Alternative Culture: Sam Harris and the corpses of children quote

 

A quote from Sam Harris during his interview on Triggernometry

In a 2022 August interview, atheist philosopher Sam Harris made an appalling statement about the 2020 American Presidential Election. He claimed that even if Hunter Biden (President Biden's son) had "corpses of children in his basement", former President Trump was worse in his "Trump University Scam". Therefore (in the same interview), he suggested that any conspiracy (if it had existed) to keep Trump from being president was justified.

The shifting of a philosopher's mind
When I first heard the comments, I was stunned. Here was a philosopher who in my younger days advocated for a truth without religion. While I disagree with him on many issues, I did follow his dialogues and blogs a little. I read two of his works, Letters to a Christian Nation and End of Faith, and liked that he popularised the idea of steel-manning an argument, (i.e. to debate an idea in its strongest form) rather than to strawman it. I enjoyed that he advocated free speech and freedom of expression.

Yet here I was shocked that now he was advocating for the censorship of the New York Post (a right-wing tabloid) and accepting any method to rig an election (although he would deny this in his tweets post-interview).

What does the Bible say about truth?
But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?  - Romans 3:5-7

In his letters to the Romans, Apostle Paul clearly denounced the deliberate use of falsehood to enhance the outcomes (in this case, Christ righteousness.)

We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left - 2 Corinthians 6: 3-7

Apostle Paul also highlights the importance of truth to prevent the discrediting of Christian ministry.

In fact truth is so important that Jesus himself described himself as that:
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” - John 14: 6-7

As Christians, we have an obigilation to discuss issues honestly and with grace. Anything less is a compromise on the truth of Jesus.

Peace if possible, truth at all costs. -- Martin Luther

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Alternative Culture: WandaVision theological review

 

Recently, I managed to watch the long awaited series WandaVision on Disney Plus. As a result, I will do a theological review of it by discussing some of the events of the series. Thus there are SPOILERS ahead.

Synopsis
Unable to cope with her grief of losing Vision, Wanda creates a reality based on TV sitcoms from the 1950s to early 2000s. In this reality, the citizens of West View are brainwashed in becoming extras. Hence the agency SWORD and the FBI dispatch agents to rescue West View and to investigate the cause of Wanda's mental breakdown.

Comforting Lies vs Hurtful Truth
One of the theme's explored by the show is the question of whether Wanda's reality is whether it is beneficial to Wanda (and the residents of West View). Wanda created a family for herself, and a simple, carefree life for her neighbours. (While it is not explicitly implied, Wanda did provide for their town's basic needs as well as making relatives of the residents forget them and thus worry.)

This weirdly echoes the attitude of our current world, which advocates for changing current realities to avoid serious conversations. For instance, sports authorities rather let transgenders have an unfair advantage in woman's sports than to deal with serious repercussions of it. The Washington Post would rather maintain the narrative that Trump is evil bully rather than to give a truthful nuance report.

Why is that so? Because it is so much easier to live in created falsehood in which we are heroes, or have "made it" in life. Real life is tough, competitive and merciless. Yet it is real. If we are unable to identify reality, we will be ill-suited to come up with pragmatic or realistic solutions to our circumstance.

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. -- Romans 1:25

Question of identity
Another theme that pleased me was the conclusion of the battle between the two Visions. There is the Vision which Wanda conjured up (Wanda's Vision), and the other which was reassembled from the original Vision's destroyed body (Body Vision).

The Body Vision was programmed to eliminate Wanda and Wanda's Vision, as SWORD saw them both as a threat to humanity. During the confrontation between the two Visions, Wanda's Vision rightly brings up the ship of Theseus argument: Who is the real Vision? 

After all, Wanda's Vision has the personality of the original vision but not his body. Body Vision has the physical parts of original Vision but not his personality. Only by sharing memories, does Body Vision finally make the right decision and deicide to abandon his programming.

This parallels the Christian concept of salvation -- without the Holy Spirit, humans will never convert accept Christ. Our inherent nature or "programming" is geared towards rejecting Christ. Only via the Holy Spirit will we be able to go on the right path of salvation.

The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. -- Romans 8:7-9

Conclusion
There are things I did not like about WandaVision, especially the stuff that were not logical.

The Director of Sword randomly decides to shoot to two unarmed children. Wanda is portrayed as a hero who sacrificed her dream instead of an anti-villain who brained-washed civilians. A FBI agent can be expelled by SWORD despite it being a cooperative investigation.

In addition, the build-up was slow; it took three episodes to finally establish the plot.

Despite this, I still enjoyed WandaVision and encourage people to watch it.

Alternative Culture: Jack Doe

A Singaporean Comic Book/Graphic Novel

I must confess-- I like reading comics. However, I have not read any Singaporean comic since the Mr. Kiasu series many, many years ago.

When I saw this graphic novel on the shelf in the library, I could not resist the chance to pick it up. After all, if I do not support our local authors and artists, who will?

Opening Shot

The cover art (particularly its black and white colours) immediately hints towards the genre of crime noir, and it is unsurprising that that the story was such.

The story's hero is private eye Jack Doe. As one can tell, Jack Doe is not really his real name, but together with his job, the protgonist inherits the name from his father. Apparently, the pseudonymn protects the protagonist (whose real name is never revealed) and those close to him.

The story begins with Jack Doe being shot in the chest, and as he tumbles down, he recalls the events that led him to such his imminent death. He remembers that he was investigating the death of his good friend Comissoner Blake. The mastermind appears to be his nemesis Judas Black, although more plot twists emerge before we finally get to the conclusion of the story.

However, this being my apologetic/theological/philosophical blog, I want to focus on one part that made me think deeply. That is the concept of the artist who wrote himself into the script.

That sounds a bit like the Christian God, does it not?

I'm not too sure about the author, Shawn Yap or any of his fellow co-authors intended to borrow any Christian themes (the villain is called Judas) for his book, but the concept of God writing himself into our history is one of the cornerstones of Christianity. Even the artist who wrote himself into the book calls himself 'God' at one point.

And the story reveals that the only way for the characters of the graphic novel to be free from the artist's grip on them was to break the flow of the story. This seems to echos the view of the New Atheists (and some past philosophers) that when we finally rid the concept of God, we become truly free.

I wished the book really explored that what freedom really meant. There are suggestions such as when Jack Doe chose to follow the traditions of his father, or when Jack Doe chose to leave his mother. If we chose to be bounded in responsibility are we truly free. I sort of wished that the authors explored this theme further.

A short review

I really like the overall story, and it seems to also borrow from elements of the Batman mythos (one of the villains looks like the Riddler, another like a anoxeric version of Bane. The Gemini twins resemble Tweedledee and Tweedledum).  However, the characters do suffer from lack of development. Jack Doe at times seems like a whiny kid rather than a seasoned detective, and his relationships with his enemies, Comissoner Blake and his friend Cassandra were ill-described.

The art style is simple but effective. However, there are times when the art was a little confusing, expecially in transitions between flashbacks and current time.

Nevertheless, I give this book a 65/100, for a great plot and a philosophical ending.