In my last two blogs I have attacked religious icons Martin Luther and Mother Teresa because the actual record of their lives shows they were anything but holier than thou. My first blog showed "saint" Thomas More was a torturer and killer.
The readers of these blogs may have figured out that I am not a fan of religion. However, I am also an open minded person who knows that a lack of belief in god does not necessarily make one good or enlightened. The dictators Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot are obvious examples of that fact.
To show my sense of balance I decided to find surprising facts that show the dark side of a notable atheist. I found a hideous dark side to the famous playwright George Bernard Shaw.
Shaw was an Irishman who wrote many well received plays. For his writing Shaw was award the Noble Prize in Literature. He was also awarded an Oscar for the film version of his play Pygmalion. He is the only person to win both awards.
My interest in Shaw came from quotes from him that I thought were clever. Among them are:
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."
"The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed but that he cannot believe anyone else."
On the surface Shaw seems to be a good man with great accomplishments. Under a microscope, however, there is one especially hideous fact about his life; he was a staunch communist and admirer of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
As I already noted, Stalin is proof that atheists can act badly. This is due to the fact that he ruled the Soviet Union for years with an iron fist and killed at least 30 million Russians. Despite this fact, Shaw had nothing but love for the psychopathic ruler.
One way of smearing atheists is to say they are communists. In the case of George Bernard Shaw, applying this label would not be hyperbole.
In late 1939, after the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact in August, both George Bernard Shaw AND Sean O'Casey had letters in the British press denouncing the British war effort and saying that the UK should make peace with Hitler as Stalin had so wisely done. (Shaw's missive included a few words of praise for Hitler). When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 our two Anglo-Irish Intellectuals promptly changed their tune.
ReplyDeleteShaws letter "Uncommon Sense About the War" was published in the New Statesman on 7 October 1939
http://www.irishsalem.com/individuals/writers-and-journalists/fellowtravellers-stalinism-childabuse/gbshaw-nazi-sovietpact-07oct39.php
O'Casey's "What Are Our War Aims" was in "Picture Post" on 11 Novemver of that year.
http://www.irishsalem.com/individuals/writers-and-journalists/fellowtravellers-stalinism-childabuse/seanocasey-nazi-sovietpact-11nov39.php
Anti-clericalism was a major motive with both of these Useful Idiots. Note that they did NOT support the Catholic dictator Franco.