I listen to Melbourne breakfast radio every morning. Each day at work is a different station, but as my partner and I are waking up, having our morning coffee, breakfast, and getting dressed we listen to the Triple M radio show 'Triple M's Hot Breakfast With Eddie McGuire'.
Eddie is a very smart, very successful man. He grew up in one of Melbourne's poorer suburbs but now has an estimated net worth of about $55 million. Not too shabby.
Eddie also happens to be president of the football club I support, Collingwood. I think he's fantastic. Someone to aspire to. Someone who's done wonderful work for the community. He's also a Catholic. Well, at least, he was raised one. I'm not sure how committed he still is to the ancient religion.
But that's not what bugs me. I know a lot of Catholics and most of them share my surname. (or at least they or their mother's once did).
No, what bugs me is that each spring Eddie says something along the lines of 'It's like it gets to the last week of September and God flicks a switch and the weather improves'.
Now if you're reading this from the northern hemisphere, keep in mind that September, October, and November are spring in the southern hemisphere. Things do start to improve a little at the start of September but it's really towards the end where winter is truly gone and spring is truly with us.
'God flicks a switch'. It bugs me for a couple of reasons. First of all, there's a VERY reasonable and understandable reason for why the weather improves (providing you think sunny skies and warmer temperatures are an improvement) in spring. (I'm not going to go into details, because if you're reading this, I'm going to go ahead and assume you're fully aware of the axial tilt of Earth and the implications that has on the weather).
Second of all there's this absoluteness about it that suggests god is real. The analogy is about god flicking a switch - IE there's an almost sudden change in the weather. The 'God' flicking a switch isn't part of the analogy. It's an assumed fact.
So on one hand it's completely disregarding the science behind climate and how it works and on the other it's making the unfounded assumption that god is real. Neither of these things are good for critical thinking and learning about the world, the universe, and how it works.
As I said, it's a tiny thing, but for some reason, it really gets under my skin!
what a coincidence. i just tweeted about our hapless VP, Mike *Just-A-Theory* Pence, who can't tell fact from opinion. he, too, completely disregards science and assumes that god is real (only his god, of course, out of all the thousands of 'em).
ReplyDeletei'm curious about Eddie. is he perhaps one of those *prosperity* xtians? he came from practically nothing to a large fortune, so does he credit his god with his good fortune? rather self-centered, if he does, for that assumes that he's a special case, that his god has an eye on him and a *reason* for him to be wealthy when others are miserable. that he's somehow more *deserving* of blessing than others.
i'd be careful around such a one. he may think entirely too much of his importance in the scheme of things, when in fact we all know that the answer is only 42.
I know plenty of people like that who you describe, but no, Eddie is not like that. He is an extremely hard worker and it's this that he gives credit to. I think that's part of why it bugs me so much, from him, because he should 100% know better.
Deleteso then it really IS a *little* thing, and he's let you down, disappointed you. that happens to me ... a lot.
Deleteits tiny in this single instance, they all are, in each instance. However, by the time I was 20 I had been so bombarded by these types of statements I could not imagine a “none of the above” choice. Everyone acted and spoke as if it’s a done deal, even my parents who were not religious.
ReplyDeleteIt just made no sense to me, but I couldn’t see a way out, and when James said “choose your faith and die” …. Well, that was it.
Until I did stumble across the none of the above option – thank god… no, no, oh shit, wait, I mean thank fuck.
haha.
Delete"choose your fate and die!" And suddenly The Four Horseman is playing in my head :)