Jun 6, 2010

clever, I grant you that. But misguided

One thing atheists have an advantage in nowadays, or so it would seem, is satire.

Here's a clever example, http://newmatilda.com/2010/03/17/hell-atheist-convention which almost looks like it might be attacking both sides; before choosing the only reasonable option, mocking modern Christians and their pretensions to rock music and motivational speaking success (the last one was my own little pet hate) cos science has proved them wrong.

Of course, someone (like myself) looking to create good Christian satire cannot just go ahead and mock science (God no!). For one, I actually intend to be scientist (at least for a little while) and it'd not be much help in finding an academic position if it was known that I'd called all scientists "evil lab monkeys who couldn't attack a philosophical argument if it sat strapped to a bench in front of them trying to poke its own eye out with a scapel" (hypothetically, of course); but perhaps more importantly, science is actually sacred. You can't touch that without getting burned, poisoned, 'accidentally' exposed to mutagens, left inside an active volcano, situated in front of beams of protons, forced to integrate ginormous expressions 'by parts', or similar.

I do nevertheless have some ideas for satire; as with most ideas, they're partly stolen and partly God-inspired. They involve.. well, sex, of course; but also a subtle attack on the assumptions of naturalism. The problem is that if you get too subtle, it'll go over most people's heads - and I'm wondering whether satire, for all it's pretensions to intellectousity (yep, it's a word, now) is generally aimed at those whose brows are situated closer to the ground than the mean; and that as such my critique would miss its target.

So.. I'll let you know if I come up with something good, perhaps after exams.

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