Camus

[hardblue]

“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest - whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories - comes afterwards.”-- Albert Camus, "The Myth of Sisyphus

Comments

[cinnamontoast]

Camus is right. It's a vexing problem. It's sort of simple though. You weigh the pros and cons and come up with the answer. Then, after your decision is made, you make your second decision and do what you feel what is right for you emotionally. Humans are not rational beings.

I haven't forgotten our discussion. I haven't been busy or anything, I just haven't been thinking about it. I'm trying to take some time away from thinking about identity-driven politics and look at some of the bigger pictures, like the effects of globalism. I'm also thinking about doing a podcast.

[hardblue]

Please, don't feel obligated on my account. I'm not really looking to spend much time and effort on that myself. I'd just as soon focus more on literature and philosophy,

[cinnamontoast]

I lost the plot on the post anyway. I think the long and short of it is because what I said is objectively true and must be treated as if it is objectively true if we are going to solve the current problems. There has to be a shift in the way that Islam is perceived. There has to be a shift in the same way that there was a shift in the way that Christianity was perceived. There are no sacred cows, I don't respect their god any more than anyone else's, and people can't shout "racism" about a religion.

Accusations of "racism" are nothing more than the modern equivalent to accusations of blasphemy. It isn't doing any good. Most people who cry racism over Islam are just trying to shut down conversations, they aren't trying to solve any problems, they just want the other person to shut-up. It's ridiculous. It's not like I've never experienced it before. I've been an atheist for a long time.

Can you really tell the difference between someone who is Greek, Italian, Moroccan, Algerian, Iranian, Egyptian, Portuguese, Israeli or is from

[hardblue]

I think people can tell the difference between someone who is white and someone who is not.

[cinnamontoast]

But what does that have to do with religion? It's difficult to identify regionality by skin color now, let alone religion. I can only tell someone's religion by the display that they wear - The garb: A Sikh turban, a Hindu bindi, a Christian cross, a Muslim hijab, a Jewish yarmulke, a Pastafarian colander. You can't tell a person's religion by skin color alone and if society is ever going to have a sane discussion about Islam, we have to acknowledge that it is a religion, a political system and a set of ideas. No political system or set of ideas should be shielded from criticism the way that Islam is protected in the West.

[hardblue]

No, religion and politics should not, and probably cannot, be protected from criticism, but we have a legacy of white supremacy and discrimination, and one should consider that a lot of the angst against Muslims is driven in part, by some, by many, on the force of this color/cultural divide. The Islamic part of the issue (especially when colored by the jihadist and their anti-Western terror) just further strengthens the distrust and animosity - with that strengthened sense of otherness.

I don't believe the skin color or religion of others warps your sense of the issues and problems, but that is not a common facility. Just imagine how a lot of devout white Christians may be inclined to see these things. It is not easy to separate the rational from the irrational. Just as with 'God', I imagine you'd like to think that 'racism' should be considered relegated to some dark past, but for most people these are very live issues.

[cinnamontoast]

But it is being protected from criticism every time someone screams "Racist!" People are so terrified of being called 'racist' that they let an underage prostitution ring flourish for years. I find that highly disturbing. I see people finding white supremacy and discrimination in every discussion of Islam and it's just wrong. It's not productive and it's got nothing to do with Islam. It's also got nothing to do with Christians or Christianity**.

The left wing has become just as authoritarian and frightening to me as the right wing was during the Bush years.

Muslims deserve so much better than this. The people that the Islamists target deserve so much better than this.

(**Yes, I've seen Christians who rail on Islam because it's the wrong religion and this is a Christian Nation, blahblahblah, but it's rare right now. I am seeing a lot more Christians who have come to their senses about the separation of church and state - they finally understand why it is so important.)

[cinnamontoast]

BTW, you are wrong about the religion of others warping my sense of issues and problems. It does. I'm very much an anti-theist and I can be irrational about it. I don't dislike people specifically for their religion, unless they define their lives by their religion. I fall in line with Hitch in his opinions of religion. I miss his voice so much.