I should like to begin this blog in similar fashion to the way contemporary authors seem to enjoy beginning their novels; with thanks to the many others who made this blog possible. Firstly, I'd like to thank Peter Joseph and Dillon Avery, for being the ones to contribute to my mind first entertaining alternative possibilities through their films. Everyone has seen Zeitgeist and Loose Change, and although I have since found that they're both pretty well full of shit, their films set me on the path of discovery, or at the very least gave me reason to doubt the narrative I was being taught in school as a young man. Secondly, I have to thank all the skeptics out there and true die hard advocates and practitioners of the scientific method. Without science, information which is acquired during investigation can never be properly separated into fact and fiction. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, I would like to thank the philosophers out there, both contemporary and historical, for showing me the value of true wisdom.
Let's start with people, and more specifically, what people are taught to believe as "truth" when they are growing up. As children, the things our parents teach us help us form our worldview and as we accept these ideas, we use them as the foundation to build a further understanding of the world. In religious indoctrination, for example, you have to learn about who God is and what he did before you can learn about why you have to follow his commands. As an adolescent, or even a fully grown adult, having accepted any idea for many years as truth, you will almost invariably develop an emotional attachment to that idea. It will bring you comfort knowing the way of things. Knowing that this knowledge about the nature of Heaven and Earth was passed down to you as a precious gift from your ancestors, and that it is the key to your spiritual destiny. Thus, when someone comes along and presents a contradictory statement to your closely held belief, perhaps by saying something like "There is no God, and any man who believes there is is a fool.", your mind cannot help but retaliate against such a threat to your worldview. When confronted with information which contradicts their worldview, human beings brains release adrenaline and pump the body full of energy, the same way the brain reacts when confronted with physical danger. This extra energy is what causes normally calm and rational people to get angry or violent when discussing things like politics or religion. The worldview has been threatened, and somebody has to pay the piper.
Well, I'm here to be that guy. The guy who steps on everybody's toes. The guy who barbecues everyone's sacred cows. The purpose of this blog will be to use truth and sound reasoning to destroy that which is false, but regarded in the minds of the masses as truth. A Hammer of Truth to smash through the lies and deception which obstruct you on your own path to truth, and with it, virtue.
Within this work, I will be working largely as an aggregator of information from a wide array of subjects citing the works of other researchers and thinkers and trying to draw connections, offer criticisms or simply propose an alternative perspective or consideration to the information presented, where appropriate.