Ned wants to believe that, wants to believe that it's all a lie, that there's no one in the sky watching and judging everything he does, that there's no eternity of fire waiting for him after he dies for things that were beyond his control. Most of the time he does believe it, or at least, he tells himself he does. But Ginsberg, from the sound of it, really does believe it. Is firm in his conviction that there's no afterlife, no other place, just here and now.

Ned wonders (in the way that he always does with new people, as he starts to get to know them) how he'd react if he found out that life and death isn't as simple as he has been told. Would he revise his opinion on life on death, on hell and whether Ned belongs there?

"I don't think you're crazy," Ned says in a voice that is particularly warm, though low, in case anyone should happen to come in and overhear them, "I think it's a good thing they upset you. I mean- it's not a good thing you're upset. That's not what I meant." Now he's the one tripping over his words, awkwardly navigating his way towards his original point, "I meant... if more people were like you and hated them, I think, the world would be a better place."