First, Chris.B wrote:
On Nov 20, 4:39 pm, Davoud shared a fine post.
We have been through a lean time for those who can still rub two
syllables together. Now our species has broken absolutely everything
the only way is up.
snip
Then Abo said:
Ok, I've read your diatribe and sadly I find little to disagree with 
Dave Typinski:
Then y'all are a bunch of misanthropic, pessimistic folks. Must be
Hell to walk around all day with that kind of outlook.
For Pete's sake, you've got clean water, plentiful food, good public
sanitation, and a rather nice place to live. You don't have to burn
yak poop to stay warm in the winter, you have access to a global
computer network, and you can get laid without worrying too much about
acquiring HIV. You don't have people shooting at you on a daily
basis, your leaders are not dictators, and most of your neighbors can
read.
I don't know anyone named Pete. It's for humanity's sake. Do you live
in oblivion? Is it all about what "you" have? Do you know (or care) how
many children die every day for lack of the clean water and the
sanitation that "you" enjoy? Do you know how many can't go to sleep
without the risk of waking up with malaria? Do you know how many get
shot every day and how many live under homicidal dictators and how many
can't read? And what's this guy's problem--too much pumpkin pie, maybe?
http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/jn/slides/g22.html (Coincidentally, I
lived in The Sudan in 1993. I wish you could have been there with me.)
We have it good, and we've done good. "Broken absolutely everything"?
Hardly. Need more food? Invent agriculture. Need to distribute
food? Invent trade. Need to make trade equitable? Invent
mathematics. And on it went from there.
There you go with the "we" again. You and your frog? I'm sorry to tell
you this, but agriculture is not doing so well. (Google decreased
rainfall in Sub-Saharan Africa and also note the southward expansion of
the Sahara.) Food distribution does not work well. Starvation is a very
effective WMD. (Take another look at the link above. Print it for your
Thanksgiving table.) Equitable trade does not exist. It's every man for
himself, nobody for "a more perfect Union."
We even invented single malt Scotch fer chrissakes! What's not to
like?
More bad news for you. That's part of the problem and none of the cure.
So, Next week on the American Thanksgiving holiday, I will recognize
that I have plenty for which to be thankful.
Take one last look at the photo. I'll be most thankful when the evil
that caused that is eradicated. Looks to me like if god were going to
fix it he would have done it by now. We should all choke on a turkey
bone.
Misanthropic? To the contrary, it should be evident that we are
humanists. We have had good reason to be pessimistic over the past
eight years. We recognize that the species is not at a high point in
its existence, and we believe the causes are a war on education,
intellectualism, science, and knowledge in general, and two fruitless
shooting wars, among other huge mistakes. We think that we humanity
could be doing better, and we see on the horizon the opportunity to
make things better.
Who would have thought that there would arise in the United States in
the late 20th Century (1968, to be precise) a political party that
would revile education and reason as enemies of America--and succeed in
frightening half the population into believing that knowledge and
reason threaten our country!?
The Party of Nixon has held virtually absolute power in the U.S. for
the past eight years (with help from members of the "opposition" who
lacked the integrity to stand up for what they believed). During that
eight years they redoubled their efforts to cripple the education
system, to use the so-called "religious" right to incite for the
systematic denial of civil liberties (Prop 8, e.g.) and the abrogation
of the Bill of Rights. They persuaded people who claim to adore the
Prince of Peace to agitate for war. They turned their Lamb of God into
a serpent and twisted his message, which boils down to "be kind to each
other and share the wealth," into a parody and a tool for the
incitement of hatred. They decreed that the truth is a lie and a lie is
the truth. Heros are cowards and deserters are heros. A man can be
judged by his name. Timothy McVeigh? Obviously a _real_ American.
Barack Hussein Obama? Terrorist. (They're too stupid to know that
"Hussein" is another way of pronouncing "Hosanna," a word of adoration
that was used to honor and comfort Christ as he rode into Jerusalem to
accept his fate at the hands of conservatives. Wouldn't they be freaked
if they knew that Jesus enjoyed the right of habeas corpus!?) We have
an economic system that is built on greed and that requires the
people's government to maintain a stranglehold on the greedy to
minimize outright plunder, but the Party of Nixon worked to remove all
impediments and gave the plunderers free rein. Got TV?
They sowed their corrupt seed and the people will reap the shameful
harvest for years to come.
You bet we're thankful, but we thank the people, and not an invisible
god, for electing Barack Obama. It couldn't have been god, because the
Party of Nixon owns the invisible god, and the party's messiah, George
Bush, has revealed that god speaks to him and even told him to launch
his holy wars. The same god could not have chosen both men. I believe
that my wife's phone calls to Virginia voters, my phone calls to
Pennsylvania veterans, and our monetary donations are what elected
Barack Obama. (Since USENET denizens are wont to take the written word
literally--the inability of people to recognize and understand
figurative speech being one of the fruits of the war on education--I
guess I have to say that "my wife's" and "my" and "our" are merely the
archetype for every faceless, nobody-special volunteer who helped turn
the Party of Nixon into the Party of Aging, Marginalized
Segregationists.)
Hallelujah!
Davoud
Proud, card-carrying member of the ACLU, the SPLC, the AAAS, et al.
--
Give me a name and Išll tell you if the personšs a terrorist or a Real
American. Timothy James McVeigh? Real American! C'mon, that was too easy. Next!
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com