shaky
January 14th, 2009
Thanks to all who voted in the Weblog awards, and welcome to all the new readers it brought. We came 5th!
(If you’re jonesing for a another vote, you can get your fix at IsItFunny)
Latest book…
Random oldie…
November 14, 2012-
- NICE T-SHIRT (Thank you for not provoking my uncontrollable lust). Currently unavailable.
Let’s hope Mo doesn’t accidentally take out Blakey or Butler!
I still can’t believe that they didn’t go with my suggestion for the bus sides- namely a large picture of a 7/7 bus blown apart.
Underneath the words “If God is great, why are his followers such cunts?”
As always, in a spirit of harmony and mutual understanding.
Go Mo! Ha ha – great strip today, Author! Hey, I got three of your books for Christmas – great to have them to hand.
@Daoloth
Absolutely brilliant!! I would back your idea 110% It’s about time people started treating these retard’s the way they deserve to be treated!
yay!! my 50 pounds donation made Mo angry.
definitely worth it then.
In Italy they changed the words written on the bus:
from: “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”
to: “The bad news is that there’s no god. The good news is you don’t need him.”
Balau, They shoudl have used the ‘forse’ 🙂
Jesus shops at Tesco? Hmmm … how very middle-class. I would have pegged him as more of an ASDA person …
And has Mo actually opened the window yet? Poor plant on the windowsill …
From the back, Mo reminds me of Foghorn Leghorn
I like the Italian one. Much more ballsy.
It’s always struck me as kinda silly that some people think that agnosticism is more appropriate because you can’t prove that there is no god. Are they agnostic about elves, the easter bunny etc?
Its interesting that we have slots in our heads into which ghosts, bogey-men and gods can fit, and probably for similar reasons.
Its interesting like optical illusions are interesting- but once the illusion has been pointed out you don’t have to be agnostic about it!
@Balau
I like the Italian one except that I would have said “The good news is that there’s no god. The other good news is you didn’t need him anyway.” We could also add “the other, other good news is, there is no bad news. At least about this anyway” But I think it would start to get more suited to a train rather than a bus as we’d probably run out of room. Unless it was one of those big long bendy buses. I think I’ll stop there.
I love this strip! I bought my son in college all four books for Christmas but he took them back with him before I had a chance to read them. Darn those kids.
@ Yojimbo
I’d say he probably does shop at Asda, but he just changes the Asda bags into Tesco ones.
Better and better and better and better! Oh my! Can it get too better?
Daoloth, It’s not really agnosticism instead, you either do or don’t believe in God, so you are either an atheist or a theist (or a deist). Agnosticism is not a middle ground because it deals with knowledge, not belief. Besides the “probably” has caused loads of debate, which I think is cool.
I do like A.C.Graylings comment that as the “probably” was inserted to make the advert acceptable to the Avertising Standards Authority, we should demand that when a group advertises god as existing they should use words such as “allegedly”!
Haha, best one yet…I just hope this doesn’t inspire any actions
@Yojimbo
If I told you that Tesco was founded by a man named Jack Cohen, would the penny drop?
So, J&M live in the UK? Neither are British, are they asylum seekers?
“Jihad” to start this back up again heh? Author. Just wont be happy until you reap the same fate as that Danish guy! I would have thought an RPG would be better for the urban warscape however.
@Daoloth
They originally had no “probably” they had to add it, otherwise the buses wouldn’t run the campaign.
Bart – agree on probably and agnosticism;
I usually ask them if they are just as
agnostic about the devil:
Splutter – squirm – yeah but, no but.
_ _ _
…are they asylum seekers?
No, ‘happy’, the strip just has all
the charming ubiquity of Desperate Dan.
_____
Yeah, the Italian one’s better…
I’m technically agnostic because there *could* be a deity.
Then again, the core of the Earth *could* be made of creamy nougat.
And I’d say they’re both about equally likely, so I’m a de facto atheist.
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
All day long.
I need some clarification… is this meant to allude to the conflict in Gaza, or is it just discussing the animosity between hardcore atheists and harcore theists?
I hope he’s got enough ammo – as he’ll wait for one then at least 3 will come at once.
Mmm… I think you’re right Jim, it seems to bring together two different topical stories. Not sure how you’d differentiate a ‘hardcore atheist’ from any other kind of atheist though, nor ‘who started it’.
Adam, Benjamin, Toast, et al. Quit waffling–only wimps are agnostics. 1. There is no “God.” 2. There is no “Satan.” Both are very old relics of the evolution of mind. Both, and all their attendant myths, have been thoroughly and convincingly documented to be superstitions. Psychologically, they seem functional, but the harm these delusions cause is massive and irreparable. We shall have war, atrocities, overpopulation and starvation, hate crimes and genocide, until we learn to see the wonderful reality we live in and how we might flourish without religious lies. Who needs Satan when the evil lives inside our own hearts, where it needs no help? Faith seems inevitable given the odd wiring in our brains, and we love to cling to those little hopes that are so clearly products of fear and wishful thinking. If we must worship, let it be our Mother Earth, before we have killed the rest of her.
My favorite example, now. If the world could rid itself of the superstitions governing procreation, we could get the population down to about half in a short enough time to save us. Rule: One couple, one child. Period. No argument. Boy or girl, it’s yours, and that’s it. No more. Of course we will never do this. We prefer to die like spawning salmon, rotting while rutting.
In short, Mo doesn’t know his bazooka is plugged with withered heads and will explode in his face when he fires it. As Poor Richard might say, “Keep your powder dry and your bore squeaky clean.”
Don’t know why you’re addressing me; maybe ‘poor’ means in comprehension; you appear to have grasped the wrong end of the stick firmly in both hands.
_____
Poor Richard,
Firstly, let’s leave out the stereotypes, shall we? Agnostics=wimps is kind of, well, puerile. Also, it smacks of a my-way-or-the-highway sort of thing, something which most religions have been criticised for!
Secondly, there might, just might, be a creator. Maybe the probabilities are minuscule but, as a certain Mr. Russell has shown, it’s impossible to prove that the probability is zero.
Of course, when I say ‘creator’ I’m using it in a literal sense–as maybe we might one day be creators for AI or something along those lines.
The danger lies not in leaving space for doubt for a creator; the danger lies when you give that creator the label of God hence giving birth to religion. He now becomes a moral creature as opposed to just someone who facilitated us being here. You make Him an absolute. That, as is very apparent, is an extremely dangerous thing.
Regards,
@ Benjamin Geiger
“the core of the Earth ‘could’ be made of creamy nougat”
You Atheists think you’re SO damn clever don’t you! I can’t believe you can doubt that FACT. Well answer me this! Where else do you think creamy nougat comes from?!
HA!
I rest my case!
Poor Richard – I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I haven’t mentioned agnosticism.
Blinding! I am addicted. I have become accustomed to pointing people to the relevant strip to make a point as I always come across as a bigotted atheist – subtlety not being my strength. J&M should be on the bus ads.
Shoaib, funnily enough my pet “God” theory – we are all AI creations of people in the future, ancestor sims. The probability of that is infinitely greater than there being a conventional God :- (time x computing power x ….)
Mo wouldn’t be the first jihadist to blow up a London bus, would he.
I like the Italian advert but would suggest changing it to “Religion is a load of bollocks. There is no sky fairy. Try living your own fucking life”.
He looks pale? Jesus looks pale? He’s white, for crying out loud!
XDXD
@yahbutnoweh – how could we be AI creations of people in the future when we exist now, ie not in the future? Other than that, plausible theory.
ann4,
He looks pale? Jesus looks pale? He’s white, for crying out loud!
Is he white? That depends on how you define the term. But if he is, then so is
Mo along with Osama bin Laden.
yabutnoweh,
That does sound rather cool. It sure would make all those, “I’m not an Atheist because I believe in myself” bumper stickers quite popular.
http://www.simulation-argument.com/matrix.html
‘…we should accept as true at least one of the following three propositions:
(1) The chances that a species at our current level of development can avoid going extinct before becoming technologically mature is negligibly small
(2) Almost no technologically mature civilisations are interested in running computer simulations of minds like ours
(3) You are almost certainly in a simulation.
Each of these three propositions may be prima facie implausible; yet, if the simulation argument is correct, at least one is true (it does not tell us which).‘
That’s the worst cartoon depiction of mohammed firing a rocket launcher at a london bus that I have ever seen. Shame, Author.
Indeed – rockets are fine for Israel, but when it comes to London buses the explosive is usually delivered in person by one of the faithful.
@Benjamin Geiger — Hmm: I’m an atheist because even though there *could* be a deity…
… none of the god claims I’ve heard nor explanations for weird phenomena have met a sufficient burden of proof to convince me to believe one exists.
Keeping your mind open about the possibility of gods exists but deferring your belief in any makes you a good *atheist* (with an argumentatively sound position, as you are not stating a positive claim that none exist), not an *agnostic*.
Do you even know what middle-class is? ‘cos it sure ain’t Tesco or Asda.
A quick rundown;
Aldi, Farmfoods,Iceland, Lidl:- Unwaged and minimum wage working-class.
Tesco, Asda, Morrisons:- Working-class.
Sainsburys:- Working-class with middle-class pretensions.
Waitrose:- Middle-class.
So where do the upper-classes shop? They don’t, they get their middle-class butlers to do it, but always from Harrods and Harvey Nic’s, darling.
So, AoS, I shop at Lidl, ASDA, Sainsbury’s, M&S, Thornton’s, Waitrose, Aldi, the local Farmers’ Market and the temporary Christmas Market. I would try the last two you mentioned but they are too distant for a daily commute.
What does that make me?
Apart from disloyal.
I would get my staff, be they human or robotic to do the shopping for me but I do not currently have one. I’m waiting for robotics to catch up with the promises made to us in the 1950’s.
No, roombas don’t count, they cant make tea.
Seventy-odd years and robots still can’t handle simple shopping.
On topic, I would not have expected Jesus to shop anywhere, not when he can just loaves-and-fishes pork pies into his fridge.