point of view. I should thank him, though, for acting as an inverse guide: whatever he says is ridiculous and stupid has often turned out to be worth a listen.
For even more hilarity, check out "Miracles of Knowledge in The Noble Qur'an". This guy demonstrates that there are people like Gene all over the world – and they all just want to help you. Yea, right.
Richard.
Zap--I'd really like to see a response to what Paul Manata said on the Aftermath blog. The exchange between you and him has been stimulating but a retreat by you at this point would be just that, a retreat. He laid the gauntlet down. Pick it up and let's see who comes out on top.
The Journeyman
I came across this from your Mental Ray blog as I'm ingesting as much as possible on the subject. I saw the link to atheism in Sweden and obviously you are atheist (by faith).
One tidbit that I see alot between Christians and Atheists is the undue lack of respect for each others stance of faith. You basically accuse "Gene" (whom I've never listened to) of smug comments but in the same sentence are in fact being smug. If your going to accuse your adversary of something don't get caught doing the same thing. It takes away your credibility.
Why do you do all this? Why spend all this time and effort refuting something that you claim to be so obviusly wrong? What benefit do you get from listening to what you don't believe in on radio over and over again? I don't mean to be offensive. I respect your views and I think you are miles more intelligent than I am. But if Theism is so much nonsense, why bother with it so much? Are you able to move on to other things or is this your fixation? You need this? Why not engange in something obviously more worthwhile, especially that you have such a good mind?
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