Belief is and will always be the prevailing killer of the innocent here upon this planet, and the reigning rapist of rights. Belief drove planes into the World Trade Towers on September 11th, belief killed millions of Jews in the Holocaust, belief turned human beings into slaves for hundreds of years, and belief is threatening to take the rights of the innocent again in the year 2008. Belief is a scary, amorphous enemy that lurks inside the brain and metastasizes into the heart. And sadly, I don't think there will ever be revealed an antidote. Keep this in mind, a fundamentalist is someone who knows they are right, and entertains no other possibilities. I am sure of only this, I know next to nothing, and my ramblings may not even make sense, there is undoubtedly no resolution to my conjectures, and most of it is probably a cyclical carousel of logic that leaves many more questions than answers, and that is precisely why I will never stop writing, or reading! There are too many unanswered questions! Thanks for staying with me to the end of this rhapsody.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Divided We Stand
I am bothered and unnerved with the level of dissension amongst Americans. This country was founded upon precepts of justice, equality, and unity. Today, there is such an influx of intolerance and ignorance it makes my head spin. It makes me wonder how history has taught us so little, how, after the tragedy of the Holocaust genocide, the world stood by while people were 'systematically eliminated' in Darfur and Rwanda. For perhaps the first time in American history our morals are as bankrupt as our banks. I wonder why it seems to be the pattern of humanity to fear and hate that which is different. Bob Dylan told us "don't criticize what you can't understand," I think often of that, and certainly at times I'm guilty of criticizing what i simply do not understand, but i want that to end. I am no politician, I am neither Republican nor Democrat, I am neither liberal nor conservative, and perhaps neither right nor wrong. I guess what I'm saying is that America likes to say that 'united it stands', but the very foundation of our government is contingent upon two disparate political parties. Our government operates under a pretense of unity, but in truth it is divided right down the middle like a chasm carved through the floor of a desert. We post our flags in our yards and flaunt our differences of opinion, we are adamant upon separating ourselves from each other. Perhaps in truth we all just want to belong to a group, we want to feel a part of something. We want to associate ourselves with a tribe, per se. People display this desire as early as grade school, go to any school in the country and you will find that the athletes associate with the athletes, the theatre kids gallivant about with their thespian comrades, and the nerds play Dungeons and Dragons in the library with the other nerds. We all want a tribe, and when we grow up and become adults we want to associate ourselves with adult tribes, like elephants and donkeys. I mean, it all seems quite childish. The Republicans and the Democrats have so much more in common than they acknowledge. They should find common ground in their humanity, in their American nationality, in their love of this country, but they do not. Instead they regard each other with animosity, because they belong to different tribes. Divided we stand on crippled legs atop a world of ruin and beauty.
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13 comments:
So, is that a no vote on Prop 8?
that would be correct
NO on 8! Anything else is just wrong, ignorant, and untolerant.
I am sad to hear you are voting no on 8. And Gen, you say it's "untolerant" for people not to vote no. In fact, it is the homosexual population that is not being tolerant of the sanctity we as a Christian population place in marriage. Division is important. Separation from those who seek to destroy the fundamentals of something created not by the state, but by God, should be ostracized. Just like pedifiles, just like white supremacists. Just like all those who chose to challenge the sanctity of life, of freedom and especially of marriage. I am not intolerant of them, they are intolerant of the definition of marriage that God created. If anyone is ignorant, it is those who seek to equalize honorable people to those who seek to destroy the fundamentals of society.
I have no problem with gay people visiting their loved ones in the hospital, or having civil unions...which they already have. I do have a problem with public education teaching homosexual sex education as an alternative to the natural and biologically correct way to procreate.
We are not a nation of Christians but last I checked we are a nation under God, a nation that puts their hand over their heart and says the pledge, trusts God with out money, and most of all, in a court of law swears on the good book to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and the truth is that prop 8 is evil and will lead to the dissolution of American values and usher in a new generation of lawless, immoral and unethical young people...and for that, I am sad.
as my good friend Ron Burgundy once said "agree to disagree."
Way to go Drew!
Wow....to each his own.
I think that anyone who does not agree on the personal standpoint of another on prop 8 or any other political or religous matter, should simply do as Drew suggested and agree to disagree. That is why we are so priveleged to be able to live in a country as beautiful as ours where we all have the right to vote and the privelege to form our own opinions.
Personally, I do not think that prop 8 is about homosexuals not being tolerant of what you believe is the definition of marriage... it is about the fact that it would be denying one person LEGAL rights and yet allow another person those same rights. Denying them because of their sexuality is the same as denying someone rights because of the color of their skin. I doubt God would approve of that.
Just agree to disagree because you are not going to make me think any differently on the matter and I am not trying to make you feel differently. I will however continue to stand by my first comment that I believe it is wrong to deny a human being just the same as me, legal rights because of their sexuality. If people don't want their union to be called a "marriage", fine, call it whatever you want, but give them the same legal rights that everyone else is allowed! The fact is gay couples do not have the same rights as married couples. I can respect people feeling that marriage is between a man and a woman, so call the union of gay couples by another name, but give them the same legal rights.
And please don't say you are sad to hear anybody voting any way that is different than you. I am allowed to vote how I want and so are you. Don't judge me for the way I vote, as I would not judge you.
Sean, when you have some spare time you'll have to explain to me how the desire to have legal rights is "destroying the fundamentals of society".
P.S. You misspelled "pedophile".
Ha ha...Spell checker didn't pick up that one. Anyway, LEGALLY, we deny people rights every day. We deny the right to marry and indeed the right to have a relationship with those who are our brothers and sisters, we deny Legal rights to those who seek to have relationships with children. We deny rights to those who have committed crimes by not letting them vote or be within a hundred feet of our schools. Every person in the above situations have made a choice which led to their rights being revoked. Your rights as a citizen are not an entitlement. They are a contract between you and the government. You give up some of your freedom when you enter into this contact, (or at least Locke thinks so along with the majority of the framers of the Constitution)
By choosing to live a lifestyle that is deemed unnatural by God as represented in the Bible.
"So God created man in his own image; He created male and female for him. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Genesis 1:27-28
"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be PUT TO DEATH; their blood will be on their own heads." Leviticus 20:13
Now I don't think we should go and kill all the gay's. In fact, under California Law, they have the ability to enter into living trusts, and contracts which afford them many of the rights of a married couple.
However, by entering into this type of relationship, they are very much destroying the integrity of society. They demean the sanctity of marriage which God intended. I am not here to judge why you are voting one way or the other, this is America. All we have is our opinions and our votes. However, I will take issue in being called "ignorant" which I certainly am not, and "intolerant" which I am very much not. As I said before, Homosexual's are being intolerant of a God created, state adopted policy of marriage. Honestly, this is a personal issue. However, it is necessary to defend one's self against all attacks, especially when the attacker is guilty of the very thing they are accusing the other side of being. Remember, it is just as intolerant for me to not want gay relationships categorized as marriage, as it is for them to not respect my belief of what marriage is defined as. They are being intolerant of intolerance.
And on this note, my opinion is out there, and I do not mean to demean anyone's views. However, I cannot stand idly by and be misrepresented. A blog, at it's core, is a way for people to discuss subjects like this. I get nothing but joy in hearing peoples opinions...however far they deviate from my own. This is the core of Democracy, this is the core of what it means to be an American.
Greg...This mean were getting a blog out of you? CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sean,
I doubt we'll get a blog out of Greg, but you know he does love a good argument! And he may be more likely to peek in on our blogs knowing he can participate in lively discussion.
I will be glad when election day has come and gone!!!!
im just glad one of my bogs got 13 comments!
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