2010 Review And My Plans For The Future

I wrote my very first post in May 2010. Since then, 74 other posts followed and attracted about 70 comments from readers, almost all of which I have answered (124 comments total). So far my blog has been viewed 16.000 times, averaging 63 views per day.

For seven months, that isn’t bad. For a blog that focuses on skepticism and Humanism, it isn’t bad at all. In any case, it certainly beats my expectations.

So, where will I go from here? The short answer is that this blog will pretty much stay as it is. There will only be minor changes. Over the last few weeks already I’ve focused a little more on publishing my own writing and tried to do less of publishing-stuff-I-found-on-the-web. So basically, I’ll try to go for quality rather than quantity in my posts, though of course I will continue to share when I find something of extraordinary interest. A few of the Things To Come:

Counterapologetics 101
I was encouraged by the enthusiastic responses to the first two posts of my Counterapologetics 101 series: Why I Bother Living, debunking the often repeated myth that Without God There Is No Reason To Live, and God Done Did It, offering a way to make even the most thick-headed theists understand why we won’t accept “God” as an answer.
The views skyrocketed on the days I posted those, so apparently some of you found this worth sharing. Let me use this opportunity to say THANK YOU! It is greatly appreciated. :)

The most keen-eyed among you may have noticed that I have already created a sub-category of Counterapologetics 101, called “Things Theists Ask Me”. As the name implies, this category will mainly contain answers to common theist arguments, such as the two posts linked above. What “Things Theists Ask Me” will NOT be: A regurgitation of the same old & tired arguments. I am sick of that. I will only address arguments when I have something constructive and new to contribute to the discussion. Both God Done Did It and Why I Bother Living contain analogies that I find tremendously helpful to get the point across, but have never heard anybody else use in a discussion; it is helpful stuff like that I seek to provide, to offer a way to break the senseless circle that discussions about theology tend to degenerate into.
The second category to complete “Counterapologetics 101” will be called “Things To Ask Theists” or something like that. It will be a collection of good arguments to use for those who want to take the more offensive stance and drive home a point or two of their own, rather than just answering the theist’s arguments. Rather than arguments to defend one’s atheism against religious proselytizing, this category will provide some weapons to counterattack, to actively undermine the theist position and hopefully even implant seeds of doubt. Again, I will try to refrain from simply repeating tired old stuff over again for yet another time, but try to stick to arguments that are genuinely new, or provide ways to paraphrase old arguments for better effect. Also, I’m toying with the idea of doing a few posts on general tactics and techniques for debates.

The Main Focus
The main topic on my blog will stay Humanism. I will continue to promote Humanist values, unity and skeptical thinking, comment on some political issues, report on Human Rights violations, and, from time to time, remind my readers of things like the horrors that are still going on in Iran or the child abuse scandals in the church – things the mainstream media seem to have already forgotten.
I plan to do an extensive post on ethics, an introduction to the system of ethical prioritarianism that works so beautifully for me and my Humanist peers. I’ve already started a couple of times, but the field is so vast that I tend to get sidetracked and lose structure.
Further, I will write about the implications and the application of that system in everyday life. I plan another post about vegetarianism, a few posts explaining why I don’t think capitalism or democracy are good ideas, and at least one post on transhumanism, that is about the role of technology in our lives and the prospect of completely merging with it.

To sum up, the focus of this blog will stay wide. I’ll continue to criticise everything I think needs to be criticised, but I’ll also try to keep my criticism of the constructive kind. Rather than simply pointing the finger and blaming others, which is always easy, I’ll try to promote better solutions or thoughts that might lead to better solutions. As always I welcome discussion and feedback, so feel free to use the comment-section to your heat’s desire.