"Sticks and Stones may break our bones,
but Words will kill us all!",
the Solipsist Soliloquist.
The Pope's recent remarks have started a fire...
his comments alluding to 14th Century writings about Islam being spread by the sword has cost a 65 year old nun in Somalia her life.
Christian Churches around the world have also been razed to the ground by mobs of angry undereducated misinformed zealots.
WHAT YEAR IS IT?
Why do ho
mo sapiens kill others because of ideas?!Exactly when did our ancestors start to kill others who said something that they didn't like. ..
probably about the same time that they figured out that it was better to throw a sharpened stick at another human from a safe distance...
rather than wait for the other guy to sneak up and whack him 'upside the head..old school ?
Why is it that homo escapeons continue to have the psychological crap scared out of them (such as unprovable threats of eternal damnation)
from some guy in a fancy schmancy getup?
Always with the getup??
Daily life for our ancestors was absolutely terrifying 99% of the time as they roamed the African Savannah in search of food.
Enough of them somehow evaded getting eaten or trampled or gored or poisoned or having rocks dropped on their head or whacked upside of the head or speared from a distance, to go on to create civilisation.
By trial and error,
early Homo Poindexterous (smart guys with poor throwing arms)
discovered that planting crops and locking up edible animals right at your campground was a lot easier than walking around for 16 hours a day looking for stuff to eat. Instead of being rewarded for these ideas and being appointed as the leader of the tribe, the position of Chief was somehow always filled by a large, scary guy with a good throwing arm.
The Chief
would usually have a right hand man, a psychological enforcer,
the Shaman or Sham-man.
The Shaman was a weird dude who wore scary makeup and dressed in a fancy get-up. He told everybody that invisible evil spirits would throw invisible sharpened sticks at them (for ever and ever and ever) if they didn't obey Him and his on-the-fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants-revelations and regulations...
Oh, and of course don't forget to obey the Chief.
The Chief usually 'went along' with the Shaman's concocted evil spirit gig and the Shaman was very aware that the Chief had a great throwing arm. From the get-go an uneasy alliance was formed.
Undeterred, Homo Poindexterous ignored this rubbish as best they could and went on to invent things. Useful items, like walls around the campground to deter 'wild' uncivilised humans from stealing and eating the stored crops and tethered animals.
They
also designed and constructed affordable crappy huts for all the workers, 
and huge outrageously opulent fancy schmacy palaces for the Chief and his Shaman.
Ta Da!
There you have it,
the birth of civilisation!
Oh sure all of the fancy stuff like aquaducts and the internet, what-not-shops and space shuttles would eventually complicate and clutter the urban landscape, but this is still the basic blueprint for how we, homo escapeons (modern man), live today.
I find it interesting that we didn't let the Poindexterous lead us? We chose to ignore practical solutions and free thinking and by osmosis capitulated to the fear and hysteria of the Bully and his Shaman.
What have the homo escapeons learned from all of this...sadly....
ABSOFRICKINLUTELY NOTHING!
I'm not exactly sure why, but we still seem unable to rid ourselves of the imaginary fears, and unfortunately, very real sharpened sticks, being jabbed in our faces by modern Shamans and Chiefs.
The calendar may appear to declare the year as 2006, but Chiefs and Shamans rattle sabres and scimitars alike in their efforts to maintain the status quo.
Last February many of us were taken by surprise at the near complete su
bmission by the Western Media to the literary ransom demands of censoring political cartoons in Denmark. Salman Who?
The complete submission of science and rational thought and freedom from religion in our world would sentence our species to replicate the horrors of past religious wars... which would translate in today's world as a complete extinction level event.
We're not even close to discussing our differences in a civilised manner, in fact, we're not even having the right discussion.
Where has all of the hardfought progress of the last 200 years gone?
Homo pointdextrous (sp? :) must be the forerunner of homo couch potatous.
ReplyDeleteHi HE. Look out the window and things are pretty much the same as they were a decade ago or twenty years back. There is a lot of hysteria and a lot of bad press working up fear and paranoia.
ReplyDeleteSomething that has changed is that certain wealthy individuals like you and I and many other millions of people get the opportunity to make a more public statement about what is happening in the world.
Like the Pope, I could and I should think more wisely in what thoughts I choose to vocalise. Sometimes, I am culpable of inciting panic.
This phoney war of religion is an argument of two competing fictions that has transposed to a bloody reality in some locations, much entangled as it is with the very real competition for geopolitical resources: oil.
The corporate news media likes to focus attention onto this phoney war and spreading outrage and excitement at either Danish cartoons or something very dull that the Pope says about history.
'More than a billion people still have no clean water to drink.'
That line from a WHO report hit my Yahoo news bulletin the other week. I could write about it and I'm not much enamoured by the prospect of doing so because the subject bores me. But I like the fact that nowadays (in a little way) I get to choose what is in the news x
andrea,
ReplyDeletepoindexters..ya know, geeks..
homo poindexterous. The forerunner of couch potatous was probably homo lazyass lardbuttus..
don't ya luv latin?
benjamin,
1 billion don't have clean water...amazing, pathetic..ridiculous.
Yes the Chiefs, big guys with the strong ARMS, are still leading us and fighting over territory and resources.
I can only throw my 'arms' up in the air and hope that our new Alien Insect Overlords will soon arrive to overtake these knuckleheads
...and for the record ...
I for one welcome them!
HE: Thank you for the timeline on Homo E. and P. But really: What progress are you talking about? We have computers, have sent people to space, we have airplanes and washer-dryers, etc. But essentially, people have not changed. Everybody wants to be able to speak their mind but not let the other guy speak his mind. That will probably never change, certainly not in our lifetime.
ReplyDeleteLeaders, whether clerical or lay,
ReplyDeletederive their power as much by telling their constituencies what
they expect to hear, as they do through the messages themselves.
Obviously, this isn't the first
time this "privilege" has been
misused or subverted. But if we, as
sentient individuals, fail to take
an accounting of these affronts,
then we all need to pack extra marshmallows- we're in for a hot
time, leaders and followers alike,
dieties or no. I'm not hearing a
groundswell of ordinary citizens
demanding that their own leaders clean up their acts, and sort things out. As bad as that sounds,
I think we may all be looking the
wrong way when real problems show
up, and we're busy screwing around
with Bronze age vendettas. It does
no good if our leaders have some
sort of mushroom cloud epiphany- it
may be that the pearly gates will be padlocked long before then, and the multitudes of virgins outside may very well turn out to be tainted.
Do you ever get the feeling that some people look for reasons to argue to avoid dealing with the real issues? It's easier to hate than accept and respect differences.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm willing to make the effort x
I love reading your posts, HE. They are so thought-provoking, cleverly constructed, witty and it helps knowing they are writeen by such a devilishly handsome fellow x
HE - "homo poindextrous" - HAHA! That's really great. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think humans will ever outgrow our homicidal or religical tendencies completely. Of course,the more the megalomaniacs in the Papal and Presidential chambers aren't doing much to effect any changes! Those in charge have one goal: To be in charge at any cost.
Islam looks bad here (again). I hate to sound like an uninformed redneck, but some followers of that regligion have to be some of the most insane human beings in the world. Some of them are abolutely crazy.
ReplyDeleteHere's the solution: Just get rid of all religions. Make things easier, and free up a lot of Sundays for watching football and stuff.
Sorry if I was a bit off on one earlier. Carmenzta and Cherrypie, what good and simple sense you speak x
ReplyDeleteAidan: John Lennon was the walrus, despite his later claim that "the walrus was Paul". I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people.
ReplyDeleteWhen natural selection stumbles across a winning combination of atributes, it doesn't have a concious realization just how successfull it might turn out to be, otherwise it might have fine-tuned exactly how our brains developed. Instead, a highly intelligent ape with great potential took the bag of genes it was handed and ran with it, much to the detriment of itself and every living thing around it. We got the higher functions without trading in the aggression, and somewhere in the mix a weird "God" gene appeared, requiring us to lean towards thinking some big dude must have made us and the world, rationality be damned. Yes, we can orbit a space station and send rovers to Mars, yet we can't govern the masses using the same intellectual prowess that makes advanced technology possible. Its sad to say that the only way to tame this wild world is the rise of one big bad spear chucker who makes an example of ANYONE who even looks at each other funny, much less walks around with a gun killing people. CHILL or die, your choice. How's THAT for a religion? Yea, HE, I'm with ya, bring on the insect overlords, they couldn't do any worse than the boots we've licked so far.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Cherry Pie. You're devilishly handsome. Or is that handsomely devillish?
ReplyDeleteThe Michael: Did you ever hear the Puddle analogy? Basically a puddle of water looks at it's little world, it's hollow or groove and says to itself "This hole fits me perfectly, it must have been made for me..." therefore of course something "made" the hole... and so on and so forth. However in reality, as we know, the puddle has actually shaped ITSELF to fit the HOLE rather than vice versa.
ReplyDeleteLOVE it love it love it!! Great post. LOL very funny pics too. That first pic had me cracking up like a maniac :):)
ReplyDelete**Why do homo sapiens kill others because of ideas?!
Simple...just like u said, no one had learnt anything over the last 200yrs! It's PATHETIC.
So what if Pope said what he felt like? Dun we know what freedom of speech is? And do we have to always gaurd ourselves b4 we utter anything which may very well be the absolute truth?
**I hate to sound like an uninformed redneck,
LOL AB! Well Im with ya. I hate to sound like a lil miss.redneck but alot of the muslims dun even agree that killing for religion is gobsmackingly CRAZY!
And Im with Pope. I dun care if ppl r upset by that and if they r truly great ppl, then they better live by example. Tell me what kinda ppl send u death threats just cos u expressed a thought?
Keshi.
carm,
ReplyDeleteThe progress to which I so mysteriously alluded to was the improbable oversight on the part of the Chiefs and Shamans that allows me to meet and discuss matters of import (and junk) with wonderful people like you.
How is this possible? We have the freedom to disseminate information at will!
It blows my mind Carm!
grumblista,
Brilliant.
It is true that we get what we deserve..your thoughtful insights should be well noted by all.
I told keshi about Comedian and Social Critic Bill Maher's rant about using 'pussy' to entice knuckleheads to blow innocent people up. He suggested that he would trade in 70 virgins for one pro. It was hilarious.
I am not sure how we can educate disadvantaged angry youth in the Middle East to re-evaluate the state of the world...they are not allowed to know anything but poverty, ignorance and hopelessness.
oh cherry,
If I died tomorrow they can use your wonderful reply as my obit. Thank you so much for the encouraging words...it means a great deal to me to hear such kind words from such an accomplished, intelligent person. Muah X!
tidalgrrrl,
Yes the old addage about Absolute Power corrupting certainly rings true. In the shadow of Political Correctness we delude ourselves into thinking that all ideas have equal merit...that we are all created equal...that everything is beautiful in its own way...the truth is that some ideas SUCK.
Having an opinion is now considered to be OK as long as it is tempered with the 'not that there is anything wrong with that' clause. The Pope was just doing his job and he wouldn't be much of a Pope if he didn't try to assert his supremecy on spiritual matters..even if they are misguided or fabricated.
This answer was too serious. ..sorry.
thisoldhouseblogger,
Well as an agnostic I couldn't agree more with your suggestion to resist the urge to rely on religion to provide us with any answers. Do some people need a moral governor?
What if they didn't have a rule book..would it be a Wild West free for all?
We can't get there until certain conditions are met...the main obstacle are the people in power..whether their power base is religious, political, economic or military..they need people to be suppressed and compliant..it's good for 'business'.
benjamin,
No need to recompense...you were spot on. Your observations are duly noted and I agree with your mention of Carm and Cherry as smart sensible people. So are you mate.
aidan.
John Lennon's Imagine should be the world anthem and it is the defacto rallying song for millions of us...and don't forget Mind Games.
Pointed sticks do come in all shapes and sizes and their effects are still equally felt in our hearts and in the ass.
Goo goo ka joob!
stace,
LOL..I'd give you a lift. I still snicker at the whole Paul is Dead thing...bare feet on Abbey Road..oooh!
We should probably do more posting on the Beatles eh?
THE michael,
We love BIG things..very Freudian..and I don't mean his cocaine induced 'Mein Gott In Himmel'kind of visions of repressed sexual desires for our parents..eewww.
No. There is something comforting about the notion that a parental unit of intergalactic proportions is looking out for us. Our Father!
We do submit to authoritarian rule because we need some sort of structure..humans have the same needs, wants and desires but they certainly differ on what is an accpetable way to achieve or acquire them....understatement of the year award goes to Homo Escapeons!
Anyway when the new Overlords arrive you and I will be their little sycophants and we will have a wonderful time getting even...won't we?
within,
Crikey I hope that gautami doesn't see that..she will never believe our disclaimer...anyway I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop..
stace,
Damn your logic Spock!
hi keshi,
ReplyDeleteIt is alarming that people gt mad at the Pope for being the Pope.
btw The Pope is my favorite Prince song although it isn't likely to be heard at the Vatican.
You are spot on about the freedom of expression...since when does the Pope have to be Politically Correct...people get to decide if they are going to swallow his doctrine and providential interpretations...I realise that the vast majority of catholics would have a hard time facing the family if they abandoned their form of cultural christianity but hey
most of them ignore the birth control edicts..atleast here in North America.
What about the Vatican not endorsing condoms to fight aids in Africa?
Certainly if migrant male workers could keep it in their gawdamn pants instead of paying hookers while they are away from home ...that would be one of THE BIG breakthroughs and clean needles...
but hey it is a start using condoms to protect ther wives and future children from their stupid decision to screw the hookers in the work camps!
Oh Oh I'm off on a tangent.
My point is that despite how archaic and bizarre the Pope appears to me, or how godly and brilliant he may seem to you, he can darn well say whatever he wants to about the competition.
Its nothing personal it is just business.
**but hey it is a start using condoms to protect ther wives and future children from their stupid decision to screw the hookers in the work camps!
ReplyDelete:):) true.
**he can darn well say whatever he wants to about the competition.
Its nothing personal it is just business.
Spot on HE!
Keshi.
LOL. thisoldhouseblogger. Best yet.
ReplyDeleteSpooky what this world is coming to...or maybe it never really moved fwd..
ReplyDeleteWe are caught between overreacting and under-reacting..why can't we learn to just let things be and learn to handle opinions for what they are..Just opinions...
Ignorance! That's the problem!
ReplyDeleteLemmings who get preyed upon by manipulators who sit on the sidelines counting money!
Where does it stop?
keshiroo,
ReplyDeleteI hope that you can find a copy of the Pope by Prince..it is FUNKY!
"you can be the president..
I'd rather be the pope"
I think Prince likes the costumes...
poisonousblogger,
I will probably run out of ideas any day now!
hi perpspective inc,
Opinions schminions. It is time to stop the political correctness movement..ingesting too many mental laxatives can cause cranial cramping...all ideas are not created equal and we should be able to point out ideas and opinions that absolutely suck..boo hoo..anybody can have an opinion but we are not obliged to agree with all of them.
hola cream,
Where does it stop...when people reach the end of their rope and say I am mad as hell and I am not going to vote for you anymore. No this time I am going to vote for someone who says that they are going to do something different..even though I know that once they get in power they will be trapped in the system that forces them to maintain the staus quo.
Yeah!...that will show them!
Do you think asking all those fanatics(religious or otherwise) to GIVE US A BREAK will help?
ReplyDeleteI am tired of all this...
I think I prefer to retreat into an icy cave like the polar bears!
gautami,
ReplyDeleteYou ask them..I'll wait right here.
Actually gautami we have the Polar Bear Capital of the world just north of us in Churchill. People come from all over the world to watch the world's most beautiful/deadliest bear from the safety of huge vehicles known as Tundra Buggys.
I am obviously avoiding answering your question because I know the answer...
NO
...they will not give us a break.
I am tired of it too...how tedious!
and thanks for ignoring within's lusty remarks about me..
what a joker?
One thing about religion I've never understood is this stuff about our earthly life being preparation for a celestial existence. Somebody lives 70 years of sin in order to learn what when compared to the baby killed in a car crash? Why not just cut out the middle bit and straight to heaven? Not cost effective at all. Stuff 'em.
ReplyDeleterichard,
ReplyDeleteOh crap another intellectual!
Just kidding...
You're not going to gum up the works with a 'real' question are you? Staying on topic will wreak havoc with my system.
After I worked so hard to confuse the issues with offhanded remarks and dodge the ramifications of being such a smartass...you just waltz in here and cut through all of the crap...
what took you so long?
"Words will kill us all" - but only if they are sung by Michael Bolton.
ReplyDelete"Islam looks bad here (again). I hate to sound like an uninformed redneck, but some followers of that regligion have to be some of the most insane human beings in the world. Some of them are abolutely crazy."
ReplyDeleteI don't think it has anything to do with religion, it's about people. There's people who call themselves christians who hide outside abortion doctors' offices waiting to shoot them. There's even some who don't wait for them outside, they shoot'em while they're still inside. There are christians who go to church on sunday and then order people to go and bomb other people monday through friday, sometimes working overtime saturday and sunday. it makes me so tired i can't even type with capitals anymore.
"My point is that despite how archaic and bizarre the Pope appears to me, or how godly and brilliant he may seem to you, he can darn well say whatever he wants to about the competition.
Its nothing personal it is just business."
i must respectfully disagree vehemently on this point. the pope, being the spiritual leader of a billion or so people who love ritual so much they go to church every sunday to hear the same stuff they heard last sunday, plus a sermon, unless someone tries to get crazy with the eucharistic prayer and mix up all FOUR of them and only do one a month. and don't get me started on the readings, they just repeat the same yearly set every few years. and then there...i... what am i talking about? oh yeah, being the leader of a billion or so people, i think it is paramount that he not just shout out whatever comes to his mind. people take his word seriously, unless it's about sex, then only about a quarter of them listen, but if he starts quoting david duke, i think there is a bit of a problem and he may need some sensitivity training (now that would make an awesome cartoon - i think an arab newspaper should really get someone to create that one - the pope in the waiting room at the sensitivity training clinic). religion may even be more powerful than nationalism. i mean, you've got bush saying all of these ridiculous things, people the world over are starting to think that the white house is just some reality show where they throw some hick in office and see what kind of shit falls off the ceiling (who chews with their mouth open at the G8 while talking to tony blair? answer: someone who thinks that every body chews with their mouth open after they graduate from harvard). anyway, look how bush is getting a minority of americans all riled up about everything. should he be allowed to say that iran is the biggest threat since democrats last ran congress? even if he has to lie to say they should go to war? should he be able to say, 'since i don't understand what 'outrages upon human dignity' means, than nobody could possibly understand what it means?' therefore we must rewrite the geneva conventions because there are millions of americans who don't get out much and will never have to apply the geneva conventions anywhere don't understand what the rest of the world does understand. should he be able to say that saddam hussein is the most serious threat to world peace, or that the world is now safer with him on trial? i think most people would agree that the world at least appears to be a more dangerous place today than three or four years ago.
and he is just a political leader.
regarding what benjamin noted, a recent UN report stated that it would cost about $50 billion to put in place the infrastructure to provide clean drinking water to everyone in the world who does not already have access to it.
why doesn't the pope talk about that?
better yet, why don't warren buffet and bill gates talk about that? they are too busy trying to find ways to get american made AIDS pharmaceuticals (in whose companies they own a great deal of stock) into african countries instead of simply providing them for free. lookit me, i own a foundation in my name!!
things that matter take time and effort, both of which bush and the pope seem unable to manage, so they will just espouse some lazy throw away comments and whatever happens....happens.
oh, look! the shit is falling again.
you can have your blog back now.
ReplyDeleteWhat Reysputin said.
ReplyDeleteIn spades.
haha ok :)
ReplyDeleteKeshi.
lee,
ReplyDeleteLOL,
Have you been watching Clelebrity Duets!?
You said the B word!
reypublican guard,
*sigh
You know you could leave a short comment every other day instead of waiting to unleash your 800 word diatribes!
Very funny examination of the RC canons by rote...I could not help but be reminded of Michael Palin in the Meaning Of Life when he comes home with the bad news about the factory closing and that all 500 of his kids were off to be used in scientific experiments.
While you are humming every sperm is scared I would like to point out a few things..
Religion runs on market share and next to the cigarette business I couldn't imagine a better business to be in...you have an ambiguous product that cannot be guaranteed and yet some people are convinced that they need it.
The Pope was trying to hold on to his market share and like it or not his rank offers him the right to say whatever he wants to his peeps..you're right he could have been a little more PC instead of RC but what are ya gonna do!..
.atleast he has the Swiss Guard to protect him from a fatwa...I don't imagine that he will be travelling to Turkey now...the Popemobile will need to be refitted to be tougher than a Panzer!
Let us not pretend for a second that bottom line..christians disregard muslims claims to be in kahoots with the one true god and vice versa. All of this hubub will probably accelerate the demise of organised uber religions thanks to the obvious inherent shortcomings in building the global village department.
You can take the boy out of Germany but...we knew that this Pope would not dissapoint us and he came through with his relatively bland history lesson. There hasn't been a German Catholic as influential as this since..
you thought that I was going to say Martin Luther..
but I was going to say Adolf Hitler..but technically he was Austrian..
anyway a little schadenfreude (enjoyment at another's mishap)seemed inevitable since he was a conservative hardliner.
Great reply reyspoutine and I thank you for your wise words and accurate depiction of nutjobs in every corner.
PS Please stop bad mouthing Bill Gates and Warren Buffet as I am in the process of obtaining unlimited funding for my Blog provided that
A.I sign the deal in blood or a red juice of a GM Frakenfood item,
B.promote shares of Berkshire Hathaway in my comments (theres 1 now) and
C.smash atleast three MACs every week.
withinzky,
ReplyDeleteQuit encouraging reysputin...
he could just as easily hijack your blog!
keshi,
I watched the celebration of Steve Irwin's life and I totally lost it when Bindy read her speech...cried like a baby! It was a wonderful tribute..a toast to enthusiasm..which by the way literally means having a god within. (theos=god)
but in our lexicon means eagerness, warmth, fervor, zeal, ardor, passion, devotion. That was Steve, chock a block full of enthusiasm eh mate?
i think most shares of Berkshire went tHat(h)away a while ago (get it? hathaway - thataway - almost as funny as the pope in anger management classes or whatever) over to the gates mansion.
ReplyDeleteby the way, did you know there's a guy named bill who makes gates? can you guess what he calls his business?
your comment about signing the deal in blood made me think about a story i read the other day regarding halliburton. apparently they are helping their employees who were injured in iraq get the civilian equivalent of the purple heart....as long as they sign a paper saying they won't sue halliburton for putting them in harm's way.
actually i did think you were going to say hitler because i always forget that he was austrian. he just looked so little like arnold that i get mixed up.
i would attempt to hijack ww's blog but light print on black is hard on my eyes. sorry, ww.
hey, and doesn't enthusiasm literally mean 'possessed by god'? that might explain all of the enthusiasm going on around the world these days.
at any rate, I still disagree with you on the pope's right to say whatever he wants. i think his rank demands that he be one of the most openly 'tolerant' men on the planet, and that he do a bit more to temper his enthusiasm with a little bit of love.
reyspoutine,
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right and I agree with you 100%,
light print on a black background is nearly impossible to read!
u cried too when Bindi spoke? well guess wut..I couldnt even sit n watch her - I was crying so much that I couldnt believe Steve had such an effect on me! Mum was crying too!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSpot on abt Steve...he is just that and much more. I have no words.
Keshi.
Stevo was fearless (crazy) and he interacted (got bitten) with some scary creatures.
ReplyDeleteHe was so brave (crazy) and I think that part of the draw was trying to figure out
A WHY he was doing it and
B WHEN he was going to get it!
Either way he did have a way of demystifying creatures that our natural inclinations told us to avoid (run like hell or be eaten)and to think about other animals as beings that we need to understand.
thats exactly who he was. u have grasped well what Stevo really was.
ReplyDeletety!
Keshi.