It’s the holidays in the United States of America! I’m so excited!!!
Don’t get me wrong, I know the holidays and associated problems happen in other 1st-world countries, but the United States is the one I’m most familiar with, so it gets special attention.
We all know what the holidays mean! They mean lights and music and singing and cold and hot chocolate and candy canes and pine trees and loved ones and…! On and on and on! Are those the first things you think of when it’s holiday season? Probably not. The first things most people think of are gifts: we make Christmas wish lists, we ask for Christmas wish lists, we suddenly start worrying about the import of the presents we’re giving to everyone because, really, Christmas is the only acceptable time of year to give everyone presents and receive a ton of stuff…you don’t want to miss that!
This season traditionally begins the day after Thanksgiving. You know, that one holiday in the US where we’re supposed to fight over the last bit of stuffing give thanks for everything we have, be it to a god or to our family members or to our genetics or to luck…that’s what Thanksgiving is all about, at least in the official definition.
See, I found the dictionary!
So, erm, forgive me when I say…the HELL is up with Black Friday?!?!?!
The holiday season (minus the eggnog —and if you don’t live in Texas, the cold— which comes out before) starts the day after Thanksgiving, with the most ironic of events, Black Friday. See, instead of being all thankful for what we have, like the day before, we throw all that off about midnight and set our clocks to head to Wal-mart or other destinations of choice. Where I live some guy was camping outside Best Buy about a week beforehand. Well, I’m so glad he spent Thanksgiving with his loved ones…the pavement squares…
Black Friday, if you’re not familiar, is the day almost every retailer in the US comes up with GIGANTIC (or even small) sales on their items, so people, wanting these sales, line up outside the doors for MILES just to get inside and taste the savings. Though, when you consider how much they could potentially spend on medical bills during the Running of the Bulls (American version), they may not save all that much…I broke an arm and wound up in the hospital, but at least I got my cheap xBox!!!
Someone even died again this year! Not to mention, some lady pepper-sprayed people, and that’s not all that happened in THAT particular news article. I know last year some old lady was trampled in people’s rush to get into Walmart…may have been a Greeter, which would be terrible. I LOVE those guys!
The holidays are supposed to be a time of giving and love and, if you’re of a Christian faith, like the majority of the US population, you’re supposed to exhibit some sort of Christ-like behavior, which is that you’re supposed to give of yourself and not be greedy, among other things. People! What are we doing? Even if you’re not a Christian, aren’t you supposed to have some sort of compassion for your fellow human being? Where is this coming from? Do we have some sort of STUFF complex? I personally have enough stuff! I don’t want any more, and I don’t even have half the electronics these people stampeding to Wal-mart have! I’m not trying to be “Holier than thou” or anything. It just aggravates me!
I don’t understand where this attitude comes from, the attitude that we need more stuff, that we can’t be happy with what we have, and that we’ll trample over any one who gets in our way. Not only is this completely unfathomable to me, it’s also completely unacceptable, and if any one can justify the reason for our American Running of the Bulls I’ll be happy to hear it, but people have DIED, and the people who now have their video games and computers and TV don’t GIVE A DAMN! They’re just going to play the game again next year, and more people will die, or end up in the hospital, and it will keep happening over and over and over and over and over ad nauseum.
Can you justify that? Can you say in good conscience that it’s worth it? Please, put me at peace! Let me now it’s okay, because I really cannot see any way that it is.
This is bullshit, and I’m pissed off at it. Why do you think my blog ends up being so sarcastic? It’s because I try to not get angry. Actually, I think I’m just more sad than pissed off…I’m sad at human nature…I’m sorry that they have to debase themselves to that level…
I was having a moment of lucidity today. I worked out at the rec, and usually this helps me think. I’ve been thinking recently about societal use of the word, gay, and how it colloquially refers to things that are lame or stupid. Me, I use “retarded,” instead, which some people find equally as offensive. To me, though, they’re just words. People don’t use them and then think about gay or mentally handicapped people. It just doesn’t happen, so getting offended just because someone off-handedly uses the word, “gay,” is a waste of time. It used to mean, “happy,” anyway. Oh, how things change.
There are obvious reasons for not calling a person a “fag” or a “faggot,” but obvious reasons are obvious.
I think our primary concern, and I think they tried to drill this into me when I was becoming an Ally but I forgot…probably, should be the use of the words, “us” and “them.” They are simple words, but they put me in mind of a mentality much used by racist or prejudice people. I mean, obviously there are homophobes who use “us” and “them,” but those aren’t who I’m referring to. I’m referring to the ordinary person who is tolerant and even accepting of everything. Homosexual and heterosexual are simply two states of the same being. It’s difficult to be lucid when I type this, though it was fairly easy earlier. It’s the “us/them” mentality that went into the enslavement and even afterward the advantage whites had over blacks, and whites weren’t even the only ones who had this mentality.
This is the same with the GLBTA community. They seem to have this idea that it’s “us” against “them” and it’s really not. It’s just an issue you have. It’s prejudice, sure, but only intolerant people should have the “us/them” mentality, because when you have it as a group who is discriminated against, you tend to stay in your place instead of rise above it.
“We are the same as you are.” This is a “we” mentality. Say, “We are human, and we are (insert nationality here). We all are, you included. You are the same as I am” instead of “I am gay, and you are straight” or “I am straight and you are gay.”
Hence, the word, “gay,” is in no way what you need to fight against, because the word has lost meaning as a reference to people unless you specifically are referring to someone as gay. It’s just a word. Using “us” and “them” is a state of mind.
If there are any questions because this wasn’t clear enough, I promise I answer questions much more effectively than I do write a random thing like this. There will be lucidity after a Q&A.
So there’s a picture on a blog I just found that has a girl holding up a piece of paper that says “JESUS is my savior NOT my religion.”
As we all know, this is a common thing people say. “Christianity isn’t a religion. It’s a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Religion, according to dictionary.com, is
“1: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.”
That sounds a lot like Christianity to me, the superhuman agency/agencies being God or Jesus, the devotional and ritual observances being church activities, prayers, communion, etc, and the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe as well as the moral code governing people are all in the Bible (which is read and believed by most Christians).
Given that, with our language, Christianity is indeed a religion, then denying that you are religious is denying that you are Christian. It is, in fact, appearing to be ashamed of being a Christian, because religion now has negative connotations, which you cannot make people not associate with you just by trying to change the semantics around a little. If you were actually ashamed of being religious you would stop. You might become agnostic, atheist, or even deist if you so choose. Saying that it is not a religion thus means that you cannot use any part of the Bible as part of your belief, as the Bible is a core part of the Christian religion. If you are a creationist, you are religious. If you believe Jesus rose from the dead, you are religious. If you believe in hell or Satan, you are religious.
Further, the only possible relationship you can have with Jesus Christ is that of hero worship. You worship him for “absolving you of all sin” or something of that nature. Any psychologist can tell you: hero worship is not the most healthy of relationships. It can lead to any number of things, including stalking…which, I suppose you do. You are obsessed with wearing a symbol of his execution, after all. You talk to him but he doesn’t answer. How’s that for communication skills? You ask him for things and you get not only what you did not ask for but something perhaps that will make your life more miserable, and yet you keep coming back for more. He does not allow you to talk to any superhuman beings that are not him, and depending on what you believe he might not even want you to talk to any just humans. These are all signs of an abusive relationship. Perhaps you should call Women’s Protective Services or possibly the police.
I would think you would rather be religious.
She goes on to say in her blog that she will delete all comments that “do not take [her] anywhere.” Really, all this means is that she wants people to massage her ego, to tell her what a good Christian she is. She will delete comments, basically, that do not make her feel good about herself. She will probably delete mine, though it is not as harsh as this blog and was not really attacking her at all. Just correcting her a little. She does not delete any of the 3-word comments like “I love this!” which certainly do not “take [her] anywhere.” All those do is lift her ego, and in no way enrich her education.
**This is a brief reaction essay I wrote for Latin American Philosophy. The subject was “Was the Spanish conquest of Latin America morally justified?”
In class, the words “right” and “wrong” were thrown around many times. This
led my mind to ask how we are defining said words. Obviously the implication is
we are trying to define morality. What is moral? Is it doing things that help
your society and people in it survive? Is it acting purely on your own survival
instinct, as evolutionary adaptation? Many of the dictionary definitions for
moral use “conforming to right conduct.” To conform is to act in the same manner
as the society or group in which one lives. Using this definition, the Spaniards
were moral in their conquest, as were the natives in their practices.
It’s pointless to ask if the Spanish were justified in the conquest on moral
grounds, because morality was probably not in question when they decided they
would take over. Morality was their rationale, but greed was probably the
reason.
When you ask me if it was on any grounds morally justified, if the Spanish
were indeed taking over the native lands for moral reasons, I would tell you
that there is no answer to that question. I am a skeptic in all things, even
reality. I don’t believe in any gods, and I have never claimed to believe that
democracy is the best political system, even though I do live in the United
States. I simply do not have the wisdom to know this, so I do not. A skeptic is
one who questions everything. I do not believe in a giant scorecard in the
heavens somewhere keeping track of what is right and what is wrong. When I speak of morality, I MUST speak from a relativist point of view, because I do not
believe that anything is inherently right and wrong outside the value that
humans give these things.
Was the conquest justified? Is any war truly justified? Probably not. Is
it unjustified? There’s the rub. I think it may be comparable to our western war
on the Middle East. Many people think we are justified in doing that, but then
would they turn around and say the Spanish should not have taken over Latin
America? I would never presume to say that the religious practices of another
culture are inherently right or wrong, because I do not live in said society. I
have met people who are Pakistani who do not mind the Blasphemy Laws, and people who absolutely abhor them. Before the conquest there were probably natives who abhorred the sacrifice and cannibalism.
Morals, a concept of right and wrong, are subjective to the time and the
place. This means that, to use subject people commonly bring up, though the
Holocaust was not inherently wrong (oh please don’t attack me for that), it was
certainly wrong by many human standards, so interfering to them was justified.
The holocaust was right in Hitler’s and many Nazis’ eyes, though, was it not?
Moral subjectivity.
The only thing that creates human morals is the power of human thought to
create them.
We interrupt this programming to bring you a special news bulletin.
I HAVE A PUPPY!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry…I’ll resume posting religious things as soon as I think of something to post.
Oh dear.
I was thinking of setting up a spoof atheist website. Like “I am God! They’ve gotten me wrong all these years! E-mail me a question and I’ll send you an answer!”
Stuff like that. An obvious spoof. Nothing serious.
So I google to see if it’s already been done.
It hasn’t. At least, not by atheists.
It has been done by Christians. It’s sickening to think that people can prey on other people this way. It’s like the Catholic Church asking for tithes to save your soul without asking for money. People e-mail these websites asking for prayers about their loved ones or even asking god to show them signs. Who designs these websites? Who preys on people’s emotions in this way?
My idea was to set up a totally joke site and see if people take me seriously. It would obviously be a joke, and if they care to take me seriously, like the pet rapture site,
http://www.kingdomwayonline.org/KWO/GodsEMail/default.asp
http://www.mail2god.20m.com/ (this one actually asks for money)
http://sendemailtogod.com/mailtoGod.cfm
