worn out fundie empiricist arguments
quote:
Shakespeare said it first:
There are more things in heaven and earth
Than exist in your philosophy
Science is just how we’re trained to look at reality,
It can’t explain love or spirituality.
Yes, the argument that one should have evidence to support ones position is worn out and fundamentalist Jon. Naturally.
Then again, the alternatives are equally or more worn out.
quote:
You’re so sure of your position
But you’re just closed-minded
I think you’ll find
Your faith in Science and Tests
Is just as blind
As the faith of any fundamentalist
epistemological absolutism
quote:
If you show me
That, say, homeopathy works,
Then I will change my mind
I’ll spin on a fucking dime
I’ll be embarrassed as hell,
But I will run through the streets yelling
It’s a miracle! Take physics and bin it!
Water has memory!
And while it’s memory of a long lost drop of onion juice is Infinite
It somehow forgets all the poo it’s had in it!
You show me that it works and how it works
And when I’ve recovered from the shock
I will take a compass and carve Fancy That on the side of my cock.
This is epistemic humility.
I certainly don't see the value in it... at all
As with many beat poems, it's artistic value is limited, but not absent. It is communicating several ideas that maybe old hat to the likes of us, Jon, but not everybody has yet received the memo as surprising as that might seem to you. It is a communication of a community's frustrations and values. It openly mocks what is believed to be mockable, it points out the moral issues with new age beliefs (and old age beliefs). It reminds people of the value of science. It communicates that even the most 'militant', 'angry' atheist portrayed in the poem can find meaning, purpose, beauty in joy by simply acknowledging the natural world.
It does all this to a funky rhythm with amusing rhyming schemes.
It has value, not much, and maybe none to you. I think White Wine in The Sun, by Tim Minchin has more value, but Storm is a representation of a human encounter just as any painting might be - and it paints a rather vivid picture. One doesn't need the animation to 'see' the scene.
™ Version 4.2
