"Faith Versus Reason"
I don't particularly like to talk too much shit about Religion (or faith in general) since I know that there are many people out there in the world that have nothing other than their faith in their lives.
Many people think that making the Middle East a Democratic area of the world will create a path away from the many problems that exist there, such as poverty, violence and tribal warfare. I've got a better idea of what could solve those problems: Jobs and Hobbies.
If the people of the Middle East had Jobs (which would be a better start than, oh... I don't know... bombing the shit out of them), and in order to distract themselves with how mundane their lives are, they'd have to get Hobbies. In a couple of generations, you'd see a lot of the Jihadist, Extremist or Fundamentalist bullshit start to taper off... and how is that?
Do you have that one part of your family that lives out in the sticks, and are a bunch of overly (and sometimes oppressively) religious nutbars... you know, to the point that you feel like killing anyone that you know that encourages their incredibly narrow-minded interpretation of a single book (Torah, Q'uran or Bible) as being their own personal "Woobie"; protecting them from the reality that the rest of us inhabit?
Have you ever sat them in front of an Xbox or your DirecTV on the big-screen that you have in you living room for a couple of minutes? It's like the religious zealot's version of a shot of Morphine... they tend to turn into normal people after about an hour of exposure to the things that many of us enjoy... even those of us that're broke.
When I lived in South Dakota for a couple of months in High School, my neighbors used to complain about hiring a local Amish girl to babysit, since, "All she ever does was watch TV and tell the kids to play in their rooms." The reason for all of that? Her religious heritage was forced on her at birth, and in her desperation of seeing anything other than the butter-churning and barn-raisings of her home, she became fixated on the escapist entertainment that her heathen brethren enjoys so much.
Now, is Todd saying that Religion is a complete waste of time, devoid of meaning and purpose?
No... not quite. Mostly... but not quite.
I think that many people raising their children rely on the church, temple or mosque to teach their kids the morals and compassion that they could just as easily teach the kids themselves, and should, more often than not, teach their kids the neccessary skills of reason and logic over faith and dogma. With reason and logic comes the uncanny abilities of independant thought and humor... both of which you can't survive living in a world of death and corruption without.
In the end, the main problem with Fundamentalists of every Religion is fairly obvious: They have no sense of humor. How many people know a Republican with a good sense of humor? I bet that at least one of you knows one, but they have that kind of sense of humor that only an elitist Texas Oilman or a member of the Middle Ages French Aristocracy could appreciate.
If we had more people in this world that were trained since childhood to think for themselves, we'd have a lot less violence, ridiculous Fatwah's and so on and so on. Isn't the Middle East, which is rife with corruption, poverty and religious zealotry a miserable enough place to live, and wouldn't it be so much easier to live there if the Muslim Cleric's there encouraged their people to think positive and rebuild their countries instead of encouraging Anti-Semitism and outrage over a fucking cartoon?!
Islam is a great faith, and the vast majority of it's practitioners are peaceful, respectful and civic-minded individuals, with a rich history of scientific and mathematical progress. But don't forget, once the Theocratic Islamic Fundamentalists came into power in the Middle East decades ago, all that progress stopped, since scientific progress and discovery was found to be against Allah, and therefore, illegal. And sadly, this was what heralded the end of the "Cradle of Civilization Age"... I personally want to see the Middle Eastern region get back on it's feet, and take it's place as the home of revolutionary thought again. Maybe it'll happen in my lifetime, maybe not.
I know that someone wants to hear a joke about all of this stuff going on in the Middle East, so I have one for you:
Q: Why is all the oil in the Middle East?
A: Because that's where everything at one point went to die.
I came up with that joke, so if you tell someone it, drop my name...
Have a great Valentine's Day, everyone...
Many people think that making the Middle East a Democratic area of the world will create a path away from the many problems that exist there, such as poverty, violence and tribal warfare. I've got a better idea of what could solve those problems: Jobs and Hobbies.
If the people of the Middle East had Jobs (which would be a better start than, oh... I don't know... bombing the shit out of them), and in order to distract themselves with how mundane their lives are, they'd have to get Hobbies. In a couple of generations, you'd see a lot of the Jihadist, Extremist or Fundamentalist bullshit start to taper off... and how is that?
Do you have that one part of your family that lives out in the sticks, and are a bunch of overly (and sometimes oppressively) religious nutbars... you know, to the point that you feel like killing anyone that you know that encourages their incredibly narrow-minded interpretation of a single book (Torah, Q'uran or Bible) as being their own personal "Woobie"; protecting them from the reality that the rest of us inhabit?
Have you ever sat them in front of an Xbox or your DirecTV on the big-screen that you have in you living room for a couple of minutes? It's like the religious zealot's version of a shot of Morphine... they tend to turn into normal people after about an hour of exposure to the things that many of us enjoy... even those of us that're broke.
When I lived in South Dakota for a couple of months in High School, my neighbors used to complain about hiring a local Amish girl to babysit, since, "All she ever does was watch TV and tell the kids to play in their rooms." The reason for all of that? Her religious heritage was forced on her at birth, and in her desperation of seeing anything other than the butter-churning and barn-raisings of her home, she became fixated on the escapist entertainment that her heathen brethren enjoys so much.
Now, is Todd saying that Religion is a complete waste of time, devoid of meaning and purpose?
No... not quite. Mostly... but not quite.
I think that many people raising their children rely on the church, temple or mosque to teach their kids the morals and compassion that they could just as easily teach the kids themselves, and should, more often than not, teach their kids the neccessary skills of reason and logic over faith and dogma. With reason and logic comes the uncanny abilities of independant thought and humor... both of which you can't survive living in a world of death and corruption without.
In the end, the main problem with Fundamentalists of every Religion is fairly obvious: They have no sense of humor. How many people know a Republican with a good sense of humor? I bet that at least one of you knows one, but they have that kind of sense of humor that only an elitist Texas Oilman or a member of the Middle Ages French Aristocracy could appreciate.
If we had more people in this world that were trained since childhood to think for themselves, we'd have a lot less violence, ridiculous Fatwah's and so on and so on. Isn't the Middle East, which is rife with corruption, poverty and religious zealotry a miserable enough place to live, and wouldn't it be so much easier to live there if the Muslim Cleric's there encouraged their people to think positive and rebuild their countries instead of encouraging Anti-Semitism and outrage over a fucking cartoon?!
Islam is a great faith, and the vast majority of it's practitioners are peaceful, respectful and civic-minded individuals, with a rich history of scientific and mathematical progress. But don't forget, once the Theocratic Islamic Fundamentalists came into power in the Middle East decades ago, all that progress stopped, since scientific progress and discovery was found to be against Allah, and therefore, illegal. And sadly, this was what heralded the end of the "Cradle of Civilization Age"... I personally want to see the Middle Eastern region get back on it's feet, and take it's place as the home of revolutionary thought again. Maybe it'll happen in my lifetime, maybe not.
I know that someone wants to hear a joke about all of this stuff going on in the Middle East, so I have one for you:
Q: Why is all the oil in the Middle East?
A: Because that's where everything at one point went to die.
I came up with that joke, so if you tell someone it, drop my name...
Have a great Valentine's Day, everyone...
posted by Todd Tobin at 12:05 PM
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