If You Disagree With Me, You're WRONG

Equality means EQUAL -- for women AND men...

A female version of this was going around recently. Why should women be the only ones who have unquestioned rights over their reproductive organs? If you believe in equal rights but still support R(outine) I(nfant) C(ircumcision), you're a hypocrite!

Dianetics is BORING! Sheesh!

So I was going to write a couple of posts about Scientology, and in an effort to prepare, I've been trying to read Dianetics.  But honestly?  The book sucks!  It's boring and stupid, and I fall asleep while reading it.

So instead of Scientology, I'm just going to go back to my regularly scheduled programming.  If I ever make it through that damned book, I'll cover it then.

I'm preparing for my next few posts...

By reading Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard.  It's a long-ass book, so it's going to take a decent amount of preparation and it's also going to take a few posts to adequately cover the pure insanity that is called Scientology.

Feel free to comment with your thoughts!

God can keep forgiveness... I'll take vengeance...

So a Facebook friend has been keeping me updated on the disappearance (now apparent murder) of a little girl in Florida.  The friend mentioned that she felt as if she couldn't bring a child into a world where people are so callously murdered.  The response she got was bible-scripture talking about judging not lest ye be, etc. etc.  That God wants us to forgive, 'cause it's the Christian thing.

Look, I'm all for forgiveness.  Someone takes your sandwich from the fridge at work?  You forgive them!  Someone doesn't put a fresh roll of TP on when they use the last one up?  Forgiveness!  Someone rapes, tortures, murders your child???  Sorry, I'm not Jesus -- forgiveness ain't even on the list.  In that case, I leave forgiveness squarely in God's hands.  And I?  I want some vengeance.

Because as far as I'm concerned, people like that don't deserve to live.  They do not deserve to breathe the same air that my children breathe.  They don't deserve to live a life that a child doesn't get to live -- because of them.  What they DO deserve is to die.  Yeah, yeah, the death penalty isn't being carried out fairly, it's not a deterrent,  blah blah blah.  That doesn't mean it's inherently wrong.  It just means that we have to change how it's carried out.  But carried out it should be, and for more than just what we apply it t.  Selling government secrets should not be considered worse that raping a child.  And while sometime there's a darn good reason for murder, there's never a good reason for raping a baby.  THAT is a crimes wothy of death.

So don't quote scripture to me.  I'm human.  I'm allowed to be a sinner.  And if doing the "right" thing means forgiving a child molester, I don't mind being "wrong."

Death by Stupidity isn't murder

At one point my parents were involved in what amounts to (but was never named as) a cult.  Two very bright, but rather absurd people, were conned in their quest for enlightenment and answers.  The cult drained them of hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of their obsession.  Had their "leader" suggested that a few hours in a sauna would be beneficial, I have no doubt they would have done it with minimal to no hesitation.  And if they'd died?  Well, it would have been their own damn faults.

But a bunch of people willingly put their lives in the hands of their "guru" and suddenly it's called murder.  Lawsuits are threatened.  Compensation will be made for the families of the 3 people who died.  One was a mother of three!  Nothing is said, however, about the sheer stupidity of the people who choose to do dangerous things -- of their own free will.  The mother of 3 was selfish enough to ignore common sense, putting her life at risk, knowing that she might leave her children motherless.  If she herself didn't care whether her children were left motherless, then why should someone else take the blame?

Despite my cynical nature, my expectations of the stupidity of the human race... I'm still sick of a society that refuses to take responsibility for their own actions.  Stop blaming everyone else for your own actions!  No one was holding a gun (figurative or literal) to the heads of those who got into that tent.  No one made these people take risks.  And no one, but those who blindly followed someone's directive is actually at fault.

Unfortunately, so long as there is money to be made, there will be lawsuits to make it.  And society, what good is left, will continue to be hurt by the ripples caused by the waves of the idiot majority.

Let's talk about sex, bay-bee, let's talk about you and me... and prison...

I am a fairly tolerant person.  I accept differences in people, cultures, and religious beliefs.  To an extent, I should say.  I can honestly say that I'm intolerant of Scientology, which I don't even consider to be a religion.  I consider it to be sheer stupidity.  Have you read about it?  That is one sick-ass cult, and it's followers are nothing short of creepy.  Really, really creepy.  Maybe that's one of the reasons I can't enjoy anything with Tom Cruise or John Travolta.  Like I said, I'm completely intolerant.

Having said that, I can accept just about anything else, including religions that don't really make sense to me (*cough* mormonism *cough*).  That doesn't mean, however, that I can agree with how religious beliefs are carried out.  I see this a lot with Islamic culture, unfortunately.  It seems, for some reason, that whenever I read about a case of religious persecution that upsets me to a great degree, it is an Islamic country or area in which it happens.

Most recently a man was sentenced to 5 years in prison and 1000 lashes.  What was his horrible crime, you may ask?  He bragged about his sex life.  Isn't that awful???  A man claimed to have had consensual sex with women.  He's not being punished because he DID have sex, just because he claimed to have had it.  Due to an interpretation of Islamic law, in Saudi Arabia it is against the law to have pre-marital sex.  It is also illegal for unmarried men and women to interract.  So... by claiming to have sex, this man (Mazen Abdul Jawad) has committed a crime worthy of a lengthy prison term and severe corporal punishment.

If followers of Islam expect to be accepted and expect religious tolerance, they're going to have to stop behaving like ignorant beasts (with no insult meant to any animals).  We look back with horror and repulsion at the Crusades and the Inquisition.  Eventually these behaviors will be treated with the same disgust that we grant to other crimes against those who seek only religious and sexual freedom.

When will people learn that religion, any religion, is open to personal interpretation?  No religious text is 100% clear, and no person can ever truly understand God/Gods/Yaweh/Jehova/whatever the hell you worship/'s will?  If religion is based on a higher power, then what man (human) could possibly have the gall, the sheer arrogance, to claim to understand this higher power?  And thus we must use our best judgment.  And if this is our best judgment, why the hell are these people allowed to remain in control of the lives of others?

Again, I say, assassinate these fuckers, put some sane people in positions of power (sane, not necessarily good -- politicians are, afterall, politicians), and then ditch these archaic, sick and horrifying practices.  Because trust me, if given the chance, they'll come after you, too.

(Oh, and one more thing before I go -- shame on the media agency that put this on air, knowing that they were subjecting this man to punishment.  It's probably too much to expect a media outlet to behave with decency, but one can always hope.)