Lay Theism

I just watched Frank Miller’s ‘300′ again today.  It truly is an impressive work.  This story is impossible to tell without the extreme violence.  To the filmaker’s credit, they tone down the gore and blood quite a bit by stylizing the spurts and splashes into mostly dark brown droplets.  There is hardly any bright red in the movie other than the capes worn by the Spartans.  It’s very artful, clever, and historically significant (if not 100% accurate).  This is an important chapter in human history that occurred a mere 2,500 years ago and it was about freedom.

What caught my attention more than the viseral imagery and over-the-top Persians was the story and the characters.  King Leonidas, his wife Queen Gorgo, and Dilios are fantastic characters.  Xerxes the outlandish megalomaniac scoffs at the idea of a few hundred Spartans stopping his advance. 

And so the Spartans and the Persians meet at Thermopylae.  I won’t drag you through the whole history, but except for the dramatic visualizations, the movie brilliantly tells the tale of several incredible days of battle for freedom.  See Wikipedia for an impressive retelling of the Battle of Themopylae.

My point in bringing all this up is the quote by Dilios at the end of the film.  It is now a year later and the Greeks are several thousand troops strong and resisting another invasion by the Persians.  In the final moments of the movie, he says:

This day we rescue a world from mysticism and tyranny and usher in a future brighter than anything we can imagine…

What a shame that things didn’t quite work out that way… but imagine… what if we could rid the world of superstition and myth?  Truly, that would be the dawning of a future that I look forward to and desperately want to be a part of.

Atheism, History, Religion freedom, imagination, inspiration, justice, liberty, movie, myth

This post is a little more coarse than my usual fare, but several links I have run across recently I feel compelled to group together and share.  Please to enjoy (or click here and enjoy a piping hot mug of STFU):

• ScienceBlog on George Carlin and his most recent act.
• One of George’s previous efforts (well done).
• OK, and just for posterity (and because it’s so damn good). 
• Careful about giving away your rights.
• Or this is where we may end up.
• Some really, really good Easter statistics.
• Did Jesus Exist?  Does it matter?

Really late here - I gotta get some sleep. 

Take care… oh, and question everything!

Atheism, Religion, Statistics ACLU, clever, free speech, freedom, George Carlin, laws, liberty, mind, profanity, reality, reason, rights, Science, thought, video

No matter where you land politically, having Hillary Clinton as the Commander in Chief of the United States has got to cause you to think about the ramifications of such a possibility. 

A few days ago, Peggy Noonan summed up why she thought Hillary has been able to muster a comeback of sorts, but also paints a vivid picture of what it would mean for her to succeed: 

She kept her own spirits up to the point of denial and worked it, hard, every day. She is hardy, resilient, tough. She is a train on a track, an Iron Horse. But we must not become carried away with generosity. The very qualities that impress us are the qualities that will make her a painful president. She does not care what you think, she will have what she wants, she will not do the feints, pivots and backoffs that presidents must. She is neither nimble nor agile, and she knows best. She will wear a great nation down.

Very well said, Peggy.

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