State of Protest

Procrustes

Procrustes was raised loosely in the Methodist church tradition of going to church just about every Sunday, mostly because his grandmother went, and his parents were too afraid to argue. Procrustes started asking questions about god and Jesus at a very young age. Once, when he was about five years old, Procrustes asked his mother, “Mom, is God real?” His mother responded, “What do you think?” He replied, “I think there’s a god.” His mother smiled and said, “Then there’s a god.” This was a catalyst for his independent thought and skepticism. His mother had given him the go-ahead to think how he wished, and to ask questions without being embarrassed or threatened. Although Procrustes continued to believe in some sort of god for many years later, he understood the importance of research, facts, and doubt.

Eventually, Procrustes became a full-fledged atheist (or at least what most today would call an atheist, as someone who has no good reason to believe in the existence of a god, so therefore does not). Passive, but inquisitive at first, Procrustes learned much about religion and philosophy in college. Needing an outlet for the passion that built up inside him, fired by the knowledge that the dogmatic masses constantly threaten human life, he decided to change his state from passive to an active state of protest.

With any luck, activism will spread, and perhaps in his lifetime, Procrustes will see some progress.

Chapter II: For those who want more, more, more

Procrustes tends to like the Frank the Bunny avatar, based on the character in the amazingly amazing Donnie Darko movie. You really have to see it. Really.

Have you seen it yet? Okay, well, you can continue I guess.

The pseudonym “Procrustes” is based off of an ancient Greek mythological legend of the giant Procrustes, who waylaid travelers and then forced them to sleep in his bed. Being the hospitable type, Procrustes insisted that the bed fit the visitor. Being the callous and cruel type, Procrustes also insisted that the guest be the one who suffered the “adjustment.” Procrustes would either hack off a certain length of the guest’s legs, if too tall, or would stretch the guest on the rack, if too short.

Why, you ask, would I choose such an intolerable character as my pseudonym? The name represents an aspect of religion and thoughtlessness that spurns me to fight. It’s a metaphor for cherry-picking whatever biblical or other scriptural passages suit the religious, abandoning the others as their own metaphor or as misinterpretations by non-believers, while at the same time claiming the entire work is divine, perfect, and inerrant, justifying the religious way of life, and justifying some of the most heinous acts of cruelty this world has ever seen. Today, that thoughtlessness threatens lives and stifles free speech by condemning anyone who speaks out against religion. That mentality holds that religion is somehow more protected than the right to defy it.

The name is also deeper on a philosophical, theological level. It’s a metaphor for the god of the gaps concept that anything left unexplained by science must, by default, be god. It’s “fitting” a natural world into a god-shaped hole. It doesn’t fit. But so many people so desperately want it to that they will fight to the death to make sure no one argues with their right to do so. That’s delusional. Having these people running the planet is akin to letting the deaf, dumb, and blind disabled man be the engineer of your passenger train — as long as the man claims to believe in god, it’ll be okay.

Procrustes can be contacted at procrustes at stateofprotest dot com