#StarTrek just keeps saying the quiet part out loud in its final season. This week, Trek takes on the class inequality in the US and beyond. Will our own "Cloud Minders" ever give the rest of us equity? Why didn't Bernie Sanders land a cameo?
PLUS - Get your very own Droxine t-shirt! Say hello to cleaner, fresher clothes with Droxine!
Lots of us lead meaningful lives without religion. @humanists_uk is about to publish this book: "What I Believe", a series of conversations with a range of people (including me) about how we think about the world and the richness of the many non-religious perspectives. Do check it out.
When the Enterprise tracks down a rogue band of Space Hippies, Star Trek gets baked out of its mind and takes a big swing at the counterculture movements of the 1960’s. Why haven’t we eaten the rich yet? Is the grass greener on the other religion? Do you reach, Herbert?
Listen @ HumanistTrek.com or your favorite podcatcher!
“I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectations of rewards or punishments after I am dead.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut
"As of today, legislatures in thirteen states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Utah have introduced bills to allow religious chaplains to serve as school counselors or volunteers in schools[.]
Texas already has a law in place to allow chaplains in schools since it passed SB 763 in Summer 2023."
🚨 NEW EPISODE ALERT! 🚨
When #StarTrek stops hiding the #humanism behind the sci-fi filter, American™ #racism and hatred is put on blast. They didn’t even bother hiding the mirror on this one.
In this last newsletter for 2023, I reflect on intense moments from this past year—personal and global like—that deeply affected my relationship with writing, and often left me at a loss for how to go forward.
This was a very hard year for so many of us.
The next might be, too.
If writing can keep us present in the struggle together, it’s doing precisely what it needs to do.
When a hate vampire sets the Federations and Klingons against each other, can Uhura’s sweet sweet singing bring them all together? Can we identify the hate vampires active in our own lives today before it’s too late? They are EVERYWHERE! Do we even have the power to stop them?
The BC Humanist Association is asking Canadians to send a letter of support for Bill-367. Right now religious belief is a valid defense against hate speech. Bill-367 would change that.
I made the 2023 movie "ISRAELISM", directed by Erin Axelman & Sam Eilertsen, available on my PeerTube.
I did it because I think it is both essential and sane to acknowledge that a lot of Jewish voices in the world, here USA, disavow and even fight against Israel apartheid state.
They first have to realize they've been hammered a pro-Israel propaganda forever, and, for many of them, it is both a revelation and a heart-breaker to understand the point to which they've been indoctrinated.
Couldn't find any subtitles, sorry for that. Torrentlink on request.
The film is critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, and of the American Jewish community's education on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It follows two American Jews as they learn about the conflict and come to revise their views. The film also includes interviews with academics and political activists.
Some late 2023 screenings of the film at universities and other venues in the US and Canada were cancelled, following an online campaign accusing the film of antisemitism, with screenings reinstated following criticism from academic and civil liberties organizations.
Yes, I have been traumatized by my experiences through the Covid pandemic so far, but not the way everyone says I ought to be.
I have not been traumatized by awareness of our mortality, or through loss, or social disruption, isolation, ‘restrictions’, wearing a mask, distancing, online meetings, or any of the other bullshit peddled by opinion makers.
Worrying about #Normalisation just now. Not the rapprochement btw Israel and Arab countries but the normalisation of suffering and ongoing problems; that the longer the Gaza bombing goes on, the more “normal” it becomes and the less attention the world pays (as with other ongoing conflicts). Same with #ClimateEmergency - we are quickly getting used to all the catastrophic news. So important to tell #HumanStories, to keep #Humanism and #Empathy for everyone alive, in all of us
“First post! Why AI/ML harm is a pressing equity issue.
The AI/ML space is not being driven by humanists. Far from it. In fact, those who have documented actual harms with existing AI models have been fired from companies developing them.”