Of society and spirits...

This article really disgusts me, but doesn't surprise me: Woman blames Devil for baby in microwave

While it would be easy to post something about De Nile not just being a river in Egypt, or wacko religious crazies, there's a much more fundamental problem here, and one that isn't limited to any one particular political group, socioeconomic level, demographic, or region of the world.

People want to blame anything else for their own failings.

You have the religious right blaming the Devil, and you have the bleeding left blaming society. In both cases, responsibility is replaced with an invisible, ephemeral *something* that is outside the realm of rational debate, and is therefore inviolate from criticism. They're the perfect excuses. "The Devil made me do it." vs. "Society made me do it." There's zero difference at the personal level.

As many of you know, I grew up in a fundamentalist household and family. I was raised Jehovah's Witness until I was 9, and let me tell you, there are no actions that cannot be justified by a bible thumper with a mission. All it requires is that you believe what they say, totally, that you place all trust in them, completely, and that you give them your well-being to take care of. By 'them', of course, they mean God, but it's people who are performing the actual machinations.

Now here's my problem, and the realization I had recently... replace 'God' with 'government' in the above, and you have the current Democratic political situation up here in NY, and, if I'm right, increasingly across the US. This scares the ever loving shit out of me. Not because 'them lousy librals' are taking over, but instead because absence of personal thought and responsibility is taking over the left, just as it has taken over the far right. Hell, I *want* a more socially tolerant climate in this nation, I *want* diplomacy before warfare, but this is an issue that transcends parties. It is, quite simply, a matter of rational thought vs. superstitious blind faith.

When anyone, of any stripe, wants me to put my faith in them or their institutions, with the promise that they'll keep me safe, they'll take care of me in my old age and ill health, they'll put food on my table when I am hungry, and they'll make sure that, no matter how badly I screw up my life, they'll make it right and *all I have to do* is let them do all the thinking... I run.

Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses, and he was spot on... but still fell short. It's not religion, it's blind faith in general. Unfortunately, our political choices these days seem to be boiling down to blind faith in invisible forces of religion on one hand, and blind faith in invisible forces of government on the other. We haven't managed to eliminate superstition from politics, all we've done is replace the focus. Politics is still dominated by driving fear, and providing comfort in invisible forces, on both sides of the fence.

All you have to do is give yourself over to them, totally.

This is a movement that needs to be broken, and soon. The far-right fundies aren't anything unusual in the political landscape, they're the Republican answer to the far-left. They both scare the shit out of me, because as soon as you can be made to trade belief in the invisible for a measure of personal comfort, you've left the realm of rational thought, and, just like those bible thumpers, *any* action can be justified.

We, as a society, need to stop making our governmental decisions based on superstition, of any sort. Think for yourselves. Take personal responsibility. Own up to your own failings. Learn from them. Parent your own kids. No angels will swoop down to save you, no government will ride in to carry you through your golden years. Take care of your own damned self. Then take care of others. We are our own only saviors, our own only safety net. Stop expecting invisible mommy and daddy to come save your sorry ass.

OTOH, reading that last paragraph, I know this hasn't a snowball's chance in hell of ever happening.

Of society and spirits...

This article really disgusts me, but doesn't surprise me: Woman blames Devil for baby in microwave

While it would be easy to post something about De Nile not just being a river in Egypt, or wacko religious crazies, there's a much more fundamental problem here, and one that isn't limited to any one particular political group, socioeconomic level, demographic, or region of the world.

People want to blame anything else for their own failings.

You have the religious right blaming the Devil, and you have the bleeding left blaming society. In both cases, responsibility is replaced with an invisible, ephemeral *something* that is outside the realm of rational debate, and is therefore inviolate from criticism. They're the perfect excuses. "The Devil made me do it." vs. "Society made me do it." There's zero difference at the personal level.

As many of you know, I grew up in a fundamentalist household and family. I was raised Jehovah's Witness until I was 9, and let me tell you, there are no actions that cannot be justified by a bible thumper with a mission. All it requires is that you believe what they say, totally, that you place all trust in them, completely, and that you give them your well-being to take care of. By 'them', of course, they mean God, but it's people who are performing the actual machinations.

Now here's my problem, and the realization I had recently... replace 'God' with 'government' in the above, and you have the current Democratic political situation up here in NY, and, if I'm right, increasingly across the US. This scares the ever loving shit out of me. Not because 'them lousy librals' are taking over, but instead because absence of personal thought and responsibility is taking over the left, just as it has taken over the far right. Hell, I *want* a more socially tolerant climate in this nation, I *want* diplomacy before warfare, but this is an issue that transcends parties. It is, quite simply, a matter of rational thought vs. superstitious blind faith.

When anyone, of any stripe, wants me to put my faith in them or their institutions, with the promise that they'll keep me safe, they'll take care of me in my old age and ill health, they'll put food on my table when I am hungry, and they'll make sure that, no matter how badly I screw up my life, they'll make it right and *all I have to do* is let them do all the thinking... I run.

Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses, and he was spot on... but still fell short. It's not religion, it's blind faith in general. Unfortunately, our political choices these days seem to be boiling down to blind faith in invisible forces of religion on one hand, and blind faith in invisible forces of government on the other. We haven't managed to eliminate superstition from politics, all we've done is replace the focus. Politics is still dominated by driving fear, and providing comfort in invisible forces, on both sides of the fence.

All you have to do is give yourself over to them, totally.

This is a movement that needs to be broken, and soon. The far-right fundies aren't anything unusual in the political landscape, they're the Republican answer to the far-left. They both scare the shit out of me, because as soon as you can be made to trade belief in the invisible for a measure of personal comfort, you've left the realm of rational thought, and, just like those bible thumpers, *any* action can be justified.

We, as a society, need to stop making our governmental decisions based on superstition, of any sort. Think for yourselves. Take personal responsibility. Own up to your own failings. Learn from them. Parent your own kids. No angels will swoop down to save you, no government will ride in to carry you through your golden years. Take care of your own damned self. Then take care of others. We are our own only saviors, our own only safety net. Stop expecting invisible mommy and daddy to come save your sorry ass.

OTOH, reading that last paragraph, I know this hasn't a snowball's chance in hell of ever happening.