Greetings fellow atheists and otherwise infidels. A short introduction, since this is my first post. I've been a lifelong atheist basically since I was a kid wondering what an awkward and useless experience it was looking up at my ceiling and thinking aloud what might be considered something of a "prayer." And my scientific background in education further cemented my doubts that anything supernatural ever played a role in our universe.
Now, slightly more to the point. I was looking up some Hitchens videos, saddened by our loss of him recently, wondering what other legends are around that drive the atheist cause when I discovered Dawkins and Sam Harris. I've only seen a few Dawkins videos and haven't read anything by him (he's great so far; I just have much more to learn of him). But I started watching everything I could find by Sam Harris. He's obviously a pillar in the field, so it's unnecessary for me to heap the accolades upon him he deserves.
But I had an idea. In one of his Q&A sessions, he talks about what people should do to encourage the movement, and "what's next," so to speak. It was a bit broad and open ended. And it's to that end that I write this. I'm a bit of a music fanatic. I've played guitar for about 15 years, mostly rock/metal. A little classical and blues. And while I haven't been much of a writer, I have written a lot of poems. None of which are thoroughly great, but enough that I can say I have at least some experience.
And so I'm interested in combining these interests. I think it would be awesome to write a concept album with Sam Harris's speeches as the overall theme. I'd plan to publish them/release them for free, on youtube or whatever. But it's a bit more than I've ever done with music. And I could certainly use some constructive criticism in improving the lyrics. And I'm actually hoping to find others interested in such a project that might be interested in joining me. A drummer, bassist, vocalist, keyboardist, whatever you do.
I think if we could craft catchy tunes that articulate the brilliance of his message, we can popularize it to a different audience than might listen to his speeches or read his books. And that is my ultimate desire out of all of this.
But then there's the concern of copyright infringement. Since this is sometimes exact quotes of his materials, would he (or whoever owns the copyrights to his books/speeches, etc) try and stop it? Or would he actually embrace it as one of the legs seeking to spread reason and skeptical inquiry?
So a lot of questions remain. But I think if this could take off, maybe it would be successful and impact a new chunk of the population. So here's an excerpt of the first poem I started working on tonight, to give you a sense of what I'm going for and whether you'd be interested.
Here's the clip it's directly referencing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcO4TnrskE0
And here's a few stanzas (I've got twice this. Don't know where it'll end yet).
Sorry for the long post. What do you guys think? Any interest? Is this in the right thread location?
Cheers,
~Golbez
Now, slightly more to the point. I was looking up some Hitchens videos, saddened by our loss of him recently, wondering what other legends are around that drive the atheist cause when I discovered Dawkins and Sam Harris. I've only seen a few Dawkins videos and haven't read anything by him (he's great so far; I just have much more to learn of him). But I started watching everything I could find by Sam Harris. He's obviously a pillar in the field, so it's unnecessary for me to heap the accolades upon him he deserves.
But I had an idea. In one of his Q&A sessions, he talks about what people should do to encourage the movement, and "what's next," so to speak. It was a bit broad and open ended. And it's to that end that I write this. I'm a bit of a music fanatic. I've played guitar for about 15 years, mostly rock/metal. A little classical and blues. And while I haven't been much of a writer, I have written a lot of poems. None of which are thoroughly great, but enough that I can say I have at least some experience.
And so I'm interested in combining these interests. I think it would be awesome to write a concept album with Sam Harris's speeches as the overall theme. I'd plan to publish them/release them for free, on youtube or whatever. But it's a bit more than I've ever done with music. And I could certainly use some constructive criticism in improving the lyrics. And I'm actually hoping to find others interested in such a project that might be interested in joining me. A drummer, bassist, vocalist, keyboardist, whatever you do.
I think if we could craft catchy tunes that articulate the brilliance of his message, we can popularize it to a different audience than might listen to his speeches or read his books. And that is my ultimate desire out of all of this.
But then there's the concern of copyright infringement. Since this is sometimes exact quotes of his materials, would he (or whoever owns the copyrights to his books/speeches, etc) try and stop it? Or would he actually embrace it as one of the legs seeking to spread reason and skeptical inquiry?
So a lot of questions remain. But I think if this could take off, maybe it would be successful and impact a new chunk of the population. So here's an excerpt of the first poem I started working on tonight, to give you a sense of what I'm going for and whether you'd be interested.
Here's the clip it's directly referencing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcO4TnrskE0
And here's a few stanzas (I've got twice this. Don't know where it'll end yet).
Quote:Impotent or Evil (working title)
Every year, nine million children die before age five.
That's 24,000 children each day who won't survive.
Or a thousand children each hour, and about 17 a minute.
A few children likely will have died in terror and agony
-by the end of this line, or some point within it.
Think of their religious parents, praying in this moment
Asking god for their children to be spared of this torment.
And their prayers will go unanswered.
More children fall to an unstoppable cancer.
-Chorus-
What god is it who would allow
A child to suffer this way? A parent to grieve such pain?
It must be one who cannot help or cares not to.
A god who commands either impotent or evil rule.
Worse than that, so many of them are going to hell.
Because they were so foolishly born somewhere else.
Born to a different culture who prayed to the wrong god.
Through no fault of their own, sent to Satan's plot.
Sorry for the long post. What do you guys think? Any interest? Is this in the right thread location?
Cheers,
~Golbez
