Another Top 10 list! The Top 10 Posts of 2009 roundup

Because it’s virtually a sacrosanct feature amongst blogs as far as I can tell and because I always like to showcase my stuff anyway, here are, via the data from Google Analytics, the ten most viewed posts on this blog in the year 2009 (ie – since Preliator’s inception last July). Some of these posts I truly am proud of, and others leave me scratching my head as I wonder, “how in the hell did that make the Top 10 list?”.

#10: “I just want to know what her problem is” – October 30
Wherein I comment on a report that states that there are numerous cases of men in British Columbia, Canada, who claim they’ve been kicked in the balls in the streets by a random woman, apparently for absolutely no reason at all (on their part, that is).

#09: The science of pedophilia, morality, and free will – December 26
A reader brings up two interesting medical cases of people who suddenly began showing pedophiliac urges after brain injury, when they had been seemingly perfectly “normal” until then. Also brings up deep questions regarding morality and free will.

#08: Men, wanna live longer? Stare at boobs! ^{[Updated – hoax!]} – December 10
A specious report on a supposed German study that (supposedly) concluded that staring at women’s breasts was healthy for men and increased their lifespans. Even though I apparently fell into believing this was genuine like an idiot until informed otherwise, that still didn’t stop this post from being the eighth most visited post of the year. Weird. (But, on the other hand, I just knew that title would get me somewhere in terms of page views.)

#07: “Does faith make you happy?” – December 18
USA Today’s Faith & Reason blog asks whether faith makes people happier in general than a lack of faith. An anti-religious rant of mine ensues in which I affirm that, yes, having your head and heart filled with fluff about how a supreme being is in control of everything and watching over you, and how your enemies and other nonbelievers are gonna fry in Hell, does tend to elevate your spirits.

#06: Only in the Nanny State of Britain: when the victim is the one jailed and not the criminal – December 15
A man and his family are terrorized by a knife-wielding house-robber and his crew, are tied up and threatened with death. Unfortunately for the robbers, the family father escapes, gets help, and proceeds to whack the living shit out of the burglar. And then gets jailed for 2.5 years – whilst the burglar gets nothing. Hope those bruises and cuts really sting. My sympathy for weapon-wielding burglars and would-be murderers is just about nonexistent; sorry.

#05: Another example how atheists should not go on Fox Newz – December 23
Not unless they wanna be mocked and bullied, as was poor Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, when she was “interviewed” by Faux Newz bitch Laura Ingraham. Infuriating video.

#04: As if we needed more evidence demonstrating how pot is not the devil – December 14
Not only is marijuana not gonna kill you (unless you’re beaten to death for driving too slowly on the highway), but it might even actually help your brain, as research finds that an agent in street-sold weed actually promotes neurogenesis (ie.: creation and development of braincells) and may help combat anxiety and depression. (But then, any pot-head can already attest to that.)

#03: Another rant on how not all animal sex is animal abuse – December 19
Another one of my rants on the unfairness and cruelty of the persecution, both social and legal, faced by people who engage in sex with animals when the animal is not harmed in any way, shape or form. Spurred on by a particularly insensitive and royally dumbass quote from a law enforcement official about how, apparently, having sex with female horses makes Michael Vick’s horrific brutality towards dogs pale in comparison. Unreal.

#02: What it all comes down to … – December 18
In which I post a comic in which the problems with acting in the face of Global Warming all boil down to: “What if Global Warming is a big hoax and we all create a better world for nothing?”. Damn straight. (I sorta suspect much of the traffic that bumped this post up to the #2 spot is due to the source site being Pharyngulated, itself.)

#01: Saying that labeling children is wrong = FASCISM!!!1!! – November 20
It’s no surprise that this post is my #1 – it has, to itself, 20 times more comments and is responsible for up to a full quarter, if not a third, of the blog’s total traffic. It all started as a casual dissection of columnist Ed West’s “FASCISM!!!” nonsense in the Telegraph regarding the British Humanist Association’s “Please Don’t Label Me” bus ad campaign which told people not to label children along religious or political ideologies until they’re old enough to choose for themselves. A perfectly reasonable message. Ed West didn’t think so. So, I tore into his silly article … and my little post was tweeted. Which truly kicked the ball down the snowy mountain and started a hell of an avalanche.

(Yes, don’t worry, I have noticed how all but two posts were posted this last month of December; that doesn’t change anything. The point of this list is to enumerate the top 10 most visited posts, regardless of whether they’re chronologically clustered together or not.)

Well, this is obviously my last post of the year. It’s been a long one, full of both excitement and misery, brilliance and sheer, bottomless-pit-esque stupidity. But then, so is every year, no? So: see you in 2010! =P