We recently received this comment from Scholar:
Erich or Grumpy,
May I please have some more links to the discussions here at dangerous intersections which you have found to be most interesting, *must read*, or highlights in general.
Thanks,
Scholar
—
I took Scholar’s request seriously and went back to review many of our posts. I still can’t get over how many topics we’ve addressed in nine months, covering 592 posts!
Rather than call these posts the “best of,” I would merely call them the more memorable posts to me, keeping in mind the triple asterisk that comes with the assembly of this list: 1) I simply didn’t have the time to review each of the posts again. Therefore, this list is only representative, not complete. 2) It is difficult to determine any meaningful criteria on which to base such a list, other than (as I’ve already suggested) the idea that this list includes many of the posts I found memorable. Other people will certainly have different ideas of what posts are worthy 3) Scholar’s request puts me in an awkward spot, given that I write for the blog.
To the extent that I’ve included my own posts, then, it should be with the understanding that I am not trying to judge the writing so much as considering whether the ideas addressed are memorable to me, whether the ideas expressed therein seemed important or whether they moved me. Here’s another way of looking at it: if you want to know what this site is all about, here are some good places to start.
It is so very hard to choose. It’s like asking a parent to choose his or her favorite child. Without further ado, here are my selections:
Reflections on Hotel Rwanda
Why Does a Recently Created World Seem So Old?
The greatest sin–and virtue–of human memory
God’s attractive nuisance: the Tree of Knowledge
Playing to the terrorists’ strength
Sticks, Stones, and Prayer Mats
Proselytes, Proseldarks, Proselmarketers
Needed Constitutional Amendement: Ban foreign teams from winning the World Series
On Feeling Frustration With My Culture –
Memory and representation, or what is truth?
Do dissenting liberals take the positive aspects of their country for granted?
Hell is Unconstitutional – Boycott Heaven
I Give Homage to God. I am Morally Superior.
What it’s Like to Go to an Evangelical Church
The Seventy Million Children Left Behind War
Be Conscious of Your Unconscious to Set you Free
Metaphors everywhere; where is “pure reason”?
Laughing at Not Funny Things and the Limits of Introspection
Star Trek’s Error: Spock’s lack of emotion would have made him irrational
The Two Paths: No Self versus extended Self
Darwin, the roots of words, etc
A Martian anthropologist goes to church
How We Really Think About Religion and Politics: The Power of Metaphors
How we deal with toxic thoughts
The Grinch was much more evil than we thought.
Give us this day our daily endorphins
We must do X because we’ve ALWAYS done X
Why gay people simply must go to hell
When politicians refuse to answer questions, report it.
What does the New Testament actually say about morality?
Curses! Dollars and hours are both fungible.
Noah, FEMA, Media, Resignation
Do unto thyself what thou wouldn’t let others do
Coordinated violence and the frame of “war”
The magnitude and the music make war AOK
Are you a rebel? What is your birth order?
Why you need to be the one to speak up
It makes ECONOMIC sense to invest in disadvantaged children while they are young
God bless us, with material things
Why are there so many synonyms for poop?
The Onion and the transubstantiation
Just say “no” to TV. Do it for your country.
How to love going to church: a guide for atheists
Apollo 13, early course corrections and the soul
Moral blinders and the Banality of Evil. What you don’t ponder won’t disturb your conscience.
Does constant exposure to advertising screw up our heads and lives?
When God slaughters innocent babies, He is “good.”
Who changed the Bible and why? Bart Ehrman’s startling answers
I guess that will get me started on getting caught up with the blogsphere. Then, after I finish reading "war and peace", I will be back posting if thats ok of course, I don't want to hog the internet.
–Scholar (i guess this name kinda stuck (it must mean I am smart)…but i kinda like posting as different viewpoints and different names, kind of like roleplaying, or being insane). Similar to our friend "Borat" I occasionally "suit" up and see what kind of reactions I get. It is however, possible that some of the reactions are just other people doing what I am doing, a concept which just dawned on me. Well enough probing my "like the finest *swiss* cheese" brain.
Hey Scholar,
"i kinda like posting as different viewpoints and different names"
You know I dig talking with you but I think that it's counterproductive to having a coherent conversation if I'm never be sure who I am responding to. Realizing that you do this is one of the things that led me to think that you were very young.
It's all too easy to "fuck" with people on a blog and it gets you nowhere. (Hi everybody! This is Jesus. You're all nuts!) It's a bit harder, but far more rewarding, to remain consistent and stand behind your statements, which I think you are doing now. Even though we agree about much, I welcome butting heads with you from time to time.
Thanks Gato, you are probably nobler than I. Apologies for my insulting arguments/inferences. Since I am probably unlikely to change too much, (though I appreciate your candor), I would also like to apologize in advance for anything which is posted by me (future) that is interpreted as (or really is) overtly unsettling/cruel. This is because I sometimes post after reading arguments which annoy/excite me, and because I am not yet a seasoned blogger. Except for mknowlan, I dont like him 🙂 just kidding