Imaginary Enemies

Imagination is the subject of today's article.

Ironically, people with the least imagination are also usually the most narrow-minded religious fundamentalists you could find - something which one would expect to require... imagination.

 

Of course, with their entire realities revolving around one single book (which they don't really understand themselves) they don't actually get much chance to actually think outside the covers, if at all.

They can't imagine what it must be like to be a man attracted to another man, or what it must be like to be a man trapped in a woman's body. And what's even worse is that mostly, they won't even try.

DWB - Driving With Blinkers

We tend to think that things are better today than they were long ago. After all, we have mobile phones, HDTV, Satellite communication and the internet, among many other things. Of course, not too long ago, we still used to have a more relaxed pace of life, lower stress levels and cleaner air and water - and also a certain level of respect for each other as people.

Agents Of Change

What are we in this world? Agents of change? 

 

Do we make things better, or worse? 

 

Or do we sit back and moan all day, doing nothing constructive and even worse, leaving the world unchanged and no better for our passing? We could go even lower by referring to our friend IdiOT Amin's "bloody agent", but I'm sure we can do better than that. So could he.

Wolves In The Fold

It's pretty hard to deny that a lot of the world's problems have roots in the activities of organized book-religions like Christianity, which are less matters of personal faith and more systems of control.

South African Roulette

Today the world has been rocked by the good news that South African scientists have developed a gel, which if applied inside the vagina or anus of the female, will prevent HIV infections in women up to 39% of the time. 

 

While this sounds like an astonishing achievement, and a positive move in the fight against the pandemic sweeping Africa, this raises a few interesting points and questions for me.

Leviticans Blow It - The Vuvuzela, Twilight and Star Wars Fiasco

Is the vuvuzela an instrument of the anti-Christ? 

 

Wait...what?

Many people might think so - typically the ones whose ears are bleeding at around 4am during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, but some however, seem intent on taking this pet hate beyond the mild inconvenience and a bit of a joke, and drag the idea down a few levels to where it becomes decidedly unfunny. Folks like these, who even compiled a study on the issue. 

Yes, an actual study.

Leviticans - The True Face Of The Christian Radical Right

The other day, I found an entertaining description of the outlooks of various religions (or non-religions as it were) regarding the popular topic of fate, luck, providence, rather profoundly summed up under the eternal example of surfer-wisdom - "shit happens":

Atheism: I don't believe this shit!

Agnosticism: What shit is this?

Taoism: Shit happens

Buddhism: If shit happens, it isn't really shit

Islam: If shit happens, it is the will of Allah

Judaism: Why does this shit always happen to us?

Catholicism: If shit happens, you deserve it.

I hope my atheist friends have their sense of humor plugged in for this one, and don't crucify me for listing a non-religion among several religions! (Yes, I know, while atheism is not a religion, it is a belief system.)

Add to the list my old favorite, radical or extremist Christian fundamentalism, which seems to say: "Believe this shit - or you will go to Hell!" They also sometimes like to add: "...and we'll help send you there." Sometimes they will scratch their heads and wonder: "How can you possibly not believe this?" and treat others like they are the ones with the malfunctioning GPS. Weird.

A World Without Fear

Xenophobia?

What's that?

Recently there were some widely publicized outbreaks of violence in South Africa which were directed at foreigners living in the country, particularly illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Somalia. The term xenophobia was applied to these acts of violence, and many have taken it to mean only this sort of attack on foreign nationals living among the local population - attacks fueled by differences of nationality only. Sorry to burst this little nationalistic bubble - but that's not all there is to xenophobia.

Hoax = Bad Business

The recent report of the Ugandan gay rights activist, whose severed head was discovered in a latrine, and his dismembered torso in a field, has now been reported as a hoax. 

 

This discovery inflamed the international Pink Community because - well, hoaxes are more than just trickery and lies, they are damaging to our cause of GLBT human rights. Yes, at first those perpetrating such hoaxes seem to generate lots of sympathy and support - but when people realize they have been "played" they become very bitter and angry, and who can blame them? They also tend to evoke that common childhood parable of "crying wolf".

 

With much of Africa (and including South Africa) currently a hot-spot of homophobia and transphobia, we see a future in which a Pink genocide looms over the horizon - and in more than one country. 

 

These days, our worldwide communications are so good, reliable and quick, that reports like this can span the globe almost instantaneously - making timeous verification virtually impossible. Often, by the time what seems to be a very credible report turns into a hoax, it is far too late.

 

This gives very poignant credence to the Twain-ism “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”

Symbolism As Ideology

Symbols mean different things to different people. I suppose this view depends on how these symbols - and what they symbolize and represent, affect you personally.

According to BBC news, Hindus now want to 'reclaim' the use of one of their traditional symbols - the swastika. Why would they want to do this? 

 

Although they must have their reasons - however pure in intent - I don't think they will ever shake the Nazi association with that symbol... even though it has been used by Tibetans and Vikings and other ancient Germanic peoples to symbolize other things altogether since the times of pre-history.