Happy easter, or not.. How offensive?

[FM Arouet666]

Since when was it a god given right to not be offended? A few cartoons spark the muslim world ablaze. Why? "We are offended by the portrayal, it is insensitive." Umm, Ok, it is insensitive, but if you don't like the image, don't look. Muslims are not the only ones easily offended, many christians use the 'offense' excuse to justify their condemnation of others.

Homosexuality is offensive, evolution is offensive, stem cell research, abortion, prostitution, drugs and alcohol, foul language, Janet Jackson's breasts, and two guys up on a mountain with some sheep. The list goes on and on.

Again, if you don't like it, don't herd sheep, drink, cuss, well you get the idea. Oh, but we are "offended!" So what does it mean to be offended. You passed gas by me, I am offended? You put a bomb on my prophet, I am offended? I was curious, so I looked up a christian definition on the christian answers web page.

Offense
(1) An injury or wrong done to one.
(2) A stumbling-block or cause of temptation.

The second definition is a problem left to the believer. I am not responsible for the temptation of others. If a christian is tempted by Broke back Mountain or tempted because of the availability of abortion, sex, porn, alcohol etc. Too damn bad, take some personal responsibility. What about the family? Again, your family, your kids, your problem. You don't want junior exposed to things you deem to be 'offensive' then do what you must to protect him. However, your protection ends with your family. Yeah, it would be easier if everyone in society thought alike, but they don't, get over it and move on. Breath, rant rant, breath......

The first definition is more difficult to answer. I don't wish to injure any religious person because of their belief, as I hope they would not wish to injure me for my lack of belief.

However, what battle line in the Christian Culture War on America actually harms christians? Homosexual marriage? Two guys on a mountain harms the christian viewer? Two women exchange vows of marriage and suddenly all married christians divorce? What about evolution? Little Johnny reads about Darwin and suddenly dumps his bible and starts posting atheist rants on DU?

Oh, but abortion does harm someone, the little innocent fetus is killed by the evil unholy abortionist? The fetus is out of luck, but how does the abortion affect christians? If you don't like abortion, simple, don't get one.

How about we look for a better definition of offense. From Websters,

'something that outrages the moral or physical senses.'

Now we have the flatulence covered. We also have the moral outrage covered. Moral outrage? Cartoons, scientific theories, two consenting adults etc etc? For society to function moral outrage must be contained, tolerance is the glue which binds people of differing opinion.

Easter sunday is a pain in the rear if you ask me, the stores are closed, you can't get a drink, religious people giving you the evil eye for not attending voodoo ceremonies. Oops, I am being offensive, please don't read this post.

Happy easter, or not................ :evilgrin:

[silverweb]

1. Happy whatever.

Anybody who says "Happy Whatever" in a friendly, sincere manner is simply trying to be nice.

Anybody who takes offense because it's the wrong "whatever" is a thin-skinned, narrow-minded jackass.

Oh... and Happy Whatever!

[Maraya1969]

2. Webster's definition of injury - Thesaurus

All these words symbolize Brokeback Mountain?


One entry found for injury.
Entry Word: injury
Function: noun

Text: 1 something that causes loss or pain <the harsh words were the worst injury>

Synonyms damage, detriment, harm, hurt
Related Words disservice, injustice, outrage, wrong; affront, dart, indignity, insult, offense (or offence); crippling, mayhem, mutilation; defacement, disablement, disability, disfigurement; abrasion, bruise, bump, contusion, scald, scar, scathe, scrape, scratch, sear

Near Antonyms healing, recovery; cure, fix, remedy

2 unfair or inadequate treatment of someone or something or an instance of this <the state did him an injury when it destroyed his herd of cattle without adequate proof it was diseased> -- see DISSERVICE

[bills]

3. Happy Resurrection Day.

Jesus loves you and God bless you all.

[Maraya1969]

5. Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition

How Prophetic

[TallahasseeGrannie]

4. Lots of good thoughts to ponder

I think about this kind of thing a lot. Personally, as a Christian, I don't have any moral outrage over abortion or homosexuality. I UNDERSTAND outrage about abortion if a person truly believes a fertilized egg is a full human life. I have a friend who does (oddly enough she is a Dem) and she often says "but the Germans didn't believe the Jews were human, and slaveowners didn't believe the slaves were human.) She has a point. So she sees her anti-abortion stance as protective. Not enough to get me out there with pickets, however, or to support moves against abortion. I want it legal, safe, and someday very, very rare. The issue of homosexuality, I think, is just plain cultural. Since the 60's we have turned our culture upside down in a lot of ways. Some are incidental but telling, some huge. Women work. Men are in the delivery room. (that one is kind of a red herring, but it strikes me as being an indicator of a real paradigm shift in the last half century.) Couples live together before marriage. Premarital sex is assumed, not shameful. When I went to college, we couldn't have men in our rooms my fresh and sophomore years, then junior and senior, it was no holds barred! Drug use is much more popular, recreational. Divorce the the norm. Children live in joint custody situations. And then there is the gay right movement.

Personally, no one ever spoke trash about gay folks in my household because no one ever spoke about them, period! I was in college before I even figured out what it was. It was simply never spoken of. Therefore, the conclusion I drew was that it was so taboo, so heinous, so awful, you couldn't even mention it. Now that is heavy-duty bad when you can't even talk about it. You might raise an eyebrow when discussing so-and-so, but that's as far as it went.

If anyone watched the Sopranos last night, this treatment of gay folks was the main theme. The wise guys want Vito whacked because he has been found in a compromising position twice. This is obviously a cultural taboo so awful it is punishable, in their minds, by death. How do we counter this sort of thing? I have no idea. And overseas in Muslim countries, gays are put to death by the State!

Personally, the only way I got "real" with the whole issue of homosexuality was to make some dear friends who were gay and understand via daily living that it was just a surface difference between us, and that they were moral individuals. If you have no such insight, it is much easier to maintain that sense of taboo.

I have to simply hope that moral "outrage" over homosexuality is just the aftershocks of the cultural earthquake we brought about in the '60's and it will fade away as the older generations die out. But sometimes I am not sure it will. We've asked folks to make a lot of changes in a short period of time. I don't know if there is any other time in history with such intense social change.

What would make me morally outraged? Well, any form of child abuse. For example, I believe that the organization for men and boys (whever that is called) has as their agenda to lower the age of consent and to view men/boys in sexual relationships as normal and loving. I can't go there because I believe it involves a victim. (just like the children in polygamous marriages are victims.)

But I do feel moral outrage. I feel it for the young victims of gunshot in the ghettos and even out in the suburbs. I feel it for the numbers of people killed by drunk drivers. I feel it for disenfranchised youth who fall into the education cracks and come out of school with no marketable skills. I feel moral outrage for an educational system (of which I am a part) that warehouses children in the least expensive environment and measures success with standarized tests. I feel moral outrage for women who must leave their infants in day care centers and go off to earn $2.00 an hour (after childcare) and can't afford to stay home and care for them because they NEED that $2. I feel moral outrage that we have not figured out how to keep 13 and 14 year old children from giving birth three times before they turn 18.

Okay, Grannie off the soapbox now.

And Yes, Happy Easter, Happy Spring, Happy Whatever. Life is short. Celebrate everything.

T-Grannie

[Maraya1969]

6. I think you have hit the nail one the head as to why many fundys are

so cruel to homosexuals. They do not see them as people and they are told NOT to associate with them unless they, (the gay person) is trying to change their orientation. I had a neighbor over my house a few weeks ago and the subject of the Oscars came up and he said he didn't think it was right that Brokeback Mountain was among the nominees. And, of course he NEVER SAW THE MOVIE! Anything that will show these people that GLBT people are NORMAL is forbidden by their ministers. They should not be supporting such a thing! This guy would not watch "Will and Grace" either because Will is gay. Obviously their leaders don't want them to view other people as the same as themselves. They would lose the war on anti-gay everything.

Anyway here is your statements that lit up my eyes.


"Personally, the only way I got "real" with the whole issue of homosexuality was to make some dear friends who were gay and understand via daily living that it was just a surface difference between us, and that they were moral individuals. If you have no such insight, it is much easier to maintain that sense of taboo."

[TallahasseeGrannie]

7. Yes, I was about 35. And here is the really strange thing.

I was in love with a woman in college for a while. I mean head over heels in love. But I had no framework with which to view it. It was totally outside what I knew.

[Maat]

8. As to if I want to see abortion safe, legal and rare.

Well, I certainly want to be safe and legal. Do I want it to be rare? Well, that depends upon how one defines 'abortion.' Currently, the Religious Hardright is classifying basic birth control pills and the Morning After Pill as 'abortion,' because they may have a role in the prevention of implantation of a fertilized egg onto the uterine wall. Do I want birth control and the Morning After Pill to be rare? NO, I want them to be used as frequently as possible so that every child is a wanted child.

90% of abortions occur during the first trimester. I have no problem with that. We are talking about something the size of a thumbnail, and that clearly does not have any developed nervous system.

As to the rest of abortions, for the vast majority, we are talking about desperate life or death situations, and/or ones involving severe fetal deformity. Well, I hope those are rare one day, in the sense that hopefully one day we will be able to spot those situations relative early on in the pregnancy so that the parents won't have to go through months of happy anticipation only to have the whole thing end in tragedy. But the health of the mother is the priority there.

So, I've decided before I say 'I believe in them being safe, legal and rare,' I want the so-called 'pro-lifer' to define EXACTLY what they mean by abortion.

We need to call them on this.

And I wish everyone a very happy week!