New10 cross-posted a message titled "A NEW DARK AGE" to many Christian
newsgroups. I saw it in alt.lifestyle.freethinkers. I could not reply
through my news-server, perhaps because of so many cross-posts. The
error was not informative.
I realize that New10, from seeing his other posts, is largely what I
would call a "troll" perhaps hoping to start a flame war. I don't want
to participate in a flame war but I think it is worth responding to the
attitudes and point of view. Not because I really disagree with New10
so much as I approach this so much differently. Here is my reply. I
hope you find it worth your while.
New10. wrote:
> A NEW DARK AGE
> By New10
>
> The ugly Americans have sunk to a new low as a bunch of Bush
> lovers. The Republican Party dominated by Christian
> Fundamentalism, the most ignorant cult, will put American back to a
> new Dark Age, where ignorance and Supernaturalism reigned.
Well there are ugly people and there are beautiful people everywhere.
It can happen here. It can happen there. It *CAN* and *HAS* happened
most everywhere. Beware of falling into the mental trap of labeling.
Especially so broadly and with such venom. That is fundamental to the
power of the fundamentalists' power over people. It can happen to you,
too, my friend. So please take a moment and breathe with me.
I am just as concerned, maybe even more concerned because I live smack
in the middle of the US. This whole drama is all around me. But my
friends and neighbors, even those Christians you would consider part of
"the most ignorant cult", are mostly good people with good hearts.
It is utterly im****tant to remember this. Now you talk of "ignorant"
and throw it around as if it were a four-letter word. And on the whole,
ignorance is dangerous. But it is vitally im****tant to remember that an
ignorant person is just that... ignorant. They are not conscious,
aware, awake to the dangers inherent in certain lines of thought and
action. They do not understand. And by and large it is not really
their fault. People are brought up into their cultures. Infants are
not ideologues. But it is wrong to assume that they are all bad people.
Or stupid people. And stupid is the general connotation when you
call someone ignorant. They are people that you should be making every
effort to connect with in a loving way.
Throwing hateful labels around, or even telling someone that they are
just "ignorant" is demeaning and offensive. How are you going to reach
someone if you just push them away with such an attitude? What makes
you a part of the solution? Carrying around your fears, your hate, and
your condescending attitude is VERY MUCH being a part of THE PROBLEM.
The serious problem is the DIVISION between people. It is out of
division that we have fear of the others, contempt, and all the vile
parts of human nature that lead to conflict, abuse, oppression, hate,
and wars.
Now I must admit that I am very very very concerned with what you might
call the "Christian Taliban". I am extremely concerned with the
POTENTIAL for harm that exists in such a perversion of faith. Both the
Nazi party and the Fascists in Italy used the religious right to win
their power. USED them. Perverted them.
They say Hitler was like an anti-christ. Well, forgotten by many, it
was a call to restore moral values that helped sign so many people on to
the party wagon. The jew and the communist and the democrat and leftist
were all labeled as "decadent" and "immoral" people. So it was a VERY
STRONG urge for moral decency that helped put these abhorrent people in
power. THIS IS A LESSON WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET.
I can understand where you get your views, and your passion. But don't
be guided solely by your fear. It will only spill over into anger and
rash thinking and action. You have to keep your head about you, man.
You can't fight a fire with gasoline.
> Why did Americans vote for the age of superstition and ignorance?
> Why did they vote for a Man who wants to repeal free choice for
> women? (It sounds like male chauvinism.)
>
> It seems that America, despite its wealth and technology, put
> themselves in the same level as Third World countries when it
> comes to religion; primitive, supernatural, mystical and magical.
Again, you are angry and I feel your passion. But you are just being
hateful, and rather ignorant yourself. You mean to demean Americans
with "in the same level as Third World countries". Well please take a
moment to put your classism and prejudices away so that we can have an
intelligent, thoughtful discussion of the problems at hand and what do
do about them. Please. People in "third world" countries are just as
sentient, humane, and human as anyone else. And equally the opposite in
some cases. Superiority is distasteful no matter whether it comes from.
I bet you are put off by a "holier than thou" attitude, right? So am
I. Because it is arrogance, just as you demonstrate.
Now by pointing this out to you I don't want to put you on the defensive
or "score points" by attacking you. I only mean to point out that we
are all a lot more alike than different in all our ways, including our
negative ways.
You ask why so many Americans voted for Bush. Well, on the one hand,
there were nearly an equal number of Americans who did not. Depending
on what you believe about the accuracy of our vote, the numbers may have
been slightly the other way. How you look at it comes down to two
things... Which "side" you are on, and whether you look at it like a
glass that is "half empty" or "half full". Which gives us four basic
views...
1) Wrong choice and oh crap, the evil bastards are on the rise! Or,
2) Right choice, and hurray that wholesomeness is on the rise! Or,
3) Wrong choice, but isn't it good to know that so many people are
finally starting to wake up. Or,
4) Right choice and oh crap we have such a struggle with half the
country gone down the moral toilet.
Do you get my drift? What I am trying to point out is that simplistic
assumptions get you nowhere. Even with my four examples, there is a
basic assumption that people can be put under simple labels and into
broad categories. I venture that people's genuine feelings on this are
very complicated and perhaps even contradictory in ways. Mixed, in short.
But back to your basic question. Well, I suppose the only honest way to
know is to go out and ASK people first hand. I assume from your
language that you are not in America. So here I am. I am a person you
can ask directly. And there are many more. Please take advantage of
this wonderful communication advantage we have over our ancestors and
use it to do just that... communicate. Have a dialog. Monologues only
serve to further divide us.
I must say that I did not vote for Bush. Or Kerry. I voted my
conscience rather than my fears. I can only wish more of us could do
so. Maybe I'll come back to the issue of elections in a bit. But I owe
you an answer to your question, and I have been rambling on. According
to most of the 'news chatter', it was moral issues that brought so many
to vote for Bush.
I could argue that many things played into his successes. But despite
the homophobes and the chauvinists there has to be recognized the fact
that there are a large number of people in this country who see our
culture as out of hand. Now on many points, I and many who I might find
myself "aligned" with might find we agree. There is just SO much
violence and *** and materialism and what some might call general
depravity coming at us from all sides. Every other advertisement is
making a ***ual innuendo. Competition and violence are stressed and
glorified at every turn. Cooperation and caring, I guess, are just
unappealing?
Now again I say many people on the far right and the far left would be
surprised to know how much they agree about some of the problems in our
culture. But there is a lot of difference in who gets blamed and what
is seen as appropriate response. Many people see the perversion of
***uality and think all ***uality should be bottled up, and put behind a
burka (your Christian Taliban sort).
Me, on the other hand... I believe that the ****ists and the 'primitive'
people don't have such a problem with a little flesh because it is
mundane to them. The problem is not the flesh in itself... It is in the
perversion of attitudes. ****ists and your "primitives" just didn't have
the same attitudes about the human body and ***uality that plague us so
today. The competition that is promoted by the "magazine culture" and
advertisers is a big part of the problem, in my eyes. Rather than
accepting ourselves and our bodies, our nature, we are 'nurtured', if
the word is appropriate, by commercial culture into becoming
narcissistic, obsessive people.
Poor young girls learn that their worth as people depends on their ***
appeal. This is so terribly wrong to me. So many young men are also
being taught to be ***y, to be "tough", to be competitive. Yes, there
are issues. But none of it is so "black and white" or as simple as
slapping a label, assigning some blame, and going on the offensive.
That will only serve to make everything worse, in my humble opinion.
In short, there are very serious issues with much of our culture, and
this is not just an American phenomenon. But there are a lot of genuine
and powerful feelings about our culture. This can not and should not be
ignored. I see some honest, open, grass-roots DISCOURSE as the only
real way to come to grips with this. Fighting a "Culture War" will only
result in hurt and harm.
Looking at it in combative terms is a mistake. WE are a part of the
problem, as a whole. The advertisers are appealing to our base
instincts, our "lizard brains" as it were, and manufacturing culture
around this. But we let ourselves be open to such an appeal by not
addressing those darker sides of ourselves in the first place. The
domination in our nature, the aggressiveness, the fear. They are a part
of us. We can try to ignore that part of our nature but it is a
mistake, because it will not be ignored. Better to acknowledge it, and
gain a greater understanding of our selves (and each other) in the
process. Only then can we transcend our "lesser" selves.
> That should have died off a thousand years ago.
One would think. I only wish I had ready answers. But I don't. I can
agree that it would be better if it had died off, but it hasn't. Why
has it not? Really, WHY? We should make an effort to understand this.
Maybe we need some new approaches. I think now is a time where some
genuine creativity is in order. And that will take all our cooperative
efforts.
> Are we going to make Supernaturalism a topic of study in our
> schools? Are children going to be taught mysticism 101?
>
> President Bush lusting for power with the blessings of Christian
> Fundamentalism along with the Catholic Church will destroy
> America; something the Russians could never do. It is obvious how
> religion infects the mind. It will destroy the minds of the young.
>
> It is already happening in our schools as Christian Fundamentalism
> ignoring the laws of separation of church and state, were by stealth
> bringing the fable and folklore of Creationism into the classroom.
>
> It might take decades before we have another Renaissance, or an
> age of Enlightenment, or perhaps never again.
There is a lot of work ahead of us all. But it is going to be hard
work, and will require a lot of openness on all "sides". It is not
going to be easy, my friend, to save us from ourselves. But I implore
you, begin with the first step. The hard step... learn to see yourself
in the other, and learn to see the other in yourself. Only then, by
building bridges within your own mind and your own thinking can you come
to have compassion for and build bridges to the other side. And then,
ONLY THEN, can you truly be working for peace, for understanding, for
healing. Otherwise you are only truly working self-interestedly, out of
fear. We can only frustrate ourselves and each other if we do so.
It is said, quite wisely, that all change comes from within. If you
want to change the world, open your heart and your mind. Only then can
you find the world open to you. Anything is possible.
Peace in our hearts, Peace in our minds, Peace in our world. With a
little love and some luck, Peace in our lifetimes.
Loving you,
Morningdew
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