Reality Out of Sync

Change makes people fearful. It also makes them irrational sometimes. Conservatives are liars. So are Liberals. Most people are liberal about some things and conservative about others. I am conservative about military usage in my country, but I am liberal about the freedoms we should have as a people. Most people are this way, (my specifics excluded) regardless of how much they say otherwise. Some people are conservative about gay marriage (and I’ll explain what exactly is wrong with that statement in a moment) and liberal about military usage. It’s a pendulum of balance I’d say. Anyhow, to my point.

NOM, is a ‘conservative’ group. That is to say, they oppose gay marriage (this is that whole…conservative about gay marriage bit). Apparently, it’s wrong to be gay and it’s also wrong to be gay and get married. I’ve never really understood this double-standard. When is the last time anyone chose to be heterosexual? Yah, exactly. So what is wrong with gay marriage? I mean besides all the things that are problematic with marriage in and of itself? NOM apparently believes that it hurts children (OMG THINK OF THE CHILDREN!), as if there is something psychologically damaging because OMG there are gay people.

Yes, there are gay couples, they (should) get married. The world isn’t going to fall apart over it. Get over your hate. Or at least place it on something that’s relevant to our society, like hating fuel prices. If you don’t drive, hate smog! That’s worth gettin’ upset about.

Ummm....Bunny!? Mmm...Corm.

So the Pope gets up one day and decides, “Hmm, you know what I want to do? I want to fuck up some people’s life. How can I most effectively do that?” He putters around the Vatican, having people serve him tea and cater to his whims. Hell, maybe he has his own dick holder, some poor sap that screwed up his toilet flushing duties. Little does this guy know he’s about to hear the most insidious idea to be bandied around the Vatican rest room in many moons. “Ah hah!” The dick holder almost misses his cue for the three shakes and tissue wipe. “I shall impress upon my followers, that condoms are the work of the devil. Condoms must not be used!” The Pope slams his gnarled hand atop his dick holder’s cranium.

I am aware that the Catholic ignorance of no contraceptives such as condoms has been taught for a very long time, I’m just poking fun at the leadership. If you don’t like that, I don’t care. It’s not my problem.

There are over 25 million people who have died from AIDS in Africa. There’s not really much more to say about it. It boils down to a few things. Monogamy does not ensure you will remain AIDS free anywhere actually, least of all in Africa. People are, well, people, and having sex is a natural act. I do not understand why Catholics are so concerned with when, where, and how their constituents bed with one another. Telling your followers that only abstinence is the key to stopping AIDS is both false, and dangerous. People are going to have sex. They are going to get AIDS if they don’t use protection. Well, they’ll get HIV and then AIDS. People will get pregnant an deliver children with HIV who will get AIDS (or other diseases for that matter it’s not _just_ AIDS you need to worry about, people) and pass it on to others and/or die prematurely.

This is the same sort of thing that conservatives want to teach in the US. It’s not safe, it’s not intelligent, and it isn’t an issue of morality if you’re going to have sex. Sex is a normal human act between other humans. There’s nothing moral about it. It’s not a symbol of love in and of itself. Humans were having sex and animals to this day have sex, without any thought of love. It’s not abnormal. Sex _can_ be used in such a way to display love, but that isn’t what sex is all about when you lay it out on the table. Bringing a deity into it to guilt people into straying from their humanity is just silly. That’s really what’s being done. You’re being asked by an invisible man, to deny your humanity. The deity isn’t the secret tot he universe. The people who follow the deity do not have the secret to the universe. If you’re honest about it, you don’t know. No, stop denying it and just admit it. You do not know. No one really _knows_ the secrets of the universe, that’s what we have the sciences for. Faith is a lie, that it will save humanity alone is a lie.. Telling people that not using condoms is a good idea is socially irresponsible. No condoms == high potential for death (no matter where you are). Don’t believe the lie.

Wanting to do her is normal (if your sexual orientation permits), it's human. Not using a condom because you're Catholic is socially irresponsible, and stupid.

I have read a book called Ishmael. It’s a good book. It’s a philosophical book (fictional, but philosophical, there’s a telepathic ape….) that points out some very interesting and demonstrably true things in our world as it functions today and as it has functioned for quite some time.

In particular, I’m curious about what anyone happens to think about this little scenario, which is something I’ve said before reading Ishmael, but no one had any good answer about. I do not think anyone can/would have any answer to it now either; however, I’m a glutton for punishment.

Christianity states that the creator made the earth and all things in/on it. How is this different from any other mythology? I ask this question first because it will bring me to another item that is related. In particular, what makes the story of creation (pushed by Creationists) any different from the story of creation from the Romans or Greeks? Story aside, what really sets them apart? This leads me to the next bit, which has nothing to do with Christians. What is the “official” creation story that we have today?

As a Buddhist, I’m not sure that it matters which of them is true. If I had to pick one I’d go with the official science creation story; however, there’s a problem with the two faith based ones that may or may not (depending on a person’s bent) be a problem in the “official” creation story. That is, the purpose of the earth. The Greek or Roman mythologies each stop with the earth being pretty much the whim of the gods and created for man. The christian creation story says the same thing, the creator created earth and stopped with man. The “official” creation story (big bang/evolution) doesn’t say this, but depending on one’s bent one could see where it’s been stated that humans are the peak of evolution and the earth is ours to rule. I’m not sure I can go along with that. Not that it means anything to anyone else of course lol.

Again, as a Buddhist, I think it’s incorrect (I want to refrain from using the word wrong because that can imply to some people a moral reference where I do not mean one) to believe that the world was created for man. Just what exactly is wrong with the idea that the world wasn’t made for man? Man isn’t the end of evolution, and when man is gone (should we all cease to exist, such as in some catastrophic world wide event) does that mean the world no longer serves a purpose? Of course not, Earth will continue to exist and support life that has survived. Then again, maybe not. What is the purpose of any creation story, science, mythology, etc? What does it perpetuate in our society as it functions today?

This brings to mind another thought (obviously, it’s in my mind?) Why does man insist on treating the world and all that is in it counter to how the rest of the world functions? I’m curious about that. Man doesn’t compete with other animals, instead he destroys them. An example would be lions and gazelle. A lion will chase down a gazelle. The entire herd of them takes off running. As soon as the lion captures the gazelle, the herd stops running and proceeds to go back to grazing or drinking from the water. Why is that? To the best of my knowledge, this is because lions don’t kill in a manner that means to create extinction. They capture food and sit down to eat it, or drag it to safety, then eat it. The gazelle otherwise (unless being actively hunted at the time) pretty much ignore the lion. They are not enemies. Humans on the other hand do not function this way. Well, they no longer function this way. People in one of my cultures (Native Americans) would hunt enough to feed themselves. Kill a bison or two, and the other bison went about their business. Then came poachers, that slaughtered entire herds of bison/buffalo just for their pelts. Not to feed anyone, just to take their pelts and make money. The carcass simply rotted in the sun. Truly sad.

Quick Clarification: The above isn’t to say that as soon as the white man (or any man at all) came along that the world fell apart. That would be highly ignorant and highly offensive to I don’t know, the whole US population? As stated in a comment below, I’m not romanticizing Native American culture, this could easily apply to many cultures outside of them the further back into history we go. Thanks!

An interesting thought, what is the end result of creating more food in which to feed the starving? What happens when those that are starving are no longer starving? What happens then, what is the event that perpetuates the existence of starving people? I believe I know the answer, and I know I do not have a solution. In other words I know enough to know I don’t know hehe.

So, as I was looking over the BBC RSS feed I get, this was listed:Priests to face ’sex drive tests’. I could say that this is a good thing, on the face of it, it seems like a rational approach to eliminating a very humiliating and predatory practice that takes place in the Roman Catholic Priesthood in relatively rare instances. That would be most prominently, the abuse of children by priests. Unfortunately, I think this doesn’t quite address the problem that the Roman Catholic church has, and that is the (in my opinion) harsh celibacy requirement.

I am of the opinion that it is unreasonable to ask a man (or woman for that matter, but we’re talking about priests not nuns) to be celibate just because he (or she) wishes to serve in the church. Belief and practicality don’t always go hand in hand, and this is one of those instances where it just seems a little brain dead. Ministers are allowed to have wives. I have an acquaintance that ministers at a church (I do not know what denomination that is, maybe it’s Lutheran?) who is married. He seems as normal as any other Christian and believes just as strongly as any other Christian, so it’s not a matter of one’s level of faith. Color me confused.

In a completely unrelated note, I’ve not had time to post this for a little over a week. Whoopsie daisy! Also, FallOut 3 is the hotness. It is however, not on the same level of ‘feel good’ as Mirror’s Edge, that game actually makes me smile as I pull off stuff. I think because it’s not post apocalyptic? I’m not sure.