Deus Vult

“If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you … Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die.”   

Deuteronomy 13:6-10

https://creationsciencestudy.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/should-we-stone-atheists/

"Without pledging ourselves to any particular Confession, we have restored faith to its pre-requisites because we were convinced that the people needs [sic] and requires [sic] this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out."
Baynes, Norman Hepburn (1969). The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922 – August 1939'. H. Fertig. p. 378.

"Another ramification of our social nature and intelligence is pseudospeciation. Quoting from Jane Goodall's "Chimpanzees of The Gombe"@ 532: "In our species cultural evolution permits pseudospeciation (Erickson, 1966)--the transmission of individually acquired behavior from generation to generation within a particular group, leading to the customs and traditions of that group. This process is analogous to the formation of species through genetic inheritance. Pseudospeciation in humans means, among other things, that members of one group may not only see themselves as different from members of another, but also behave in different ways to group and non-group individuals. In its extreme form pseudospeciation leads to "dehumanizing" of other groups, so that they may be regarded almost as members of a different species (LeVine and Campbell, 1971). This process, along with the ability to use weapons for hurting or killing at a distance, frees group members from the inhibitions and social sanctions that operate within a group and enable acts that would not be tolerated within the group to be directed toward "those others”." The expression of pseudospeciation in such behaviors as ethnocentrism, racism, prejudice and warfare compound the scarcity condition or perceived scarcity, and increase the perceived threat levels for individuals seeking to meet needs. What results is an interaction between status related behaviors and pseudospeciation which often leads to inter-group violence and increases cultural isolation. As humans became more technologically sophisticated, this situation becomes increasingly acute due to inherent feedback loops. Resources disappear at an increasing rate, wastes accumulate at an increasing rate and violence increases in lethality and in incidence. Scarcity increases. Perceived threats increase. It all feeds back onto itself."

 Air Water Ground: An Essay on New Adaptive Strategies, © 1978-2014 Jay Moynihan

In my country, polls routinely inform us that when it comes to elect- ability, an  atheist is at the bottom. Another poll found that the majority of Americans thought an atheist was less trustworthy than a rapist. Even on the so called "left" it is little different. The PC police overlook anti-atheist language and images.
This attitude toward the atheist minority is so wide spread here that it makes a good subject for looking at the underpinnings of the problems that can arise from contingent altruism.
Contingent altruism is cooperation by phenotype with conspecifics that display shared labels, markings or other ques; sometimes referred to as “tags”. It is found in social species. The reaction to tag, or its absence is a continuum of behavior. The more intelligent the specie the more graduated the responses.
Presence of a tag: trust or greater tendency to trust.
No tag: react by attack or a lesser tendency to trust.
In its most basic form, it can just be predicated on the presence of a chemical compound, such as the "nest scent" of ants.
Present: exchange pheromone information or food.
Not present: release alarm pheromone and kill or run.

In social birds and mammals, it gets more complex. With us, the most complex social creatures we know of, it can get byzantine. We learn to see a multitude of tags and responses thereto from our parents, siblings, peers, and eventually, from our own experiences.
Some basic apparent differences (skin color, gender, language/dialect, dress) seem to impact on how much we trust, depending what we have learned as a young creature.  Other tags (team logos, and other minutinae for example) seldom have body counts.
To "discriminate" (pseudospeciation) is a cultural universal, but what we discriminate against is learned.  The belief in a supernatural, unseen being is another cultural or "human universal". Which type of religion or spiritual practice one has, if any, is usually that learned from the parent. and it can have teeth and a body count.

"All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested. O what a disgrace if such a despised and base race, which worships demons, should conquer a people which has the faith of omnipotent God and is made glorious with the name of Christ! " 

Pope Urban the 2nd, Address to the Council of Clermont, November 27, 1095

"I'm fighting so I can die a martyr and go to heaven to meet God. Our fight now is against the Americans.

 Osama bin Laden

The belief in a supernatural, unseen being, while the details of its expression in any one individual is varied, it is a very important factor in a group. Hence the use of differences in the details of that belief across groups is so easily manipulated to drive others to violence.
But it is, even more important for the phenotype than that. 

For a person of faith/theist, it is part of their basic structure of reality and worldview. It is their sword and buckler against existential horror.
An atheist, a person who does not share this very core symbolic object "human universal" with them, is missing a major tag. No wonder they would not trust them.  No wonder they fear them. For some of them, an atheist is a walking threat of combinatorial explosion.

Auguring Over a Dead Horse

I have read a few pieces tonight about Donald Trump's apparent ascendancy being a crisis of our "democracy". 
WTF?
If we are going poke about the corpse of our body politic, we should at least have the decency to use correct terms.

The founders did not create a democracy (no representatives, like ancient Athens was for awhile. All eligible to vote, vote on every individual issue. Very rare, unstable form with few examples, Athens of Plato's time,Viking Iceland, a few native North American Nations).
The founders intentionally created a "republic" (essentially the exercise of power of the people through elected representatives and courts)., primarily in imitation of the Republican Period of ancient Rome. But republics are normally short lived things, normally transformed to another form via the eventual concentration of power via concentration of wealth.
And, that transition has already happened for us.
Not wanting to be mean, but someone needs to say it. What is so outlandish about a people that let their republic turn into a plutocracy, electing to the highest office, a narcistic, opportunistic real estate developer?
But as the the Romans taught us, what follows the fall of republics, can be monsters ...

Anerriphtho kubo

"Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud .  .  .  hatch out"

It now appears that the two finalist for the office of President of the United States this year will be Donald Trump of the GOP and Hillary Clinton of the "Democrats" ( like her hubby, she reminds me, politically, of the majority of Republican politicians in Wisconsin when i was a sprout, but i digress...). 

I assume that if you are a regular reader of this blog, you know how i will vote. Assuming that I do vote, and not take the position of good old Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. 

Anywho...

I want to write a couple things about this election year.

First, there has been a fair amount of apolitical stuff out there about how parents & civics teachers have been having problems talking with children about the things Donald Trump says. This link may be helpful for a start.

Second, people who do not want Mr. Trump to win, must not become over-confident. What a person says they will do to a spouse, friend, co-worker, or pollster, etc., may be quite different in the privacy of the voting booth. All of us, to a variable extent, have within us that primeval core that for which the Trump message is perhaps the strongest.

Third, I am very interested in how the planetary media-verse will handle this election race. Everybody overseas watches our presidential elections. For many of them, it is not unlike watching the old fashioned competition for who will be their emperor. This one has an interesting feature though. 

This will be the first election fight for the highest executive office in the government of a "great power", where it can be said without resort to hyperbole, that one of the contenders is apparently racist, ethnocentric, etc., since 1933. Very interesting intellectually speaking.

I think Ayn Rand & Friedrich Hayek Would Approve

For the fun of it....

This is a humble proposal for a solution path for a U.S. social controversy using law and market forces.

It is a market based approach with strong elements of individual rights and responsibility. 

Short example:

In the U.S. the number of White Tailed Deer on the landscape is actually determined by, in addition to certain biogeophysical factors, the the regulatory laws and regulations of each state government on matters such as game hunting, land use, etc.Each year their are many collisions of deer and motor vehicles on public roads.

So, market based solution:

That the state government be strictly liable for any damage to person or property resulting from the collision of a deer and a vehicle on a public road.

So, ok gun folk, have it your way. But I do not want to pay for the cost you may externalize to society, that i have to pay for directly or indirectly. . so,

Here we go

If you are doing concealed carry or "hunting" or keep a gun at work or home or vehicle; and are not a member of the military or National Guard, or not a member of law enforcement:*

1. That you will not be required to take part in any firearms safety or use training

2. There will be no background checks

3. That you will not be required use trigger lock or any safe storage equipment or procedure in your home or your vehicle.

4. You must federally register your firearm within 3 business days of your receipt or purchase. Failure to do so will be a federal criminal offense with a fine of not more than $500,000 or prison of lot less than one year nor more than 15 years, or both such fine and imprisonment, for each offense.

Note: this recognizes the concepts of transparency and individual responsibility, and the rights of individuals to make informed decisions on many things, such as deciding if they want to live next to a gun owner, or for a business, to make hiring decisions, insurers to make business decisions, etc.

5. Any seller of a firearm must register the sale of that firearm with the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and firearms, through an internet based system for that use. Failure to do so before the end of the day of sale, will be for the seller and/or their agent a federal offense with a fine of not more than $1,000,000 or prison for not less than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment, for each offense

Note: this recognizes the concepts of transparency and individual responsibility, and the rights of individuals to make informed decisions as consumers  insurers to make business decisions, etc.

6. No liability for law enforcement if they cap your ass during performance of their lawful duties

Note: This is to help law enforcement in its daily tasks and their own safety.

7. Your health insurer or liability insurer can refuse to insure you if you are a gun owner, seller or manufacturer

Note: The right to refuse legally includes the right to determine higher premium rates if the insurer concludes that higher risk is present. The insurance industry would be free to create its own "exceptions" to higher rates. For example, gun collectors who have their pieces permanently made inoperable.

8. That you are strictly liable for any harm to person or property caused by the discharging of your firearm(s)

Note: "In tort law, strict liability is the imposition of liability on a party without a finding of fault (such as negligence or tortious intent). The claimant need only prove that the tort occurred and that the defendant was responsible. The law imputes strict liability to situations it considers to be inherently dangerous." ibi

9. If a civil action is brought against you based upon discharge(s) of a firearm(s) of yours, and said firearm(s) is a hand gun, a semi-automatic or an automatic, or any combination thereof; you may join as party defendant the legal person(s) who sold you that firearm(s) and the manufacturer of that firearm(s).

Note: This does not say that parties joined as defendants would be subject to strict liability. But the court or jury would be able to assess and weigh their negligence in its deliberation on co-liability and assignment and amount of damages.

Ok folks, thin the herd! 

* I put hunting in quotes here to indicate the popular use of the word, as opposed to and to distinguish it from, its correct usage. The exemptions mentioned in this paragraph are also to make an absolutely clear distinction based upon a truly conservative reading of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.