February 5, 2006
Religious folly.
Shakespeare's Sister wants to know if there's
a good reason for US to side with the reactionaries rather than the defenders of free speech?
Um, no, there isn't. It's very damned simple: Islamic fundamentalists have gotten their panties in a twist over a few cartoons that they should have simply ignored. They've whipped their public into a frenzy, as if those cartoons are somehow "attacking" Islam. Said fundamentalists are vile, as is the burning of embassies in Syria and Lebanon.
The appeasement by the Christian fundamentalists of the United States is equally vile. It's of course to be expected, as these fundamentalists desire the same ability, to provoke riots in order to destroy those to whom they are opposed (that is, rational folks like myself, Shakespeare's Sister and all the others). One fundamentalist is pretty much exactly like any other, Islamic, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or whatever.
They're all fucking insane and insanely self-absorbed, to the point that they can't see reality for their delusions.
CNN online has a poll just now asking which is more important, "respect for religious beliefs" or freedom of expression. Thirty percent of the respondents seem to think that you shouldn't be allowed to express yourself if such an expression would show "disrespect" for religious beliefs.
Personally, I respect no religious belief, so I guess these idiots would want me to just shut up entirely.
Not. Fucking. Likely.
Just turn your back.
On Friday I took my wife to her naturalization ceremony in downtown Los Angeles. There were some 4000+ people being naturalized just in that session, with another 4000+ having been naturalized in the morning session. It was an exciting event for those who were becoming new citizens, but more than a little tedious for someone with little patience for pomp, circumstance and long demonstrations of patriotism. It was basically a rah-rah moment for the United States government as far as I was concerned. That was okay, though, since I'm sure most of those being naturalized were feeling pretty "rah-rah" just about then.
It only got painful at the end. True to the demonstrations of "patriotism," they took time for a videotaped speech by Bush. (Not that he would lower himself to actually attend one of these things, but whatever.)
If you've read any of my writing here, you'll know that I find Bush vile, despicable, venal, selfish, smallminded, bigoted and a fool. On a good day. So I was less than thrilled to have to watch his smarmy, insincere face mouth platitudes to a video camera. Without really consciously thinking about it, I just turned my back. I stayed exactly where I was, I just turned my back. As I stood there with his voice droning on, I realized that what I had done was exactly the right answer to Bush, to his cronies and to the Republicans as a whole. They only deserve our contempt, so show it. When they speak, don't protest, don't carry signs, don't say a word. Just stand up and turn your back.
Why should we applaud the scum that are fucking our country? I would love to see the Democrats in the House and Senate just quietly stand and turn their backs every time a Republican spoke. It's quiet, it's dignified and it sends an unavoidable message, that the person speaking is not worth our attention.
When I turned my back on Bush on Friday, almost no one noticed and the few that did just looked confused. When more do so, though, it will be noticed. And if even one Senator were to turn her back on Frist or Cheney while they were speaking, it would send a message that they couldn't ignore.