It’s been quite a while since I last went to a meeting of Skeptics in the Pub but it really does make for a great evening – especially if you are a skeptical person who likes pubs. Tonight the talk was given by a guy called David Koepsell, who is the Executive Director of the
Council for Secular Humanism. Frances also pointed out that he is a ringer for Woody Allan. He spoke about the rise of the “Dominionists”, or religious right, in the US. Pretty scary stuff. Michele couldn’t come along which was a pity because the topic would have been of interest to her, but Mod, my dad and Frances (my sister) did attend and I think all enjoyed themselves.
Both my dad and I got into a couple of verbal spats with people, causing the “chairman” (whom my dad pointed out shared many traits with David Brent) to quickly hose down the altercation…much to the annoyance the others involved who, like us, had clearly only come out for a good argument.
Being a skeptic, I was skeptical that Wanker Bush and his cronies really did believe in all of that wacky creationist stuff and instead they were just using it to rally right wing support. However the speaker disagreed and said that he believed that Wanker himself really did believe it, being cognitively challenged. He also said that Bush Snr almost certainly didn’t believe it, and neither did the other leading Republicans. In all, I’m not sure that makes me feel more comfortable.
Afterwards a guy claiming to be a gay, conservative lawyer came over to chat to my dad. He explained that, during his Oxford education, he read all of Marx and agreed with Marx’s conclusions, but just disagreed with what it entailed. They say that any Oxbridge graduate will tell you they went there, within the first 10 minutes of meeting them. Took him less than 5. Nice enough bloke. Apart from being a Tory. And a Lawyer. And smug.
After another couple of drinks in the George, we bumped into him again in London Bridge station while my sister was buying a Burger. He pointed out that without capitalism she wouldn’t have been able to buy a burger late at night. I pointed out that thanks to capitalism she can only afford a pathetic, emaciated cheeseburger and not the big thick juicy Whopper with which he was stuffing his face.
If the best capitalism has to offer is Burger King then the argument is surely over 🙂 I’d much rather patronise my local, small-business, Sri-Lankan take-away and get a couple of curried fish and egg rolls.
Good night.
