Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Oct. 12, 2002 - 3:48 p.m.

Be warned I'm pissed, so the next section is gonna get pretty ugly with the cussing. Don't come whining to me later about my language. I know I cuss like a trucker when I'm hacked, so back off.

Religious "Right":
I'm getting pretty tired of the whole us and them mentality running rampant through this country and the world these days. It's pretty ignorant, immature, and hate-based. I am amazed by people who do not get the polarity it creates, and that polarity leads to hatred, and increasingly these days, to violence.

So, Katie, you ask, what prompts this?

I boot up my computer today, and since yahoo is my homepage, catch the headlines. There's Jerry "I-couldn't-be-a-bigger-bigot/idiot-if-I-tried" Falwell pissing off the people of India and causing a riot between Hindus and Muslims with his remarks on CBS during the last week. And what in hell prompted CBS to give this moron a forum? Muslim is evil. Mohammed was a terrorist. What fucking crap. I have to wonder if Jer has ever even bothered to read the Koran/Quran. I mean, it reads pretty similarly to the Old Testament...with, you know, a little more smattering of smiting of enemies, but I digress. True Islam preaches love and peace. Concepts Falwell is obviously entirely out of touch with and ignorant of. From there, I trace the links to other bullshit religious assholes and their hypocritical bullshit.

Ya know, it pisses me off enough that George Dubya is a right-wing religious schmuck, his faith-based charity thing is a violation of the separation of church and state, and a collosal load of crap. I do not want my fucking tax dollars going to support organized fucking religion. The faithful can support it; that's their job. I want my tax dollars to be used on the other stunningly useful shit the government chooses to spend it on, like funding studies on the flow rate of various brands of catsup. Or, god forbid, EDUCATION. MEDICINE. DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF ENERGY. But no. Dipwit decides my money is better spend on spreading hatred and intolerance. Fine. When I'm president, I'll do things right, and idiots like him will find it harder to live life, but that's neither here nor there, so for now I have to sit in my living room and wonder what the hell this redneck loser bigot is thinking and how the bloody hell he got appointed President.

But back to Falwell. Let's be all huggy with the Jewish faith, the guy is suddenly spouting. Let's all remember, please, that this same man has said on countless occasions that if you're not a Christian (read: if you're not one of his Southern Baptist followers), you're goin' to hell. (and I'm sure he'd happily usher you there) Now suddenly he wants to promote and support the Jewish faith? Yeah, right. He wants to eradicate Muslims, that's his bag. I'm not buying his crap, and I'm really rather appalled CBS gave him any kind of forum. The story they ran certainly wasn't completely even-handed in it's coverage. Where was a Muslim rep? Here's the skinny, if you want to read it yourself.

And just cos that hacked me off enough, you can go here to sign an online petition to CBS when you're done. Though they kind of missed the focus of the story in favor of focussing on Falwell's anti-Muslim comments. But I suppose that's to be expected. At least they aren't calling for an intifada.

And last, but certainly not least, I travel on, to the Jerusalem Post, which is about the latest census on Jews in America and how they need to get those numbers up. It all just smacks of us-vs-them. Kinda made me feel like I should view all Jews with a certain amount of suspicion now. Which I know isn't true, so don't go readin' this and writing me off as a bigot. My point is that this kind of view supports suspicion, fear, and hatred. But deep down, where my insecurities live, I feel judged and found lacking by all members of the Jewish faith. I am an outsider in my own country, because I am not one of them. What is WRONG with a group, anyway, that it must protect its numbers like that? No matter the faith. Then again, the fact that I feel this way could explain why my Baptist friends in Texas don't consider me a Christian, despite the fact that I worship God and have "taken Christ as my saviour". Apparently, I'm just not focussed enough on Christ and getting "His word" out there. (I have to wonder if word should be capitalized too in that phrase, given the rabidity of some people I know.)

So in my short time thus far online today, I am smacked in the face with isolationist bullshit originating with all of the Big 3. Have you ever noticed you never hear a Buddhist railing against another belief or see one on the news, blowing up perfectly normal people going about their daily lives and having latte? I love Buddhists. God bless the Dalai Lama. I actually find the guy a tad sanctimonious, but at least he and his followers aren't walking around spewing their anti-everyone else vitriol.

Or maybe they are. They're just doing it inside, where I can't hear it.

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