Shadow’s Note: I occasionally tell Aff he should write something on the blog, because he’s an entertaining and hilarious opinion writer. He keeps saying that he’s likely to piss off everyone, including my friends. I know my friends. They’ll probably be laughing right along with me. If it helps, imagine this in the voice of a very sarcastic Lawrence Fishburne crossed with Dr. House.
So, the last time I wrote anything for Shadow to post was about gun control, which probably irritated some people. Not to worry, for I have learned my lesson and I will now write about far less controversial things.
Item One: Racism & Why I hate the Internet
This might sound odd from somebody who uses a computer on a near 24/7 basis to browse said Internet, but it’s done a world of harm. It would have been far better if it was just that weird place which Hatsune Miku came from, but we’ve got no such luck.
For a very long time, Australia absorbed the better part of foreign cultures and concepts via an elegant process which took time.
Turns out, most of this happened in the late ninety/early 2000s period. A lot of different cultures were moving into various areas of Australia – Adelaide, South Australia being no exception.
As I was growing up, I was thrown into a Preschool class with a bunch of other kids. Some of them were Asian. Some were African. Some were Aboriginal. I realise this now, of course. But at the time I didn’t know. Nor did I care. Nor did anyone else. We were all just kids.
No attempts were made to classify any of them as different, or disadvantaged, or people we should work harder to include or people we should exclude. When I got into a punch up with one of the kids, it was because I hated the little bastard for the day because he stole my Banana or something. If we were kicking a ball around, it was because it was some other kid to kick a ball around with. This happened indiscriminately, without any concern for what race that kid was. Because it didn’t matter.
Adelaide remained like this for the entire duration of my school life. I went through Primary and High School without ever noticing or caring what race any of the kids were. It didn’t matter. Nobody else cared, either. If there was racism present at my school, it must have been buried so deeply that nobody would have said anything – and the groups of kids that turned up for events, LAN parties, or social trips to Salisbury were always mixed completely at random.
Not because we were told to. It just happened naturally. And my friends weren’t the only ones – this was a common occurrence. Nobody cared.
Then came the Internet, and problems from other countries started being communicated to Australians in real time. People felt strongly about these issues, and wanted to do something about them. Issues in other places.
So they began to campaign against issues that didn’t exist here. Loudly. Angrily. And their righteous campaigns to prevent racism only served to make some people feel different when they hadn’t before!
The very attempt to right a wrong (which hadn’t existed in that location – at least not on any major scale) caused the problem!
Fantastic work. Brilliant. Top notch.
Fortunately, it didn’t work that well. As someone who has lived extensively in three states of Australia, I can tell you it’s still pretty kick back. I don’t believe racism has a huge hold here, and I’m hoping it stays that way.
I’m sure the Internet is also guilty of damaging other countries in the same way. My guess is that cities globally vary enough that problems in one area can spread to another via the Internet even if the problem wasn’t even remotely possible in the other location previously.
Want to treat everyone equally? Just do nothing different. Don’t force ‘awareness’ or ‘educational programs’ on people to highlight the differences. That’s how you amplify something into a problem, instead of avoiding it becoming a problem.
Item Two: Religion
As most of you have likely figured out, Shadow has a religion. She believes in spirits and what not. I don’t. You might be asking how we co-exist given the fact that most Atheists can’t enter a public place without telling everyone within earshot while wearing a smugly superior look that resembles the kind of leer you would see on the face of a convicted paedophile.
I don’t believe in a God. I also don’t believe in spirits. I do however, believe in History. There’s these things we have called records, which document stuff that happened previously. It’s really quite neat – and some of it you can even find on the previously-mentioned awful Internet.
What we now loosely and somewhat inaccurately refer to as Free Western Culture stems from the family values and concepts that arose from Christian Faiths. In fact, the very fact that Atheists can exist without prosecution is because of Christianity. Don’t believe it? Go look up how well Atheists did in the presence of many other belief systems, you may find it some fiery reading.
Here’s a great thing from Christianity you can enjoy as an Atheist today; the concept of education for the common-folk was one born out of the necessity of being able to teach people what was inside the Bible. Granted, you may not see this as being particularly cool as it is promoting a belief system – however, giving people literacy led towards other great gifts and a more general education. Do you know how to read this post? Do you know how to write something slandering Christians? Congratulations, you can probably thank them for it.
While it is true that Atheists may suffer some discrimination in the modern era, it is completely out of proportion compared to the discrimination that Atheists appear to exclusively focus on Christianity. You can generally live in a Christian country without worrying about being persecuted because you don’t turn up to Church – in fact, most Christians seem pretty lazy on that score too, so who would know anyway? There are also laws – derived from the concept under the Bible that all Humans are created equal in the image of God (or some such) in most Christian countries that protect your rights to pretty much believe what you want.
So what’s up with Atheists attacking Christian/Catholic beliefs at every opportunity?
Now, some of you may be thinking – hey, okay so it was useful. But now it’s not. We should stop with this fairytale nonsense, right? Where’s the harm?
This is the part where the Atheist part of me – the one who isn’t worried about curse words – would like to call you a fucking idiot.
Let’s say you succeed, and Christianity is gone. Great success, celebrate with some alcohol.
Oh wait, you probably can’t. The removal of Christianity isn’t going to instantly turn everything over to a religion-free society. It’s more likely to remove the protections that Christianity and its influence on culture provides that allow you to reject religion – next thing you know you’re in an Islamic country… and uh, you don’t want to live there as an Atheist.
You think it’s obnoxious that someone wants to give blessing before they eat? In Islamic scripture, you cannot change religion or become atheist – denying Islam and becoming an apostate is punishable by death for males and imprisonment for women (and what happens to the women mean they are probably getting the worst part of the deal). If you’re an Atheist and think you can be as brutal with Islam as you are with Christianity, try taking a visit to Afghanistan, Malaysia, or Saudi Arabia. There, you can be executed for publicly advocating Atheism – something that will never happen to you in a Christian country.
But hey, it might be a nice trip for you. And at the very least, it will spare me from seeing another one of those blasted banner adverts advocating how we should kill of Christianity and shoot ourselves in the proverbial foot.
Don’t wanna believe in God? Fine, you don’t have to. I don’t either. And that’s my right – one protected by the laws of Australia and most (not all) other Christian-founded countries.
Don’t like others believing in God? Okay, explain why? Why does it matter to you in the slightest. Does it affect you? No. Will it affect your children? No. You can opt out of every religious study class available in Australian public schools. Christianity might be loud during Easter and Christmas, but if you’re offended by a few chocolate eggs and the idea that people will give each other gifts, perhaps you’re actually just a horrible bastard.
And hey, that’s cool too – but before you embark on your heroic campaign to spend thousands on billboards and drive Christianity out of the country, maybe you should think about what will replace it when that happens because it most likely won’t be the peaceful universal Atheism you seem to believe.
Because hey, it’s cool we’re not afraid of God. In fact, there’s nobody to judge our actions in this world but ourselves. And that’s also a solid point – we are responsible for our actions. Which means we are also responsible if we act like total dicks to one another, and ruin everyone else’s day. We’d also have nobody to blame but ourselves if the great plan backfired and we all ended up on some Islamic chopping block in the UAE. So cut this self-destructive shit out, you’ll destroy all of us right along with your intended target.
Don’t bite the hand that protects you.
Item Three: Abortion
I was going to stop above, but I figured I had one more group of people to quickly piss off.
I’m not really pro-life. I’m also not really pro-choice. I’m pro-personal responsibility.
Abortion is a medical procedure with some risk. You can avoid needing this if you either:
a) stop fucking everyone;
or b) use birth control;
As for the “it’s my body” stuff from some women; can you become pregnant via photosynthesis or mitosis? No? There was another person involved?
Sounds like it’s joint decision time!
But hey, abort away. I don’t intend to change anyone’s opinions because I don’t really care too much about this subject – but if you are going to do so, do it at a proper medical centre and not some half-baked clinic.
Otherwise it might not just be the foetus that dies, you might too.
Right, well that’s probably filled my quota for another six months… actually, no – wait. I have one more group I have a gripe with.
Item Four: WordPress
Alright, so I don’t post to Shadows Blog – at all, ever. She has the option of posting things from me on her Blog if she chooses to do so. Under no circumstances do I dictate things that must or must not appear on her web site.
I am the administrator that manages the behind-the-scenes stuff which keeps this site running. I installed the WordPress, and I apply updates or patches as needed to keep it running smoothly. In that effect, I am part of the platform that enables her speech.
WordPress are part of a platform that enable peoples speech as well. That’s what they claim to be, anyway. By forcing the rainbow banner on users via the reader bar, they are going beyond participating in the discussion but forcing their speech on top of the sites that they claim to support free speech on and thus telling them that any other view is wrong.
This is not the place of a speech provider to do. We’re looking at replacing WordPress soon, but until then this post can stand as some glorious irony when I officially state that WordPress gets added to my official list of companies that can get fucked.
If you are a platform or a host to debate, you cannot pick a side in the debate. Then you are no longer providing neutral discussion ground.
Alright, now that’s my quota filled for real. If you aren’t offended yet, let Shadow know and I’ll get right on fixing that.
Aff/Seda, signing off.
Go look up how well Atheists did in the presence of many other belief systems, you may find it some fiery reading.
shudder Can look up why the Romans were so down on Christians, and Jews, too.
I’m mildly annoyed nobody mentioned it before– it made things make a lot more sense. I’d be nasty, too, if I thought that folks were basically causing all sorts of trouble because they wouldn’t do a simple, nominal offering to (local power). (Also made a lot of the old testament make a lot more sense, since that mindset is normal for non-universal gods.)
Utterly unrelated, let me raise a glass– literally stops typing, raises cola and whiskey— for the first Atheist who is not actually an agnostic or anti-theist. Naturally, I think you’re wrong, but the thought is mutual, and I’d wager we both think if the other just keeps thinkign they’ll end up in our camp, so cool.
On abortion- part of the demand is from the other half of the equation, but dang if it isn’t a rare guy who is willing to get the relatively cheap, insanely effective, extremely low risk and reversible (if you get the slightly more expensive version) male birth control option of a vasectomy.
Oddly, there are a ton of guys willing to howl about women “entrapping” them by not being totally sterile. There aren’t so many willing to spend a few hundred to only have to worry about STDs.
(I’m Catholic. I think all of the above is wrong. That doesn’t stop me from noticing the guys who will scream about a woman’s “responsibility” to provide them with zero-risk sex when that’s not currently biologically possible without a major, irreversible surgery that throws the woman’s entire system out of whack, will not take the relatively tiny step that would give them freedom to look for all the STDs that aren’t human they could wish.)
I am the administrator that manages the behind-the-scenes stuff which keeps this site running.
FWIW, I appreciate it, and thank you.
Not just for the “looking for something that will actually focus on their goal not political statements” stuff, either.
It’s probably long overdue, but part of the reason why we don’t end up in the typical screaming match that usually occurs when an atheist and a religious person end up in the same room is… well. Because I don’t try to convert Aff or change his mind (which is the most important thing for him). Nor does he care that I have religious practices, traditions, or statues of the Virgin, or Saint Joseph with the Child Jesus, or crucifixes. I have passed on to him gifts of rosaries and medallions from my mother, and he takes them as expressions of care, and appreciation for his helping take care of my family. If he hangs a Dominican Cross on his room’s door, it is done to comfort me, not because he believes in it. Does it bother him? No, because it’s not in his way, and does not offend him, nor does it cost him anything to keep it there. Similarly, he passes on the things his parents give.
But these things are small, and in passing. This doesn’t really do anything in our day to day “Oh hey, check this out, this is hilarious” and “Do you want breakfast?” or “Do you want me to wake you for dinner” or the sticky note “I made dinner for you, it’s in the oven for you to warm up.”
Caritas.
As it should be.
…wish we were closer, so we could do the whole neighbor thing more effectively.
My formerly agnostic techy guy passes on a thanks for the various alerts; some of them he passes on to more official folks. 😀
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