Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, unveiled plans on Wednesday for their first comedy tour in more than 25 years since their acrimonious split.”Cheech & Chong: Light Up America …” will hit 22 cities in the United States starting with Philadelphia on September 12 and ending in Denver, Colorado, on December 20. In between they will play Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C. and other places.”This is a moment that I’ve been looking forward to for many, many years because we have such a legacy and history together that we couldn’t escape it, even if we tried,” Chong told reporters at a news conference to announce the tour.
OK So it’s juvenile, promotes marijuana use, and has no relevance whatsoever to Atheism or American Atheists. Granted. I love it anyway. Dave’s not here, man.
There is a corollary:
The bible is juvenile, promotes psilocybin use (that manna from heaven sure was trippy), and has no relevance to atheists either. It is, after all, merely a book. Those out to force it into every part of society are relevant to atheists and AA, but I digress…
Yea Dave, this probably falls outside the subject by a wide mark. Need posting ideas? In the meantime, I’ll try to make this relevant:
I see drug use as part of a larger tendency humans have for escapism. It’s exactly the same thing you see when Pentecostals go into trances and speak in tongues, or people claim they’ve “achieved inner peace” through prayer. People are afraid of life and even more afraid of death. That’s why they try to escape from it rather than facing reality.
This usually turns out badly for the escapists (addiction, cancer, financial loss, brain damage, being persuaded of ridiculous things, being persuaded to die in religious wars).
Though I’m not afraid to drink a beer or three, I feel a commitment to work through the problems, fears, or insecurities that exist in reality. Hiding from them doesn’t solve a thing, it only lets the problems build.
I see nothing wrong with grass when used responsiblily. Much safer than alcohol.
Long live C&C
Chris,
I’ve been the blogmaster now for about 3 years. Can’t be provocative every day.
I’ll provoke something tomorrow.
Atheism is not capitalized if it’s not at the beginning of a sentence.
mushinronjya should be capitalized! Just one of my pet peeves.
Much safer then alcohol.
“How many joints in a LID , 2 I roll big joints man.”
Love that album
Oh dear, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops rates three Cheech & Ching movies as “morally offensive.”
“woo, thats the most acid I’ve ever seen anybody eat”
Atheists generally have a more developed sense of the absurd; the absurdity of religious dogma; the absurdity of our drug laws, etc. Thus I remember Cheech & Chong fondly.
Even joking that “there is a god” because of some good thing happening shows a theistic bias. I’d like to hear someone hear about a huge catastrophe and then exclaim “there IS a god…”
Yeah, the effects of pot are so bad…happy, hungry and then sleepy with no hangover. Responsible adults beware.
Hey, it’s relevant if you’re going to share. Pass it my way, mm-kay?
mushinronjya wrote: “Atheism is not capitalized if it’s not at the beginning of a sentence.”
I guess we need to put a big article about this topic right on the AA homepage or somewhere as prominent.
Many Atheists capitalize “Atheism” and all variations of that word because we had to struggle to obtain that status. When I was a Christian, it was never my choice, and when I became an Atheist, it eventually became my choice. But it was far from easy for me to make that change. I had to struggle.
So I take special pride in my Atheism, enough to say it’s worth capitalizing always. It’s just that good, but more importantly, it’s very much needed in the world.
If we’re going to capitalize religions and denominations within those religions, at the very least, “Atheism” is a proper name worth treating as such.
No big deal if others don’t want to capitalize it. I like how language is fluidic and not legally binding, in this case anyway.
Joe Zamecki
Austin
Joe,
I don’t look at it in that way at all. I was born an atheist, just like you. No struggle involved.
You sound like you are equating atheism with religion. While some misguided theists might agree, I sure don’t.
Whatever…people are either going to capitalize or not for their own reasons, but it always bugs me when I see it capitalized. It is not a proper name, IMO.
not related, but who is “smartgirl” I was reading the post fro 6/19 and wanted to ask her what her problem is
Relevance:
On their first album, one of their skits satirizes the pope.
On their second album, Big Bambu, a skit titled “Streets of New York….” chronicles a bum who’s not having much success mooching, until a mindless Jesus freak comes along. This gives the bum the idea that he should pose as a preacher, and the money starts rolling in.
Oh no, the United Atheist Alliance, the Unified Atheist League, and the Allied Atheist Allegiance are still fighting over whether it is atheist or Atheist.
If we don’t deal with some real issues soon, we will soon be the people formerly known as atheists.
Chris B
1 what issues would you like to see addressed.
2 should one group address all issues or should their be specific groups for specific areas.
Then I suppose we’d have to change our symbol to some weird paisley thing.
I know a lot of people that smoke pot (me too!). None use it to “escape” anything. I love my life and have no desire to escape. Perhaps other drugs are different, but I don’t generally hang out with junkies so I don’t know if they’re trying to escape anything. Perhaps they’re trying to escape their addiction!?
Regarding the people I know, I would say alcohol is employed more so as an avenue to escape. But hey! Alcohol is legal(my mom’s argument). Well, buying booze is; don’t get caught transporting or drinking it. Big trouble in little boozeland then.
It’s all about the money. Anybody can grow weed which makes it nearly impossible to tax. The illegality of MJ is ridiculous! I hope to have a 3/4 burned joint in my hand the moment I die.
“Get you by the booboo, huh?”
Long live C&C!!!!
JoeyjoeAA, yeah I had a nice point to Marvin Olasky before the Austin Statesman stopped publishing him in capitalizing god. He said it’s a proper noun and I said it’s an adjective. ie. The god Krishna, the god Jesus, the god Zeus. The deist god is the closest I would agree to and not that there is an entity by the title God.
I don’t partake in the herb but I got to agree with Cry4Turtles. I don’t think most use it as an “escape”. I think it is just recreational for most. Alcohol consumption, as a substance abuse problem, makes MJ use look entirely insignificant.
Reason,
Here’s a start…
1.
a. Why are theists so much better at organizing, motivating, and recruiting than we are? Why is such an antifactual movement so powerful?
b. People obviously don’t join religious groups because of the logic of their worldview, so what benefits do members of churches/cults enjoy? How does enjoying those benefits lead them to believe this stuff? What social and material voids do religions fill?
c. Is it effective to ridicule people for being religious? Does this widely used method actually change people’s minds?
d. What is the most effective way to persuade millions of people to become atheists?
e. Can atheists even be organized? Or are we so independent-minded that we cannot even unite on simple issues such as what to call ourselves – and therefore are we destined to lose?
f. What social and persuasive technologies should we pirate from the theists, who have been evolving them for years? Then again, what aspects of theistic life should we avoid recreating – holidays, ceremonies, social events like BBQs, music?
2. We should make decisions such as this based on empirical evidence, in line with our general worldview. We need evidence to answer the question of which approach is most effective. Sources of information include experience, experimentation, surveys, and studies of similar movements, past and present. Surely there are some atheist social scientists out there who can work on this.
thanks Chris B
i think one advantage theists have is human tribal nature.most people whorship in a congregation of 100 or less involving family an social relationships that often go back generations.
There is really God, I know some people don’t belive in the existance of God but it’s the reality that there is someone ‘Supreme’who is maintaining all of us and yes offcourse of the whole world.
Angel
Indiana Treatment Centers
dcare09 ,
You sound a bit fragile and some of us here can be somewhat impatient with people who believe in supernatural beings.
May I politely suggest you not continue if you intend to argue for the existence of an invisible being who controls the universe.
dcare09
Why did you conclude your post with the words “Indiana Treatment Centers”? Are you seek substance abuse counseling? If so I wish you success. Please return to the blog when you are healthier and ready to listen to criticism of your beliefs.