It's good to know where individuals stand given certain issues and ideas. The problem begins when some individuals, because of their subjective perceptions that their system of things are better than others, try to make other individuals accept them - even to the point of using force and violence. We have seen that throughout history (also discussed above) so repetition is not necessary here.
Concerning religion. Most people think of religion as consisting primarily of the deity and problems with afterlife. We get ourselves into too much trouble arguing from this perspective alone. However, we can think of religion in a much more universal sense. Sociologically, it means the rituals and processes of renewing a culture or society's social solidarity. Now that includes the secular domain of society. We can think of an important sporting activity or event as religious in the sense that it brings people together and in the process unites them and renews their social cohesion. Think of indepedendence celebrations, a tumbuna singsing festival, Christmas and Easter presents and family gatherings, along the same line. Thus the line "people worship rugby league in PNG" becomes more relevant in the broader religious sense. Religion, being defined in such a way, can now be extended to include all factions and pursuasions of society.
So now, the christian can go to church on sundays, to renew his relationship with his deity, and the atheist can go fishing with his friends and have a BBQ afterwards. In both of these activities, the common thing is that different types of rituals are being performed for the same purpose: To renew social solidarity and maintain their state of mental health.
One of the greatest contradictions of the current war against terrorism is that, both sides are fighting under the auspices of the SAME God!! Take a look at the vernacular used: One side calls the other "terrorists" while the other side responds using "infidels". So the great Crusade that began in the Dark Ages still rampages on even after more than a thousand years of human 'progress'!!! He he he he...But today's war is not about about preserving christianity. It is about selling a perverted form of democracy that serves the interests of the elite and the corporations more than it does the interests of the little people.
Terrorism has taken a new twist in determining racial discrimination. The tacit understanding is that as long as you are dark and look like someone from the Middle East, your are immediately 'targeted'. To me, this is outright racism on the basis of a person's physcial attributes, regardless of geographic or ethnic origins. It is preposterous that some all-wise, all-knowing caucasian society, as a result of an unecessary homophobic scramble for pre-emptive measures, should judge and consequently stigmatize certain categories of people. This is something that is beyond my comprehension.
I've seen some of the most ignorant, arrogant and dumb people in this part of the world, and I'm proud to say that our high schools and primary schools have bright kids who can think globally even if they are ill-equipped in learning materials. I bumped into this brother ****** from Texas. He told me he was from the Navy and just got his Bachelor's degree. So he asked where I was from and I said "Papua New Guinea". I was surprised that he was surprised: "Where the hell is that?!" He didn't even know the general location of countries in the Pacific. But I was sad for him because being a Navy person he was supposed to be more knowledgeable. Dumb and dumber. No wonder Americans love that movie! And no wonder they have dumb intelligence that made them the laughing stock of the intelligent world!
Another dumb case: I was watching the news on the terror war on TV and that woman reporter was talking about dead soldiers and all those nice things you hear when people are already dead. The last part of her reporting drove me nuts. She said: "...and he died giving his life to his country..." Whoa whoa whoa! Time out!! What I don't understand is that the Iraq war is an UNPROVOKED war...very unlike the Pearl Harbor bombing of 1941!! The Iraq war happened just because some belligerent dumb-ass, because of dumb intelligence, just felt like making war over someone who is ill-equipped and ill-prepared for the American military might. So how could you say someone gave his life for his country when they self-invited themselves into an unprovoked war! Dumb and dumberer!!
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