I don't think we need to 'respect' people's religious beliefs at all. We should tolerate them, sure. Everyone has the right to believe in what they want without someone telling them to believe otherwise (and a few people on here would do well to remember that), but respect is something earned and implies that you are putting some stock in the belief. I, as an atheist, do not respect religious belief, but I respect the right of the religious to have that belief, as long as they do not try and force their belief on anyone.
A Christian, therefore, does not necessarily have to respect the beliefs of a Muslim (whose beliefs he believes to be false), rather he should tolerate the existence of the belief, and respect the Muslim's right to believe in Allah.
Religious beliefs that are harmful to others, or people who try and impose their beliefs on others, should neither be respected nor tolerated.
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Saturday, 15 August 2009
New blog!
I decided to make a new blog. This blog is a bit of a rant space. My new one is reviews of classic cinema. Go check out the first post, on the godfather.
Monday, 10 August 2009
Morality In the Modern Age
Someone asked me today if I thought we are less moral now than we were in the 1950s? Prostitution, pornography, divorce, drugs... people are much more accepting of these things these days. More and more people are turning from the Bible. After all, the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins would not have been a best seller in the 1800s. My answer was as follows.
Prostitution, in my opinion is not 'immoral'. If everyone's consenting, what's the problem? Ever been to Amsterdam? The prostitutes are happy, and healthy, and they enjoy their job. Same goes for porn.
Divorce rates were low because it was harder to get a divorce. Resulting in many unhappy marriages and people trapped with abusive partners. Divorce, again, is not immoral. Sad, yes, but immoral? Not at all.
Recreational drug use does result in crime rates going up, and can have serious consequences for both the people taking it and the places that produce it. Look at Columbia. But places that have legalized things tend to have better crime rates and lower drug use rates. Portugal, I believe, has decriminalized everything, and it's going well. But again, drug use is a dumb idea, but not immoral.
Add up the social injustices and 'morality' of this time period and compare it to others, and we're about even, if not better. The holocaust, the crusades, homosexuality being illegal, slavery, blacks not having rights, the Vietnam war.. all from the past, and all very unjust and immoral in the truest sense of the words. You're viewing the past through rose tinted goggles, where everyone is middle class, and smiling, and dad smokes a pipe, mum's cooking a roast, and the kids are playing marbles. It was not like that.
It appears crime rates are higher these days. Every day something new and terrifying and horrific is reported on the news it seems. But that's just it. Such things were not reported as frequently in the 1950s. We did not have 'Street Crime UK' on our television screens. We did not have the technology for it, for one thing.
The God Delusion would not have been a best seller, no, but that's because it would've been censored, not because people weren't waking up to the fact that there is almost certainly no god. Besides, Richard Dawkins is not the first successful author of a book on atheism.
People turning away from the Bible is a good thing. Nowadays we have good education for all kids, at least in most first world countries, so kids grow up capable of questioning things. You're confusing religion with morality. Have you read your Bible lately? God tells a man to kill his own child, blows up a few towns, floods the earth and kills almost everyone, and praises a man who offers his virgin daughters to a town to protect some male strangers.
In modern society in the US and the UK, men and women are equal, people of all races have rights, every child is entitled to education, and you can be homosexual without persecution. We have the right to question our government, church and state is separated, and we have a right to protest. Which a lot more than we had even 50 years ago. Which is why I disagree with you. We have a long way to go, but we've come far.
Prostitution, in my opinion is not 'immoral'. If everyone's consenting, what's the problem? Ever been to Amsterdam? The prostitutes are happy, and healthy, and they enjoy their job. Same goes for porn.
Divorce rates were low because it was harder to get a divorce. Resulting in many unhappy marriages and people trapped with abusive partners. Divorce, again, is not immoral. Sad, yes, but immoral? Not at all.
Recreational drug use does result in crime rates going up, and can have serious consequences for both the people taking it and the places that produce it. Look at Columbia. But places that have legalized things tend to have better crime rates and lower drug use rates. Portugal, I believe, has decriminalized everything, and it's going well. But again, drug use is a dumb idea, but not immoral.
Add up the social injustices and 'morality' of this time period and compare it to others, and we're about even, if not better. The holocaust, the crusades, homosexuality being illegal, slavery, blacks not having rights, the Vietnam war.. all from the past, and all very unjust and immoral in the truest sense of the words. You're viewing the past through rose tinted goggles, where everyone is middle class, and smiling, and dad smokes a pipe, mum's cooking a roast, and the kids are playing marbles. It was not like that.
It appears crime rates are higher these days. Every day something new and terrifying and horrific is reported on the news it seems. But that's just it. Such things were not reported as frequently in the 1950s. We did not have 'Street Crime UK' on our television screens. We did not have the technology for it, for one thing.
The God Delusion would not have been a best seller, no, but that's because it would've been censored, not because people weren't waking up to the fact that there is almost certainly no god. Besides, Richard Dawkins is not the first successful author of a book on atheism.
People turning away from the Bible is a good thing. Nowadays we have good education for all kids, at least in most first world countries, so kids grow up capable of questioning things. You're confusing religion with morality. Have you read your Bible lately? God tells a man to kill his own child, blows up a few towns, floods the earth and kills almost everyone, and praises a man who offers his virgin daughters to a town to protect some male strangers.
In modern society in the US and the UK, men and women are equal, people of all races have rights, every child is entitled to education, and you can be homosexual without persecution. We have the right to question our government, church and state is separated, and we have a right to protest. Which a lot more than we had even 50 years ago. Which is why I disagree with you. We have a long way to go, but we've come far.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Almighty Toe Dweller
If I believe that there is a microscopic, invisible man living on the nail of my left big toe, I'm a nutter, and everyone can have a big old laugh at me.
If I get a bunch of people together and we all believe in The Almighty Toe Dweller, we have a religion, and anyone who has a go at Toeism is taking away our right to believe in Toe-God.
Believing in utter crap isn't a right, and people believing in utter crap and forcing it into schools, on their kids, and on the government is taking away my right to be an intelligent person who thinks for themselves and only believes in things with proof. Politicians can make votes in parliament depending on what the Pope says, regardless of how their constituents feel.
The Toe-Pope, (who wears a toe-shaped hat) should have nothing to do with politics, and neither should the Catholic Pope, or the Church of England, or any other religious organisation.
If I get a bunch of people together and we all believe in The Almighty Toe Dweller, we have a religion, and anyone who has a go at Toeism is taking away our right to believe in Toe-God.
Believing in utter crap isn't a right, and people believing in utter crap and forcing it into schools, on their kids, and on the government is taking away my right to be an intelligent person who thinks for themselves and only believes in things with proof. Politicians can make votes in parliament depending on what the Pope says, regardless of how their constituents feel.
The Toe-Pope, (who wears a toe-shaped hat) should have nothing to do with politics, and neither should the Catholic Pope, or the Church of England, or any other religious organisation.
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Public Apology to the Playstation and Xbox
I think a lot of us original Nintendo fans feel this way, but we're too scared to admit it. However we must. It's time to admit that the Wii is terrible, and we were wrong about Nintendo.
Back when the DS was about to be released, there was a murmuring among Nintendo fans. We all knew it, deep in our heats, and we were glad. It was the Dawning of the Age of Nintendo, after years of having to defend the N64 controller and what was dubbed the 'gaycube' by smug owners of sleek black PS2s with DVD playing functions, and almost militaristic supporters of the xBox with their live gaming, hard drive, and Halo. Now, it was our turn. Nintendo had taken a gamble with an innovative handheld console in an attempt to claw back the handheld market, which they had previously dominated, from the PSP. We held our breaths, and we prayed, and soon, the DS was flying off the shelves, and almost everyone from the Prime Minister to our bosses were talking about Nintendogs and Brain Training.
Then the dream started becoming sour. Not for Nintendo, but for it's loyal fans. Sure, we were happy that Nintendo was having great success, and that loads of people who'd never pressed a D-pad in their lives were buying Nintendo products. But what about the old fans? We wanted handheld gems like Pokemon, and dare we hope it, something like the triumph of Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past. What were we given? Games like Cooking Mama and a shoddy remake of Super Mario 64. We couldn't even play our old Game Boy games on the DS, only GBA games. It was like a final kick in the teeth to the hardcore original fans, and we saw it as Nintendo's was of telling us that only new fans mattered.
With this disappointment and betrayal heavy in our hearts, we all waited with baited breath for the Wii. Would Nintendo redeem itself? It was with the release of Wii Sports, and the advertisement of the console being aimed at families, that we breathed a weary sigh and admitted to ourselves that Nintendo no longer cared about it's original fans.
The DS was the first blow to our confidence, but it was not to be the last. Harkening back to the days of the GBA and GBA SP, they released the DS Light, and then the DSi. Updating a quite nicely shaped, if slightly cumbersome handheld console into a box with a camera on it. The DSi is the Volvo of handheld gaming. Boxy, filled with unnecessary features, and designed for kids.
When they released the GBA SP, with the exception of the notorious missing headphone socket, it was a clear improvement on the original GBA. But the DSi? Just an expensive gimmick attached to a box. The loyal fans who rushed out to buy the original found themselves suddenly unable to buy accessories for their DS anymore. Not just unnecessary things like cases, but important things like replacement styluses, seemed to be only available in the classic 'short'n'chunky' style that dominated the DS Light.
We didn't even have decent games to make up for it. Cooking Mama? Pass Your Theory Test? Brain Training? Oh yes, all of these 'games' enjoy great popularity, but none of us are really too sure why. Cooking Mama is for kids. It really is. I'm not denying the appeal of classics like Pokemon, Legend of Zelda or Super Mario to kids, but they had enough storyline, side quests, and near impossible levels to be great for the more adult gamer. Most of the games I see on the DS are for kids or indie teenagers who wear Dora the Explorer backpacks. Imagine Baby? Please..
And Pass Your Theory Test. Frankly, there was a time when games like this were relegated to the shelf of things that should be on a game console, along with virtual fishing games and language learning games for adults. Driving test software belongs on a computer. We all knew it. Or at least, I thought we did.
Suddenly we'd reached the point where no longer were people of the older generation frowning upon video games, and they were doing more than just accepting them, they were endorsing them. People were talking about giving school children Brain Training, a pathetic 'honour' usually reserved for VTech, which to be fair was designed and marketed as a learning tool. It never said it was anything else.
And yes, the older generations were even playing them. Sure, we've all played a racing game with our dad, or laughed when our mother manages to lose all the lives within seconds of touching the A button, but never before had we seen our formerly beloved Nintendo market their products as 'perfect gifts for mothers/fathers day', nor had we seen them advertise what were generally accepted as terrible games such as Trauma Centre, even by pandering magazines, to adults, with the aid of scene kid flavours of the month Holly Willoughby and Ferne Cotton.
But yes, that's just a handful of games on the DS. There are many more. Off the top of my head, I can think of 4 examples of decent games (and it took quite some effort to do so) and these could perhaps be the redeemers of the DS generation of gamers. Had they not ruined the games with gimmicks that is..
Pokemon. Reliable, fun, and always addictive. Not on the DS it's not. Admittedly, the franchise took a wrong turn after Crystal, by only including one region in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. But they were both great fun, and had some memorable moments, and loads to explore. Then we had Diamond and Pearl. I finished it once, and didn't get the urge to go again. That is a first in my history as a Pokemon addict, and I've been playing since Red and Blue. For starters, the storyline seemed week and easy to forget, the graphics were basically the graphics of Ruby, but like Nintendo were trying to say 'hey, look, we can do 3D'. Which, made the whole game look a bit weird. It's meant to be pixellated. Secondly, it felt like they didn't quite know what to do with the touch screen. You could use it to scroll through the menu, and to make the new version of Poke Blocks. And both felt awkward and clumsy. As though they were only using the second screen because it was there. And to make some large 3D happen in the cut scenes, something else a Pokemon game shouldn't have. The whole thing just felt lazy, and it saddened us.
We were naive enough to hope they wouldn't sully Zelda with that damned touch screen, but they were wrong. Out came Phantom Hourglass. Great storyline, great gameplay, and great side quests have long been considered the Triforce of the Zelda franchise, and to be fair to Phantom Hourglass, it got two out of three. But the gameplay? Although, in places, it worked, in others, it did not. By the time you'd drawn a line for your boomerang, you'd been hit by the thing you were trying to kill, and it was really annoying to make Link roll while walking. Once again, like with Pokemon, that particular side of things just felt like an unfinished attempt to come up with ways to utilize the bottom screen.
We got a game called The World Ends With You. Now, once again, great storyline, interesting side quests, and as many twists and turns as you'd expect from a game made by Square Enix. But were we satisfied with the controls? Almost. The battling was innovative, and fun, and rewarding. And yet.. it will only do what you intend it to half of the time. Once again, the producers weren't quite sure about how to use that pesky bottom screen.
With the release of Professor Layton, we didn't care anymore. Bring it on, we said. We know what to expect. And yet we were rewarded with a game with beautiful graphics, and music, innovative gameplay and storyline, and stunning cut scenes. Convert the non believers! Shout it from the rooftops! The DS has a game that adult players can enjoy thoroughly, and that is easy to make work. And for once, we had a game that didn't shoehorn in bottom screen features. It could've worked just as well without the bottom screen, and you had a feeling the game makers understood that. It was like someone was finally saying 'yeah, we get it'. Handheld gaming as it was meant to be.
Why then, did Nintendo bother with the bottom screen in the first place. Any game worth owning would be better without the features. Most other games have either tried too hard to fit the features in, or have just built a whole game around having a touch screen.
Handheld gaming disappointment aside, we were all still excited about the release of the Wii. The Xbox 360 was doing stupidly well, and we were out for blood. Nintendo needed the market back, and damn it, it could get it. We turned a blind eye to the controller, even if the whole thing did seem a little like the EyeToy. It was wireless, so that would shut up the Xbox 2360 lovers, surely. And it seemed interesting, different, alluring. We had not learnt from the DS.
Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Family Party.. to our disappointment, game after game like this was churned out on the Wii at an alarming rate. The average consumer was loving it. Really simple games that required no skill and revolved around waving your arms around wildly and pressing the A button? Wonderful! Games programmed to help people in dead last? Great! A family console? Even better! In an age when we lament the break down of the family unit, and the rise of gangs, the man on the street was hungry for a solution, and it came in the shape of a Wiimote.
Did you ever have a teacher that spoke about rap to try and connect with 'the kids'? That's the sort of people who bought a Wii. Come on kids, let's all get active, and spend time together as a family with these video games! Pathetically enough, the kids fell for it in their droves. The Wii became so popular that people weren't even making fun of the name. And yet the Gamecube got called the gaycube, and laughed at for coming in purple. Where's the justice in that?
What happened to games for adults, or people who didn't want to play with their families? You know, like games with actual storyline and game play instead of very expensive gimmicks that essentially add up to an updated version of the EyeToy. What happened to the gamers who played against their mates in battles of skill, knowing that only those who trained would succeed and that the best man would always win? Instead, we have a new generation of Wii owning gamers who can get great at a game within seconds, because all it requires is flailing your arms sideways with the new version of the WiiMote specifically for that game. And then all the subsequent games made for the other version of the WiiMote, so Nintendo can't be accused of ripping people off by constantly inventing new controllers.
People are placated by the Wii and the DS. Both have become a new generation Nintendo Cult, which is very much the opiate of the masses, if their vacant expressions and feeble minds are anything to go by, regardless of what their Brain Training scores might claim otherwise.
Us original Nintendo fans are left behind in a world where gameplay mattered, skill was something that took time, and multiplayer games were shoot 'em ups or driving games. A world where Mario Party was something your nan bought you on misinformation from your mother, and got relegated to the bottom of the pile. A generation of gamers who's thumbs hurt after a particularly good level, and who's controllers would only end up through the TV screen in rage, not because you've been playing the game as it was meant to be played. And what will happen to us now? We'll all have to migrate to Xbox or Playstation and grovel to the fans of these consoles for forgiveness. We though Nintendo was best. We were wrong, and we're sorry.
Back when the DS was about to be released, there was a murmuring among Nintendo fans. We all knew it, deep in our heats, and we were glad. It was the Dawning of the Age of Nintendo, after years of having to defend the N64 controller and what was dubbed the 'gaycube' by smug owners of sleek black PS2s with DVD playing functions, and almost militaristic supporters of the xBox with their live gaming, hard drive, and Halo. Now, it was our turn. Nintendo had taken a gamble with an innovative handheld console in an attempt to claw back the handheld market, which they had previously dominated, from the PSP. We held our breaths, and we prayed, and soon, the DS was flying off the shelves, and almost everyone from the Prime Minister to our bosses were talking about Nintendogs and Brain Training.
Then the dream started becoming sour. Not for Nintendo, but for it's loyal fans. Sure, we were happy that Nintendo was having great success, and that loads of people who'd never pressed a D-pad in their lives were buying Nintendo products. But what about the old fans? We wanted handheld gems like Pokemon, and dare we hope it, something like the triumph of Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past. What were we given? Games like Cooking Mama and a shoddy remake of Super Mario 64. We couldn't even play our old Game Boy games on the DS, only GBA games. It was like a final kick in the teeth to the hardcore original fans, and we saw it as Nintendo's was of telling us that only new fans mattered.
With this disappointment and betrayal heavy in our hearts, we all waited with baited breath for the Wii. Would Nintendo redeem itself? It was with the release of Wii Sports, and the advertisement of the console being aimed at families, that we breathed a weary sigh and admitted to ourselves that Nintendo no longer cared about it's original fans.
The DS was the first blow to our confidence, but it was not to be the last. Harkening back to the days of the GBA and GBA SP, they released the DS Light, and then the DSi. Updating a quite nicely shaped, if slightly cumbersome handheld console into a box with a camera on it. The DSi is the Volvo of handheld gaming. Boxy, filled with unnecessary features, and designed for kids.
When they released the GBA SP, with the exception of the notorious missing headphone socket, it was a clear improvement on the original GBA. But the DSi? Just an expensive gimmick attached to a box. The loyal fans who rushed out to buy the original found themselves suddenly unable to buy accessories for their DS anymore. Not just unnecessary things like cases, but important things like replacement styluses, seemed to be only available in the classic 'short'n'chunky' style that dominated the DS Light.
We didn't even have decent games to make up for it. Cooking Mama? Pass Your Theory Test? Brain Training? Oh yes, all of these 'games' enjoy great popularity, but none of us are really too sure why. Cooking Mama is for kids. It really is. I'm not denying the appeal of classics like Pokemon, Legend of Zelda or Super Mario to kids, but they had enough storyline, side quests, and near impossible levels to be great for the more adult gamer. Most of the games I see on the DS are for kids or indie teenagers who wear Dora the Explorer backpacks. Imagine Baby? Please..
And Pass Your Theory Test. Frankly, there was a time when games like this were relegated to the shelf of things that should be on a game console, along with virtual fishing games and language learning games for adults. Driving test software belongs on a computer. We all knew it. Or at least, I thought we did.
Suddenly we'd reached the point where no longer were people of the older generation frowning upon video games, and they were doing more than just accepting them, they were endorsing them. People were talking about giving school children Brain Training, a pathetic 'honour' usually reserved for VTech, which to be fair was designed and marketed as a learning tool. It never said it was anything else.
And yes, the older generations were even playing them. Sure, we've all played a racing game with our dad, or laughed when our mother manages to lose all the lives within seconds of touching the A button, but never before had we seen our formerly beloved Nintendo market their products as 'perfect gifts for mothers/fathers day', nor had we seen them advertise what were generally accepted as terrible games such as Trauma Centre, even by pandering magazines, to adults, with the aid of scene kid flavours of the month Holly Willoughby and Ferne Cotton.
But yes, that's just a handful of games on the DS. There are many more. Off the top of my head, I can think of 4 examples of decent games (and it took quite some effort to do so) and these could perhaps be the redeemers of the DS generation of gamers. Had they not ruined the games with gimmicks that is..
Pokemon. Reliable, fun, and always addictive. Not on the DS it's not. Admittedly, the franchise took a wrong turn after Crystal, by only including one region in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. But they were both great fun, and had some memorable moments, and loads to explore. Then we had Diamond and Pearl. I finished it once, and didn't get the urge to go again. That is a first in my history as a Pokemon addict, and I've been playing since Red and Blue. For starters, the storyline seemed week and easy to forget, the graphics were basically the graphics of Ruby, but like Nintendo were trying to say 'hey, look, we can do 3D'. Which, made the whole game look a bit weird. It's meant to be pixellated. Secondly, it felt like they didn't quite know what to do with the touch screen. You could use it to scroll through the menu, and to make the new version of Poke Blocks. And both felt awkward and clumsy. As though they were only using the second screen because it was there. And to make some large 3D happen in the cut scenes, something else a Pokemon game shouldn't have. The whole thing just felt lazy, and it saddened us.
We were naive enough to hope they wouldn't sully Zelda with that damned touch screen, but they were wrong. Out came Phantom Hourglass. Great storyline, great gameplay, and great side quests have long been considered the Triforce of the Zelda franchise, and to be fair to Phantom Hourglass, it got two out of three. But the gameplay? Although, in places, it worked, in others, it did not. By the time you'd drawn a line for your boomerang, you'd been hit by the thing you were trying to kill, and it was really annoying to make Link roll while walking. Once again, like with Pokemon, that particular side of things just felt like an unfinished attempt to come up with ways to utilize the bottom screen.
We got a game called The World Ends With You. Now, once again, great storyline, interesting side quests, and as many twists and turns as you'd expect from a game made by Square Enix. But were we satisfied with the controls? Almost. The battling was innovative, and fun, and rewarding. And yet.. it will only do what you intend it to half of the time. Once again, the producers weren't quite sure about how to use that pesky bottom screen.
With the release of Professor Layton, we didn't care anymore. Bring it on, we said. We know what to expect. And yet we were rewarded with a game with beautiful graphics, and music, innovative gameplay and storyline, and stunning cut scenes. Convert the non believers! Shout it from the rooftops! The DS has a game that adult players can enjoy thoroughly, and that is easy to make work. And for once, we had a game that didn't shoehorn in bottom screen features. It could've worked just as well without the bottom screen, and you had a feeling the game makers understood that. It was like someone was finally saying 'yeah, we get it'. Handheld gaming as it was meant to be.
Why then, did Nintendo bother with the bottom screen in the first place. Any game worth owning would be better without the features. Most other games have either tried too hard to fit the features in, or have just built a whole game around having a touch screen.
Handheld gaming disappointment aside, we were all still excited about the release of the Wii. The Xbox 360 was doing stupidly well, and we were out for blood. Nintendo needed the market back, and damn it, it could get it. We turned a blind eye to the controller, even if the whole thing did seem a little like the EyeToy. It was wireless, so that would shut up the Xbox 2360 lovers, surely. And it seemed interesting, different, alluring. We had not learnt from the DS.
Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Family Party.. to our disappointment, game after game like this was churned out on the Wii at an alarming rate. The average consumer was loving it. Really simple games that required no skill and revolved around waving your arms around wildly and pressing the A button? Wonderful! Games programmed to help people in dead last? Great! A family console? Even better! In an age when we lament the break down of the family unit, and the rise of gangs, the man on the street was hungry for a solution, and it came in the shape of a Wiimote.
Did you ever have a teacher that spoke about rap to try and connect with 'the kids'? That's the sort of people who bought a Wii. Come on kids, let's all get active, and spend time together as a family with these video games! Pathetically enough, the kids fell for it in their droves. The Wii became so popular that people weren't even making fun of the name. And yet the Gamecube got called the gaycube, and laughed at for coming in purple. Where's the justice in that?
What happened to games for adults, or people who didn't want to play with their families? You know, like games with actual storyline and game play instead of very expensive gimmicks that essentially add up to an updated version of the EyeToy. What happened to the gamers who played against their mates in battles of skill, knowing that only those who trained would succeed and that the best man would always win? Instead, we have a new generation of Wii owning gamers who can get great at a game within seconds, because all it requires is flailing your arms sideways with the new version of the WiiMote specifically for that game. And then all the subsequent games made for the other version of the WiiMote, so Nintendo can't be accused of ripping people off by constantly inventing new controllers.
People are placated by the Wii and the DS. Both have become a new generation Nintendo Cult, which is very much the opiate of the masses, if their vacant expressions and feeble minds are anything to go by, regardless of what their Brain Training scores might claim otherwise.
Us original Nintendo fans are left behind in a world where gameplay mattered, skill was something that took time, and multiplayer games were shoot 'em ups or driving games. A world where Mario Party was something your nan bought you on misinformation from your mother, and got relegated to the bottom of the pile. A generation of gamers who's thumbs hurt after a particularly good level, and who's controllers would only end up through the TV screen in rage, not because you've been playing the game as it was meant to be played. And what will happen to us now? We'll all have to migrate to Xbox or Playstation and grovel to the fans of these consoles for forgiveness. We though Nintendo was best. We were wrong, and we're sorry.
Monday, 13 July 2009
Is Islam More Dangerous Than Christianity?
Someone the other day said to me that Islam was dangerous. She said that Christianity was the only religion that was safe.
If you read the Bible, there's a lot about killing. For example (yes I know this is Old Testament), a supposedly kind and loving God wipes out a whole planet for 'sinning' even though the death toll undoubtedly includes kids, animals, and people who haven't sinned. Not to mention all the stuff in the holy books and teachings of other religions
Frankly, they all scare me. Anything that can make an otherwise intelligent person believe the world is 8000 years old, sex is dirty, and that a dude walked on water, is scary. Religion destroys people's common sense and rationale. It's terrifying. When I was Christian as a child, I knew killing was wrong. And yet, I though God was right to kill all the sinners except Noah, and it didn't phase me in the slightest that he asked a guy to kill his son.
Religion is brainwashing. A couple of people believing in bullshit are mental. A couple of hundred, and they're a cult. Any more than that, and it's a religion, which we are supposed to accept as valid, and respect.
The scariest thing about religion is that it's OK to raise your kids religious. People can look at the child of christian parents and call him or her a christian child. If it was the child of democrat parents, would they call the child democrat? Of course not! Politics is a complex subject, too much for even most adults to grasp, let alone a child. And yet we accept, ney, encourage children to believe in a religion of which they can't possibly understand.
We teach our children to be ashamed of their bodies, ashamed of their natural urges, and natural behavior. We teach them that free thought is wrong, we tell them not to be proud of achievements, nor attracted to the same, or even the opposite sex. We create generation after generation of suppressed, self loathing morons who through their entire being into believing in a higher power to fill the void we gave them.
All religions are guilty of this. And that is why they are all equally terrifying. People fill these voids by blowing people up for a sex filled afterlife, or suppressing sexual urges to the point where they find it acceptable to touch alter boys, or ritualistically mutilating their kids genitalia at birth. From Scientology and the Branch Davidians, to Mormonism and Islam, all are guilty of warping minds, crushing spirits, and creating voids which are invariably filled by dangerous activity.
If you read the Bible, there's a lot about killing. For example (yes I know this is Old Testament), a supposedly kind and loving God wipes out a whole planet for 'sinning' even though the death toll undoubtedly includes kids, animals, and people who haven't sinned. Not to mention all the stuff in the holy books and teachings of other religions
Frankly, they all scare me. Anything that can make an otherwise intelligent person believe the world is 8000 years old, sex is dirty, and that a dude walked on water, is scary. Religion destroys people's common sense and rationale. It's terrifying. When I was Christian as a child, I knew killing was wrong. And yet, I though God was right to kill all the sinners except Noah, and it didn't phase me in the slightest that he asked a guy to kill his son.
Religion is brainwashing. A couple of people believing in bullshit are mental. A couple of hundred, and they're a cult. Any more than that, and it's a religion, which we are supposed to accept as valid, and respect.
The scariest thing about religion is that it's OK to raise your kids religious. People can look at the child of christian parents and call him or her a christian child. If it was the child of democrat parents, would they call the child democrat? Of course not! Politics is a complex subject, too much for even most adults to grasp, let alone a child. And yet we accept, ney, encourage children to believe in a religion of which they can't possibly understand.
We teach our children to be ashamed of their bodies, ashamed of their natural urges, and natural behavior. We teach them that free thought is wrong, we tell them not to be proud of achievements, nor attracted to the same, or even the opposite sex. We create generation after generation of suppressed, self loathing morons who through their entire being into believing in a higher power to fill the void we gave them.
All religions are guilty of this. And that is why they are all equally terrifying. People fill these voids by blowing people up for a sex filled afterlife, or suppressing sexual urges to the point where they find it acceptable to touch alter boys, or ritualistically mutilating their kids genitalia at birth. From Scientology and the Branch Davidians, to Mormonism and Islam, all are guilty of warping minds, crushing spirits, and creating voids which are invariably filled by dangerous activity.
Sunday, 12 July 2009
I hate Sundays. Yes, I know, crazy. But think about it for a second. Sure, you can lie-in, but if you do, most things will be closed by the time you get up, or near to closing. The trains and buses don't run frequently enough, some bastard on your street always feels the need to mow his lawn at 8am and wake you up if you are having a lie in, and if you stay in because everything's closed, there is nothing on TV except an Emmerdale omnibus. Not to mention the fact that the Sunday newspapers are filled with so much crap, there's not a lot of point reading them. That's if the place you buy them from is even open.
So, yes, I hate Sundays. And you should too.
So, yes, I hate Sundays. And you should too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
