Letters to the Editor
droogoy
Published Letters: 589 Editor's Choice: 9
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A Perspective on Metastasizing American Religious Insanity
[Read the article: Divine politics]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Contemporary Westerners often live under the illusion that modern political philosophy -- that is, the habit of "thinking and talking about politics exclusively in human terms, without appeal to divine revelation or cosmological speculation" -- is as predestined as Karl Marx believed the proletarian revolution to be
Oh, were that it were only so! That Enlightenment values had truly taken hold, never to be displaced. But alas, from my own experiences the past three months, the converse is true. Fundamentalist-think is on the rampage and woe betide any rationalist who stands in its path.
The first blog I spent time on was the 20/20 blog on abc.com - prepared for the instalment: 'Do You believe in Hell's Fury?'
After offering the Enlightenment -rationalist view that "Hell" was a regressive, primitive form of ideation - hearkening back to the era when hornets were placed on wounds to remove toxins- I was bomabarded by offended, self-righteous Christians denouncing me and condemning me to ....what else...."Hell".
One told me she KNEW Hell's temperatures were close to four thousand degrees and just right to burn me many times over. I asked her if she went there with a special thermometer to register the temperatures. I also informed her that I was gratified to know "Hell" wasn't even as hot as the core of the Sun (at 14 million Celsius).
When I noted that humans were really glorified, naked apes- after all chimps and Homo Sapiens share 98.6% of their DNA, and hence it was unlikely we had a "soul" any more than chimps- the peanut gallery really went ballistic. One woman asked if she could have my address to send me a bible. She promised to highlight all the important sections.
Weeks of these discussions with hundreds of maniacal folks and their irrational replies convinced me to leave and simply acknowledge this was merely an exceptional case. The 20/20 program probably just drew a lot of whackos and fruitcakes.
So - next I joined the discusison on the AARP message boards for the AARP Magazine article "Is There Life After Death?' - again offering the rationalist view that - since there is no soul- there is no afterlife wherein a soul would "live". When you are dead, you're dead.
The response from the old farts - many many of them- was just as violent and sanctimonious. Telling me that I better get with the Lord JC before it's too late. Thankfully, though, at least on that forum, many rationalists also appeared. So maybe all hope isn't quite lost.
But the lack of serious arguments put forward on either forum, by the religious segment, showed me that Morris Berman may not be far from the truth when he predicts a new Dark Age in his Dark Ages America.
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The War
[Read the article: You must remember this]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"The War" is parochial: It's about America from beginning to end. But she's wrong to conclude that this viewpoint is pernicious
I agree. One of the intriguing aspects of "The War" are the ironies brought up because of this very parochial take. We see, for example, race riots in Mobile - when black welders are brought in (the whites resented it) and blacks being beat up for drinking at the "white" fountain. Black soldiers, meanwhile, set upon and bloodied because they walked into the wrong side of town.
All of this in the "land of the free" which they are supposed to be defending. Makes you wonder if they asked themselves: For what?
And then there are the Japanese -AMERICANS, all rounded up and put into internment camps. Oh, the males were eventually given the chance of getting out IF they joined a segregated unit of all Japanese-American soldiers.
Without the parochial take, it is doubtless these ironies would be brought out, exposed. For one thing there probably wouldn't be enough time.
"The War" is excellent for highlighting the inconsistencies of the country. All the pious cant and "values" in opposition to the harsh reality.
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Should be slam-dunk for Rather
[Read the article: Dan Rather stands by his story]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Seriously, this ought to be a slam-dunk case for Rather if he does it right, gets the right legal help with am emphasis on competence. The reason is that the BBC already blew the cover off the Bush dogging with the AL National Guard more than two years ago.
All Dan really has to do is go there for vindication and all the resources he requires. It was obvious from the get go that Viacom execs wanted to cover their butt and do a pre-emptive hit on the story to avoid retaliation from the Corleone-imitative Bushies.
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Much ado about nada
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All this kerfuffle about Holliday not "touching the plate" merely shows how the visual medium of TV can wreak havoc on the eyes. It was quite clear that Matt nubbed the plate, a "sleight of hand" as the NY Times called it - because it appeared that despite the touch it looked like he missed it. He did not and even Padres manager Bud Black agreed to that.
Case closed.
And even if some twerp doesn't think it's "closed" - there is no way the Rockes will be charged with a "forfeit" at this stage. Get over it already, like some of us have had to get over the punk Bonds breaking Aaron's HR record. (But at least we have the satisfaction of knowing Bond's #756 will now be asterisked at Cooperstown)
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El Wrongo
[Read the article: Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bug wrote:
I simply don't think he deserves a peace prize because I don't believe he lives it.
You "don't believe"? Well, I hate to disabuse you but he DOES. The greening of his place in TN was featured in a Mother Jones piece several months ago. Massive changes, low energy generators, efficiency imperatives and recycling dominate the Gore domecile.
Yes, he does practice what he preaches.
And he DOES merit the Nobel Prize.