Finally, I'm posting!

[Miss Anthrope]

Hi everybody, I joined about 4 or 5 months ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting. Better late than never, eh?

First, a bit about myself: I'm a 27 year old male (despite the "Miss" in my name; just playing on the fact that I'm a bit misanthropic) and I'm a freelance illustrator/cartoonist/animator. I enjoy studying the Japanese language (so one could infer that I'm also a bit masochistic) and I DON'T enjoy sports (or to be more precise, I don't enjoy watching sports; I can certainly understand the appeal of participating in a sport). Of course, I enjoy/don't enjoy many other things, but I decided to pick two which are relatively uncommon.

I don't label myself, but I suppose I fall more closely into the atheistic group than the theistic because I don't believe in a "god", and I'll take Darwin over Genesis any day. However, I'm closer to an agnostic when it comes to many "religious" themes. For instance, the afterlife. There is absolutely no rational basis for believing or disbelieving in an afterlife. Yes, I know, that sounds like a bold statement to some people, but my logic is sound. If I had a closed box and asked you if you believed that there was a certain object inside, either answer would be a gamble. Some might say "Well, there is evidence AGAINST the afterlife." Actually, there isn't, just science which doesn't show any evidence FOR it, and until we have a full understanding of "everything" (a ridiculous notion; how does one quantify "everything") it's impossible to put that lack of evidence in any kind of meaningful context. For the sake of argument, though, let's assume there is evidence for OR against it. Now I'm dressed as a shoe salesman and I have a shoe box in my hands. Do you believe there is a pair of shoes in the box? Now you have every reason to believe that, but you could still be wrong, despite having a rational basis for believing shoes were in the box. Rational thought is not always synonomous with FACT. Now, to be clear, I'm NOT taking a side, but I often find it annoying when postulating to an atheist friend or relative about an afterlife (a concept I find interesting) and suddenly eyes are rolled and "Wishful thinking!" (doubly annoying because they're not only being closed minded but also assuming that I "wish" for an afterlife, when in fact it's a bit frightening to me, as many interesting things are). It's those types of atheists who annoy me when they say that they have "free minds". When your thought processes are limited by present scientific knowledge, you can hardly say you have a free mind. Not all atheists are like this, of course, but the ones who are are no different to me than a person who thinks the Bible is an accurate account of history. I just can't stand it when people think they're experts on reality, because when it comes down to it we're all just very confused animals trying to filter a bewildering universe through very primitive hardware and using these very vague things called "words".

Ironically, I sure used a lot of those vague things in my introduction, and I'll probably use a lot more commenting on other posts and occasionally posting my own crackpot theories and musings.

[McQ]

Welcome to the forum, sort of belatedly. Glad you are participating actively. Thank you for your introduction and background, and have fun here!

[gwyn428]

Welcome to the board, Miss Anthrope. Thanks for the fascinating introduction.

I myself wouldn't be able to sit still for 10 seconds in front of a sports game... sports just do not interest me one bit. Playing a game, well, I also understand the appeal and I've played soccer with people but I got bored with it too easily. When I saw your username I assumed you were a woman but then you informed us that you are a man. My username says that I am Gwyn... which is an unisex name and therefore nobody can tell if I am woman or man. I'll admit something... my sex is male, but my gender is male & female.

It's interesting that most of the people who I know that are into illustration and cartoons are also people who enjoy studying the Japanese language. Have you ever noticed that about others?

The concept of an afterlife to me would be more interesting than the concept of a god. I used to be religious and my belief was that all of us, whom are eternal souls, are reborn into different bodies in any of the billions of universes. Eventually I lost the belief in reincarnation and then I got to a "I don't care" attitude about the afterlife and now I just think that nothing is beyond this. It probably sounds egotistical of me, but I think people want to believe in an afterlife because of their survival instinct; they never want to expire no matter what. I think it'd be funny though if we are reborn as upcoming weekdays.

[Miss Anthrope]

Thanks McQ, and as for the fun, I've already started!

And thanks, Gwyn! The non-interest in sports must be a fairly common trait among us androgenous-types, ha ha.

To answer your question about artists and Japanese, yes, I have noticed that, most recently I read that one of the South Park creators is fluent in Japanese. Can't really speak for others, but personally it was the kanji characters that roped me in (if you're not familiar with kanji, they're the more complex written character system which are Chinese in origin, they're like little pictures so it's fun as hell to "draw" my words. I can only guess that other illustrators find the same appeal.)

I didn't think your comment about belief in afterlife being related to survival instinct to be egotistical at all, it's extremely logical. I find it egotistical when people jump on my musings with accusations that I'm a victim of wishful thinking or "just afraid to die" because they're making an assumption about how I deal with fear of death based on my expression of ideas, as if I'm trying to PROVE or provide evidence that there is an afterlife. That's what annoys me. It's like trying to have a conversation about the possiblity of extraterrestial life and being told "You're ridiculous, you're just in love with aliens." Cuz, you know, THAT's an objective response.

I want to be Monday, because then I can make everybody miserable! Especially Garfield, that gluttonous jerk.

[gwyn428]

Miss Anthrope

I understand you about the afterlife thing.  

By the way, I think that people may naturally be attracted to worshiping a god who fits in their (sub)culture, political views, values, identity, etc. If I was a Theist then I'd be a worshiper of ArdhanariShwara. http://www.avecchambre.com/ardhanariswara.jpg Owning a statue of that would be cool though.

[Miss Anthrope]

As for being a Monday, you can also influence people to say "sounds like someone's got a cause of the Mondays!"

Ironically, they're the ones I'd want to punish even more.

Speaking of Androgynes, I wonder what the good doctor Sigmund Freud would have to say about such people.  

By the way, I think that people may naturally be attracted to worshiping a god who fits in their (sub)culture, political views, values, identity, etc. If I was a Theist then I'd be a worshiper of ArdhanariShwara. http://www.avecchambre.com/ardhanariswara.jpg Owning a statue of that would be cool though.

Mine would be Tiamat, Babylonian Goddess of Primeval Chaos...    sounds almost made up doesn't it? And yeah, that statue is cool, and sexy in some bizarre "only in my mind" kind of way.

[Whitney]

Hi Miss, welcome to the forum.

[curiosityandthecat]

Welcome! It's always nice to see another interesting person joining the forum.  

[Miss Anthrope]

Thanks again to everyone for the warm welcome!

[wazzz]

OH hi there Nice catching up with u  

[Ihateyoumike]

Welcome, Miss Anthrope, even though it appears I joined in on the fun about a week later than you.

I found your welcome thread because of your reply to my comment on this thread:
http://www.happyatheistforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2550

I won't lie, I was going to respond in that thread and ask if you were male or female. I decided to click on your name and found this thread and read through it. Luckily, it appears I wasn't the only one confused by the Miss in your name and the picture of the joker (which I was sure I remembered you saying in another thread was you dressed up as such).

Anyway, since I'm now posting in this thread, I will respond to a few things you wrote in the other thread listed above.

Thanks for be being my advocate, Ihateyoumike, and a good one at that.

You're welcome. I calls 'em how I sees 'em. And thank you for your compliment at the same time.