Democracy for Vancouver

Chris Hedges is bringing his atheist-hating road show to Portland tonight, and so was interviewed on KPOJ this morning.

It’s not a new experience for me to want to scream at the radio, particularly when Grover Norquist or some other GOP fop is spouting off, but Hedges’ bullshit was nearly enough to make me stop mid-makeup and call the station.

The host, Carl Wolfson, made not a squeak as Hedges lumped all atheists together into a Christopher Hitchens-shaped strawman and set it alight, alleging that all atheists are - as Hitchens is - Iraq war supporters, torture acolytes and first-order nihilists.

I’ve been an atheist since the age of 12, and I do not know a single atheist who supported this war, torture, or anything the preznit has done over the past 7 years. Hitchens is a man of singular beliefs, and while he outranks Hedges in neurological wattage, they are cut from the same rigid cloth.

Hitchens believes all religions are always evil, while Hedges sees all humans as evil (and atheists, in particular). According to Hedges, the human race is doomed to the mire of its own violence and cruelty for eternity, and religion is the only palliative (there is no cure).

Speak for yourself, Mr. Hedges. We may be flawed, and there may always be Cheneys and bin Ladens among us, but I believe in humanity’s potential for good, and for recognizing and overcoming most of our faults.

We atheists don’t ask a god to make us better, or to give us a reason to get out of bed in the morning. That’s the hard work we have to do ourselves.

But maybe you’re too much of a nihilist for that?