My wife, who was Christian when we married and later became a Buddhist agnostic, found an interesting article the other day that really reflected the state of American religious affairs from a point of view that few people discuss. The University of Minnesota Sociology Department is about to release a study into the American feelings towards atheists. The
Minnesota Daily has an article on it.
Now, I am an atheist through and through. I do not believe in a heirarchical system of power in the Universe. I believe that all things are equal. I am a vegetarian because of it and my wife and I are about to move to a complete vegan lifestyle. I am a total pinko commie as well, which is something that follows into my belief system quite well, because I value the good of the many over the good of the one; thus I am forced to believe that wealth beyond necessity is unethical.
While part of me wants to laugh this off, part of me does not. I am angered by the American people who are hateful towards me, and because of the mere fact that I am an atheist, I am not to be trusted, I am openly hated (my mother in law has said openly that she believes I am going to hell), and all of my points become invalid (at least with most of the American public (I
know that kossacks are different).
It is crazy that people are so distrustful of my beliefs, just because I refuse to maintain an imaginary friend. I understand that most people here are not hateful towards me, but I just reached a tipping point. I need to
rant and I'm sorry if I hurt other peoples feelings. From where I stand, here is what I see:
An American of Bling. I refuse to buy my wife a diamond ring, to this day. The diamond trade results in Africans living in near slave conditions every day, just to reap these items that
have no real value. Even if you buy one that is reported to come from somewhere other than Africa, you are supporting the price inflation of these
worthless shiny objects, and thus supporting this modern slavery. It is sick and hypocritical.
Note: I wanted to remove all spots where I said 'you', which is too judgemental, but people who don't do these things understand where I am coming from, and won't be offended, I hope. This is also an angry rant. If you do these things and are angry at me, so be it. Many of us often have the same feelings towards those who blindly vote Republican.
An illogical America that does not really care. Eat a steak. Mmmmm... By eating that steak,
you consume several gallons of gasoline that would not be expended by being a vegetarian. By eating that steak, you support a massive part of the food industry that supports Republicans. By eating that meat, you kill an animal that you
have no proof of superiority over. By eating that steak, you contribute to your own unhealthy lifestyle. By eating that meat you contribute to the
massive pollution and ecological disaster that is the modern farm, where there is no sewage system for hundreds of thousands of animals that create more waste than most modern cities. It is often suggested that more than
60% of our original agricultural output goes to supporting the meat and dairy industries. In other words, if we all stopped eating meat, we could feed our own peoples several times over. Hell, the rainforest is being chopped down to make soy to feed cattle.
Your strongest ecological weapon is your fork. I don't care what you believe as to the value of a steak.
It is proven that one doesn't need it, and therefore it shouldn't be eaten because of the reasons above. If one does than they are no better than that whole Intelligent Design crowd, where it doesn't matter how much proof there is to the contrary, I wanna believe what I wanna believe, right? I would rather have a friend reject evolution than be complicit in eating meat. One can say that it tastes good and so it gives them the right. This is no different from buying a Hummer.
An America of excuses. Go ahead, Red (and blue) America, buy that diamond ring to keep up with the Joneses, and feel complicit in the act. Go ahead Red (and blue) America, eat that steak, and feel complicit to the waste and destruction of the world, just say 'oh, but it tastes so good'. Go ahead, and feel free to do the many things that I find disgusting and unethical, with
logic and reason. It is
not possible to defend either of these acts.
Not possible. All of these things lead to the points of wealth beyond reason, gluttony, judgement (as I am doing now), and too many other things to list.
But America can't dare tell me that I'm unethical and immoral. The people who responded to this poll doesn't have the right or the moral compunction to judge me anyways.