Welcome to my blog. I'm new at this but figured it was time to join the revolution...instead of sitting on the sidelines, peaking in from a distance.
I hope to discuss topics that interest me and interest you...you people out there. Hopefully we can have lively discussions and debate some of the great ideas and controversial subjects out there in the world stage. The idea of dialogue v monologue.
At this time, I have several areas of interest: Politics, Environmental concerns, Science v Religion debate, War/Peace, Humanism, Celebrity, Civil Rights, Post-Industrial Capitalism. (Not in any particular order of significance...just areas that I have been reading about and concerned about and ranting about.)
I also enjoy Satire and the comedy of folks like Ricky Gervais, Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Penn and Teller, George Carlin, Jon Stuart, Stephen Colbert and many others. The mind of a standup comic is often very fascinating to investigate! Quite satisfying and enlightening. Where their material comes from...how we, as social creatures, can be entertained when others "poke fun".
Especially in taboo subject areas like Religion....those comic folks that "push the envelope" test how much freedom we citizens really have in this country to speak our minds. This brings up the concept of our civic duty to participate in government, for example, and how our patriotism is often questioned when we dare to criticize.
It is ironic that when citizens show their pride in being American by speaking up about grievances that they are put in the villian position of "hating their country" and being "traitors" rather than showing how much they're willing to go to show their love of this country and it's heritage as a
"free country" and based on "standing up for your principles" even when they aren't in the majority. The concept of "moral majority" has always troubled me ....since it appears to put minorities in the "immoral" category....demonized unfairly with a broad brush. One of my favorite quotes is about this concept of reclaiming our "christian heritage" and how inaccurate it is:
"Religious minorities should feel protected, not threatened by the American government in power at the time...if Catholics or Protestants, Jews or Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists feel insecure and threatened as a minority group, something is wrong with our democracy" (Susan Jacoby, "Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism")
I would add atheists to people that should be protected because the current government seems to equate us with morally corrupt criminals...as non-citizens, even. Ask yourself this question: When has a presidential candidate ever asked us for OUR opinions...WAY too risky. As Richard Dawkins once said, atheists are perceived as a threat because we are misunderstood and feared. There is an irrational phobia against us . But maybe it is catchy..ha ha.
