Might Be Mad

I am sure, on many counts, we do. As do many, many things, in all fairness. For starters, the world, and life, just ain't fair. The good die young and we are left with assholes for company. People who need money, can't ever find enough of it; those with time on their hands have no idea what to do with it. Toast always lands on the side that's buttered, etc. But back to Christians. Irking the world with silly notions and unwanted good intentions; always talking about salvation, thanking an unseen God for everything, always trying to convert people to Christ who is not even older than Buddha, have no respect for tradition (most offensively, at the refusal to partake in traditional funeral rites)... I shall not explain everything at one go; the virtue of brevity is, after all, that it is relatively painless. But primarily, Christians suck because the world would not let us be. Christians (and here, I am generalising -- there are just so many types) have an other-worldly mindse...

When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. -- Matthew 8:1-3

For fuck’s sake, there is no such thing. Perhaps I should qualify that as my own personal opinion. Sure, why not. And you’re of course entitled to your own. But that does not mean I can’t be right. I say war is bad… yet all too soon, the macho rhetoric rears its bulbous, balding head (I infer this from observing the majority of its proponents) – surely, there is greater virtue in a courageous death, than living in cowardice. Well. Courage is indeed more admirable than cowardice. But when courage is stirred in the service of dubious schemes cloaked behind big words like “justice”, “destiny”, “freedom”, as has been the case for far too many wasteful wars that men have fought, then this courage is but stupidity. To put it mildly, sentimental bullshit is the magic ingredient most served when men of power seek to stir other men to take the bullet in building the former’s ambitions. No? Is war “just”? Is war “unavoidable”? Why conduct a little experiment: round up the generals, pre...

“Did I not consider myself a scientist? Does a scientist draw conclusions without considering data? Could there be a more important question in all of human existence than 'Is there a God?'”

'With our new luxuries we shall need doctors too, far more than we did before.' 'We certainly shall.' 'And the territory which was formerly enough to support us will now be too small.' 'That is undeniable.' 'If we are to have enough for pasture and plough, we shall have to cut a slice off our neighbours' territory. And if they too are no longer confining themselves to necessities and have embarked on the pursuit of unlimited material possessions, they will want a slice of ours too.' 'The consequence is inevitable.' 'And that will lead to war, Glaucon, will it not?' 'It will.'

Absolute power corrupts absolutely — this is a maxim held with as much faith as “apples fall from trees.” And it’s generally true: as much as any open drain is clogged with discarded trash, history is littered with jerks (to put in mildly) who have perpetrated the worst excesses for no better reason than because they could get away with it. Having power helped. A lot. While people are rightly wary of power in political affairs, I have a feeling they are not wary enough about the flip-side influence of power in social affairs. This was impressed upon me during a recent conversation with workmates over lunch — and what better dessert is there than a bit of idle philosophising? — about the relative merit/justice of alternative power structures in the relations between men and women. Who should be under whose thumb, in other words. Among those present, one of took immense pride in her matriarchal family background — grannies, aunts, mums, etc held fearsome power in the household, while the...