Dennis wrote:we cannot ignore the most powerful (and therefore most dangerous) country in the world.
Hey! Hey! That's
right! Not only did
we go to the
moon but we
also (still) got (among other things) the grossest national product on
earth. And we got more stuff out on the
Internet about us than Heinz has
pickles! So the rest of all you...'persons' out there jes' better be
polite! Why,
we even got one of
THESE:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10061
Saw it with my own eyes this summer.
We'll just see who has the last laugh when the rain starts falling!
A 'freethinker's' group I go to sometimes (the ones who thought I might be a scientologist at first) is maybe getting together for the local opening of Religulous, and dinner, in a week or two, whenever it happens. It
is scary, to me, who is an absolute nothing on all fronts, that it seems like unless maybe you're Penn & Teller, to be atheistic you
do very much gotta also be a leftist pinko commie hippie or something. Which makes
no sense, frankly. It's just atheism, for crying out loud,
not the blankety-blank
musician's union or
screenwriter's guild!! Anyway if we do this thing I thought I'd bring along my video camera in case there are any religious protests or lynchings or crossburnings outside the theater. (Who knows, really?) But I'm really hoping to go.
I think (as I've alluded here before) that it was Eric Idle who first said "Shut up! Shut up, you American. You always talk, you Americans. You talk and you talk and say 'let me tell you something' and 'I just wanna say this'!" --But I really DO want to say something:
There are people here, religious ones--I can even think of at least one Protestant minister--who are without question vocally anti-corporal punishment, both privately and as it exists within the school system. Some are likely among the most outspoken activists for children in this regard on the planet. I personally happen to think that religion is part--even a large part--of the problem of propagating cruelty in humanity. I can't stand religion or the religi
ous generally, actually, and that can be a problem for me at times. Even 'moderate' forms of it have been a source of nausea (even despair) for me for most of my life. But between trying to persuade a religious person that "there is no God" and convincing abusive adults (of
any stripe) that using pain and fear to control is amoral, there's no doubt which is more important. To me it's clear that unmessed-up kids are the only people that can possibly pull this
world out of its nosedive. Obviously there's nothing moral about saying "Your choice is either to accept and believe these inane stories we're feeding you or to burn horribly in Hell for eternity (or come back in your next life as a grapefruit)." Or whatever. Those threats in themselves are direct forms of terrorism so far as I'm concerned. But I consider myself
very much on the "side" of
anyone who is willing to help put an end to at least the
stupid physical violence that generally accompanies those "offers". I will continue to respect any superstitious person who at least respects children in that regard.
Atheists seem to generally concur these days that religion (or perhaps respect for it) is the most dire threat facing the world today in terms of human survival. And they make a good case. And they're coming out of the closet like never before (just to say that very thing, it seems) and I guess I'd say that's good. But I find myself wondering if there's anybody
else that needs 'liberated' before kids finally get their turn. If they'd won their freedom
first none of the
rest of this stuff would have been necessary. I'm sure of it.
Steve