Irrationality

The only reason I said anything about Mormons is because some Republicans claim that Mitt Romney is said to become head of the Republican party after the inauguration. I regret that my comments were so glib. I doubt that the Mormon religion is any better or worse than any other organized religion. The question of underwear is really quite trivial but representative of what I believe is the irrationality of so many religious beliefs and practices. Personally, I would not want a President who was wearing a yamulka either. Nor would I want a President who was wearing brocaded gowns and a crucifix. The basic point is that I would not want any President who believes in totally irrational things, like, for example, the literal truth of the bible, that the earth is only 6000 years old, or does not believe in evolution or believes in magic of various kinds. Among all industrialized nations only the U.S. seems to have such a large percentage of people who profess such beliefs. This, I think, is related to the rampant anti-intellectualism that we have nurtured for so long. It is pretty obvious that an atheist could not be elected President in the U.S. And most of our Presidents professed some religious beliefs, or at least attended church. How much they might have believed in irrational beliefs I do not know, but for the most part it has never been a big issue. It could be. Witness the Bush Presidency where science has been virtually ignored and religion has been promoted in its stead. I sincerely believe we cannot accept this in the 21st century and it should be avoided at all costs. What makes matters worse is that in the U.S. not only do our Presidents have to give lip service to some religion, but it really has to be Christianity. No Muslim could become President at the moment no matter what the depth of their faith. As being a Muslim is not illegal in the U.S. there would seem to be no rational reason for this, but, like I say, the whole business is wrapped up in irrationality and magic.

I find it virtually impossible to believe that the campaign for President can be as close as some people seem to think it is. And if it is, I am most disappointed to know there are so many ignorant people in the U.S. McCain/Palin have run what I think may be the worst campaign in history, disorganized, vacillating between positions, racist, and in general just plain sleazy. Indeed, I suspect that one of the reasons McCain/Palin are doing so poorly is because they have come to personify everything that is wrong with American politics. If they were to win now, after their despicable campaign, it would say more about American society and culture than it would just about them. Listening to the few interviews I have seen with McCain/Palin supporters I find myself not only frightened but quite horrified. The depths of ignorance displayed, and their absolute irrationality displayed is something I find difficult to either accept or even believe. I certainly do not want these people picking our next President, call me an elitist if you will. Some very vital changes need to be made in our culture or we will flunk out of the 21st century in disgrace. At the moment our only hope is Barack Obama, who seems to have the right idea, at least where education is concerned. By the way, he is not going to take your guns away. As near as I can determine he will follow a reasonable, common-sense approach to the issue. Anyway, as I have said before, given the millions of guns that exist in the U.S., as well as our attitudes towards them, there is no practical way they could ever be taken away even if it was desireable to do so.

LKBIQ:
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made,,,”
F. Scott Fitzgerals

TILT:
Apparently there have been several assassination plots (more than two) aimed at Barack Obama.