Civilization at its peak

Being a part of a minority, I too appreciate and support the spirit of pluralism and open-mindedness. I’m afraid my open-mindedness about other cultures and customs has its limits though. It’s become less and less acceptable to criticize other “cultures”. Well, as should be evident from my previous posts, I don’t give a rat’s ass.

With that, what the fuck kind of a culture is that?! Not only did he kill his step-daughter (niece), but figured, let’s add three more for a good measure; or just in case. Go ahead and tell me how it’s a different culture, and it requires understanding, acceptance, and chanting together. A culture that habitually lets such atrocities go on cannot, and should not be understood. God forbid our police should develop “an understanding” for honor killings (and isn’t it an oxymoron?). Feel like slaughtering a couple of kids to set an example? Here’s an idea: go hang yourself in a public square (that WOULD constitute an honor killing).

We’ve had our own wackjobs who suddenly become vessels of God or Satan, and must do their biddings (strangely, it’s never, picking up garbage, annoying telemarketers, or reading to the blind), but it’s not “cultural”, just insane and evil. And it’s treated and recognized by everyone as such. With fundamentalist Muslims, it’s cultural, or they put it, “a family dispute”. As cultural “issues” go, this one disqualifies them from being considered a civilization altogether.

Hardly a day goes by without seeing a rep from some Muslim association for promoting cultural understanding (or some other shit like that) point out how their fellow Americans are not being very understanding or downright hostile. Here’s another idea (I’m full of them today), get in touch with your brethren in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other “Stans”, and find out what the fuck is going on there, why it’s going on, and what you can do to stop it. Then get back to us. And for god’s sake, if you disapprove of these kinds of things, get on the fucking tube and tell that to everyone (at least as frequently as you condemn Israel for killing known terrorists); maybe then we won’t associate you with terrorist-supporting charities and defenders of rights for suspected terrorists.

Merry Christmas!

A lot of interesting stuff is going on lately, alas, not nearly enough time to talk and think about it all. Here's an easy subject to pontificate on - "Merry Christmas!"
A historic update: this country was founded by people of Christian heritage. They may have been not very cosmopolitan or politically correct by today's standards, but they were the ones who brought Western civilization to these shores. And since most of them were Christians, they celebrated Christmas (it follows nicely, doesn't it?). To this day, majority of the inhabitants of this land continue with this tradition. Given all this, on what grounds would anyone object to being wished a Merry Christmas?

I'm Jewish. About as secular as they come. I think Hanukah trumps Christmas easy - we have eight (8 !) days of presents and no fat men abusing endangered species or extorting cookies and milk. Yet, it never even occurred to me to get upset because someone wished me a Merry Christmas. That's just insane! Sometimes I'll respond with Happy Hanukah instead, or Happy Kwanza (I'm also trying to find out what the season's greeting used by Druids is. Meanwhile, I took the liberty of coming up with my own Druid greeting - Merry Bush Day. - Just saying that, warms my cockles.)

Anyway, keeping in the spirit of things, God Bless, Happy Hanukah, and Merry Christmas to you all!

And to those who found this offensive - fuck off!

Iranian Pres. speaks again

Iranian president is quickly becoming the most frequently commented upon topic of this blog. After giving some thought on what response would be appropriate, I've decided to stick with mature, and well-thought out approach. With that, I must confess that reading about Mr. Ahmadinejad's views leaves me with the heavy feeling of regret and a flicker of hope. I regret that the Israelis didn't bomb the entire Iran into the Stone Age (oh, wait, hm… ok, bad choice, they never really progressed much beyond that), into oblivion; and I hope that this grave error will be remedied in my lifetime.

Some would say that this kind of sentiments only ignite more hatred, mistrust, and violence. And they would be right. At the same time, how would you expect the Israelis to react to such statements? They've done their best in attempting to negotiate. They've shown great restraint in dealing Palestinian terrorists, Iran and the likes. But these folks just simply don't get it.

Negotiation and peaceful resolution is always the preferred way of addressing conflicts among civilized people. But one doesn't negotiate with rabid dogs or Islamic fundamentalists.

Univ. Prof bullied by fundies

I wonder just how this thing started...

John: "Hey, Pete, dija hea 'bout dis smartass teacher at U of K?! He's calling our inte… herr.. hm.. inteligent desine a mifology or somethn!" Pete: "That bustard!" John: "Let's go bash his head in!" Pete: "Should we pray about it first?" John: "Neh!" Pete: "What's a miphology?" John: "it's bad." Pete: "let's go set this smarty pants straight!" "God bless America!"