Random observations for December 2016
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Having to abandon or change a long-held belief is always unpleasant, but it's hard to consider anyone intellectually mature who hasn't done so a few times.
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Time spent on political sites shows me how the world is. Time spent on art sites reminds me of how the world could have been, and how it may yet become. To stay sane, I need both.
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If capitalism truly rewarded people according to the value of their contribution, medical researchers would be billionaires and Wall Street executives would be on food stamps.
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Liberals often have something worthwhile to say. Conservatives sometimes do. Cynics never do.
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The fact that an idea offends someone is not evidence that it is false.
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If you think beauty is trivial or unimportant, just try to imagine the world without it.
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I feel almost honored when someone attacks me for refusing to respect ideas that simply don't merit respect.
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For American democracy to thrive, it needs a healthy two-party system. Unfortunately it cannot have that until the present Republican party is swept away.
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The percentage of the population who would respond to "check your privilege" with anything other than "go fuck yourself" is tiny. We can't win elections with just those people.
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People who want to abandon regulation are like people who want to abandon vaccines. The solution has worked so well that we've forgotten the problems that made us need that solution in the first place.
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Ironically, Marxism and libertarianism share the same fundamental flaw -- a tendency to view all of life through the prism of economics.
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Not all cultures are equal. I do not accept any man as my equal unless he accepts women as his equals.
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Calvin Coolidge said: "No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave." But maybe I'm not all that concerned about being honored.
posted by Infidel753 at 4:15 AM
7 Comments:
Okay - I'm going to need some of these for future Sunday Reflections (with attribution and your permission, of course)!
Thanks! Please go ahead, I'd be flattered.
I like the one about time spent looking at art blogs.
Here's a photographer from Germany with beautiful images.
Good observations, Infidel.
Some good news in the midst of all of the depressing stuff...http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-s-signature-u-s-religious-freedom-law-protects-atheists-n699356
One piece of advice...please do avoid the comments--I would prefer you don't grind your teeth to powder gritting them in frustration. :)
Even though I am not an atheist, I firmly believe in separation of Church and State, and I will defend the right of anyone to believe or not to believe in the US. The constant whining about "Christian persecution" in the US is such utter bullshit (pardon my French), with no basis in fact. As I tell anyone and everyone, until I see people being burned at the stake up and down Fifth Avenue due to their Christian belief, any claims of "Christian persecution" is to be rejected outright.
Will the administration of the Orange Turd Blossom try to change this? Perhaps. But this is still yet another achievement in a long list of them for President Obama. It is a tragic shame that such a good man has to make way for such a loathsome person like Trump, but....
Proud cynic here, with much to say -- notably, the fact that the only time a conservative has something to say is when you are in the mood to hear a defense of unaccountability.
Shaw: I like those, thanks!
Marc: Obama seems to be doing his best to idiot-proof the country before he leave office. Trump will probably try to crap on as much of it as possible, but as a Constitutional scholar Obama presumably knows what he's about.
The fundies won't like it, of course, because for them "religious freedom" is just code for being able to discriminate against gays and harass women who want abortions. And it certainly shouldn't apply to non-Christian religions.
Religious freedom cuts both ways.
In the UK amongst the strongest supporters of gay marriage were certain religious groups. Odd that. Well, not really but it might seem odd because the most strident "religious freedom" merchants were the various religious groups who thought it was the end of days.
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