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About ‘Where We Make Our Stand’

Published

on February 24, 2008

I feel it necessary to do an actual full explanation of this blog because my first post didn't do a very good job.

Title

The name comes from a line out of a very long quote from Carl Sagan concerning this photo, the pale blue dot. The quote can also be read at the above link or watched right below:

This photo really says a lot to me, and I think Carl echoes my thoughts exactly right at the end there:

"...it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

Content

The fact that we as a species have survived ourselves this long is somewhat shocking in itself. Most likely we've lasted thus far because for the majority of our existence we simply haven't had the capacity to utterly and completely destroy ourselves such as we have now. We only get one shot at this, there is no reset button, no mulligans. Today's fast paced high powered world is already accelerating far beyond the bounds of what we are at the evolutionary level to handle. I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, (hopefully one day I can though) but I think it would be safe to assume that we have not as a species undergone any very significant evolutionary change in the last two millennia. Think about where we what society was like when Jesus was "curing lepers" and "walking on water," and then think about what society is like now. We live in a world where the line between man and machine is being blurred incredible advances in nanotechnology and between man and animal by genetic engineering. Our mathematical understand of universe is already far beyond what our brains have evolved to understand. I am not saying this is not a good thing, not at all, but just that we are far past the point where our species can survive by adhering to bronze age superstitions and attempts at philosophy in order to understand the world around us. We must as a global society overcome our evolutionary limitations and work for the betterment of the human condition. That is why this blog will focus primarily on the advocation of reason and rational thought to solve the problems that confront us today. If we don't, and we continue to squabble over our petty differences and attempt to confront our problems with our age old superstitions, we simply will not make it.

This will not be the only function of this blog though, as that would get a little boring, both for me and for you. I'll also focus a great deal on politics, particularly because politics and religion's trespasses against liberal society seem to have become intertwined lately, and on any other random things I find interesting.

Author

My name is Jeremy Jackson Berg. I am a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison pursuing a double major most likely in biology and religious studies. I am a chronic overachiever who has way more goals than are possible to accomplish in one lifetime and also a procrastinator (most likely when I write blog posts, it's because I'm procrastinating), so, as you can imagine, that works out really well. I am very into competitive running, and run cross country and track with the Wisconsin Track Club, because I haven't realized the glory days of high school running are over and was too stubborn to go to a school where I had a legit chance of making the team. I grew up in po-dunk little Marshfield, WI, where there just plain isn't much to do. To be fair, it's a great place to raise a family, but a terrible place to be seventeen years old.

I plan on living out the rest of my life on a college campus (or various ones) somewhere, as there really is no better place to be, learning for probably the next 8 years and eventually teaching at some point. I typically have strong criticisms of the way we do things here in American and a sort of delusion that I may some day just skip the country and head to a more civilized Europe. (It's a good thing I don't plan to run for political office as that would've just about killed any chances there, someone'll dig that up if I ever try.) That'll probably never happen though because there's just something about the familiarity of this mixed up country that would be hard to leave behind.

I think that's enough about me. This post will undoubtedly change in the future as I update it to reflect present conditions.

I’m on the Atheist Blogroll

Published

Jackson

on February 23, 2008

I've just been added to MoJoey's Atheist Blogroll. I've added it in scrolling marquee form on the sidebar and posts regarding religion and atheism will be forthcoming.

Late Night Browsings

Published

Jackson

on February 23, 2008

I should be getting sleep because of my track meet tomorrow, but instead I'm watching this:

I Feel Like a Real Blogger Now

Published

Jackson

on February 23, 2008

I've now have a total of one comment on one of my posts. I feel a hundred times more legit, thanks to "Anonymous". Although by reading it, I have a pretty good guess of who it is.

A Few Links to Some Interesting Stuff

Published

Jackson

on February 23, 2008

Barack's story checks out: further failings of the pentagon to support our troops

Plagiarism? Puh-leeez

And Barack doesn't have legislative accomplishments?
Demonstrating that Hillary's purported advantage in "legislative accomplishments" is just that...purported

So, what your telling me is that one in 500 American citizens has terrorist connections?

And of course, the latest rantings of one of my favorite atheists

Yes, Using Steroids to Recover From Injury is Still Cheating

Published

Jackson

on February 19, 2008

I saw an part of an interview with Andy Pettitte tonight and I very strongly disagreed with something he said. It's well known that he used HGH only to recover from an injury, and not to "gain a competitive advantage." But isn't using steroids (and I use the term steroid to refer broadly to all substances not acceptable in competitive sports) to recover from an injury in essence gaining a competitive advantage? Some of us are bigger, faster, and stronger than the rest of us, and if I use steroids to become bigger, faster, or stronger ~~by using steroids,~~ that's cheating. Essentially, we each have a certain amount of talent, and using any method to alter or increase the amount of talent you have, is out of bounds. The very spirit of the competition relies on this difference of talent. If every player on the basketball court can play like Michael Jordan, the game becomes pointless. Now, lets look at the injury situation. As far as I'm concerned, injury is part of the game. No athlete is immune from it. If you twist your knee a certain way, you are going to tear your ACL, no buts about it. The rules don't suddenly go out the window when you get an injury. You aren't suddenly allowed to use whatever means you wish to recover from the injury as fast as you can. Some athletes will recover faster than others, and that is part of the game too. Sports are about pitting the fitness of your body and the sharpness of your mind against that of your opponents on the other team. Fitness of the body incorporates the intrinsic talent one possesses that I mentioned earlier. Some are more capable of recovering from injury at a faster pace than others, and that's the way it is. Andy Pettitte, using HGH to recover from an injury is gaining an unfair competitive advantage, and you are a cheater.

My Letter to President Bush

Published

Jackson

on February 17, 2008

Another thing I decided to do last night was write an email to President Bush. Hope no secret service show up at my door...

President Bush,
It seems to me as of late you have forgotten the role in the government afforded you by the constitution. I am speaking of course of the FISA legislation which the House has thankfully finally decided to stand up to you on. You seem to think that congress has failed to pass your law. But anyone who has read the constitution knows that the president does not determine or make the laws. Congress passes the laws, and you enforce them, not the other way around. If congress passes a law you disagree with, you are bound by the constitution, the highest law in the land, to enforce it. And if they do not pass a law that you want passed, you must respect that. I haven't even touched your blatant lying about the situation yet. How about we go there, shall we? You have claimed that failure to pass this law will inhibit the ability of the government to protect American citizens from the threat of terrorist attacks. Yet you refuse to sign it unless it includes retroactive immunity for the major telecom companies. If it was really the case that failure to pass this law would result in decreased safety to American citizens, you would have to sign it. You would not have a choice Mr President, because the alternative is unthinkable. The alternative is that because of our decreased ability to track terrorists, some major attack might occur on American soil. You, Mr President, would be responsible for that. History would look back on you and say "he could have made the compromise, he could have given up his demands, in order to do what was right and protect American lives, and he failed." And frankly Mr Bush, that is something that not even you could bring yourself to do. You have attempted (and failed) to build your entire presidency around your strong record against terrorism, and the one thing you absolutely would not allow is for it to become blatantly and irrefutably obvious that you failed miserably in the respect. Therefore Mr President, we are left with the undeniable fact that you are flat out lying to us, the very people you were elected to serve. Your conduct is inexcusable and unfortunately the political landscape in Washington is too rocky to allow a real chance of your impeachment, because that is what you deserve.

Sincerely
Jeremy Berg
Young American Citizen who's future you have spent away in Iraq

I Love Madison

Published

Jackson

on February 16, 2008

ok, i gotta break my vow cause the most hilarious thing just happened in the hallway, it went a little like this:

Random drunk chick in my hallway at 12:30 on Friday night/Saturday morning: Hey man...

Me: hey, what's up?

Drunk chick: 'dyou know Ben?

Me: Ben Shapiro? (who's room we are currently standing right outside of)

Drunk chick (who obviously either didn't know, or had forgotten Ben's last name): Ben. He's from Wisconsin

Me: Yeah, that's his room right there.

Drunk chick: 'dyou know where he is?

Me: no, I don't

Drunk chick: you mean, like, you legitimately haven't seen him all night *looks for a moment as if about to puke*

Me: nope, sorry, don't know where he is

Drunk chick: (stumbles down the hallway hiccupping)

Hypocrisy at its Finest

Published

Jackson

on February 16, 2008

Ok, last post for the night. (I'm telling ya, home on a Friday night is incredibly boring)

Bill Clinton came to town on Thursday (actually, just about everyone associated with the presidential campaign has been in town during the last week, save Hillary herself, who will be here Sunday) and said one thing during the hour that he talked that I really really agreed with (not to say there weren't others). He was talking about nuclear weapons, and the ridiculous hypocritical positions that our government currently takes. Few people ever question the authority of the United States to tell other countries whether they can or cannot have nuclear weapons, but the fact is that we have approximately 10,000 nuclear weapons ourselves. In case your eyes didn't do a double take like mine did the first time I saw that number I'll type it again. 10,000 nuclear weapons! According to Bill's speach yesterday (and I haven't researched this myself, so I can't claim to know that its true with certainty), the United States is currently attempting to develop two new varieties of nuclear weapons (my guess is something tactical, but I could be completely wrong). To quote Bill "There's probably a better salesman than me in here, but I think that's a pretty tough sell. We don't want you to have one of what we want two new of." Aside from the wordiness and the fact that Bill was undoubtedly the best salesman in the room, that statement is completely true. The idea that we in the United States somehow have the right to tell other countries whether or not they have the right to have nuclear weapons or not is preposterous. And until we show some resolve to get rid of our own nuclear arsenal, which poses nothing but a threat to global security, we have no legitimate right to tell other countries what they can and cannot do with regard to nuclear weapons.

Concerning Candidates

Published

Jackson

on February 16, 2008

Alright, my first actual post.

The current presidential race is obviously occupying a large chunk of America's time right now. In fact, that may be the understatement of the decade. And why shouldn't it, after the last 7 years we've had I think this country is desperate for something new, something different. This isn't going where you think. This isn't going to be a "Barack Obama is the only one who offers that change" type of rant. I think even John McCain would be a welcome change from what we've been stuck with lately. The thing is, with all the publicity this race has gotten, it's hard to know what's the truth about any of the candidates anymore. I can't resist being attracted to Obama. Listening to him speak stirs in just about anyone a feeling that we really can change the world. My question is whether he really plans to or not. I read a great article I found on onegoodmove that I really agree with. Obama has the sort of speaking talent that could convince half the country that giving naziism another go would probably be a good idea (seriously). So then why doesn't he use that talent to really take a hard progressive line on a lot of issues and really get something done. Then again, with the type of excitement he has created among liberals in this country, I think we all better get in line and see where this takes us. He has created the kind of following, and the kind of expectations of drastic change, that I think people will hold him accountable if he doesn't deliver. And that is exactly what we need to bring back to the oval office, accountability.

Clinton, on the other hand, just does not generate the same feeling. I feel that if she were elected President much of the grass roots excitement that Obama has generated would be absent from the movement and when things don't start looking up (as they might not, the next president has perhaps the tallest order in the history of this country save maybe FDR and Lincoln) the same mix of anger and apathy we have seen the last 7 years would return. Don't get me wrong, I think Clinton would make a great President, but I think that in this case the excitement that Obama has generated really is of consequence and ought to be considered.

*sigh* I wish Edwards had managed to move to the front...

Greetings

Published

Jackson

on February 16, 2008

Hello all,
This is (quite apparently) my first post here. It's friday night, I'm sitting in my dorm room, and I've got a terrible cold. What use is attending the #1 party school in the nation if you're too sick to go out. Ah well, I guess there's always next weekend. Aside from the random angry outbursts such as the preceding, this will primarily be a place for me to talk about whatever more serious matter is on my mind for the day, whether it be politics, science, or its ever-present foe, religion.

Concerning the title, I initially wanted to name it "Pale Blue Dot", after the famous Voyager 1 photo, but more specifically the speech delivered by Carl Sagan (my hero) concerning the photo and its significance. Unfortunately, that name was already taken, as was the second choice that occurred to me, "Suspended in a Sunbeam", also from that speech (which can be heard here). So I settled on another snippet of that speech, which I find incredibly relevant to my feelings towards the overall situation the human race currently faces.

This is the only home we have, and whether it's the threat of global warming, or thermonuclear holocaust, we only have one chance. We don't get a do over when we make a colossal mistake and wipe out all the progress we've made. We need to stop killing one another in droves over who's imaginary friend is bigger than the other's (I'm talking about God(s) in case you missed that) and we need to start working together to preserve this little gem of a world from who's tidal pools we're lucky enough to have arisen. Things don't look too bright in that respect.

I think I'll end on that depressing note for now.