Issue 14
Interview With A Blugold
Jon Radcliffe: Chip, I call you Chip, I assume?
Chip: No problem, my name is Chip E. Wa, but you can call me Chip.
JR: So, the burning question that seems to come to mind is why now? I mean this university has gone without a mascot for
quite some time? What makes now different than before?
Soul Play: Me Tarzan. You God.
Is faith in our genes? Is religion just a base need, written into the human design, unavoidable except for those who recognize and resist it? Are atheists more enlightened than the God-fearing masses?
“I’m willing to believe they’re smarter and more knowledgeable about reality than club-wielding hunter-gatherers, or the members of the Christian Coalition,” says Morton Hunt, author of The Biological Roots of Religion. “But can I suppose they’re more intelligent than such profoundly religious believers as Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Newton, William James, or even Einstein? Or, for that matter, the majority of today’s American scientists, who, according to surveys, profess some kind of religious belief?”
Completely Justified
The Flip Side is a biweekly publication, which means that something interesting in the world can happen and that the timing for publishing certain articles relating to these stories can be a little late. We will be 16 days removed from the shootings at Virginia Tech by the time this article is published. However, there was another event that was all over the news last month before the tragedy in Blacksburg – the firing of Don Imus. Even though it may be inappropriate to voice my opinion on old news, especially when something of greater significance has occurred, this story still brings up many conflicted feelings on a controversial topic. So without any further ado, here’s what I have to say…
Eye of the Storm
When will the shit-storm end? We’re halfway to hell in a Hummer and nobody seems to care. The news reads like the script to an obnoxiously ridiculous apocalyptic horror movie. American society is devolving at an alarming rate. We’re socialized by action heroes and Hollywood assholes, so I guess it isn’t surprising that we live in the most violent nation in the history of the world.
Newscasters pump glorified carnage into our living rooms for hours every night, and then point the finger at Marilyn Manson and Quentin Tarantino. Their art is a reflection of the American experience, not the root of the problem. Pointing the finger is a juvenile distraction tactic. Unfortunately, some of us have matured enough to develop object permanence.
Grace
As I stared across the chess board into his dark, seductive, and sardonic eyes, I tried to recall how it was that he came to hold my soul in his hands. The flame from the lamp cast long shadows across the board and I remembered. In a drunken bet we had tried to show our youthful contempt for it all by playing chess for souls. It was simple, literal, and brutal. If we valued nothing then let’s collect souls.
In Defense of "Loners"
Gary Tuchman is a douche bag. I recently watched an exclusive interview on CNN (online) with two former roommates of the gunman at Virginia Tech. All he wanted to discuss with them was how weird Cho Seung-Hui was. The only details worth inquiring about were those that reinforced the fact that Cho did not fit in. Of course, the media is looking for the details that are sensational. If it bleeds, it leads…. I just didn’t realize how sensational or controversial it was for an individual to be antisocial. I didn’t realize that being a loner was a crime or even that newsworthy to dwell upon.
