08 Jan 2006
Pope attacks 'culture of death'

Alright, now that my blood pressure has returned to levels where I no longer need fear immediate stroke, I figured I'd best post a comment or two about this. And by way of warning, let me preface my remarks by saying that I intend no offense to any Christian who might stumble across this forthcoming rant: if Christians are allowed to "hate the sin but love the sinner", then I only ask they accord me the same right. Allow me to love my Christian friends while hating the original Eastern cult of death.

So the Pope want to talk about cultures of death, eh? Well, my particular religion has as it's symbol a hammer - a weapon in some instances, but also an instrument of building, an engineering tool. And the universal symbol of the Pope's religion? Why, a guy being executed, of course! Or, more simply, an execution device. Who's got the culture of death here? Or at least, who's got the symbol of the culture of death?

Worse, he goes on whining:

With Michelangelo's dramatic depiction of the Last Judgment as a backdrop, Benedict attacked the "thing-infliction of mankind", suggesting that people had become little more than objects to be traded, picked up and discarded at will.

Excuse me. Did I hear that correctly? This from the representative on Earth of the god of the Bible? Has he read his Bible? Because his description of people as objects is exactly how his god treats the human race: consigning all and sundry to an infinity of torment unless we grovel before him and lick his boots. Using us for his glory - did you ever notice how the followers of this god will always give him the credit for any accomplishment, yet take the blame themselves for any failure? They know what side the bread's buttered on! Shoot a bit of blame in his direction and you're eternal toast! I might suggest that the Pope review the Book of Job for a bit of a refresher course in "people as objects", paying careful attention to the slaughter of Job's entire family in the process.

And then he holds forth on Nero's massacre of early Christians:

He singled out ancient Rome's Colosseum amphitheatre and the gardens of the emperor Nero, where Christians were once martyred, as a "real perversion of joy and a perversion of the sense of life."

I wonder why he didn't mention the gardens hosting the Inquisition's auto de fe? OK, so his immediate predecessor apologized for some of that: but note that they pointedly left out any pagan or Heathen martyr's from their contrition. In fact, they managed to try and shift the blame for some of the worse excesses of the 20th century onto "pagans", ignoring the fact that the perpetrator was Catholic! Didn't the founder of his faith say something like "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

But wait, there's more! According to his formulation, "Sex = Death". Now there's an equation for ya! Of course, this turns on the Church's teaching that abortion is always murder, ignoring the history of his own organization and the thinking some some of it's greatest theologians. But of course, to this man, who's presumably never had sex of any sort, sex that doesn't lead to reproduction is effectively abortion in any case! Somehow I fail to see the connection between a piece of latex on the end of my penis and death, but maybe it's just me. And in any case, if not reproducing is the moral equal of causing death, how can one justify celibacy? Doesn't refusing sex prevent conception as effectively (nay, moreso) than that bit of rubber? Oh, wait a minute, I get it! Sex feels good, so it must be bad. "Feeling Good = Bad". Not having sex can lead to frustration, to say the least, but that must be good, since it's the approved way of the priesthood.So "Feeling Bad = Good".

We seem to be developing some equations here... strange how they bear more than a superficial resemblance another famous set that can be found in this book.

There is no doubt that our culture has problems. But I would submit that many of these problems have been exacerbated by, if not directly caused by, the religion that this man's predecessors imposed by force on arms over nearly half the world.

Pope Benedict XVI performed the first baptisms of his pontificate on Sunday, using the occasion to launch an impassioned denunciation of irresponsible sex and a "culture of death" that he said pervaded the modern world.

(link) [CNN.com]

00:00 /Asatru | 4 comments | permanent link

Next-gen DVD format war frustrates retailers

I have vinyl records, 8 track tapes, VHS tapes, 8mm tapes, LaserDiscs, and DVD's. So far I've maintained the capability to play all except the 8 tracks - which was really such a bad format it wasn't worth keeping.

Some copy protection schemes on the VHS and LaserDisc movies slow me down in backing them up or transferring formats, which is also a problem.

I can tell you this: this is one consumer who's fed up with "format wars", and who will refrain from buying any new format player unless it has backwards compatibility with my existing media. After all, there's always HBO and pay per view ...

U.S. electronics retailers at the Consumer Electronics Show call the war "nightmarishly unfriendly" and "stupid."

(link) [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Technology | 1 comment | permanent link