The media has so much going wrong at the moment — bowing before a despot, decimated staffs, meddling owners — that it seems almost unfair to mention traditional flaws.
But when it comes to certain aspects of American psychology — UFOs, the lottery, and the supposedly paranormal — the media collapses into a heap and just can't seem to get up.
There is no persuasive evidence that UFOs are anything but lies, delusions, fakes, or misinterpretations. Yet supposed sightings are still routinely ballyhooed. The lottery is an expensive dream — you can fantasize about winning millions without ponying up any cash yourself, and the odds of actually getting a huge payout are exactly the same — and yet the media cheerleads relentlessly for them in a full-throated chorus.
And the paranormal....well look at the headline above, snipped from the electronic Washington Post.
That first part is pure credulousness. It should read, "These patients THINK they saw what comes after death." And the next part, "Should we believe them?" makes it seem that this wild claim is is simple plain truth, just sitting there, waiting for us to accept it.
The story, by Mark Johnson, refers to near death experiences reported by thousands, the "strange visions and journeys that challenge what we know of science."
They don't. I dream every night, and the Washington Post doesn't speculate on an actual dreamworld where Madonna and I are walking hand and hand through her Manhattan apartment, admiring the antiques. The Washington Post would never — not yet anyway, let us count our blessings — run a headline, "God spoke directly to these people — should we believe them."
The question here is not, "Is there an afterlife and is this evidence of it?" but "Why do people so need to believe their precious selves continue on after obvious and undeniable physical death?" (Just as the question regarding UFOs, as I've written previously, is not, "Are these smudges glimpsed in the sky really visitors from outer space?" but, as Carl Jung pointed out, "Why do people look up in the sky to find validation?")
There is a journalistic edge that is different than the usual go-along-to-get-along attitude. A cross-armed skepticism that does not give into the normal nodding grease of social nicety. If you write to me and say that your Timmy is in heaven with Jesus, I would never dream of arguing with you. Who am I to strip away this clear source of comfort? But if the Sun-Times ran the story of a the tragic go-kart death of a 10-year-old with, "Boy skips helmet, winds up in heaven with God," I would complain to the editor. We don't, can't know that. I complained when the Sun-Times started calling ourselves, "The hardest working paper in America." How do we know? Did we do a survey? Sure, it can slide by on mere puffery. It's like "The world's best coffee." But why put a lie — or at best, an exaggeration — on every page of our newspaper? Nobody listened, of course. But I still said it, and as I sometimes tell readers, "I just work there. I don't run the place."
You might point out that the desire for immortality and unchecked ego go hand in hand — that's why rich people are always trying to freeze their heads and embrace all sorts of nutritional hoo-hah — which also gets credulously lapped up by the media. Isn't one life enough? Such a rare and exquisite gift, What does it say about humans that we waste the precious time we have clawing after time we don't? I'd like to see the Washington Post tackle that one. Oh right, they can't, not so long as they're owned by another self-adoring billionaire, who reminds us of Gore Vidal's deathless line about the very rich: "They don't have to conspire because they all think alike."
Yes, recently the WGN and some other local news station pared down it's staff. Maybe some don't watch local TV news as much anymore.
ReplyDeleteWGN = World's Greatest Newspaper (Chicago Tribune). Sun-Times's braggy tag line is just the Chicago way.
DeleteCoined by Tribune publisher Col. Robert McCormick, isolationist laughingstock and Hitler bootlicker. Not the QED you seem to think it is.
Delete" . . . [T]he desire for immortality and unchecked ego go hand in hand." The basis for everything wrong with religion is captured in that wonderful premise, which you exquisitely and efficiently supported throughout the column. The thoroughly indoctrinated may reflexively howl in defense of the afterlife their gods have promised. But at least you gave them something to think about.
ReplyDeleteAnyone that actually believes in extraterrestrials needs their heads examined!
ReplyDeleteThe distances are just far too great for anyone to travel from one star system to another. Even if suspended animation were possible & it isn't, the time would involve hundreds of years & anything could go wrong mechanically with such a spaceship. The same for the multi-generation spaceships science fiction authors imagined decades ago. Equipment would break down & all would die, even 3D printing couldn't save them to make the parts for repairs.
All because of a top secret balloon test at Roswell New Mexico almost 80 years ago!
Yup. I sometimes muse about a radio conversation between us and the folks at Proxima Centauri, our nearest neighbor, with an 8-1/2 year message round trip.
Deletea recent examle of media dumbassery. as many of you may have heard, Obama was riffing on a podcast on which he was guesting when a question of ETs. was posited. it was in response to a question because trump had recently released THE FILES(!).no drama, wiith a twinkle in his eyes and a trace of smile said that, well who's to say, but i've never received any reports. of course, the nightly newscasters decided to run about 4 minutes on the question of. have ETs visited earth'. Obama has to stop using subtle humorous digs on trump- he forgets that most of these characters are as dumb as a box of rocks.
DeleteIn the last paragraph, was that supposed to be "precious time" instead of "previous time"?
ReplyDeleteAs for the actual subject, I think there is so much more that we don't know than we do, I am willing to accept the possibility that ufos are real and that there is something else beyond physical death. But of course I don't know.
I think you have done a great job in pointing out the difference between allowing people to have faith in a deity that gives them comfort vs forcing people to accept their faith as fact. Another who does this well is Neil deGrasse Tyson. I wonder if you have ever met or interviewed him. Anyway, I check you both out daily for my needed dose of sanity with my morning joe.
ReplyDeleteExcellent as always. I love the Gore Vidal line.
ReplyDeleteIf I say I remember going to my son's high School graduation there are 5,000 other people there who also remember this as a graduation not as my son's graduation but it's a shared event
ReplyDeleteIf I say I remember my previous life and know for a fact that I have been reincarnated then you think I'm crazy.
Both things are generated by the same characteristic of human existence memory.
Is memory to be trusted ?
If I say I was in the mountains of New Mexico soaking in a hot spring 2 weeks ago, and there was nobody else there with me would you believe me should I trust my memory? Should you?
If I say I believe in God don't ask you to believe I'm not interested in how you feel about it why do you even care that I and millions , billions of other people believe in God why do you care? why is it important to you why do you return to this subject over and over again and insist on saying that people are silly it doesn't concern you leave it alone dude no one cares how you feel about it I don't know who's right who's wrong and it doesn't matter. You seem awfully certain about something where certainty is impossible so you're just the same as people who believe in God but don't know if they're actually is one you don't believe in God but don't know if they're actually is one there's no winning here stop it
Why do we care? We don't care what deity you worship. But we do care when your beliefs start telling those of us who don't believe what we must do and behave. We care that the only reason for a law is "God says so".
DeleteBelieve what you want but when that belief now dictates how we control our bodies, what we can watch, and how our children are taught in public schools, then we will push back. We push back not because of what you believe but because you are telling us what to believe.
What Mr. Steinberg and many others usually are referencing when they express skepticism in the concept of God is the Abrahamic God - a God created from myths borrowed from the deities of previous cultures and knitted together in a way that the stitching is apparent. Abrahams God was a pathological personality, an anthropomorphic god given to raining plagues down on non believers and killing children, even his own, to make curious points. To believe in the existence of this god is a stretch. If you are talking about god as a unifying, non anthropomorphic consciousness of the eternal matter that makes up the universe, it's less of a stretch - but that's not what religious skeptics find impossible to believe. If Mr. Steinberg's confidence in his understanding of metaphysics troubles you, why don't you start a blog with your name on it and use your powers to convince us of the superior nature of your insight into the nature of a Supreme Being? I've got to be honest, your response to Mr. Steinberg does not fill me with confidence regarding your persuasive powers vis a vis the nature of God. But good luck anyway.
DeleteOur gracious host’s writing expresses his thoughts, beliefs, and ideas on a wide range of subjects that the no-doubt supermajority of his Blog and S-T column followers enjoy reading for thought-provoking insight and enjoyment. It’s his blog that we readers and fans are fortunate to enjoy therefore his choice as to what he writes and posts - at least on his blog. We readers and fans are the beneficiaries.
DeleteAs such, I can understand how the far-right Christian Nationalist movement would seek to silence or control him in pursuing their own anti-Constitutionalist agenda, which seeks to eliminate separation of Church and State and silence those who disagree and marginalize those with other religious beliefs.
Would you agree? Although you raise some interesting questions at the start of your comment, I don’t think you’d agree based on the suppressive statement at the end, which exposes the colors of the flag you wave here now and before.
I think you may be missing the point. All are free to believe or not. Just don't impose the strictures of that belief on others. Your beliefs inform your actions (theoretically); why should those who believe differently have their actions guided by the dictates of yours?
DeleteWhew(pant, pant); I can’t believe I made it to the end of that! I think there may be a couple of points buried in that mish-mash that I might agree with if not so badly expressed.
DeleteYou're making Neil's argument for him, really.
Delete"...there are 5,000 other people there who also remember this as a graduation not as my son's graduation but it's a shared event" defines it as something verifiable.
"If I say I remember my previous life and know for a fact that I have been reincarnated then you think I'm crazy."
Prove you have in fact been reincarnated. I'll wait.
"You seem awfully certain about something where certainty is impossible so you're just the same as people who believe in God but don't know if they're actually is one you don't believe in God but don't know if they're actually is one there's no winning here stop it"
Prove your deity exists. I'll wait.
I care about belief in God not because people privately believe it, but because those beliefs shape public decisions, laws, and culture, making them legitimate topics for discussion and criticism. Book bans, Trying to get creationism, 10 commandments, prayers in public schools. People use religion to enact abortion laws and to avoid vaccines. There are numerous laws based on the religious doctrine of public officials.
Deleteallen I did not say god exists. I said I believe in god. prove that I dont.
Deletenow religion is a whole different matter. miss me with that shit
Munchygut - Agree, but do not just toss the "good" like: thou shall not kill, in as much as you are able live in peace with your neigbor, as you do to the least of these... And a favorite of mine growing up in an evangelical bible belt much like the one strangling America ignores: in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female...
DeleteAnonymous 8:09:
DeleteIf I say I don't believe in a Sky Daddy and you say you're not interested in how I feel, then you're immediately telling me that you care about it. Tell me you don't care about how I feel without telling me about how YOU feel...never mind all the millions of other believers, because I'm not interested in them.
Why do devout believers care so much about what non-believers think? Enough to go on Crusades with horses and armor and spears and kill in the name of Jesus Christ? Once they kill them all and let your God sort them out, they won't be able to believe in anything, since they'll all be dead. And now the lances are nuclear, so the dead may be in the billions this time.,
I don't care if you worship some Sky Daddy that was invented by mankind out of fear (of dying), and for protection from natural (and manmade...can you say war?) calamities. Whatever gets you through the night, and brings you comfort. Why do countless believers try to push those beliefs on people like me? Why the tenacity of the doorknockers? Why do Christian Fascists care enough about what I think to be arming themselves, and to be waving their crosses and their flags and their Bibles where my nose begins? Why is God...and Christianity...so important that they harp on it (sorry) and dwell on it and pass laws that enforce their dogmatic ideas on the rest of us? If no one else really cares what you believe, then why do Christians persist?
Homosexuality was once called the love that dare not speak its name. Christianity is the love for Jesus (and God...to me they are separate entities) that never shuts up. And rants and raves and bellows loudly enough to now affect our government, our laws, our lawmakers, our bodily autonomy, our media, and our schools.
When the church and the state are one and the same, then we are toast.
I don't want freedom of religion.
This non-observant Jew wants freedom FROM it.
Call me a sick puppy, Mister S, but I'm something of a disaster junkie. I have a whole shelf of books that have been written about the various and sundry ways that large numbers of people have died horribly. Started reading about them when I was quite young.
DeleteUsed to go downtown on Saturdays and in the summertime and get out the rolls of microfilm in the Reference Room at the old Main Library, and read the chronicles of calamity in Chicago's dailies. The Eastland. The Green Hornet Streetcar Disaster. Numerous "L" crashes and train wrecks. Not OLA, though. I was around for that. I was 11. I wanted to forget.
If your Timmy fell down the well and is now in a heaven, with Jesus, I would agree. Whatever gets you through the night and brings you surcease from your grief and pain and sorrow. But scrolling through the microfilm was also an education in what journalism once was.
The Trib and the CDN and the Sun-Times ran many a story of the tragic deaths of multitudes of children, in fires and shipwrecks and floods and crashes with headlines like: "They Are All in God's Classroom Now...and Jesus is Their Teacher."
And not that long ago, either. After OLA, the CDN quoted clergymen and officials from the Diocese, who actually said things like: "God needed all the good ones, so he took them. Only the good die young." That wasn't just a pop hit by Billy Joel. Try to imagine how and what the survivors felt. For the remainder of their lives. But you don't have to. It's all in those disaster books.
Grizz, when I was a kid back in 60s, my dad was a village trustee and in Lemont. When I tagged along with him down to the village hall, we would pass through our little tiny police station. There, behind the chief's desk was a wall full of black and white photos of car wrecks, complete with mutilated bloody corpses. I think it was to scare young drivers who had been picked up for drunk driving. It was the stuff of nightmares for a little kid.
DeleteI took the classroom portion of Driver's Ed in the late winter and early spring of '63. One of our assistant football coaches was the teacher. Each week. we had to sit through what we called "The Friday Morning Bloodbath"...one of those many educational films meant to scare young drivers straight.
DeleteOne was aptly titled "Death on the Highway." But the worst was the notorious "Signal 30"...the radio call for a fatal accident. Much of it was shot near the area where I've lived for the past 33 years...by the Ohio Highway Patrol. In living...and dying...color.
Charred bodies in burned cars. And in trees. And what looked like limp, ripped-open laundry bags hanging out of windows, or thrust through windshields, or scattered along the roadside. I guess it worked. Sort of. Despite its big and powerful Chrysler engine, I never drove my mother's '56 DeSoto over 115 mph.
Hemi V8. You're lucky you didn't start in a movie.
DeleteYou're right there, Grizz. The worst lede sentence written in the time I've been at the paper was probably 30 years ago, about a plane crash in Detroit where one child survived. It began, if I remember correctly, "Like a little angel cradled in the hands of God..." and then recounted the miracle. I remember reading it and snorting, "Shame God couldn't have shown up BEFORE the plane went down..." I'll have to dig it up to see if I misremember.
DeleteWell, at least the SunTimes didn’t characterize itself as World’s Greatest Newspaper.
ReplyDeleteThe First Law of Thermodynamics - "energy is neither created or destroyed, only transformed". When we die, the matter that we are made of continues - but is transformed in a way that doesn't include the conscious meta awareness that makes humans unique. So our matter lives forever, just not with the limited consciousness we have during our sentient years. Eternity in heaven with human style consciousness isn't part of the cosmic plan.
ReplyDeleteRich people and religious leaders think their success at one thing makes them experts at all things. It's as if a person who can belch louder than his neighbors thinks that gives him the power to move objects with his mind. "I created an operating system so I am going to help people live forever, go to mars, and save government ten trillion dollars! Delusional, egomaniacal bastards.
Practically everyone now carries in their pocket a smartphone capable of recording high-quality sound and video at a moment's notice, and yet somehow the quantity of UFO sightings, ghost sightings and similar mysterious events has not gone up.
ReplyDeleteIf the JFK assassination happened today instead of 63 years ago, the whole thing would have been documented, dissected and determined within hours. I think one reason the WaPo seized on this topic is because it's one of the few things that still have us scratching our heads and trying to understand, using only the tools that we have now. One wonders what 2089 might bring to light.
Neurophysiological activity can't be life after death because without a living brain to detect the activity, the activity doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of activity that occurs that the brain is unaware of .does it mean this activity didn't occur?
DeleteNow there's artificial intelligence and an incredible amount of computing power generating all sorts of activity and has an awareness of all sorts of activity.
I'm saying all bets are off about what is real and what isn't what is true and what isn't what is actually happening and what isn't
Neurophysiological activity is brain activity. It can't exist without a physically alive brain. People who attribute it to "afterlife" are confused.
DeleteIf somebody told me that the president of the United States was Satan's minion I would definitely believe them.
ReplyDeleteHere is my takeaway from today...."the Washington Post doesn't speculate on an actual dreamworld where Madonna and I are walking hand and hand through her Manhattan apartment, admiring the antiques."
ReplyDeleteObviously, you care about how Neil "feels" about the afterlife, given the length of your comment. And why shouldn't Neil comment on what "billions" believe in? The column's main point is that newspapers give so much credence and, therefore, validity to what you say no one cares about.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is simple some people can’t believe that life on earth is as good as it gets
ReplyDelete@anonymous:
ReplyDelete"now religion is a whole different matter. miss me with that shit"
Not even if you actually DO go away.