What's annoying me now
This particular post may ramble a little as there are a couple of things that are kind of irking me but they all relate back to the same thing. There's two main sources of my annoyment. The first are these hearings going on in Kansas that are basically trying to change the rules to allow teaching creationism in public schools, under the guise of "intelligent design". The second was watching Bill Maher on Friday night. Mind you, I like the guy, he's funny, brings liberals and conservatives on his show, and isn't afraid to speak his mind. But I'm getting tired of him bashing "religion" as a bad thing.
To start with the Kansas thing, what annoys the hell out of me is first the whole evolution versus creationism thing. It's bascially science versus religion. The problem is, the "religion"side doesn't seem to realize that they don't need to be mutually exclusive. I happen to believe in "intelligent design" because I believe that God created everything. But that doesn't mean it's how it should be taught in public schools. I will teach my kids faith at home, thanks. What really gets my goat, as a former scientist myself, is that these people seem to forget that science is about facts. It's not about the why of the universe, but about the how. Science can explain how molecules form to make things, measure how fast light travels, and all kinds of other stuff. Science doesn't and can't explain where everything came from and why it's here. At the root of all evolutionary theory, everything was already there and set in motion to get us to where we are now.
The scientific method is pretty simple. You form a hypothesis. You devise tests to prove your hypothesis. Once you start collecting data, you analyze whether the data fits the hypothesis. IF IT DOESN'T, YOU REVISE YOUR HYPOTHESIS. This is where many "creationists" are falling down. There's this "movement" to scientifically prove that the earth is only a few thousand years old. The problem is, they utilize facts that fit their hypothesis, but conveniently ignore facts that do no support thier conclusion. In other words, bad science. Again, evolution is merely the method by which organisms change. It doesn't explain why there no trace of homo sapiens on this earth until a few thousand years ago. Get a grip, people.
That kind of brings me to my next issue. This mistaken notion that if you are "religious", you must be stupid or something. Or, worse still, that you're not really a good Christian unless you are a "conservative" (meaning Republican) Christian. Look, "religion" is a human institution. It's man's attempt to make sense of God's plan. It's an institution run by people and by definition, cannot be perfect because people are not perfect. But that doesn't change one fundamental truth as far as I'm concerned. That is that God exists, and that by following His Son's example, we can make the world a better place. Jesus had a pretty simple message: Love your God as yourself, and love your neighbor as yourself. Sure, we've put a lot more rules in the message in the last 2000 years, committed all kinds of atrocities in the name of God, you name it. But that was never the message. And just because you keep messing something up, doesn't make it not worth trying to achieve.
And I'm so tired of a small group of right wing fanatics trying to tell me what to believe and the direction of our country. I've got nothing against conservatives. Most of them are resonable people with whom I may disagree on some issues. But I'm really getting annoyed with this idea that a small group of people speak for most of the country. The majority of the country thinks abortion should be legal. A majority of the country thinks that we shouldn't teach creation in schools. A majority of the country beleives in an independent judiciary that should be above politics. I'm telling you, there are a few nuts out there that are trying to turn our country into a theocracy, and it's getting scary. Congressman are implying it's ok to kill judges when they make rulings that piss off the "religious right" and that it's actually BAD for a Supreme Court justice to DO HIS OWN RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET. I mean, what kind of an idiot are we talking about here? This is what we're coming to.
I swear to God, we need to get Republicans out of power. We've got too much power concentrated in too small a group of ideologues. Things were never this out of control with a Democratic White House, Republican Congress, or hell, even when the Democrats controlled everything. Like I said, hopefully this makes some sense. I'm just getting so riled lately at the insanity in our society I don't know what to do anymore.
To start with the Kansas thing, what annoys the hell out of me is first the whole evolution versus creationism thing. It's bascially science versus religion. The problem is, the "religion"side doesn't seem to realize that they don't need to be mutually exclusive. I happen to believe in "intelligent design" because I believe that God created everything. But that doesn't mean it's how it should be taught in public schools. I will teach my kids faith at home, thanks. What really gets my goat, as a former scientist myself, is that these people seem to forget that science is about facts. It's not about the why of the universe, but about the how. Science can explain how molecules form to make things, measure how fast light travels, and all kinds of other stuff. Science doesn't and can't explain where everything came from and why it's here. At the root of all evolutionary theory, everything was already there and set in motion to get us to where we are now.
The scientific method is pretty simple. You form a hypothesis. You devise tests to prove your hypothesis. Once you start collecting data, you analyze whether the data fits the hypothesis. IF IT DOESN'T, YOU REVISE YOUR HYPOTHESIS. This is where many "creationists" are falling down. There's this "movement" to scientifically prove that the earth is only a few thousand years old. The problem is, they utilize facts that fit their hypothesis, but conveniently ignore facts that do no support thier conclusion. In other words, bad science. Again, evolution is merely the method by which organisms change. It doesn't explain why there no trace of homo sapiens on this earth until a few thousand years ago. Get a grip, people.
That kind of brings me to my next issue. This mistaken notion that if you are "religious", you must be stupid or something. Or, worse still, that you're not really a good Christian unless you are a "conservative" (meaning Republican) Christian. Look, "religion" is a human institution. It's man's attempt to make sense of God's plan. It's an institution run by people and by definition, cannot be perfect because people are not perfect. But that doesn't change one fundamental truth as far as I'm concerned. That is that God exists, and that by following His Son's example, we can make the world a better place. Jesus had a pretty simple message: Love your God as yourself, and love your neighbor as yourself. Sure, we've put a lot more rules in the message in the last 2000 years, committed all kinds of atrocities in the name of God, you name it. But that was never the message. And just because you keep messing something up, doesn't make it not worth trying to achieve.
And I'm so tired of a small group of right wing fanatics trying to tell me what to believe and the direction of our country. I've got nothing against conservatives. Most of them are resonable people with whom I may disagree on some issues. But I'm really getting annoyed with this idea that a small group of people speak for most of the country. The majority of the country thinks abortion should be legal. A majority of the country thinks that we shouldn't teach creation in schools. A majority of the country beleives in an independent judiciary that should be above politics. I'm telling you, there are a few nuts out there that are trying to turn our country into a theocracy, and it's getting scary. Congressman are implying it's ok to kill judges when they make rulings that piss off the "religious right" and that it's actually BAD for a Supreme Court justice to DO HIS OWN RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET. I mean, what kind of an idiot are we talking about here? This is what we're coming to.
I swear to God, we need to get Republicans out of power. We've got too much power concentrated in too small a group of ideologues. Things were never this out of control with a Democratic White House, Republican Congress, or hell, even when the Democrats controlled everything. Like I said, hopefully this makes some sense. I'm just getting so riled lately at the insanity in our society I don't know what to do anymore.
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