Marriage After Death?
Last week I talked about Gene Wilder dying and how some people were so happy he's been reunited with his third wife, Gilda Radner, who had preceded him in death. But what about his widow, Karen Boyer? She was married to him for 25 years, while Gilda was his wife for only five. I wondered how Karen felt about the whole Gene's back with Gilda speculations.
On Saturday's show I talked about how marriage might work after you die, assuming there really is an afterlife. Sure, the vows say until death do the couple part, but then why do people say Gene is back with Gilda? She died. Marriage over, right? If so, stop saying couples separated by death are then reunited by death after both spouses have died. But if death isn't the end of a marriage, then the couple is married for all eternity? Wouldn't that be hell?
Suppose married couples are reunited in the afterlife, how is it handled? So, Gene is back with Gilda now, but what happens when Karen dies? Is he married to both Gilda and Karen? For all eternity? Isn't that bigamy? Wouldn't that be hell?
Suppose the afterlife's caretaker doesn't accept divorce to be the end of marriage, so when Gene's ex-wives die he's still married to them. And suppose those ex-wives have had other spouses. Are all those people still spouses? For all eternity? Wouldn't that be hell?
But suppose the only marriage that counts is the first one. Whether it ended in death or divorce, it's the official marriage for all eternity...
You see how complicated this all is?
It's much simpler from an atheist perspective: You die. You're dead. You're done. No marriage. No second marriage. No bigamy. No polygamy. No Honey-Do lists. No consciousness. No awareness. No pain. No joy. No nothing. Game over. Dead.
Some On The Left Sure Like To Hate
I guess it's just human nature to take pleasure in the death or public shaming of people who are thought to be vile, mean, and otherwise irredeemable. Such is the case with Phyllis Schlafly and Ann Coulter. Both women are (or were in Schlafly's case) outspoken in their right wing political and social views. They both spout ideas that can get very upsetting to those at the opposite end of the political spectrum. So, of course, some of the folks on the Left view these two with a certain amount of disdain.
Schlafly died last week and Coulter was the butt of many of the cruel and nasty jokes that are expected at celebrity roasts. These two events brought such joy to some of my friends on the Left. Posting memes stating, "Ding dong, the witch is dead" for Schlafly and edited video clips of Coulter getting roasted.
The Left seems to pride itself on being caring and compassionate. To them it's the Right that are mean and selfish. The Left frowns upon sexist, racially or ethnically insensitive, gay-bashing or trans-bashing jokes. Except when hurled at the Right.
I pointed that out by sarcastically stating how it warms my heart when I see the compassionate, caring Left indulge in their hatred of those with whom they disagree.
ARGH!: No Turn Signal In A Roundabout
Roundabouts have been replacing the old four way stop intersections in the Twin Cities lately. And some people don't understand they need to signal their turn off the roundabout. It helps people who want to merge unto the circular intersection know the intent of the driver moving along the circle.
But a skeptical friend reminded me that driver's shouldn't trust a turn signal. Well, he has a point. I guess I'm doomed.
9/11 Still Not An Inside Job
It's that time of year again. Time for all the 9/11 Truthers to demonstrate they remain irrational when it comes to the attacks of that day in 2001. The conspiracy get more and more complex and convoluted as they attempt to maintain the notion the towers were not felled by Islamic terrorists.
I don't have the energy go through it all again. However, I spotted an excellent piece on Esquire's online site explaining the errors made by the conspiracy types out there on the internets. I covers the biggest point and some smaller ones.
JAQing Off
Listeners were shocked when they heard me start talking about what sounds like a very private activity. But, no, I was referring to " JAQing Off", which is what skeptics call it when people ask question, but don't accept the answers if they are not the answers they want. Joe Rogan, a comedian, JAQed off Phil Plait, an astronomer, about whether or not we landed men on the moon.
JAQing off is a subset of the Gish Gallop. Click here to learn more about JAQing off and here to learn about the Gish Gallop.
The N-Word
I advertised this as being a controversial show, because of the whole roundabout ARGH! moment. But there was plenty of other controversial stuff including talking about the n-word. I talked about its origin and how commonly it was used in America not all that long ago.
I won't get into it here, but go to this link. You'll learn the word's history and will be appalled how accepted racist views were by mainstream America. It was just matter of fact. So wrong.
Movie Recommendation: None
I didn't get to one this week. You are on your own.
Music heard on the show...
Second ad break bumpers: 'Seven Seas' by Echo & the Bunnymen & 'Twist' by Tones On Tail
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle
That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com
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