A twelve-step program is a set of guiding principles (accepted by members as ‘spiritual principles,’ based on the approved literature) outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems. Originally proposed by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) as a method of recovery from alcoholism, the Twelve Steps were first published in the book Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism in 1939. The method was then adapted and became the foundation of other twelve-step programs. — the cesspit of lies
Powerlessness, Twelve-Stepism, and the Siege Mentality
“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol–that our lives had become unmanageable.”
The idea that he is powerless over alcohol lets the user off the hook by absolving him from personal responsibility for his addiction while simultaneously granting ultimate power to the addiction itself, power so great as to be invincible by human standards. (more…)
May 19, 2013
The Skepchick 12 Steps
Posted by franc hoggle under cranks, cults, drugs, education, new new atheism, pseudo-science | Tags: 12 steps, alcohol, alcoholics anonymous, drugs, freethoughtblogs, narcotics anonymous, Rebecca Watson, recovery, skepchick, SMART Recovery |[4] Comments
May 15, 2013
Fucking Andrea Dworkin (1994)
Posted by franc hoggle under censorship, cranks, cults, culture, gender, history, internet, media, misandry, moral panic, nonsense, politics, propaganda, puritanism, shrieking hysteria, yellow journalism | Tags: amanda marcotte, Andrea Dworkin, Catharine Mackinnon, Christina Hoff Sommers, date rape, fear, gender feminism, Jeffrey Dahmer, Katie Roiphe, loathing, Lorena Bobbitt, Porn Wars |[9] Comments
The time was 1994 and, downunder at least, it was when the last great wave of gender feminist lunacy was peaking before sanity once more prevailed and it disappeared back up its own asshole to hibernate for a decade or so.
Reclaim the Night rallies were still drawing enough numbers to embolden some to splash porn stores with red paint and the great fear-n-loathing du jour was date rape…
The mood of the time, and the surreal deformation of conventional reality that accompanied it, was captured quite creepily in this passage from Christina Hoff Sommers in Who Stole Feminism? – (more…)
May 3, 2013
Kabul Dreams
Posted by franc hoggle under art, culture, islam, middle east, music | Tags: Afghanistan, taqwacore |1 Comment
I have previously written of Taqwacore in a blog post that has vapourised. I also briefly mention it here. Primarily Pakistan based, but it has spread elsewhere, as have the various bastard strains of metal. Music is a revolutionary force – you can have all the military interventions you want, but they will never seed social change like angry young folks with guitars. Deny it all you want, but the Sex Pistols did change the world.
Afghanistan has a little known rock subculture too. While not Taqwacore per se, Kabul Dreams echo the sentiments. Three Afghani kids from three separate tribes that spend most of their time butchering each other. There is hope. They have released an album.
Last.fm. Tardbook. WasteOfSpace.
There are worse things to throw a few bucks at.
May 3, 2013
Franc Speaks With Robert Darby On Dumbed Down Atheist (Again)
Posted by franc hoggle under atheism, Australia, censorship, copyright, culture, ethics, file sharing, free culture, government, internet, MafIAA, music, piracy, politics, use it or lose it1 Comment
April 26, 2013
Parrhesia, Typhos, Atyphia
Posted by franc hoggle under cynics, ethics, philosophy | Tags: atyphia, Cynics, diogenes, Michel Foucault, parrhesia, typhos |[3] Comments
Several months ago on the slymepit – in a rare lull between rape jokes, posting pornographic photoshops of Ophelia Benson and plotting patriarchal domination of atheism – Rocko2466 presented an uncharacteristically serious question:
Hey slymepitters
I gots a question. If you had to write a book your kid for when s/he’s say 20 – 25, what topics would you include?
Atheism and ethics are two obvious ones, but any ideas (even if they’re within those two broad categories) would be appreciated.
This got me thinking. I would not to seek to impart knowledge per se - that would be tedious and not really special. Knowledge is what any kid with curiosity and motivation will find for themselves. I would instead try to seed habits to cultivate – method and attitude for intellectual integrity; a framework to train yourself to apply to all information you may transmit to others and, more importantly, to apply to all information you apprehend. To instill a mindset that tries to avoid the pitfalls of deception of the self and dishonest manipulation of others. My response to Rocko is reproduced below, with minor corrections. (more…)
April 5, 2013
The Baboon Political Compass
Posted by franc hoggle under cults, Jacobins, media, misandry, new new atheism, populism, pseudo-skepticism, yellow journalism | Tags: all the usual morons |[7] Comments
Just a little mind map I knocked up to visualise the motivations of the various players in the baboon kingdom. To be periodically updated. Inspired by The Political Compass.
March 29, 2013
Too Much Gibberish Online
Posted by franc hoggle under censorship, cults, disinformation, hyperreality, Jacobins, misandry, moral panic, new new atheism, propaganda, pseudo-skepticism, toilet slaves, yellow journalism | Tags: clarity, Cynics, falsehood, frauds, Sloterdijk |[5] Comments
“How much truth is contained in something can be best determined by making it thoroughly laughable and then watching to see how much joking around it can take. For truth is a matter that can withstand mockery, that is freshened by any ironic gesture directed at it. Whatever cannot withstand satire is false.” — Peter Sloterdijk











