Some Things are Just Stupid

A few months ago, a crazy preacher with 50 followers announced a plan to have a bonfire in which they will burn copies of the Koran. Now, a crazy Tennessee preacher has announced his plan to burn "a Koran," both on the anniversary of 9/11. I certainly appreciate the free speech rights they (and we all) have that enable them to burn a rival religion's holy book, but I have the same right to give my opinion on the matter. Just because you CAN do something, that doesn't mean you SHOULD (I think my mother told me that when I was about 8 years old). And some things, frankly, are just stupid.

General Petraeus made a statement asking the Florida crazy preacher to call off his "protest," saying that such an action will endanger American troops. The preacher basically said, "Screw the troops! American needs to be America again and stand up!"

How is it standing up for America, and being America again, to incite a bunch of crazy Muslims to blow up more of our buildings and kill more of our people, which is exactly what they'll do? After this moron has his little show and his special on FOX News, Al Qaida will retaliate in the most vicious manner imaginable. Protests mean nothing to terrorists; desecration of their holy relics does. America is about freedom and success, not about your fifteen minutes of fame and another 3,000 people dead in the street. America has never been a tolerant nation; we have done some horrible things to people who didn't believe and espouse what we do. Most of that is by individuals who, being insane like these preachers, really think God is going to deliver them for doing some very un-Christian things.

This same Florida preacher has in the past burned copies of versions of the Bible he didn't believe reflected his own view of the world. Where was the outrage about those Bibles? Why didn't Christians renounce one of their own for desecrating their own holy book?

The sad thing is, conservatives from all over the country have sent this idiot a lot of money and a bought and sent a lot of Korans for him to burn. They see this as a monumental gesture to show how tough we are; it's going to get people killed, and they deserve all the blame. Muslim extremists are just waiting for an opportunity to instill more fear and hatred in Americans by violating us again; Christian extremists are giving them that opportunity.

Some things are just stupid. And stupid things are done by stupid people.

Until this country makes another shift, to support reason and understanding and just plain old literacy, we are doomed. We are turning ourselves into mirror images of the countries that produce ignorant, hateful, religiously-charged psychos who will do anything in the name of their religion. But until we stop buying the oil they produce, we will give them a pass and let nutcases get nuttier and nuttier. We need to purge ourselves of the ignorant, the intolerant, and the hateful. This preacher from Florida said we should send all the Muslims in America to an island so we don't have to live with their influence on our vast, diverse culture that used to accept anybody who was willing to get along. I say we take those people too blinded by "faith" to understand the real world doesn't work the way their insulated, childish worlds do and put THEM on an island. Soon they will grow to hate each other due to tiny differences in doctrine, and they'll kill each other off. That's exactly what Darwin was talking about, but these people think the world is 6,000 years old and cavemen rode dinosaurs.

Ignorance can be changed; people can be taught. But stupidity is engrained. And it must not be tolerated in a civilized society.

A Few Questions

I was on online dating sites for 8 years; I still have accounts, and I check them occasionally, but I have somebody in my life, so it's just sort of a morbid hobby. I looked around on one of those sites today out of sheer boredom, and I looked at some profiles. I have a few questions.

With about 2 exceptions, all the women on these sites LOVE the outdoors. Really? Does everybody but me love the outdoors, with the mud and the bugs and the sweat and the hassle? Why would you go outdoors when you have a perfectly good air conditioner and TV at home? I used to fish when I was a kid, because that's what my family did when we went to the coast over the summer. OK, I've fished. You sit for 6 hours in the heat and stick a piece of string in the water, and usually nothing happens. It's like watching televised golf - what is really the point?

And they all say, "I'm not the average woman; I LOVE sports." Are you serious? If one or two of them said it I might believe it, but they ALL say it. I understand the mom who goes to her kids' games, because you're obligated to do that, but do they really sit around with a beer and yell at the TV? And so many have to include, "Go this" or "go that" to prove that they're loyal to multi-millionaires who couldn't care less if they live or die and date gorgeous (but vapid and meaningless) reality stars. Kim Kardashian could have her own team by now. I am not a sports person; I tried almost everything when I was growing up, and I failed at all of it. I didn't understand it, I didn't get why it was entertaining, and I still don't. That's just me, but does that make me a "traditional woman?" Maybe I should put that in my profile, if I ever wrote a new one.

And then there's "I don't want to play games." No, honey, you don't want to play MY games. You want to play yours, and you want me to enjoy it because I'm lucky enough to be with you. "I don't want to play games" means, "I won't have sex with you until you spend enough money on me over a long, drawn out period of time." That is a game in itself; in fact, dating is a game. That's all it is.

No, I'm not bitter, just trying to be funny. But it's amazing how people will say what they think other people want to hear. The clichés are deafening, and I wonder if there's a guide online somewhere that says, "Put this in your profile. Everybody's doing it!" The women I met online were the ones whose profiles were fresh and interesting and who didn't want me to go to seminary.

It's really funny that women who say they're "old fashioned" watch football, go hunting, and make so many demands. Old fashioned women were women who didn't do any of those things

And don't get me started on grammar and spelling. J

From Mickey Hart

Well, it's about the rhythm of things. If you look around at the Gulf, North Korea, or Iran, it's a rhythmic thing I see. We're out of rhythm with the world. It's a rhythmic universe, and nature is very efficient and likes to be in rhythm because it's most efficient. When you break that rhythm and come between it, you have arrhythmic events and it will destroy, it will not build. It will decompose as opposed to compose. Saying the world has gone mad is not a proper way of saying it, but I look at it as the world has gone out of rhythm. If you look at it in rhythmic terms, it's much more explainable. It's gone out of rhythm, and we're not in rhythm with it, and that's the problem we have in all of these hot spots and these scary places with the Islamic militant views and the extremist religious views. All you have to do is tune into the Dalai Lama, who is about the opposite of that. Now, that's a rhythm master. That guy is really in tune with things. So, we need to be listening to more of that, and we need to be thinking of things in terms of getting along in rhythm, and being efficient and flowing, and being more aware of our surroundings. When I look at the news, in total, that's what I think of.