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Quick help, please

Skiltch

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I'm writing a story which features various characters of different religions and belief systems. One of them is a Bright, but since not many people know what that is, I need to put in a clarification. Here's what I was thinking of.

"...The next person on the list was Kreptic Vonam. He was a Bright, which meant that he supported an empirical view of the world that rejected anything religious or superstitious. He worked as a professional skeptic..."

Did I sum up Brightness correctly?
 
Skiltch said:
I'm writing a story which features various characters of different religions and belief systems. One of them is a Bright, but since not many people know what that is, I need to put in a clarification. Here's what I was thinking of.

"...The next person on the list was Kreptic Vonam. He was a Bright, which meant that he supported an empirical view of the world that rejected anything religious or superstitious. He worked as a professional skeptic..."

Did I sum up Brightness correctly?
Click to expand...

I am not a bright; I am an atheist. I may later accept the term - I'm not sure. Right now The Brights is a movement to put a warmer face on atheism. Atheism has all sorts of connotations (some raised on these boards), and the movement is based on removing that stigma. Tking Doll provided the link. The site is pretty lightweight, but the links to articles are good. Particularly see Dawkins' piece in the Guardian.

As to your story and the character you're developing - the question would seem to be what traits you've giving KV. Most of what you described, albeit brief, would be atheism. If you're going to have him actually trying to explain why brights feel the need for the term, then he's a bright. (I don't really see much more in the movement, at present. Just a desire to come up with a term that's more acceptable/pleasant. Again - see Dawkins, and read the site for better insight(no pun intended).

I'll be curious in five years to see how many atheists have taken to the term. As a political stance, I think I agree with them. I just wish it was a less woo-ish sounding word. (Funny, you don't look woo-ish.:o)
 
I don't like "Bright". It sounds perky and chipper and cheerful, three things I'm not. And kinda boasty, too. Like calling ourselves "Smarts" or "Clevers".

I prefer "The Doom".

[Ding dong!]
"Hi! We're here to talk about Jesus! Do you believe in Jesus?"
"No. I'm an The Doom."
"The....what?"
"An The Doom!!!! Bleah!"
[vampire grabby gestures and hissing]
[the sound of running footsteps fades into the distance]
"Beware of....the The Doom!"
 
I don't think calling oneself a bright is putting a warmer face on atheism.It is showing oneself to be a snotty pissant who is saying to the world, "I am brighter than you dullards and proud of it."
Presenting that face to most people deserves a smack in the gob.
 
The guy doesn't have an air of superiority. He does have a general contempt for religion and superstition, and he could also be called an antithiest (AKA evangelical athiest). He's educated, smart, a nice guy overall, though, and is polite to the religious people he encounters, at least until the various events of the story kick in (it's a horror story, heh). One thing I'm debating is giving him more flaws -- in the early draft I'm writing now, its hinted that he tends to shirk work -- or not. I'm leaning towards not, simply because I don't want to demonize him worse than the religious people that he's with, but I'll just have to see.
Kreptic will eventually get into a "why I am a Bright and why you all should be too," Foolmewunz, so I guess the term fits him then.
Thank you all for the help.
 
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Skiltch said:
One thing I'm debating is giving him more flaws -- in the early draft I'm writing now, its hinted that he tends to shirk work -- or not. I'm leaning towards not, simply because I don't want to demonize him worse than the religious people that he's with, but I'll just have to see.
Kreptic will eventually get into a "why I am a Bright and why you all should be too," Foolmewunz, so I guess the term fits him then.
Thank you all for the help.
Click to expand...
mybold
Flaws? An atheist! Never! We're perfect. (From the guy who couldn't spell semantics and used it in a title!) So a bright he is!

As to the term, itself, I am leaning towards agreeing with TM on the cutesy connotation of bright. And I think I'm pushing my vote firmly to the "No" column when I re-visit the site. The "bright" they're leaning towards is "seeing the light", and aren't those ORBS in the masthead? A little too much woo. (And somewhere, I can't recall if it's on the site or in an article, they roll out the big tent to include agnostics. It's sort of a rainbow coalition, I guess.)
 
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In fact I think that calling yourself a Bright is stupid.
Moronic, Kalikakoid, Bushwah, febrile and inappropiately flamboyant, at the very least.
 
The Utterly and Totally Damned to Rot in Hell


(sorry Xian joke, just kidding....)
 
kittynh said:
The Utterly and Totally Damned to Rot in Hell


(sorry Xian joke, just kidding....)
Click to expand...

Sorry - I'm an idiot - but what's Xian?

I've got a google issue - Xian is the ancient capital of China and the first four trillion hits I get are either government guide books or tourist offers or "find cheap hotel rooms in ______ ". (I live in Hong Kong and Google has made itself geo-centric. I wish they'd have a "google globe" option. You get the server they stick you with.)
 
The "X" is part of the re-branding of religion. To keep up with modern youth culture, Christianity is trying to seem "extreme"...pardon me, I mean, "xtreme" or possibly "xtreem" or even, sadly, "xtr33m". That's why current depictions of Jesus include a lip piercing.
 
Thanx TM, Doc A.

TV over here in Asia is replete with X games. Maybe we could get into X-Baptisms? See how long you can hold 'em under.
 
Jeff Corey has the right of it. Ixnay on the Ightbray! The term is so awful you could almost imagine the believer community dreamt the damned thing up for the purpose of cultural sabotage.

Why not just call him a skeptic?

ETA: and good luck with the story!
 
(I forgot to post this; I didn't want to just call him a 'skeptic' or an athiest because there are other people in the group that are also athiests and skeptics, such as a lawyer that has a fairly important role. But since he's actually a professional skeptic I thought he might fit as being a bright.)
 
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