There's been a lot of discourse about nu-atheism and internet atheism being reactionary lately but not a lot of talk about what it was a reaction to.
There's been a lot of discourse about nu-atheism and internet atheism being reactionary lately but not a lot of talk about what it was a reaction to.
The particular neckbeardy, fedora wearing, Sam Harris listening trend of atheism was a pretty clear reaction to the evangelical psychosis of the Bush administration.
Other geriatrics here can attest that the character of Christianity at the time was way different than it is now. These days, the fascists are more "culturally Christian" and avoid overt bible apologism. But back in the day, these people were constantly on TV spewing young earth creationism and other shit, and they were largely taken seriously. It's hard to believe now how much time was spent "debating" evolution back then. The atheist backlash at least affected discourse aesthetically for some time, making these views laughable, which deplatformed a lot of evangelicals or made them hide their power levels on TV.
Some argue that this brand of atheism justifies imperialism. It does so really only in theory. There really is no material basis for atheists in the US to justify an invasion anywhere in the world. The truth is that Christianity is still a far more powerful force for imperialism. Bush said that God told him to invade Iraq. I don't see any president saying anytime soon that the US needs to secularize a country through force.
If fundamentalist and political religiosity were defeated, then belligerent atheism would dissolve, but the reverse is not true.
Overall, it really does seem like people over emphasize this group of internet no-lifers because of the cultural cringe they manifested.
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Gotta post it again, twice in one day. :citations-needed:
But I will say, @UlyssesT is right it's a secular Calvinism. There's no real humanism or materialism behind it, it's not like the new atheists were supportive of a welfare state or material changes
Ahh, yes, the official Pod of the site.
It's idealistic to believe that self described "secular Calvinists" would stop being "belligerent" or otherwise chuddy atheists in some unprovable and implausible mass disappearance of religion. Greed and selfishness and to some extent cruelty itself are self-driving motivations that may benefit from religious dogma but don't require its presence.
I should clarify that there's nothing wrong with atheism as such, especially if it leads to a Marxist humanism where we care for each other and build a world worth living in because it's the only one we've got.
However there's veins of Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, etc that also foster this kind of worldly community just as there are also versions virulently opposed to the world and degrading to life in it.
Basically, reddit atheism is probably as corrosive to communistic politics as the forms of evangelical Christianity it opposes. It might produce a slightly less hostile society for certain minorities in the imperial core, but at the cost of a fig leaf for adventurism in the middle east.
Agreed. And sometimes religions can spin off from philosophical :brainworms: or even be made whole cloth as grifts for their own sake, such as Scientology.
:reddit-logo: New Atheists are often subscribed to :soypoint-1: SIMULATION THEORY(tm) :soypoint-2: which is impossible to prove and has no point to it in practice except dehumanizing some people as "NPCs" by those that believe in it, and it really is just a fancy dressed up deism pretending to be something atheistic.
Also, a lot of :reddit-logo: New Atheists and other capital-R "Rationalist" types believe in :soypoint-1: THE SINGULARITY(tm) :soypoint-2: which often has magical thinking features like robot gods of the future conjuring up heavens and hells for the atheistically blessed and the atheistically damned. It's just religion pretending it's not a religion, complete with prophecies, saints, sinners, scripture, dogma, the flock, the heretics, the apostates, and more.
More and more people are saying Hans Blumenberg, The Legitimacy of the Modern Age and the idea of secularization by eschatology are worth understanding to better understand the techbros.
Neoreaction A Basilisk is also a decent introduction to contemporary quasi-secular occultism.
Yeah I'm just ready for the same shit as the early church that Blumenberg describes. They start out believing the eschaton is near, it's any day, but then when it doesn't happen, you have to create a worldly politics and secularize.
The trouble is the politics the new techbros religion will create is probably going to be so demonic.
:my-hero: has been saying Mars A Lago is only 10 years away for about 20 years now. Similar energy.
Same deal with :soypoint-1: THE SINGULARITY(tm) :soypoint-2: always being just around the corner, with cult leaders like Big Yud proclaiming chatbots to be the heralds of the prophecy now.
the new techbros religion will create is probably going to be so demonic.
It's already here, and it is demonic.