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Thursday, August 26, 2010
An unlikely triumverate of ignorance
What does Pakistan, Iran, & Rison have in common? They all have primitive people living there who still attribute natural disasters to a fictional god. We all remember when the Iranian imams stated that seismic activity was related to immodest women. That's obviously bunk. Otherwise, malls across America would have spontaneously imploded ages ago.
Pakistan has had a crappy summer, but when the populace has been polled (I have no idea how or why this was done) they believe that "god" is angry & only returning to strict observance of the Koran & becoming closer to "god" will shield them from more turmoil.
Now I'm pretty sure if you've been following me on Twitter, you know how I feel about Rison, AR. It's a backwoods bastion of religious wingnuttery, obvious ignorance, & the pendulum swings wildly between the haves & haves not. I was having a discussion a few days ago with an interesting woman about the school here. We seemed to have a lot of the same opinions about how unqualified some of the teachers are, the rampant inbreeding of residents, & how corrupt the school board is.
That being said, she then expressed something that shouldn't have surprised me for the area, but did for her obvious intelligence. She said "People have to get closer to "god" then things like 9/11 won't happen anymore". Huh? Ya lost me there. It seems that people's religious indoctrination will quite literally raise it's ugly head at any point & time. I am continuously disappointed by people that can't make a rational conclusion using logic. Does it really make people panic stricken that nobody's steering the bus? Yes. People seem to crave the notion that childhood cancer, senseless murders, war, even becoming impregnated by your rapist is all part of a nebulous plan that some higher "power" has concocted.
It's still mind boggling to me that this kind of mythology is still perpetuated today. That so many people refuse to accept that we are on an insignificant planet, hurtling through space, orbiting a minor star. If our planet vaporized in the next hour, nobody would notice or care. There is no higher "power" that will rapture you out in any event beyond your ability to survive. And the bullshit people spew about how "god" won't impose burdens on you that you're not strong enough to handle is just that. Complete & utter bullshit. You can put it in a fancy vessel, adorn it with ribbons & flowers. But it's still mythology & folklore, no better than an aboriginal witchdoctor who uses hallucinogens to enter an altered state to interpret an eviscerated bird's organs, thereby deciding on a chief.
I can only conclude from this experience that no matter how smart or stupid someone looks here, a conversation can lead to potholes large enough to hide a Hummer in. It's my estimation that although I can't avoiding conversing with people in this town, with careful maneuvering, I can steer the conversation away from religion.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Ugh. Summer has fried what's left of my brain!
To all of my fans, please excuse my long absence. It's been a rough summer. My summer has included scorching temps, bored kids, & so many crazy stories in the news that have induced more rage in me than that 9 day traffic jam in China. Hubs has been put on nicotine lozenges by yours truly. I've not bought him any chewing tobacco in almost a week. It's not a big show of love or concern for him as much as it's trying to prevent myself from being his end of life cancer caretaker. Cancer may still get him, but I'm trying to head it off. The picture to the left is Hubs. He's so handsome, but that would change if a surgeon had to remove part of his face just so he could live.
For those of you in the know, I've stopped communicating with my insane, bipolar, paranoid schizophrenic brother Kenny. Literally, it was too much crazy & if I want crazy, I've got Hubs & my kids. Hubs is like an I-phone app. You want crazy? I've got an app for that!
I'm still an atheist trapped in hillbilly Christian hell. I gave religion a shot when we moved up here, but honestly there's only so much I can take of hypocrites. When you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to spread the word of "Skydaddy" to the heathens but there's poor people in Rison that are illiterate or hungry or both, you lost me. Especially the petition to outlaw gay adoption in Arkansas. These churches protest abortion or gay adoptions, but then they do absolutely nothing to help with the unwanted children. OK, sometimes they do food drives for an orphanage somewhere else. But that doesn't negate the hypocrisy or the judgmental attitudes they perpetuate.
The wicked & brutal heat will hopefully be gone in the next month. I thought Vegas heat was exceptional. At least in Vegas there was shopping, or concerts, or decent eats. I have to drive at least an hour away to find anything approaching any of that. I do resent that, but I haven't found a solution yet. Currently, I'm enjoying a genteel kind of poverty. As long as I don't want to do too much, I can do anything I want. I say I, but that's including the kids. We're a package deal.
Life recently has included copious amounts of Twitter, reading, & of course Nick Jr. Sweetie, our cat, has wisely eschewed indoors during the daytime. Smart move, kitty! So, without Sweetie to keep me company or distract the kids, I've become more introspective. I'm just not sure what to do with myself anymore. I'm being inundated by bad news every single day, especially from the war front against the Teabaggers. The world's injustices & ills seem so great, so insurmountable. So glad I never followed through on my childish desire to become an attorney. And it was thoroughly childish. Seriously, I know myself. After 36 years, I should. And I know that I never would've been a great debater. It's feeling good to bury some of these childish aspirations & try to accept where life has taken me. What I'm looking for now is an attainable goal. Something I can achieve. Diaper changes are what my life is comprised of now. But when all the kids go to school, I know it will be time to start on something for me.
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