| A ranty-rant. I apologize in advance. |
[May. 19th, 2008|05:46 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  irate | ] |
It's time for a rant.
I spent last night listening to right wing talk radio at work. It's what I do. I play the show over the air, so it's not like I'm listening to it on purpose. It makes me so angry.
But it's not just the GOP.
A guy called in while they were discussing gay marriage being legalized in California by the supreme court (which I can only assume is a normal court with sour cream). And they took it in turn to shout at each other. For 8 minutes.
And NEITHER ONE listened to ANYTHING the other said.
I don't like to discuss politics or religion with people as a whole. They are sometimes sensitive or charged issues and while a good debate is fun, that's not what typically happens when those issues are covered. Instead, it's like the guys on the radio. Especially when it comes to religion. And since the vast majority of people's political views are derived from their religious views, it tends to go the same way.
I like to think of myself as open minded. But when listening to right wing radio, I know that's not true. I'm not open to what they're saying. I find myself instead getting angry because of THEIR closemindedness, rather than upset with myself for being unable to fully listen to and ponder their ideas. And it's a fault. But it's a fault that I'm sure I'm not the only one suffering from.
When I say I'm open minded, what I think I mean is that I'm open to things that are not the mainstream viewpoint in this country. I think gay marriage should be legal. Why not? They should have to suffer and get divorced just like the rest of us. (Jaded? No!) I think marijuana should be legalized. I don't smoke it, never have, but there has never been a death due to marijuana overdose. Say that about alcohol. It helps people with medical issues. It also opens up hemp farming, which could be a huge boost to the economy in my area. I'm open to that. I even think prostitution should be legalized. It's happening, it's the oldest profession, it's not going away, so it should be taxed and regulated. It'd be safer for all involved.
As far as religions themselves, I respect Judaism. I respect their beliefs and tradition. I respect Islam. The people of the Islamic faith that I have met in my life have been amazing. They embraced me as family. I respect Buddhists. You've got to respect people who follow the only major religion not responsible for war, ever. They too have always been gracious and wonderful to me. I haven't met anyone who is Hindu, but I've read about their religion, and think their acceptance of other religions as simply alternate paths to the same end is very respectable. I respect Christianity, as a whole. Being that it's the religion I'm most exposed to, I suppose that lends itself to being the one that I'm most exposed to badly. There are certain Christians who I have COMPLETE respect for. There are some that claim to be Christians but don't seem very Christlike to me. But it's their religion, and far be it from me to judge them. I figure if I can see through it, the big guy upstairs can too.
My point is this. When I say I'm open minded, it means that I'm open to views in ALL these areas. I don't agree with all of them, but I'm open to them. They have merit and deserve respect and consideration, and should NEVER be dismissed outright. People should educate themselves about other religions. There is nothing to me so disrespectful of another person as letting your church/synagogue/mosque simply tell you what you should think of others. Take the time to learn about them, about the people that follow them, about the history that surrounds them. Open your mind to the realization that we're a global society now, and that with that comes the responsibility to TRY and understand the others on the globe.
Don't think of Muslims as the fringe groups that get all of the media attention. (And by the way, the whole 72 virgins thing is NOT in the Qur'an.. Nothing in the Koran specifically states that the faithful are allotted 72 virgins apiece. For this elaboration we turn to the hadith, traditional sayings traced with varying degrees of credibility to Muhammad. Hadith number 2,562 in the collection known as the Sunan al-Tirmidhi says, "The least [reward] for the people of Heaven is 80,000 servants and 72 wives, over which stands a dome of pearls, aquamarine and ruby." It's not even in the Qur'an, and most say the quote isn't even from Muhammad.) Don't think of Christians as the radical groups you see on tv (if Fred Phelps is a REAL Christian, may God have mercy on us all.) Don't forget that Muslims, Jews, and Christians all worship the SAME GOD. (Yes, Muslims call him Allah. You know what Allah means? It's the Arabic word for THE God. They're saying their god, which is, if you're a Jew or Christian, YOUR god, is The God. So say thank you.)
LOVE EACH OTHER! No matter what you believe, I HOPE we can all agree on that. There's not near enough love in this world. Instead of fighting about who's right and who's wrong, how about just loving your fellow man? How about respecting them?
Those two yahoo's on the radio who were arguing without hearing.. they don't get it.
No matter who gets elected*, if people don't start respecting their fellow man, it's not going to matter. Because everyone will have already lost.
*by the way.. as far as the election goes... it probably doesn't matter who gets in. I commend ALL of them for even WANTING the job. Would you? I sure wouldn't want to be the one responsible for cleaning up this mess. They can have it.
By the way... if you're looking for an unbiased overview of the major world religions, I recommend "The World's Religions" by Huston Smith. It's fairly comprehensive and pretty easy to understand. It's definitely worth the read. |
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hallandoatbran's journal
thankful
