On the Irrationality of Presidential Candidates
2007 May 13
Letters to the Editor
Time
letters@time.com
Suppose you had a presidential candidate who (a) started each morning with a bowl of Lucky Charms on the advice of the leprechauns, (b) ended each day searching for guidance from The Celestine Prophecy and The Teachings of Don Juan, thinking them to be non-fiction, (c) made policy decisions by throwing darts at a list of alternatives, trusting to destiny and fate to make the right choice, (d) believed in ghosts, (e) several times each day talked to his “invisible friends”, and (f) claimed to get answers from them!
To an atheist, that pretty much describes the whole lot. It’s not just Mitt Romney (“What Mitt Romney Believes”, http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1619212,00.html) who belongs to a cult, it’s all of them.
Since they all harbor various forms of religious mind parasites, this does not serve as a useful basis for choosing among them. So we atheists will, as usual, just sigh and make our decisions on grounds other than “Can this person be trusted to be rational?”.
But we do distinguish between private beliefs and public actions. If any of the current lot starts making noises, in all seriousness, about hunting down the sleeper cells of the evil Lord Voldemort’s minions and crushing them quickly and horribly, despite their protestations of innocence, we will definitely be looking elsewhere to cast our precious ballots.
Would that more people had done likewise in 2004.
Letters to the Editor
Time
letters@time.com
Suppose you had a presidential candidate who (a) started each morning with a bowl of Lucky Charms on the advice of the leprechauns, (b) ended each day searching for guidance from The Celestine Prophecy and The Teachings of Don Juan, thinking them to be non-fiction, (c) made policy decisions by throwing darts at a list of alternatives, trusting to destiny and fate to make the right choice, (d) believed in ghosts, (e) several times each day talked to his “invisible friends”, and (f) claimed to get answers from them!
To an atheist, that pretty much describes the whole lot. It’s not just Mitt Romney (“What Mitt Romney Believes”, http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1619212,00.html) who belongs to a cult, it’s all of them.
Since they all harbor various forms of religious mind parasites, this does not serve as a useful basis for choosing among them. So we atheists will, as usual, just sigh and make our decisions on grounds other than “Can this person be trusted to be rational?”.
But we do distinguish between private beliefs and public actions. If any of the current lot starts making noises, in all seriousness, about hunting down the sleeper cells of the evil Lord Voldemort’s minions and crushing them quickly and horribly, despite their protestations of innocence, we will definitely be looking elsewhere to cast our precious ballots.
Would that more people had done likewise in 2004.
posted by Richard S. Russell | 4:37 PM
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