I'm a recently homeless vet. Got sick, missed a couple of months from work. Couldn't catch up. Got evicted. Judging by a couple of comments here, the initial tendency to blame people for their own misfortune is alive and well. People hate details. So It's easier to believe that someone planned poorly, or made bad decisions, or pissed off God. Whatever. Here's hoping that, should misfortune ever befall them, they reap what they've sown.
There are two types of racism. That borne of ignorance, and that borne of malice. Think of the former as the first stage of the disease. It's eminently curable, provide one is willing to learn, and do a little soul-searching. I suggest this course of action for Mr. Foster. Because once it reaches the second stage, there is rarely any hope for the afflicted.
It could be that the deity described in most religious texts is a petty, homicidal, psychopath, and that so many find those traits to be worthy of worship. Of course I'm just spitballin' here...
I lived a lot of places before coming here 7 years ago. It was the time in almost a half century of existence that I ever felt a sense of community. You can take that for what it's worth.
Certainly, religious freedom guarantees the right of an individual to follow the dictates of their conscience. However, that right was never meant to be paid for with the rights of one's fellow citizens. The inherent responsibility of those rights is in recognizing that they end, where the next person's begins. If I fail to value the freedom of my neighbor as I do my own, then neither one of us are free. How can so many fail to grasp a concept that is so self evident?
Another step in our march toward a theocracy. These same people will eventually "defend the rights" of the righteous to behead women for being immodest. Or for a man to disfigure his daughter for looking at a boy. All because their homicidal invisible friend told them to.
It's how most civilizations end, really. With an ever shrinking circle of the powerful, and the rest trying to curry enough favor to survive. Until, of course, a tipping point is reached...
Maybe we should name the next private prison, the "Bastille". Then again, some schmuck would probably suggest outsourcing the manufacture of guillotines to China.
I've seen a number of interviews with Rebecca since the tornado. A brave, exceptional lady.
Stephen Weinberg once said, "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things, and evil people doing evil things. But in order for good people to do evil things, that usually takes religion."
I believe that it is WE who decide what is good and just. And when we fail at that, as we have so consistently done, it is not god's will, but our own. Until we take responsibility for that, nothing will change.
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It's how most civilizations end, really. With an ever shrinking circle of the powerful, and the rest trying to curry enough favor to survive. Until, of course, a tipping point is reached...
Maybe we should name the next private prison, the "Bastille". Then again, some schmuck would probably suggest outsourcing the manufacture of guillotines to China.
Stephen Weinberg once said, "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things, and evil people doing evil things. But in order for good people to do evil things, that usually takes religion."
I believe that it is WE who decide what is good and just. And when we fail at that, as we have so consistently done, it is not god's will, but our own. Until we take responsibility for that, nothing will change.