what is wrong with this world

This is my rant, please feel free to comment or enlighten me

what is wrong with this world today? there is no god in schools. the world is to politicaly correct, you cant say merry Christmas anymore without offending someone. I remember when "Christmas" was everywhere. it was a happy time of year. now it offends people.... wtf... I read in the paper where a boy that was 7 felt more comfortable going into the girls bathroom in an elementary school, and the school was ok with it because they didn't want to offend him or his parents and were afraid of a law suit. I mean jesus Christ. it says boys for a reason... we had a terrorist attack here in the usa and now were letting them have their way because we don't want to offend them... trying to take out guns away and our right to bear arms, I will have my guns and that's the end of the story. it seems like we are so afraid of offending people or making them mad that we let them have their way. how in the hell is that fair? 15 years ago the country was in a better state than it is now and we didn't care about offending people. makes me wonder what its going to be like in the next 15 years. people shoot people at the movies and its the guns fault. seems like there is no more being held accountable for your actions, just blame it on something else. people need to be held accountable for their actions. a kid gets shot cause he pulls a gun on a cop and the its the cops fault so people destroy the city. don't pull a gun on a cop and you wont get shot. that simple. im sure there will be more to coeme

 

For what it's worth, I have never seen anyone get offended by "Merry Christmas." You know what does piss people off, especially here in NC? Saying "happy holidays." I apologize for wanting people to have a nice Christmas AND a nice New Year I also observe Yule and the Solstice, and to a lesser extent, Bodhi Day, Boxing Day, and St. Stephen's Day (I also make a note of Hanukkah, but don't actively "celebrate" it.)

I've found that a) people around here don't care about most of those, and b) It's kind of silly to go through that list of holidays every time I say goodbye to someone. "Happy holidays" sums it up nicely. I mean, I don't really care if someone says "merry Christmas" to me, unless they're doing it to prove some kind of point. That takes away from the goodwill of the season and it sort of counteracts the reason for saying it in the first place.

 

ive been yelled at in the past for saying merry Christmas to a lady before. she said it offended her and it should be happy holidays.

 

Ralphie, there is no god anywhere in the universe, why should he be in our schools? But to answer that question, let me ask you a question. Which god should be in the schools? Buddha? Jehovah? Thor? Christ? Ramses? Allah? There are lots to choose from, and they are all equally valid.

There are a lot of holidays celebrated around the winter solstice. Happy holidays is a catch all, and a recognition that different people have different beliefs. For instance, I celebrate a secular christmas because I don't believe in something that can't be proven to exist. It's what I am comfortable with. But there is also Hanukkah, Ramadan, whatever festival of lights Hindus celebrate, etc. Put yourself in the minority, imagine yourself in their position. Think of how excluded you would feel if every commercial and every person said happy ramadan. Btw, the Christmas commercials have already started. So I don't think christmas is going anywhere.

You and I are white males. We have had it easy. I went to school in Dahlonega georgia. In the mid 90's I had people ask me "you would date a nigger?" This was in a military college. The military, which desegregated long before the rest of society. Which tells me that there is still rampant racism in our society. Imagine yourself as a black man or woman, and picture what you would face. You would be pretty pissed too. And they are not asking to have it their way. They are asking to have it your way. That they can do what they want, just like you can.

Guns. I know I'm a safe gun owner. I'm sure you are a safe gun owner. But guns are tools. And bad people are using those tools to kill other people. In March, police in america shot and killed 110 people. Police in England have killed something like 3 people in the last 50 years. The amount of guns in society does make a difference. And I don't know the answer. As far as accountable, look how many mass murderers have killed themselves or committed suicide by cop. How do you hold those people accountable?

 

Please keep in mind much (I didn't say all) of what we see & hear is the news media making mountains out of molehills. Some group who represents a microscopic percentage of the general population whines and bitches, and once one news group gives them attention, the other news groups follow.

BTW/FTR, I completely support separation of church and state. A moment of silence is fine with me. Letting teachers force kids into group prayer is not (I went through that with a religious bitch teacher in the 5th grade). Don't teach theories (such as creation) based on the bible in place of science (evolution).

 

"Humanity i hate you." —e.e. cummings

 

Compare that incident (your description makes it sound as though it only happened once) to the number of times you received positive responses.

Gun control. That gets complicated, and the anti-gun/gun control crusaders certainly are much more than a "microscopic percentage of the general population."

 

Unfortunately, you''ll find douchecanoes in every walk of life.

 

We don't live in the 50's any more. Not the 1850s or even the 1950s. Our society is becoming more multi-cultural and more secular. I'm a fan of both.

I foul up what's PC on a daily basis. I try to be nice to people; but I'm not all knowing. I'm going to step in it on a regular basis trying to do the right thing.

I'm not sure why guns are such a polarizing issue. I'm pretty sure that the most fervant pro-gun and anti-gun folks on this board could come up with a workable compromise over a couple of beers. Let it get political and the discussion turns to shit.

 

ok....
all points taken.. with that said

our country wasn't founded on islam or budahaism (sorry for the spelling) yes all religions should be treated equally. when I was a kid in school we had a "moment of silence" what happened to that? why did they take that out of schools? (yes my daughter goes to a private Christian school. 2 reasons the school system where I live sucks and 2 god. I know my choice)

yes I live in the south so that may have a lot to do with it.

ive been yelled at for the merry Christmas thing a few times in the last couple of years. I know that all religions should be recognized at their appropriate times of the year. I understand that

as far as the terrorist comment it was ment more in the terms of offending them as far as political correction

 

I live in the south Ralphie and a lot of that southern culture is coming out in what you said. You are very much rooted in southern culture. You love God, football, trucks, guns and family values. That's almost a requirement for living in the south and there is nothing wrong with that.

Now, try being the oppisate of that and having southern culture shoved down your throat every time time you step out of the house. I've had people look at me like I was the worst scum on earth when I said I didn't believe in God. I've had people spit at me because I said I wouldn't step foot in a church. When you don't fit into a culture, it's hard to put a smile on your face when you are constantly being insulted. Most people don't want to have tolerance for other religions and will look down upon someone who doesn't "have some faith".

I have to lie to my customers or avoid the truth about religion or I will lose business. You have no idea how many people ask me if I worship God when I'm fixing their PCs. I shouldn't have to lie just to keep my doors open, but I do.

When I was younger, I fought against religion. I was one of those angry atheists. Why? Being told that I was wrong for what I believed (or didn't) in. Now? I don't really give a fuck as long as you don't try to shove it down my throat.

Point in case. A friend of mine died recently. I knew his family was super religious and he was an atheist like myself. I knew going in that his funeral was going to be a shit-show but I went because it's my friend. Two men who had not seen him since he was a small child spoke about him. They used the hour they had us in the funeral home to tell us that if we didn't have God in our hearts, we were going to hell. One of them even patted the coffin and said, "This could happen to any of you and you know where your soul will go if you don't find God."

Do you know how fucking insulting that is? I was seething with rage that the death of my friend was being used as a tool to push their religion. I almost walked out of the service but I held myself in check. My friend wouldn't have wanted me to make a scene. Now, take this and push this into every social event that is in the south. School, government events, holidays, community events, ect. This is what it is like being non-religious in the south. You can't turn a corner without someone talking to you about the bible. It makes it hard not to blow up and tell them to shove that book up their asses.

You get yelled at about saying, "Merry Christmas"? I get yelled at for NOT saying it. I had one customer say, "It's Merry Christmas, not of that Happy Holidays shit. Get it right." Dude, I don't give a fuck, I'm trying to be nice. I now just mimic whatever they said.

This is just one of the points you mentioned, but there is a reason for some of the changes happening in our culture. Is all of them good? Fuck no. It's a start tho and the lunatic PC police will die down after a while and we will get better culture changes because of it. Hippies suck but we got some nice culture changes because of them. Then the movement died off and thank Xenu for that. Same thing will happen with the over-offended people and their fucked up movement. It's like a pre-teen; they know what they want to be but have no idea how to become that. So they yell and slam doors a lot.

Don't get me started on NASCAR. I once said I didn't give a fuck about Dale Earnhardt and had to talk my way out of not getting my ass kicked in a parking lot by 4 rednecks. Now, I just nod my head and say, "Yeah, he really turned left. It was awesome."

*****

Technically, our country wasn't founded on Christianity either. Most of the founding Fathers were Deists and didn't want Church involved in the Government. The whole "Trust in God" push into Gov started in the 40's and 50's with McCarthyism and the red scare.

 

then id likely get slapped, but I might need it

 

i recently heard the term 'recreational outrage' on a podcast and i have been turning it around in my head since; i love how it slides around in my brain.

to me, it perfectly sums up people who get all fired up how other folks are living regardless of those life choices impact on the rest of the population; i think people use topics like this and even religion to some extent to feel like they are a part of something or on a 'team'. the problem is though that if you're on a team you're competing with someone else so that is an adversarial approach to something that would be more productive as a forum of discussion. the thing about holes inside people like this is that they don't stay filled and people just go down the list to the next group of folks to attack when the current one runs out of steam or press. they'd be much more happier in their lives if they actually involved themselves in just about any other project, but that takes effort so the cycle feeds into itself.

i think that everyone except the rare socio or psychopath has that voice of conscience in them and knows whether something they're doing is hurtful or divisive and i wish people would focus on listening to that rather than forcing tenets on each other that were created when we had isolated villages and needed rules and explanations that our society and communication infrastructure provide intrinsically in this day and age.

 

High School Girls Forced to Undress Next to Naked Boys

 

As a heathen from the north I hear what you're saying about "southern culture" but I think it's a crock of shit. (Not your post, which is excellent, but the whole supposed southern culture).
Where are divorce rates highest?
Where are abortion rates highest?
Where are there the most pregnant teenagers?
How about the most unwed mothers?

The Bible Belt.