thomas malloy wrote:
Ed Storms replied
I agree with you, Frank, some cultures are better than others, just as
some scientific theories and some people are better than others.
Amazing coming from you Ed.
Why is this amazing. Regardless of religious belief, the statement is
obvious. People are only equal under law, but in no other way. I get
the impression that you interpret everything in terms of your religious
belief and expect people who do not share this belief to come to a
different conclusion. The fact is, a reality exist regardless of how
people choose to interpret it. Success and survival depends on how
close your interpretation is to the real reality. I think you will
agree, but choose a different reality to think real.
Some cultures are peaceful while others go to war. Some cultures
pretend to value the individual, while placing increasing emphasis on
the state.
Some cultures have a "Holy" book which tells them to conquer or convert
the Infidels. Some cultures think that women should be treated like cattle.
Some cultures are too corrupt to hold fair elections and others allow
big companies to rip off the population. Fortunately, we do not have
such a culture.
I've heard the stick that the election was rigged, I can't prove a
negative. My bias would be that since the big money interests support
the Democrats, they would have won. Your bias is that the big money
interests support the war. My bias is that enough Christians showed up
at the poles to give Bushie the edge.
If the big money interests support the Democrats, why was the Republican
party able to raise much more money than the Democratic party? The
election was close for two reasons, the American people vote with their
emotions, not with their brains, and they were terrified of being zapped
by terrorists, thanks to conservative media. In addition, the Christian
right voted because they finally got one of their own in power. Now they
are changing social policy in the name of "god" to favor their
particular interpretation of reality. In contrast, Bush won because of
rigged voting in certain key states. Now, instead of people dying from
terrorists attacks in the US, they are dying in Iraq. Such is the
protection he has provided.
As for the "Big companies ripping off the resources" corporations don't
consume resources, people do. It is very disingenuous for someone like
you, who has lived the American lifestyle, to complain about the
resources that we are consuming. Do you have a car? does it run on
banana peels or grass clippings?
As you know, I'm describing the overall consumption of resources which
can be documented very easily. As for my situation, I have a home that
gets 80% of its energy from the sun and I drive a Prius. If everyone
had my lifestyle, there would be no energy shortage.
Nevertheless Frank, I get the impression that you think a culture
based on Christian principles is better than one based on Islamic
teachings or Buddhism, for example.
I don't know about Frank, but I definately feel that way. It would seem
to me that since their plan is to cut your head off, unless you want to
covert to Islam, you agree with me on this issue.
Only a few insane individuals who happen to believe in Islam want to cut
my head off. This does not justify rejecting Islam in general. I
should point out, it was not many years ago that Christians in the South
would kill Negroes for similar reasons. At that time, would you have
gone to war with the Christian religion of the area?
To further refine the approach, I assume only certain Christian
beliefs are acceptable. I agree, Christianity in recent centuries has
provided a good culture basis, the behavior of the Nazis during WWII
The Nazi's were pagans who killed more Christians were Jews!
No, the Nazi's were not pagans. They were recruited from a society that
believed in God and went to church. They believed they were doing god's
will by creating a super race of perfect humans. It might have worked
if Hitler had not gone insane and over-reached. Rather than
interpreting events based on your religion, I suggest you read some
history. As for killing Christians, he did this because they were
mainly solders or were fighting against his policies. In contrast, he
sought out the Jews for extermination regardless of their role in the
war. I find that distinction important.
and slave owners in the US south being big,
The slave owners ignored the instructions in the Torah regarding the
treatment of slaves. The high standards set resulted in slavery dying
out in Israel. The Christians in the North East were the driving force
behind the Civil War. Beginning in the late 18th century, their
intention was abolitionism.
but not the only, exceptions. But now in this century we are presented
with a problem. Christianity, which is based on brotherly love and a
value to all life, is believed to be in a war with Islam, a religion
which represents a large fraction of the world's population and which
is in control of most energy sources.
As I have pointed out previously Ed, some of us believe that the
embodiment of Edom in this generation is Islam, as Nazism was in the
last generation.
Why do you choose to base your beliefs on hate? You, and many other
people, seem to need someone or some idea to hate? In your case, it is
evil, liberals, and Islam, with each of these groups out to get you. A
brief reading of history shows that whenever people having this need get
into power, they find justifications, usually involving God or
nationalism, to kill the hated group. It does not matter whether a
reason exists, they will find one, just as Bush did to justify venting
his hate on Iraq. Once a country starts down this path, plenty of
reasons are found to justify additional hate. Now the people that we
hate are finding more reasons to hate us. Once this path is taken, only
destruction of one or the other group brings an end, usually after much
death and destruction. But I forgot, you count on God to step in and
make thing right for you and people who share your belief. Hitler
expected the same support, not from the conventional Christian god, but
from the higher power that favors the strong.
In addition, we are now running out of energy, land space, and water
in many regions, but the Catholic Church will not support population
limitations based on birth control.
Not as fast as we are running out of time.
Yes, and the longer we refuse to acknowledge the reality of our
situation, the less time we will have.
The great Christian cultures are rapidly destroying the rain forests,
over fishing the oceans, and polluting the atmosphere with CO2. In
other words, a large number of Christians are taking several
approaches that may well destroy our own culture while spending their
political support and money trying to save other cultures from
"evil". How do you deal with this problem?
Have you ever seen bugs (microorganisms) grown on a petri plate? They
overgrow the medium and die. Well the Earth is a petri plate, and
sustainability is a liberal myth.
In other words, your God has made mankind unable to resist destroying
the earth and only by his intervention will the "ideal" people be saved.
In your view, this earth was made by your God to allow the human
species to separate its self into two groups, one that is evil and one
that is good. The evil group will be eliminated and the good group will
be used to repopulate. Presumably, after this separation, the "good"
group will remain good forever. I suggest you look around and ask
yourself how able are your "good" friends to remain good. Can you remain
"good"? If not, what is the point of this exercise?
At 01:55 pm 27/06/2005 -0400, you wrote:
thomas malloy wrote:
That area of agreement a leftist notion called cultural relativism
(the idea that all cultures are all equally good) which is leading
to cultural suicide.
That definition of cultural relativity is completely wrong,
misleading and childish.
I was quoting Prager. Of course, I do have a bias to agree with him. I
wish that you would spend a few hours listening to his program and then
call in and set him right.
There is no setting such people right. Prager believes his
interpretation of reality so strongly that no discussion will ever set
him right. His goal is to set everyone else right.
Regards,
Ed
