Rationalists of East Tennessee Newsletter

April 2025

Blount County First Wednesday Social

Wednesday,  April 2, 6:00 - 7:30 pm  

Come join us at "The Bird and The Book" Cafe,  1509 E Broadway Ave, Maryville, for socializing and dinner.

If you have any extra copies of Free Inquiry, Skeptical Inquirer, Freethought Today, or other Freethought magazines, bring them to the social. We will try to have RET stickers ready to place over your addresses to make the magazines suitable for distribution for outreach. 

This will be a monthly event, normally on the First Wednesday.  All are welcome to join in.

April First Sunday Meeting (in Person)

April 6, 2025 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Pellissippi State, Hardin Valley, Goins Bldg Cafeteria Annex

Our guest (originally scheduled for March 2) this month will be Jennifer Davis speaking on Avoiding Scams. 

Jennifer Davis spent 40 years working with computers and information security. Now that she is retired, she spends time helping neighbors, friends and local non-profit organizations with the challenges of technology. While working for the Department of Defense, she created and delivered custom training courses to help government personnel adapt to Microsoft 365 and Power BI (Business Intelligence). Jennifer will enlighten us on cyber fraud, identity theft and how best to protect ourselves from the hidden criminals on the internet and social media. Jennifer particularly encourages audience participation and learning from the mistakes of others.

Coffee and other hot beverages will be served. Bring a snack to share if you wish. 

We meet in the Cafeteria Annex at the back of the Goins Administration Building. Please enter through the rear to avoid disturbing any other groups using the building. 

For those who live at a distance, the meeting is available through Zoom:

Time: April 6, 2025 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89732469105?pwd=mOaJaGxlPsOOTzTYwdQJFogZDBHgZa.1

Meeting ID: 897 3246 9105

Passcode: 858128

Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kvERTkG8Z

   RET Skeptic Book Club

   April 13, 2025  Sunday       4:00 – 6:00 pm EST

   Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89607118678?pwd=aJeaRRAuoLDTP5qnlyXbrouXHwLh4h.1

Meeting ID: 896 0711 8678

Passcode: 517330

Best Things First

Bjørn Lomborg

World leaders have promised everything to everyone. But they are failing. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are supposed to be delivered by 2030. The goals literally promise everything, like eradicating poverty, hunger and disease, stopping war and climate change, ending corruption, fixing education along with countless other promises. This year, the world is at halftime for its promises, but nowhere near halfway. Together with more than a hundred of the world’s top economists, Bjorn Lomborg has worked for years to identify the world’s best solutions. Based on 12 new, peer-reviewed papers, forthcoming in Cambridge University Press’ Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, this book highlights the world’s best policies. Some things are difficult to fix, cost a lot, and help little. Other problems we know how to fix, at low cost, with remarkable outcomes. We should do the smart things first. Governments and philanthropists should focus on these 12 smartest things. Fix tuberculosis, malaria, and chronic disease, tackle malnutrition, improve education, increase trade, implement e-procurement, and secure land tenure. This will improve the world amazingly. The cost is $35 billion a year. The benefits include saving 4.2 million lives each year and generating $1.1 trillion more for the world’s poor. We can definitely afford it: The cost of $35 billion is equivalent to the increase in annual global spending on cosmetics over the last two years. This is likely the best thing the world can do this decade. 314 pages.

April Third Sunday Zoom Meeting

April 20 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Discussion about Jordan Peterson, led by Aaron Tyrrell. 

*This discussion will reference the videos below, but they will not be played during the meeting. Please watch them ahead of time for a more informed discussion!*

     Like it or not, the modern discourse in philosophy is happening on YouTube. Content creators like Joe Rogan command audiences many times the size of any show on TV, and he has long-form discussions with a wide variety of scientists, philosophers, and politicos, representing the full spectrum of ideas from very good to extremely bad.

     One of the most frequent guests on these podcasts is Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson. He is by far the most influential thinker among men under forty, even though most people over forty have never heard of him. He was one of the first to address the “crisis of meaning” among young men who are increasingly left behind in the universities, the economy, and the culture. Unmotivated young men who live at home, don’t have careers, don’t date, and find themselves addicted to video games, social media, porn, and drugs. Jordan Peterson’s book “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos” connected with many of these young men and helped them find meaning and purpose in their lives.

     Since then, Peterson has become a major polarizing figure in the culture wars. It started with his criticism of the Canadian Bill C-16 that protected transgender identity and expression. He was amplified by those who saw him as a secular, scientific voice that gave credibility to their prejudices, and Peterson has been more than happy to cater to his fans on the right. He has become one of the prime examples of audience capture in algorithmically-driven media, where his opinions and discussion topics evolve based on how many views they garner.

     He is now a prime example of modern “secular gurus” who have evolved out of the New Atheist movement, driven by culture wars, capitalism, and the algorithm. This has led Peterson and other atheists to advocate a return to orthodox religion to please their increasingly Christian audiences, and endlessly equivocate when asked directly about their own belief in the supernatural.

     RET will approach the subject as we do all subjects—with skepticism. Many members are unfamiliar with him and his ideas, so we’ll be introducing them and developing first impressions and reactions.

     If you are one of Peterson’s many fans, we welcome you to join us and tell us what you find compelling about his ideas!

     Since most conversations about Peterson’s ideas take place on YouTube, it is only appropriate that our conversation uses these videos as a reference. These videos try to present his key theories and subject matter from a neutral perspective. Watching all of the short videos should take about an hour.

For links to the videos, click here: RET 2025.04.20 Resources.pdf. 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84601263877?pwd=fkcZEAaeHa7KgV4UuS1U2FhQg609tB.1

Meeting ID: 846 0126 3877

Passcode: 423302

Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kecThIOk24

Knox County Fourth Wednesday Social

Wednesday,  April 23, 6:00 - 7:30 pm 

We will have a Knox County Social on the fourth Wednesday of each month.   Our get-together will be on April 23 this month at a new location:

Kern's Food Hall

2110 Chapman Highway, Knoxville, TN 37920

Kern's Food Hall is a vibrant food and drink destination that offers a diverse range of culinary experiences. 

Come join fellow freethinkers for lively discussion around a light meal. Everyone is welcome!

This will be a monthly event on the Fourth Wednesday. 

Do you Matter to the Economy?

If you spend a little less this month, does Jeff Bezos call you up to see if you are well?   If you spend more than usual, does Jerome Powell call you up and tell you to cut back to hold down inflation?  Does your pocket change even matter?

Most Americans can’t afford life anymore — and they just don’t matter to the economy like they once did.

The bottom 90% of earners — those who make less than $250,000 a year — are now responsible for 50.3% of all consumer spending in the country, data from Moody’s Analytics show. Thirty years ago, they accounted for 64% of U.S. spending. As the rich make up an increasing share of the U.S. economy, bolstering overall consumer spending, middle- and low-income Americans cut their spending from fall 2023 to fall 2024, Moody’s found.

What does it mean that BMWs and luxury purses might drive the economy more that your beat-up old Yugo and thrift store purse?  Are the high dollar items driving interest rates up so you can't buy a house?  Will all those tariffs to make America great again push you over the edge?

As you sit in your cardboard box under the freeway overpass eating day old bread, sign in to Reflections and tell us about your views on this issue.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83342970347?pwd=RXUs4bbklfsX09tSOvUxKzocGstoK3.1

Meeting ID: 833 4297 0347

Passcode: 287863

RET Scholarship Deadline, April 30

    There are many scholarships available from religious organizations for students. RET wishes to expand the educational opportunities of secular students in hopes of helping to develop future secular leadership. RET will award scholarship(s) to students who are enrolled full time in accredited colleges or universities and who identify as secular.

    The Rationalists of East Tennessee will award up to 10 scholarships of $2200. The use of the funds is not restricted (i.e. you can use the money for food and rent, not just for tuition and books).

Requirements:

• Citizens and permanent residents of the U.S. and Canada, along with Canadian landed immigrants, are eligible. Also eligible are those who have lived in the U.S., Canada, or U.S. territories for at least 6 months in 2024.
• Studying full-time at an accredited college or university in Fall 2025.
  
• Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible.
  
• Previous recipients are eligible to apply again.
  
• Because the scholarship is unrestricted, it is taxable income. Winners will need to provide tax information to RET prior to disbursement.

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