Glad (sad?) to see racism is still alive and well. You guys keep fighting the good fight. I’m sure you’ll eventually convince everyone that hating people because of their skin color or ethnicity is the right thing to do.
Or not.
Glad (sad?) to see racism is still alive and well. You guys keep fighting the good fight. I’m sure you’ll eventually convince everyone that hating people because of their skin color or ethnicity is the right thing to do.
Or not.
Remember when Christmas was all about sharing the spirit of the season? Yeah, me neither. Of course, I’m not concerned with the commercialism of the holiday season (it may be a problem, but it’s easily solved by *gasp* not giving in to it and by buying meaningful presents instead of expensive ones…but I digress) as much as I’m concerned with the religious strife surrounding the season. One the one side, there are over-the-top Christians who get flustered any time someone says something other than “Merry Christmas,” and on the other, you’ve got over-the-top atheists who balk at any mention of religion during a season with three religious holidays. Every year, it’s blindingly obvious that both groups missed the point of the entire season.
The focus of the annual pissing contest in Washington this year is a sign put up at the capitol building in Olympia by the atheist group Freedom from Religion Foundation saying, among other things, that religion is nothing but myth and superstition. The response? First it was stolen, then Bill O’Reilly chimed in about how awful and un-Christian it was, then it was returned, and finally, a local evangelical church organized an anti-atheist protest a pro-faith rally complete with their own sign claiming that atheism is nothing but myth and superstition. Yeah. It’s worse than the Christmas tree–er, holiday tree–incident at SeaTac a couple years ago.
Both groups are in the wrong here. The atheist group was obviously trolling with their rather provocative sign (it would have been fine without the religion dig), but the Christians who responded negatively were no better, especially with their signs claiming Governor Gregoire is a Grinch or the balloon nativity scene featuring Bill O’Reilly beating up on the governor (so I’ve heard). At any rate, the governor has repeatedly insisted that all religious (and non-religious) displays will be tolerated at the capitol building. I hear some people are even planning on erecting a Festivus pole.
Anyways, as the three-man counter-protesters said, “Get over it.” The atheist sign certainly crossed the line once it started disparaging religion, but the simple fact of the matter is that the holiday season doesn’t just mean Christmas. And while I know for a fact that there are a lot of Christians out there who understand that, there are still a bunch who don’t get it and probably never will. Bah, humbug.
I’m an avid gamer. I don’t own a video game console, but I do have quite the collection of computer games, ranging from Monkey Island to Gears of War. And yet, I am not a mass murderer. I haven’t shot up my school with a 9mm or written violent poetry about killing people. Surprising? Not to most people. But Jack Thompson would have you believe that violent video games are tied directly to real world violence. The thing is, he’s an idiot.
So, apparently, a group of third graders at Georgia school got upset with a teacher and plotted to knock her out, tie her up, and stab her with a steak knife. No, really. They actually brought supplies (a paperweight to knock her out, handcuffs and tape to bind her hands) and assigned different duties (one student would have covered the windows, another would have cleaned up afterwards). Nobody knows if they really intended to harm the teacher, but it’s kind of scary that they even got this far. Luckily, they were outed before they implemented their plan. It makes me wonder what would have happened, though. Third graders can be persistent buggers, and I don’t know if I’d be able to withstand 9 of them attacking me with blunt objects.
But it certainly shows a lot about kids in the 8 to 10 age range when you look at their motive: they were angry with the teacher for scolding one of them for standing on a chair. Wow.