(no subject)
SO here's a friend's facebook status I woke up to this morning....
"OK. Lets have this discussion out in the open. I think that islam is the most ridiculous, pointless,destructive,feeble-minded,warmongering,aggressive,oppressive,backward-looking, nonsense & shit that I have ever had the misfortune to have forced into my headspace & those who practice & adhere to this crap are weak minded fools.DISCUSS."
(Ok when I say I woke up to this what I meant was I didn't sleep at all last night and when I got bored enough to turn my computer back on at an ungodly hour, this is what I was greeted with. So I'm cranky. Please keep that in mind.)
Ok. First of all why do you want to discuss this? Do you actually want to discuss this at all because everything thing from your phrasing to your choice of words suggests you don't. You want to make it look like you're interested in some kind of philosophical debate. But you aren't. At least that's what your language choice shows me. It shows me you've already formed an opinion using a very small amount of information about a very big topic and you've decided that what you've discovered, you hate. I mean that's a really closed minded opening statement for an open discussion. I mean for example let's take all of the words that are mean spirited out of the equation to start with because I don't like name calling:
"Ok, Let's have this discussion out in the open. I think that Islam is the most that I have ever had to have into my headspace and those who practise and adhere to this discuss.."
Yes it's disjointed...but your actual point is there. You're saying I have a vague grasp of a really big topic and you'd like people who have had more experience with it to elaborate on some of the issues it brings up. THAT. Is an opening statement for a open discussion.
But that's not what you asked is it, really? You put those words in there either because that's really how you feel or to get a reaction from other people. So let's look at them:
Pointless, Destructive, Feeble-mindled, war-mongering, aggressive, oppressive, backward-looking, nonsense, shit
If you want to make the point that all religions can be used to back up these darker parts of being human, you're welcome to, and if you want to use Islam as a specific example, be my guest. But I do hope you understand that Islam is not the only example you could use. Christianity has in it's history been called all of those names too and in most cases, correctly. But what are we actually condemning? The religion? Or the people who use religion as a tool to gain power.
Also, for a man who believes in ghosts, you certainly throw around the word feeble-minded a bit too broadly for my own comfort. And at the end of the day, is it really the feeble minded people you want to pick a fight with? You could spend an eternity trying to put out forest fires, or you could walk over and have a chat with the guy lighting the matches and dropping them strategically in the dryer parts of the forest. You can blame a whole religion if you want...or you can have a go at the not-so-feeble minded people who have figured out how to manipulate people using religion as a very effective tool. Because that, in my opinion is what religions are, they're tools. And you can use tools a whole bunch of different ways. You can use a hammer to build a house, and you can use the same hammer to smash some dude's head in. It may be just an evil hammer...but somehow I suspect otherwise....
To some up: I guess just be nice to people, oh and stop being such a tool.
"OK. Lets have this discussion out in the open. I think that islam is the most ridiculous, pointless,destructive,feeble-minded,warmongering,aggressive,oppressive,backward-looking, nonsense & shit that I have ever had the misfortune to have forced into my headspace & those who practice & adhere to this crap are weak minded fools.DISCUSS."
(Ok when I say I woke up to this what I meant was I didn't sleep at all last night and when I got bored enough to turn my computer back on at an ungodly hour, this is what I was greeted with. So I'm cranky. Please keep that in mind.)
Ok. First of all why do you want to discuss this? Do you actually want to discuss this at all because everything thing from your phrasing to your choice of words suggests you don't. You want to make it look like you're interested in some kind of philosophical debate. But you aren't. At least that's what your language choice shows me. It shows me you've already formed an opinion using a very small amount of information about a very big topic and you've decided that what you've discovered, you hate. I mean that's a really closed minded opening statement for an open discussion. I mean for example let's take all of the words that are mean spirited out of the equation to start with because I don't like name calling:
"Ok, Let's have this discussion out in the open. I think that Islam is the most that I have ever had to have into my headspace and those who practise and adhere to this discuss.."
Yes it's disjointed...but your actual point is there. You're saying I have a vague grasp of a really big topic and you'd like people who have had more experience with it to elaborate on some of the issues it brings up. THAT. Is an opening statement for a open discussion.
But that's not what you asked is it, really? You put those words in there either because that's really how you feel or to get a reaction from other people. So let's look at them:
Pointless, Destructive, Feeble-mindled, war-mongering, aggressive, oppressive, backward-looking, nonsense, shit
If you want to make the point that all religions can be used to back up these darker parts of being human, you're welcome to, and if you want to use Islam as a specific example, be my guest. But I do hope you understand that Islam is not the only example you could use. Christianity has in it's history been called all of those names too and in most cases, correctly. But what are we actually condemning? The religion? Or the people who use religion as a tool to gain power.
Also, for a man who believes in ghosts, you certainly throw around the word feeble-minded a bit too broadly for my own comfort. And at the end of the day, is it really the feeble minded people you want to pick a fight with? You could spend an eternity trying to put out forest fires, or you could walk over and have a chat with the guy lighting the matches and dropping them strategically in the dryer parts of the forest. You can blame a whole religion if you want...or you can have a go at the not-so-feeble minded people who have figured out how to manipulate people using religion as a very effective tool. Because that, in my opinion is what religions are, they're tools. And you can use tools a whole bunch of different ways. You can use a hammer to build a house, and you can use the same hammer to smash some dude's head in. It may be just an evil hammer...but somehow I suspect otherwise....
To some up: I guess just be nice to people, oh and stop being such a tool.