Loud Silence: a poem by TOG

[TheOldGuy]

I have a loud mouth.
It doesn't make any noise.
Society is deaf
To the tone of my voice.

There's so much to say
That's already been said.
I scream for life,
But I'm already dead.

In the background,
Speaking my mind,
Upstaged by people
With nothing to grind.

Apologetics
That's just pathetic.
Make a point like that,
Know that I'll reject it.

Premise first,
Then formulate conclusions.
You got it all backward
In a world of delusions.

Prove you wrong?
Prove yourself right.
Take off the blindfold of faith
And look into the light.

Atheists
On the outside looking in
At a thousand religions
That are all trying to win.

Fighting the same fight
With the same weapons and tools.
When will they hear me
When I call them fools?

 

[RolandDaPirate]

Nice bro....


what made you write it?

 

[TheOldGuy]

Nice bro....


what made you write it?

I thought of the first four lines after I found out that my vote wouldn't count. It basically means that as much as I debate politics and educate myself and others, I still don't get to make a difference.

The rest of it is along the same lines, except that we don't get to vote on religion. lol. As much as I debate the issues, and win, it doesn't make a difference.

 

[TheOldGuy]

WOw that was awesome man. Seriously props for taht. Do you think me n some of my friends could use that as lyrics to a song? if its cool with you.. We wana start a band and such..

Go right ahead. I have another 4 lines that you could fit into it if you want.

People don't want to listen
Too afraid to be wrong
I hear them sigh, they roll their eyes
When I talk too long

 

[MrMusicMan]

I like your type of poetry there.. the truth of it. It does have a sweet rhythm and rhyme. And the depth is amazing. Good work. Peace

 

[6*0*4]

yeah that sucks

 

[Mad Cow Steakho]

Big props, TOG. That's good stuff.

 

[Uprising]

good words... i just never really liked the the whole A-B rhyme system, i'm more for prose. but seriously not bad

 

[brian]

yeah that sucks

haha

 

[J842P]

Premise first,
Then formulate conclusions.
You got it all backward
In a world of delusions.

My favorite stanza...
props...

 

[420Dentist]

Nice oldguy. My vote doesn't matter either, and that pisses me off as well.

 

[~scb~]

It is a well written expression, still remains a sad and extremely lonely tale, don't give up on your own spirit enjoying the spirit of the world. Religion is ultimately about that no matter what type it is or is not afterall.

 

[TheOldGuy]

It is a well written expression, still remains a sad and extremely lonely tale, don't give up on your own spirit enjoying the spirit of the world. Religion is ultimately about that no matter what type it is or is not afterall.

Thank you for your comment, but the poem is one of the struggles and frustrations of being an atheist, not of sadness.

 

[~scb~]

It may well be a call to freedom from an athiests point of view who finds religion a struggle or frustrations, it's what seems so sad. How can it be that anothers choice to find freedom from these things in religion, has such an effect on someone who doesn't really care for it anyway? In Darwinistic terms I can't help but wonder if they might actually want to escape from the realms of despair in struggles or frustration to a world of spiritual freedom? Or in lamens terms: does he want to relax the mind.


Edit: p.s. I also do not believe that wars begin for religous purposes.

 

[TheOldGuy]

It may well be a call to freedom from an athiests point of view who finds religion a struggle or frustrations, it's what seems so sad. How can it be that anothers choice to find freedom from these things in religion, has such an effect on someone who doesn't really care for it anyway? In Darwinistic terms I can't help but wonder if they might actually want to escape from the realms of despair in struggles or frustration to a world of spiritual freedom? Or in lamens terms: does he want to relax the mind.

Sorry, but I do not find the notion of willful ignorance to be a comforting thought. Relaxing the mind is not only foolish, but it is irresponsible and dangerous.

And again, I believe you have misinterpreted the poem. It is not religion itself that I find frustrating, but it is the effective silencing of atheists by theists that I find to be the struggle and my source of frustration. To put it into an analogy, suppose I had the cure for AIDS, but everyone in the world was hung up on believing that God would come down and heal the victims if they just prayed hard enough. While they have every right to live their lives as they so chose, I would find not their religious beliefs to be the source of my frustration, but the actions taken by them that prevent me from accomplishing my goal of bettering the world through naturalistic reason and science. How often have we seen scientists be cast aside in the name of faith, when their ambition was solely to improve upon the world? We saw it with Galileo when he proved that the Earth revolves around the Sun, and we see it today in the ideological right's outright denial of such issues as Global Warming or the great potential of stem cell technology.

Edit: p.s. I also do not believe that wars begin for religous purposes.

I think you need to turn on CNN, or at the very least, FOX NEWS. Thousands have died brutally violent and painful deaths at the hands of religious extremists. Watch as an American so-called "Infidel" gets decapitated in the name of Allah. Watch Bush retaliate in the name of Yahweh. Currently, Islamic extremists take the cake for brutality, but travel back in time to the Crusades and view Christianity at its violent cycle. Religions of all kinds have a rich history of bloodshed. Was it not the Catholic Adolf Hitler who sought revenge against the Jews for the murder of Jesus? Now yes, Adolf was a maniac, and his actions do not apply to Christianity as a whole, but it does show that Christianity by itself can not effectively deter war, and that a war can begin based on religious extremism.

I have a photograph of Hitler walking out of a Catholic church if you would like to dispute the legitimacy his faith.

Ultimately, it is people who start wars, not religion alone, but it is religion that often perpetuates the insane notion that a devine being is on their side, and that they therefore can not lose. What a naturalistic, scientific, and atheistic belief system offers is a reasonable, reliable, and cautious method by which we may advance our societies beyond the violence and catastrophies we have faced with religion. We will no longer dance for rain, but rather watch the clouds, test the winds, measure the air pressure, and take meteorological readings of our atmosphere to better predict when a rain might come so that we can preserve our supplies and better prepare for the lives ahead of us.

I don't want to be silenced just because my belief system is a minority one that does not incorporate the notion of a devine being.

 

[TheOldGuy]

Edit: p.s. I also do not believe that wars begin for religous purposes.

Just to clear this up...

If this is in reference to my last stanza,

Fighting the same fight
With the same weapons and tools.
When will they hear me
When I call them fools?

then once again, you have misinterpreted my poem. While yes, I do believe that there are real and horrific religious holy wars actively being foguht today, that is not what I speak in reference to when I say "fight" and "weapons." What I am refering to is the theistic arguments made by theists of all different religions. Christianity holds no more grounds in logic than does Islam or Judaism. No religion has anything special to use in an argument. They're all stories of devine inspiration and miracles. The only different perspective comes from atheism ("Outside looking in") which says, "Hey guys, maybe you're all wrong."

 

[~scb~]

errr I don't recall specifying any particular type of religion in relation to this. And OleGuy I really, really, HOPE that your life may not pass you by before you get to live it. I like to not only be an active part of life, but also to stop and appreciate it with gratitude for the work I have done.

To feed into media and political references of religion with war is just as far out there to concieve for me, becuase well basically all religion aside. People who thrive to take power from the population and pursuade them to sacrafice themselves in a religious belief's are still the richest people in the world. The world works on money. No matter, I still hope for population to view not only thier opinions on the world but also on their opinions toward the population is always in consideration of 'us' and in respect of the essence that made us all. But hey, instead of saying religion let's just say a feeling whatever the religion. Those are universal.

Peace. Big Blunt

 

[TheOldGuy]

errr I don't recall specifying any particular type of religion in relation to this. And OleGuy I really, really, HOPE that your life may not pass you by before you get to live it. I like to not only be an active part of life, but also to stop and appreciate it with gratitude for the work I have done.

I specified religion to makes points, but the aim of my post was theism as a whole.

And thank you for your advice, but truly it is an unwarranted one. Please get out from under the impression that atheists are depressed and don't enjoy life. It is a common misconception, one of the many that inspire such poems as the one in this thread.

To feed into media and political references of religion with war is just as far out there to concieve for me, becuase well basically all religion aside. People who thrive to take power from the population and pursuade them to sacrafice themselves in a religious belief's are still the richest people in the world. The world works on money. No matter, I still hope for population to view not only thier opinions on the world but also on their opinions toward the population is always in consideration of 'us' and in respect of the essence that made us all. But hey, instead of saying religion let's just say a feeling whatever the religion. Those are universal.

Given this response, I can honestly say that I think you do not have a firm grip on current events or on history. I think you are so overwhelmed with the notion of religion being a positive influence in your personal life, that you are in denial of religions negative influences worldwide. I'd be willing to bet that you have no problem associating religion with humanitarian aide, am I right? Well in the same manner, religion is also associated with war, whether you want it to be or not.

 

[~scb~]

no i don't believe in the constitution of religion either, but after all the assumptions about me you've made in the last two posts, with blatant disregard to someone else having an opinion about how that poem expressed itself. i starting to think your just looking for a religious arguement out of me, you won't get it, i'm not someone who finds it thier place to judge another for thier opinion rather, i will you alone in sympathy for your closed minded ignorance.

 

[J842P]

no i don't believe in the constitution of religion either, but after all the assumptions about me you've made in the last two posts, with blatant disregard to someone else having an opinion about how that poem expressed itself. i starting to think your just looking for a religious arguement out of me, you won't get it, i'm not someone who finds it thier place to judge another for thier opinion rather, i will you alone in sympathy for your closed minded ignorance.