Fri, 5 June 2009
Adventures in Melbourne
Comments[10]
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- I decided to google Suzanne Somers after hearing you guys discuss her in the Think Tank. She's most famous for her role on Three's Company, a show she was written out of after demanding a 500% pay rise and 10% of show profits! It shouldn't be surprising to hear that an individual who has written 18 books (including two autobiographies) and who thinks she knows better than the entire medical community has a bit of an ego, but get this: In 2005 she created and starred in a one-woman stage show about her own life and career, which was described by the New York Times as "a swan-dive into narcissism" and by the New York Post as "smug and remorseless". Somers blamed these reviews for the shows and said "These men [New York critics] are curmudgeons, and maybe I went too close to the bone for them. I was lying there naked, and they decided to kick me and step on me, just like these visions you see in Iraq." That's right, she compared her treatment at the hands of theatre critics to that of the victims of torture in Iraq.
- Dave the Happy Singer blooper:
Living in South Africa, Mbeki was not voted back in. We don't vote for a president in this country, we vote for a party. The party selects the president. Jacob Zuma is our current president. Jacob Zuma once had a shower after sleeping with a HIV positive woman to ensure he didn't catch it (and he is the head of some HIV board). He is as bad, if not worse, but is not the same individual as Mbeki. - Living in a “mixed relationship”
I am married to a devout Christian of the Assembly of God Flavour for the last 25 years. We started out with her being less devout and me, while an atheist I didn’t have much interest one way or another in things woo woo. At this point religion or lack thereof was not an issue. Over time she has become more serious about her religion and myself more convinced of the futility of religion and the need for more skeptical thinking. To her credit, she mostly draws the woo woo line at Christian religion teachings, but she also doesn’t dismiss totally some of the Alt med stuff. My kids (now adults) are young earth Christians.
We have had out share of fights and heated discussions about religion, I have been accused of suppressing here culture or whatever, and she freaks out if am to read any books by the likes of Dawkins, in her view this is somehow persecuting Christians and those books are just negative and demeaning. It seems to me that religious people want to talk about their beliefs as long as you don’t criticise those beliefs in any way.
So how do I deal with this? We have come to an unspoken arrangement that certain topics are generally off limits so we don’t often discuss topics of the supernatural kind. I rarely go to church and don’t participate in Christian events. I also keep a much lower sceptical profile than I might otherwise keep. We have a fair bit of other things in common so this arrangement works to keep the peace most of the time.
Would go in to this kind of relationship again? No it is not recommended, if you have different world views to your partner you are likely to have friction. Marriage is already full of compromises so you don’t need more problems to deal with. For myself, our similarities are more important than our differences, and after investing 25 years in the relationship it would be a big move to stop now, so we go on as a couple in a loving relationship.
So my advice; if your not in a committed relationship think carefully about getting involved in a “mixed religion” relationship, as the differences will likely bite you later, your should not have the expectation that you can change someone’s thinking. If you are already committed to your partner, then look for your similarities and don’t stress over the differences, certain subjects will need to remain off topic. I agree with grant that divorce is not the only option.
- For the record, divorce is not the only answer. I am an atheist and a skeptic. My wife is a Catholic (my brother in law a priest) and believes in lots of 'woo' (though she is more skeptical than her father who believes in every nonsense going). Basically my believe is that if she or anybody else believes in magic, as long as it does harm others, I don't have a problem. I save my scorn for those extracting money from the sick and needy with nonsense cures.
We have been married nearly 20 years. I even helped with Catholic pre-marriage education; most couples felt happier knowing that I was not a Catholic, as many couples we talked to had different levels of faith to some point or another. You at least have to assume that not everybody in a relationship is going to share the same beliefs through out your life. I would guess having one partner being say fundamental Christian and the other Islamic or something would be more of a problem than Skeptic + Believer.
We rarely have issues; she might go to church a few times a year (like most Christians); I get to have a quiet Sunday sleep in. When it comes to medical care for my children; its always going to be conventional care at a real doctors (and my wife agrees) but if she wants to use aromatherapy oils to give me or a child a massage, I am fine with that. ;-) She gives me a hard time for believing the Warriors will win the NRL one year... we all have our strange beliefs.
Our kids attend a Catholic primary school. Its a better school so easy to make a choice. And my eldest daughter at 11 has decided there is no god (and likes the science or fiction segment of SGU) ;-). Still hope for my 8 year old to make their own decision on what they believe. They probably won't go to a Catholic secondary; it is there choice and the school on offer is not appealing to them - During the think tank, it was mentioned that sometimes Oprah
does have some informative guests - Dr Oz was mentioned.
He maybe a good surgeon (I don't know
but have no reason to doubt his skills) but his ideas are just as wacky as all of the guests on Oprah -
for example:
http://www.skepdic.com/skeptimedia/skeptimedia5.html
http://www.randi.org/jr/021805a.html
- I liked the fact that our of a slightly-over-an-hour long show, there was only about FIVE to TEN minutes of silly banter and the rest was all the lecture, talking to YAS and the Think Tank. So, I don't mind if you make a point that you did this big event in Melbourne and that it was an adventure. :)
I think I would have preferred a little more YAS, but looking forward to their next show to hear their segment on it all. :) - well… i for one especially enjoyed the antics of steve's cat… but then you knew that! Thanks for the shout out too, was nice to bump Joel for a change ;) it was an awesome weekend and so fabulous to finally meet you all in the flesh. Keep up the great work!
- Guys,
Generally I love the show, and I have to thank you for turning me on to skeptical thinking, but can you please stick to discussing sceptical topics? I can live without hearing about your adventures in the baggage claim area of Melbourne Airport, or talking about your host's cat.
When you talk about interesting topics the show is great. But sometimes it drifts until it's like listening to someone on the train talking on their phone about their weekend. - During the Think Tank bit, someone (can't remember who it was, sorry) was lamenting that Mbeki is back as South African President and thought it was bad news for HIV sufferers there. Not sure which newspapers you've been reading, but Jacob Zuma is the new President of South Africa -- Mbeki wasn't even a candidate.
(Zuma has had his own wacky ideas about AIDS prevention in the past, but he's no Mbeki.)
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