The sound of X-Files fangirls squeeing

Some interesting dailies from the X-Files have recently leaked onto the interwebs. There's a scene in 1998 X-Files movie "Fight the Future" where Mulder and Scully almost kiss. Right as their lips are about to meet, Scully is stung by a bee carrying a designer mutated alien virus (don't ask if you never watched the show) and passes out. Mulder/Scully shippers would have to wait another year and a half for an actually kiss between these two. (It finally happened on New Years' Eve 1999 in the episode "Millennium.")

In any case, it turns out that they shot alternate takes of the almost-kiss scene in the movie where Mulder and Scully do in fact kiss . . . and quite passionately. Putting this in the movie would have changed the entire dynamic of the TV show afterwards. Whether it would have been for better or worse will be the source of much fandom debate. However, I post this "what if" for the viewing pleasures of you X-Philes out there.

Deserted Island Music

"If you were stranded on a deserted island . . ."

I’m sure that phrase has been the beginning to many an interesting conversation. It is also an incredibly overused cliché that can sometime lead to eye-rolling. I’m hoping this entry will be in the former category.

This past weekend, I was catching up with some episodes of my not-nearly-as-good-as-the-original Dawson’s Creek replacement One Tree Hill. I was super excited to see one my favorite cult TV actors and music genius John Doe on the show as a special guest star (appropriately playing a not-as-well-known-as-he-should be music almost-legend). I’ll save the googling for some of you and say that he was in the (in)famous 80s LA punk band X and was on the TV show Roswell. He and his fictitious maybe/maybe-not daughter, Peyton, – an independent record label owner – were having a conversation that revolved around the question:

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 5 albums would you want with you?

They both had some good choices: Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, U2’s The Joshua Tree, Nirvana’s Nevermind, Elvis Costello’s My Aim is True. Hopefully the episode motivated some teeny-boppers to check out some of these amazing albums.

However, this inspired me to come up with my own deserted island album list. Of course, nowadays we could change the phrase to “If you were stranded in space billions of miles from human civilization . . . or “if you were the lone survivor of the zombie apocalypse . . .” The point is that these are albums you could listen to over and over and continue to enjoy them (or get sick of them more slowly than other albums). Therefore, this list is not necessarily what I currently listen to most frequently, or even what I have listened to the most over my lifetime. Is it the music that would keep my sane and connected to humankind if I isolated and alone.

Unfortunately, I could not just limit it to 5. So in no particular order, here are the 10 albums I would want with me if I were stranded on a deserted island/lost in space/zombie apocalypse survivor:

1) David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
2) Pixies, Doolittle
3) The Beatles, St. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
4) The Smiths, Hatful of Hollow
5) The Who, Who’s Next
6) R.E.M., Life’s Rich Pageant
7) Weezer, The Blue Album
8) Ben Folds Five, Underground
9) New Order, Low-life
10) Death Cab for Cutie, Transaltanticism

Honorable mentions (i.e. these could rotate in and out of the list depending on my mood that day):
11) The Clash, London Calling
12) Led Zeppelin, IV
13) Nick Drake, Bryter Layter
14) R.E.M., Murmur
15) R.E.M., Document
16) The Beatles, The White Album
17) The Cure, Boys Don’t Cry
18) Belle and Sebastian, Dear Catastrophe Waitress
19) The Lemonheads, It’s a Shame about Ray
20) The Police, Synchronicity

Comments? Questions? Glaring omissions? Rants about my musical taste? I’d love to hear it. And, by the way, what are your top 10 deserted island albums?

Secular Humanism 101

I just came across this post that Paul Kurtz recently wrote for the Washington Post's On Faith section. Kurtz is the chairperson of the Council for Secular Humanism and an emeritus professor of philosophy. The following is a fantastic and short piece which nicely sums up the views of Secular Humanism, an ethical movement I strongly identify with. For those of you curious about my moral views as an atheist, this is definitely worth a read.

Belief in God Essential for Moral Virtue?

A growing sector of world civilization is secular; that is, it emphasizes worldly rather than religious values. This is especially true of Europe, which is widely considered post-religious and post-Christian (with a small Islamic minority). Secularist winds are also blowing strong in Asia, notably in Japan and China. The United States has been an anomaly in this regard, for it has suffered a long dark night in which evangelical fundamentalism has overshadowed the public square, with its insistence that belief in God is essential for moral virtue. This is now changing and secularism is gaining ground.

The “new atheists” have attempted to balance the scales, for religious dissent until now has been largely muffled. They have appealed to science to criticize the unexamined claims of religion. This has shocked conservative religionists, who respond that atheists are “too negative.” Perhaps, but this overlooks the fact that there are varieties of unbelief and that secular humanists (the bete noire of fundamentalists during the Reagan years) define their outlook affirmatively in the light of positive ethical values, not by what they are against but what they are for.

Secular humanists are generally nonreligious, yet they are also good citizens, loving parents and decent people. They look to science, the secular arts and literature for their inspiration, not religion. They point out that religious belief is no guarantee of moral probity, that horrendous crimes have been committed in the name of God, and that religionists often disagree vehemently about concrete moral judgments (such as euthanasia, the rights of women, abortion, homosexuality, war and peace).

The ethics of secular humanism traces its roots back to the beginnings of Western civilization in Greece and Rome, through the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the scientific and democratic revolutions of the modern world. Secular humanists today affirm that every person should be considered equal in dignity and value and that human freedom is precious. The civic virtues of democracy are essentially humanist, for they emphasize tolerance of the wide diversity of beliefs and lifestyles, and they are committed to defending human rights.

But, “how can you be ethical if you do not believe in God?” protests the believer. Perhaps such a person should enroll in an elementary course in ethics, where there is a rich philosophical literature dealing with this question. The good is usually defined as “happiness” though there are differences between the eudemonistic, emphasizing enriched self-development, and the hedonistic, particularly American, brand of intemperate consumption. Perhaps a harmonious integration of the two theories can be achieved. I would call it rational exuberance. Philosophers have emphasized the importance of self-restraint, temperance, rational prudence, a life in which satisfaction, excellence, and the creative fulfillment of a person’s talents is achieved. It does not mean that “anything goes.” Humanist ethics focuses on the good life here and now.

Secularists recognize the centrality of self-interest. Every individual needs to be concerned with his or her own health, well-being, and career. But self-interest can be enlightened. This involves recognition that we have responsibilities to others. There are principles of right and wrong that we should live by. No doubt there are differences about many moral issues. Often there may be difficulties in achieving a consensus. Negotiation and compromise are essential in a pluralistic society.

However, there is now substantial evidence drawn from evolutionary biology that humans possess a moral sense (see Marc Hauser, Steven Pinker, and David Sloan Wilson). Morality has its roots in group survival; the moral practices that evolved enabled tribes or clans to survive and function. This means that human beings are potentially moral. Whether or not this moral sense develops depends on social and environmental conditions. Some individuals may never fully develop morally–they may be morally handicapped, even sociopaths. That is one reason why society needs to enact laws to protect itself.

There is also of course cultural relativity, but there are, I submit, also a set of common moral decencies that cut across cultures–such as being truthful, honest, keeping promises, being dependable and responsible, avoiding cruelty, etc., and these in time become widely recognized as binding. Herein lie the roots of empathy and caring for other human and sentient beings. Such behavior needs to be nourished in the young by means of moral education. In any case, human beings are capable of both self-interested and altruistic behavior in varying degrees.

Secular humanists wish to test ethical principles in the light of their consequences, and they advise the use of rational inquiry to frame moral judgments. They also appreciate the fact that some principles are so important that they should not be easily sacrificed to achieve one’s ends.

To say that a person is moral only if he or she obeys God’s commandments–out of fear or love or God or a desire for salvation–is hardly adequate. Ethical principles need to be internalized, rooted in reason and compassion. The ethics of secularism is autonomous, in the sense that it need not be derived from theological grounds. Secular humanists are interested in enhancing the good life both for the individual and society.

Today, a new imperative has emerged: an awareness that our ethical concerns should extend to all members of the global community. This points to a new planetary ethics transcending the ancient religious, ethnic, racial, and national enmities of the past. It is an ethic that recognizes our common interests and needs as part of an interdependent world.

For more information about secular humanism, check out the Council for Secular Humanism, the American Humanist Association, or wisdom from the moths of babes in this post from one of my favorite blogs "Parenting Beyond Belief."