this post was submitted on
1,548 points (62% like it)
3,872 up votes 2,324 down votes

atheism

subscribe1,174,286 readers

1,669 users here now


Help Atheist Organizations!

The Secular Student Alliance, Camp Quest, and Foundation Beyond Belief were all nominated for the Chase Community Giving program, which awards grants based on the votes of the public. Everyone gets 2 votes on Facebook, plus an additional one if they share a CCG page. The links for them are:

SSA | CQ | FBB

HURRY, VOTING ENDS TOMORROW ( 19th )!!

Don't want it on your feed? Make a new FB account and use that to vote!


Welcome to r/atheism, the web's largest atheist forum. All topics related to atheism, agnosticism and secular living are welcome here. Please read our FAQ.

Please link directly to any images or use imgur to avoid being flagged as blogspam

Recommended reading and viewing

Thank you notes


Related Subreddits <--the big list

GodlessWomen YoungAtheists AtheistParents
BlackAtheism AtheistGems DebateAnAtheist
skeptic agnostic freethought
antitheism humanism Hitchens
a6theism10 tfbd AdviceAtheists

Events
10/5-6 NAPCON2012 - Boston
08/11 Regional Conference - St. Paul MN
Giving
DWB/MSF fundraiser
Kiva lending team
FBB's Appeal to Freethinkers to Fight Cancer
Camp Quest
Ex* Groups
ex-Muslim ex-Catholic ex-Mormon
ex-JW ex-Jew ex-SistersinZion
ex-Bahai ex-Christian ex-Adventist
Assistance
Coming Out
Atheist Havens
Start an Atheist Club at Your School

Chat: #reddit-atheism on irc.freenode.net

Watch: #/r/atheism on reddit.tv

Read The FAQ


Submit Rage Comic

Submit Facebook Chat

Submit Meme

Submit Something Else

Read The FAQ

a community for

reddit is a source for what's new and popular online. vote on links that you like or dislike and help decide what's popular, or submit your own! learn more ›

all 93 comments

[–]FoxOnTheRocks 82 points83 points ago

I think this cartoon is about Ayn Rand's Anthem.

Edit: It feels pretty great to have gotten top comment for this picture twice by posting the same thingtwice. I will remember this for next time.

[–]Audentio 10 points11 points ago

It is. The only thing I can remember really from that book was the mandated sexy times. Was awkward when I was in 8th grade and it's still awkward now.

[–]SDiaz 6 points7 points ago

elaborate?

[–]Audentio 13 points14 points ago

Well first I'm gay, and second, what if you get stuck with someone ugly?

I'll try and give you a description of the event from memory:

  1. No one in Anthem is allowed to have relationships

  2. Once a year, a portion of the population meets in a grand hall and they're assigned a partner.

  3. They have sex with their partner solely for the purpose of procreation.

  4. The partner is preassigned. No picking and choosing.

[–]SDiaz 12 points13 points ago

What the fuck, Ayn Rand?

[–]Jungle_Soraka 18 points19 points ago

She's not promoting a society in which that takes place, she's taking her perception of a large government, and distorting it to become a dystopia.

pleasedon'tlynchme.

[–]mindbleach 1 point2 points ago

Sound about right for Rand. 'Here's a bunch of things governments don't actually do. Isn't government evil?'

[–]sTiKyt -1 points0 points ago

Actually as far as Ayn Rand goes, she'd probably be the only one to benefit from that kind of system.

[–]auralgasm 0 points1 point ago

Ayn Rand believed that sex was an expression of appreciation for your partner's intellect, not their body. Anyone who felt lust over physical appearance was giving in to base animal instincts and was not worthy of her cult. This is why her longtime lover, Nathaniel Brandon (he changed his name to incorporate rand...lol) was expelled from her circle of friends when he had an affair with a younger women when Ayn Rand was 58. If he was of SUPERIOR INTELLECT he would have only wanted to fuck Ayn Rand, you see, because Ayn Rand was, in her own estimation, the smartest person since Aristotle.

[–]Dark_Lord_Sauron 0 points1 point ago

Actually, that's more or less organized religion's/a state ideologist's wetdream.

[–]tlazolteotl -1 points0 points ago

it's dystopian

[–]TheFourthDoor 0 points1 point ago

I think she was critiquing religion's take on sex.

[–]ApolloUnitus 3 points4 points ago

If I remember correctly there was a sheet of some sort with a hole for the male and female bits and pieces so there was no physical attachment.

[–]bestbiff 2 points3 points ago

Sounds like we're gettin' laid, everyone!

[–]Carrotsandstuff 1 point2 points ago

In that particular dystopian society, choosing one person or the other over looks would have been considered the "Transgression of Preference", or preferring one person over another for any reason. Basically "uggs need love too man."

Homosexuality was never covered in Anthem, now that I think of it. But I think the absence of the topic meant that it didn't really bother Rand too much.

[–]bigbangbilly 0 points1 point ago

[–]Spiro_Agnew 0 points1 point ago

According to Rand, ugly people don't deserve to be in a relationship and we shouldn't feel bad about telling them to fuck right off.

[–]buster_casey 3 points4 points ago

She's one to talk

[–]RPrevolution 1 point2 points ago

When did she say that

[–]dakdestructo 0 points1 point ago

Rand was pretty horrible when it came to homosexuality. But she didn't really let her distaste for it affect her stance on discrimination of homosexuals. She put them at pretty much the same level as any other minority group: government should NOT discriminate, but private sector can do what they want.

Pretty much every objectivist since her death has distanced him- or herself from Rand's views and stated that Objectivism holds no stance on homosexuality as long as it's consenting adults.

[–]treleus 0 points1 point ago

Hey, that's totally not like Plato's Republic or anything. Nope.

I haven't read Anthem, so I don't know if that was intentional on Ayn Rand's part.

[–]Audentio 0 points1 point ago

It probably was. I don't know though because I'm going purely off memory on a book I read over 5 years ago.

[–]Audentio 2 points3 points ago

I'll also throw in, the main male character, created the light bulb. However, their civilization severely curbs the advancement of technology because the old world was destroyed due to I'm guessing WMDs, plummeting the world into a simpler age and much of the old technology is gone. Right now, their grand council just agreed that the only form of producing light shall come from candles. When the main character creates the lightbulb (or something like it) the grand council punishes him.

[–]SDiaz 2 points3 points ago

It also reminds me of Plato's allegory of a cave.

[–]mistrmangan 2 points3 points ago

I think this cartoon is about Ayn Rand's Anthem.

From the fountainhead. “Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burned at the stake he had taught his brothers to light. He was considered an evildoer who had dealt with a demon mankind dreaded. But thereafter men had fire to keep them warm, to cook their food, to light their caves. He had left them a gift they had not conceived and he had lifted darkess off the earth. Centuries later, the first man invented the wheel. He was probably torn on the rack he had taught his brothers to build. He was considered a transgressor who ventured into forbidden terrritory. But thereafter, men could travel past any horizon. He had left them a gift they had not conceived and he had opened the roads of the world."

[–]atla 0 points1 point ago

If you're saying it's about the Fountainhead more than Anthem, Anthem was literally about a guy getting in trouble for finding out about lightbulbs, since it would put the candlemakers out of business.

[–]mistrmangan 0 points1 point ago

Nah, just saying what I was about to post was from the fountainhead.

[–]atla 0 points1 point ago

Okay!

[–]heb0 3 points4 points ago

Nah, it's far too subtle. Plus, I stared at it for several minutes, and at no point did it break form, allowing Ayn Rand to burst out of the screen and start ranting at the viewer.

[–]Pythagoras_the_Great 0 points1 point ago

Yeah, I got that vibe too.

[–]I_say_cheers 0 points1 point ago

Literally popped into my head in the first 10 seconds. I'm beginning to miss feeling clever. Dammit.

[–]misterfanwank 16 points17 points ago

Hah! The noose won't fit over the bulb!

SCIENCE WINS AGAIN!

[–]bigbangbilly 3 points4 points ago

How about dangling from the legs left to starve that is what this picture looks like.

[–]OnceAndFutureThing 8 points9 points ago

[–]bigbangbilly -2 points-1 points ago

Looks more like rectal force feeding.

[–]1541drive 7 points8 points ago

WTF. There is no way his head is fitting through that noose.

[–]BitJit 2 points3 points ago

Also I don't think lightbulbs are sentient, but I could be wrong.

[–]Primitive_ 20 points21 points ago

Symbolic? This isn't symbolic. This actually happened. In real life. Literally.

[–]devoutagonist 3 points4 points ago

Whose bright idea was that?

[–]2Fast2Finkel 9 points10 points ago

Damn priests of the Temples of Syrinx....

[–]n3xg3n 5 points6 points ago

Damn... I think I'm morally obligated to upvote any and all Rush references outside of /r/rush

Edit: Oh who am I kidding... I upvote them there too.

[–]SevenfoldAvenger -1 points0 points ago

LMAO!!

[–]2Fast2Finkel -1 points0 points ago

You. You're alright.

[–]supermonkey1313 2 points3 points ago

Now, this would be incandescent bulbs and a CFL.

[–]unquietwiki 0 points1 point ago

I have tea party friends that make that critique. Never mind bulb hoarding...

[–]supermonkey1313 0 points1 point ago

I really don't get why people are hoarding incandescent bulbs. The only reason I can think of is that some people prefer the light of incandescents (I don't), but there are CFLs and LEDs that give off very similar light. Not to mention CFLs last five years and LEDs last 15 (I think).

[–]RHodeidra 0 points1 point ago

I came here to to "ctrl-f => LED". Thank you

[–]ihearttbeavers 4 points5 points ago

Re-Post... just in case anyone was wondering.

[–]area51champ 0 points1 point ago

Wouldn't the hangman's hood start on fire? (assuming that he is also a candle-head)

[–]manuel_robot_cleaner 0 points1 point ago

I could only think about how the executioner candle has a hood, so he must be a lightbulb in disguise.

[–]Killashard 2 points3 points ago

What is the executioner? His mask would go up in flames if he was a candle.

[–]YetzirahToAhssiah 2 points3 points ago

Ayn Rand, "Anthem"

[–]viethaaaaa 1 point2 points ago

ohhhhh i get it like the song "this little light of mine, im gonna let it shine, this little light of mine, im gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine ohhh let it shine" but this picture they just puttin the lights out.

[–]augystyle 0 points1 point ago

good call to put "symbolic" in the title otherwise people might have gotten confused

[–]notanasshole53 0 points1 point ago

Thanks for pointing out that this cartoon is symbolic! Wasn't quite sure.

[–]cococool 0 points1 point ago

A symbolic REPOST

[–]you_sir_are_wrong 0 points1 point ago

Holy mother of repost

[–]Pillagerguy 1 point2 points ago

A symbolic repost about how nobody on this website posts new content.

[–]Adventurer_Ted 0 points1 point ago

When did the Borax Kid's head turn into a light bulb?

[–]dat_kramer 1 point2 points ago

wheres the atheist part?

[–]treleus 0 points1 point ago

As an added layer of symbolism, candles are a fixture of most churches. At least in Catholic churches, where there are those little rows of candles you light when you pray to the Virgin Mary or the Baby Jesus on behalf of the less fortunate.

But this picture is more generic than it is explicitly about religion. Guy finds new way to do or see things, and people don't immediately like it. See Ignaz Semmelweis and what people thought of his idea that doctors ended up killing patients because they didn't wash their hands.

[–]AnimusRex 0 points1 point ago

Even still, I would want to be SO GROSSLY INCANDESCENT

[–]bLazeni 0 points1 point ago

Would be even more accurate if the executioner had the same shape head as the person being executed.

[–]koavf 1 point2 points ago

Every time this gets reposted, it's equally not about atheism.

[–]Falcon712 1 point2 points ago

Replace the lightbulb with Christ the Candles with Jews, and the noose with the Cross.

You get the crucifixion. This being said. Jesus is the Son of the one living God.

[–]gautam01mohan 0 points1 point ago

Amazing work.

[–]pillon 0 points1 point ago

Oh wow, never seen this one before.

[–]benzinow 0 points1 point ago

The first thing I thought about was ayn rand and then isaw the top comment said the same thing. So true.

[–]dudebot 1 point2 points ago

Actually on reddit I find this to be the other way around. Atheists don't like it when Christians try to support their own religion.

I'm Christian and I'm always browsing this subreddit to try and offer people another perspective. Whenever I do so, I am met with much hate from atheists, with people calling me "fucking retarted."

If you reply to this comment with hate and zeal, please note the irony. Just my opinion you don't have to agree with it.

[–]ThatIsMyHat 0 points1 point ago

I especially liked the part where this cartoon is explicitly about atheism. Good work, OP.

[–]USS_MichelleBachman 0 points1 point ago

OMG SYMBOLISM

[–]gugulo 0 points1 point ago

It's interesting. My religious mother asked me to make a commentary of this picture (she's a teacher and we did exercises like that for trainning). I guess religion appart she's quite functional.

[–]scooterputin 0 points1 point ago

Thank you for interpreting the image for everybody with the informative title. I'm sure that nobody could piece that together on their own.

[–]ELOFTW 0 points1 point ago

That's the purpose of titles, to describe what the link is in the form of a short comment...

[–]scooterputin 0 points1 point ago

"A symbolic cartoon" would've sufficed, no?

[–]8Dface 1 point2 points ago

And.... Atheism?

[–]ArchangelleOPisAfag -4 points-3 points ago

Nice repost faggot.

[–]Blzbba -5 points-4 points ago

The candles are Muslims and the lightbulb is free speech

[–]SevenfoldAvenger -1 points0 points ago

Candles are the so called "accepted" way of life. Lightnulb is new ideas. How 'bout reading the title, OK?

[–]Pround_Republican -3 points-2 points ago

Not really a religious thing. Lots of none religious people are stubborn. Why target Christians....I have a guess.