Related link: http://members.truepath.com/objective/propaganda.html
Just when you thought the human race was advancing, a religious zealot is accusing Apple Computer of:
“…[promoting] Godless Darwinism and Communism.”
To try and associate Apple and its Darwin Project (and poor little Hexley) with mind control and witchcraft is ridiculous! Among other accusations, Dr. Richard Paley (author of this piece) notes these similarities between Apple and evil:
- Mac OS X is based on an open source project known as “Darwin” and, as you know, Darwinism promotes the theory of evolution.
- “Open source” is another name for communism.
- Apple was founded by “long-haired hippies”
- Apple’s logo — an apple with a bite taken out of it — leads us into temptation.
- Hexley, mascot of the Darwin project, is a platypus dressed up like a devil who “performs occult magic.”
- Mac OS X is based on “BSD Unix,” which he refers to as “an obsolete system.” (Ha!)
- The use of chmod 666 to open locked files is an evil reference!
Oh, man, this guy’s too good! And here I thought Microsoft was the evil empire.
What’s your opinion on this: Is Apple an evil company, or does this guy need to get a life?
Apple & the Devil?
The piece referred to, written by a Dr. Paley of Fellowship University (where is that anyway?), is a great example of what happens when people try to write authoritatively on subjects with which they have only a passing understanding. But what's worse than his almost complete lack of knowledge of the Macintosh and Unix technologies, is that he's implying that evil forces lurk within the machine itself embodied in the daemons of the operating system. This isn't just bad technology, it's a poor understanding of theology and biblical teaching. In Christian thought, spirits don't live in rocks, streams, trees, or other inanimate objects like computers. (OK, I've often thought my PC might be possessed, but never my Mac!)
I'm a Christian myself (meaning, I've put my trust in Jesus to take away my sins and make me acceptible to God - "born again" as Jesus put it), but the first thing I learned as a young Christian is that you don't need to throw your brain away to have faith. Please don't think that all (or even most) Christians accept the sort of nonsense propagated by Dr. Paley. If you want to look into the problems with Darwinian evolution from the perspective of a real scientist, look up the recent works of Dr. Phillip Johnson, a professor at Berkeley. And if you want to look into what the Bible really says about evil, just read it!
Either a hoax or some incredibly confused people
If you peruse the rest of the site, you'll find a number of clues/inconsistencies that seem to point in the direction of a hoax. The so-called Dr. Paley teaches at "Fellowship University" (so far, on references to it found on the web). The site is on a crusade to shutdown Landover Baptist (a notorious Christian parody site), so links to it are spread all over the place. The For Kidz section tells us, for example "Atheists are often very grumpy and bitter and will lash out at children or they may even try to trick you into neglecting God's Word."
I'm not wholly convinced it's a hoax, but I suspect we should investigate a bit before becoming highly incensed about those wacky "religious zealots". OTOH, if it is for real.... whoa.
Unfortunately, it *is* too good to be true
It seems this was an elaborate hoax.
See:
http://www.applelinks.com/articles/2002/04/20020423140855.shtml
and
http://www.quicktopic.com/boing/H/VrjGirvhsVA
Darn. That was funny, if not a bit dark.
P.S. -- the site has been removed.
BTW, I guess these guys got found out by their web host, since the site has been shut down. Awwwwww, but it was so fun.
chowler
new site address: http://objectiveministries.tripod.com/propaganda.html
http://objectiveministries.tripod.com/propaganda.html
with new revelations on deamons, chmod 666 and e-macs Emacs
HAPPYHEALTHYGIRL
ARENT ALL OF YOU ...SOMEHOW...UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE ANTI-CHRIST...."LUKE WARM"?...YOU ARE....3WANT THE NOTICEE OF MEN ON THE EARTH, ie. 'credit' from others inthis life?.......do you think jesus was a really great person/man/prophet?......or do you know HE IS WHO HE SAID HE WAS/IS, ie. GOD?...".............IT IS AS YOU SAY...."...(CHRIST TO CHIAPHUS)...circa 33 A.D.......so...to jusy accuse APPLE thoughth...they more than most, because of the "AUDIENCE"...they PARTICULARLY AFFECT, and because of the QUANTITY...they affect....as thew ciomputer industry has few GIANTS... YES...they remain as accusesed...true.wordup.......AND.................P E A C E /sincerely.TARI L. WHIDDON.[HAPPYHEALTHYGIRL@AOL.COM] WED. MAY 21,2003 @ 3:30am
Apple & the Devil?
I'm a born-again Christian too, and I was disgusted by that site. Luckily it's a hoax (there's a link in this forum above written by an evangelical Christian on the matter, an excellent writing). Going all the way to say that "chmod 666" unhides hidden files, and that it's an evil command is insane (it's actually dangerous on a multiuser system since it gives read/write access for a file to all users). I was planning on writing to the guy who wrote that site, to straighten everything out, but then found out that it was all a hoax.
Just like you said, you don't have to "throw your brain away to have faith.". That's for sure. Actually, most of my knowledge and wisdom increased tenfold from my faith.
If anyone thinks Christians are incredibly stupid, then you should think about how I could possibly write a realistic 3D virtual skyscraper simulation out of my supposed stupidity (http://www.tliquest.net/skyscraper).
(I'm also a Unix and Network administrator, and work with Windows, MacOS, Linux, Solaris, IRIX, and xBSD)
Ryan Thoryk
ryan at tliquest.net
In terms of the bible - all will wear the mark of the beast - quite a few people have iPods now.