In America, there are these atheists who foam at the mouth whenever someone uses the word 'god' in any way other than derogatory. Actually, there are many in other Western countries as well (not so much in other countries since they don't want to get shot) who are really quite the same (just look for them on YouTube, they're all over the place.
These atheists are so fragile and of such a delicate mental disposition, if you are ever so bold as to say anything even remotely positive about any god, in a public place, they'll sue you for breaching their constitutional right to not hear the word 'god'.
What really gives them palpitations is whenever they pick up a US dollar bill because, written on it are the words 'In God We Trust'. Merely buying a candy bar with one of these dollar bills sends them into months of therapy.
They need to relax and chill and learn from the theists who live in the UK! Do you hear about Christians trying to sue the Bank of England for offence against their eyes and sensibilities? Do you hear of death threats against workers of the Royal Mint because of a horrendous offence against their beliefs?
What is it that could offend the theists? Well, it doesn't actually offend the theists in the UK because they're more grown up than the photo-sensitive atheists.
Maybe these atheists should move to the UK and buy UK Ten Pound Notes because, it just so happens, a picture of the atheist god is printed on every Ten Pound Note. No, I'm not talking about Richard Dawkins or the Flying Speghetti Monster, but none other than the Reverend Charles Darwin.
Do we see campaigns, posters, complaints and documentaries about the evils of having someone who is supposed to be so offensive to a segment of a society written on currency?
Nah. Can't be bothered. Too many important things to do.
Monday 29 December 2008
Thursday 25 December 2008
Christian Perspective?
It happens every Easter and Christmas. There's a holiday that Christians really dig and so the media put up a documentary or other 'groundbreaking' non-fiction to expose how false something is. If they don't do that, they present a series of documentaries looking at how people who don't like Christianity view the various Christian feasts.
Let's get an atheist's view of Christ's life to broadcast over Easter, let's get the Iranian Prime Minister (who happens to torture Christians and has promised to wipe Israel off the face of the map) to do a Christmas presentation. Let's get a disillusioned 'theologian' to walk across deserts while trying to pick at everything Christians hold dear right in the middle of their favourite festivals because this is what being topical is all about.
I'm not saying that there are no questions to ask about what Christianity teaches, I'm not saying that there's no debate to be had over the social imact of what Christ said, but it's funny how you don't get the equivalent. It's odd how, during the celebrations of Darwin's birthday, you won't get any of the discussions looking at the problems with evolutionary theory. You won't get so-called experts telling you why Ramadan could be a pointless festival.
Nope, the two that get the hit are Christians and Jews. Christians, because they don't try and force people to shut up on pain of death (hundreds of years ago, they did, but they don't now... there are countries where other religions will kill you for such blasphemy, but we don't mention that in the West). Jews get it because it's trendy to hate Israel with an intellectual blind-eye to the attacks it faces every day. In fact, it could be argued that Jews get a double-hit from the media because they're hated via Israeli politics and they're ridiculed when people apply flawed but ever-so-attractive logic to the 'Christian Old Testament' (which is a lot of the Jewish Bible).
Will we ever get a fair balance in the media? Not likely, unless you count Songs of Praise (which, I have to admit, is good three out of five times). But when it comes to getting a message across, you'll stand a better chance if you go with the flow and resist the urge to think for yourself.
Funny, isn't it, that in order to be an individual, you have to go and find out the latest trends in individualism in order to do it in a fashionable way?
Let's get an atheist's view of Christ's life to broadcast over Easter, let's get the Iranian Prime Minister (who happens to torture Christians and has promised to wipe Israel off the face of the map) to do a Christmas presentation. Let's get a disillusioned 'theologian' to walk across deserts while trying to pick at everything Christians hold dear right in the middle of their favourite festivals because this is what being topical is all about.
I'm not saying that there are no questions to ask about what Christianity teaches, I'm not saying that there's no debate to be had over the social imact of what Christ said, but it's funny how you don't get the equivalent. It's odd how, during the celebrations of Darwin's birthday, you won't get any of the discussions looking at the problems with evolutionary theory. You won't get so-called experts telling you why Ramadan could be a pointless festival.
Nope, the two that get the hit are Christians and Jews. Christians, because they don't try and force people to shut up on pain of death (hundreds of years ago, they did, but they don't now... there are countries where other religions will kill you for such blasphemy, but we don't mention that in the West). Jews get it because it's trendy to hate Israel with an intellectual blind-eye to the attacks it faces every day. In fact, it could be argued that Jews get a double-hit from the media because they're hated via Israeli politics and they're ridiculed when people apply flawed but ever-so-attractive logic to the 'Christian Old Testament' (which is a lot of the Jewish Bible).
Will we ever get a fair balance in the media? Not likely, unless you count Songs of Praise (which, I have to admit, is good three out of five times). But when it comes to getting a message across, you'll stand a better chance if you go with the flow and resist the urge to think for yourself.
Funny, isn't it, that in order to be an individual, you have to go and find out the latest trends in individualism in order to do it in a fashionable way?
Tuesday 23 December 2008
Did Google and Apple Kill Microsoft?
Is it possible that Google and, to an extent, Apple, killed Microsoft?
Some time ago, I wrote a blog post highlighting cracks in Microsoft's armour and which could have been omens of the beginning of the end for Microsoft. Has anything changed since then?
Well, the cracks are still there; Windows Mobile sucks, Vista has terrible press and Ballmer is still a brainless babboon-boy. But a lot has changed and, it could be argued, that Microsoft has died an Old Labour death, only to give birth to a smiley and happy new Microsoft.
Microsoft seems to be opening up in many technological areas. It's developing more software on competitors' platforms than ever before and even chosing other platforms over its own at times. There are signs that innovation is taking place (Mesh) and that it is learning from past mistakes (Windows 7, though I must admit that Vista's bad press is not insubstantially unfair).
It would seem that Google et al have indeed killed Microsoft in the same way that Margaret Thatcher killed Old Labour and out of the ashes of a monolithical monster, a new Blairite regime has began to find a footing.
Was it Bill Gates that was holding everything back? Don't be fooled. Microsoft hasn't become nice, it's only become better. It has seen what others are doing and has decided to copy them, only this time, instead of copying others' technology, it's started to copy some of the methods and attitudes of the competition.
But this is a good thing. I, for one, am finding it more palletable to use Microsoft products, liking where they're going and have even subscribed to their TechNet program. It's good. I like it.
I still think that Microsoft doesn't have the criminal record it deserves, but at least now, things are beginning to look better - if not perfect.
Apple? Watch your back. Microsoft is coming.
Some time ago, I wrote a blog post highlighting cracks in Microsoft's armour and which could have been omens of the beginning of the end for Microsoft. Has anything changed since then?
Well, the cracks are still there; Windows Mobile sucks, Vista has terrible press and Ballmer is still a brainless babboon-boy. But a lot has changed and, it could be argued, that Microsoft has died an Old Labour death, only to give birth to a smiley and happy new Microsoft.
Microsoft seems to be opening up in many technological areas. It's developing more software on competitors' platforms than ever before and even chosing other platforms over its own at times. There are signs that innovation is taking place (Mesh) and that it is learning from past mistakes (Windows 7, though I must admit that Vista's bad press is not insubstantially unfair).
It would seem that Google et al have indeed killed Microsoft in the same way that Margaret Thatcher killed Old Labour and out of the ashes of a monolithical monster, a new Blairite regime has began to find a footing.
Was it Bill Gates that was holding everything back? Don't be fooled. Microsoft hasn't become nice, it's only become better. It has seen what others are doing and has decided to copy them, only this time, instead of copying others' technology, it's started to copy some of the methods and attitudes of the competition.
But this is a good thing. I, for one, am finding it more palletable to use Microsoft products, liking where they're going and have even subscribed to their TechNet program. It's good. I like it.
I still think that Microsoft doesn't have the criminal record it deserves, but at least now, things are beginning to look better - if not perfect.
Apple? Watch your back. Microsoft is coming.
Christmas: The Impossible Dream & The Boxing Day Solution
I am genuinely concerned by the 'spirit of Christmas'. It's like some sort of mass hypnosis that turns normally rational people into strange automatons, hell bent on being nuts and doing stupid things.
No, I'm not talking about religious zealots, but the people we all meet on a daily basis.
At no other time of year do we have such a justification to do literally anything as we do when we say 'go on, it's Christmas'.
Shall I get drunk out of my head and make a complete dick of myself? Why not! It's Christmas!
Shall I photocopy my arse and send it to my boss? Why not! It's Christmas!
Shall I be unfaithful to my wife? Why not! It's Christmas!
Shall I spend more money than I have on stuff nobody needs? Why not! It's Christmas!
We sing dumbass songs which have no equivalent for the rest of the year! We celebrate a snowman that takes a kid for a quick spin in the sky, we sing of Granny kissing Santa and dancing around a tree. Who on earth would sing of 'burgers roasting on a BBQ'?
None of it makes sense and at best, it's a shallow veneer of fake goodwill which covers up a hard surface of mediocrity and self serving judgement.
How does it happen? What is it that can take a nation and hurl it into a whirlpool of contradiction? All of a sudden, we start caring for the disadvantaged, but we hope for a white Christmas and stuff anybody who lives in a cardboard box. In fact, society romanticises homelessness and poverty, harkening back with longing hearts to the Victorian era where children were seen and not heard, unless they were orphans in which case they were not even seen.
How does this work?
Is it materialism? I think that's part of it, but not all of it since there's more to what's going on than mere materialism. I think it's a perception that we have an excuse to not care (it's Christmas after all). We turn off our immediate capacity to judge, but it isn't that we love our neighbour and show them love, we just don't give a damn what they do because we're too busy getting off our faces.
Families and individuals are trying to live an impossible dream; The Perfect Christmas.
As long as your perfect Christmas is Andy Williams, a log fire, children playing with toy trains and a little snow to decorate the window pane, you will be depressed on Boxing Day.
I've found a little secret. What many people call 'the real meaning of Christmas' is the perfect solution for Boxing Day. You should try it. You may find it works. You may find that when you find what many call 'the real meaning of Christmas', you have that 'Christmas Joy' in your blood throughout the year.
No, I'm not talking about religious zealots, but the people we all meet on a daily basis.
At no other time of year do we have such a justification to do literally anything as we do when we say 'go on, it's Christmas'.
Shall I get drunk out of my head and make a complete dick of myself? Why not! It's Christmas!
Shall I photocopy my arse and send it to my boss? Why not! It's Christmas!
Shall I be unfaithful to my wife? Why not! It's Christmas!
Shall I spend more money than I have on stuff nobody needs? Why not! It's Christmas!
We sing dumbass songs which have no equivalent for the rest of the year! We celebrate a snowman that takes a kid for a quick spin in the sky, we sing of Granny kissing Santa and dancing around a tree. Who on earth would sing of 'burgers roasting on a BBQ'?
None of it makes sense and at best, it's a shallow veneer of fake goodwill which covers up a hard surface of mediocrity and self serving judgement.
How does it happen? What is it that can take a nation and hurl it into a whirlpool of contradiction? All of a sudden, we start caring for the disadvantaged, but we hope for a white Christmas and stuff anybody who lives in a cardboard box. In fact, society romanticises homelessness and poverty, harkening back with longing hearts to the Victorian era where children were seen and not heard, unless they were orphans in which case they were not even seen.
How does this work?
Is it materialism? I think that's part of it, but not all of it since there's more to what's going on than mere materialism. I think it's a perception that we have an excuse to not care (it's Christmas after all). We turn off our immediate capacity to judge, but it isn't that we love our neighbour and show them love, we just don't give a damn what they do because we're too busy getting off our faces.
Families and individuals are trying to live an impossible dream; The Perfect Christmas.
As long as your perfect Christmas is Andy Williams, a log fire, children playing with toy trains and a little snow to decorate the window pane, you will be depressed on Boxing Day.
I've found a little secret. What many people call 'the real meaning of Christmas' is the perfect solution for Boxing Day. You should try it. You may find it works. You may find that when you find what many call 'the real meaning of Christmas', you have that 'Christmas Joy' in your blood throughout the year.
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