The magic three: Sex, Religion, Politics.



George Bernard Shaw once said "All great truths begin with a blasphemy".




Then again, Einstein said: "Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

I noticed that the top 5 items in the news today were:

1) There are world wide riots going on, ostensibly over a cartoon, but obviously it's not about that at all (BTW, if this was indeed a religious war, where 's the Pope been?). In a tentatively hopeful way, it may just be what's needed to finally say 'Enough, already!. Everybody....time out! Go to your room.


2) Democracy died in Canada this week. After a supposedly legitimate election, the newly elected Prime Minister (who ran on a 5-plank platform; the first was to "clean up the corruption in government, and bring back a sense of morals and principles and trust"), realizing he led an ineffective minority government, immediately and without consultation offered a cabinet position to a member who was elected to the opposition party by his constituents. Not stopping there, as a man who has campaigned endlessly for an elected senate, he then also simply appointed a guy from Montreal who didn't even run in the election, and then put him in the cabinet too. At least he has representation across the land now. No, my friends, we don't need to waste our time counting hanging chads up here.

3)Democracy happened in Palenstine a few weeks ago, but won't be recognized because it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. Now they're worried about the same thing happening in Haiti. Geez...this plan to spread to spread democracy around the world has some birthing cramps.

4) The Olympics are underway (remember....those amateur world sports gatherings every four years where countries put their political differences aside for a few weeks every four years, just to maintain some degree of impartial good old-fashioned fun. So we'll be hearing a lot about cheating and steroids and stuff like that I suppose. And cost overruns and security.

5) Allegations of professional gambling have been associated with the National Hockey league....remember, that group of guys that all our kids look up to as heroes? The board of the NHL expressed absolute shock as they interrupted their meetings being held in Nevada, the gambling capital of the world.

I readily and openly acknowledge that I'm a 'peacenik', so I have to take off my pink-tinted John Lennon glasses for a few minutes here.

It would be so temptingly easy to do an unending rant about how totally out of control we are, but I'll resist the simplicity of that approach, take the high road, and reserve myself once again to unveil a very calm, comparative, deeply intellectual dissertation on the fine lines each of us chooses to tread as we wander our life path, forming our character, gathering around us those who comfort us, and leaving our legacy behind us as we go.

But just before I start, I want you to know that I've always had a particular attraction to eyes. I find them fascinating. I think you can tell a lot about looking at a person's eyes, including mine. When I'm doing that belly-button introversion thing, I'm imagining myself actually rolling my own eyes inwards and looking at my brain and my thinking from the inside out. The self-mirroring thing I've spoken of before. So, with that as way of intro, I've often wondered "why me?" and "why now?". If I had been born 30 or 40 years earlier in a different country, would I be an Islamic radical, or a starving AIDS-laden African, or a gun-toting member of the NRA? It all seems so arbitrary.

That's what brings me to the sex thing. The World Health organization actually provides an official definition of a 'normal' sperm count. Although in the last 50 years, it has dropped from approximately 120 million sperm per ml. of semen, the concentration now should be about 20 million. The total volume of sperm per ejaculation should be about 2 ml. At least 75% of the spermatazoa in the ejaculate should be alive. At least 30% should be of normal shape and form. At least 25% should be swimming with rapid forward movement.

All this strangely enough reminds me of that French lady who got a face transplant, and then was pissed off because her 'new face' couldn't handle a cigarette when she wanted to resume smoking.


The W.H.O. points out that part of the reason for the decline in healthy sperm count is the deteriorating quality of the environment as well as personal smoking habits.






Rumour also has it that apparently length has something to do with it all, too. As you can see here, most of Mr. Bush's inside cronies have a decided opinion on that matter.




It's actually one of those rare situations where every single one of us got the gold medal for swimming the fastest to the egg. That's who you and 'eye' are. I think it's the only competition I've ever won in my life, and some days, I gotta tell you, I wonder if all those other little guys knew soemthing I hadn't figured out yet. So, anyway, apparently my eye was on the target back then.....

I'll acknowledge that maybe I'm being as myopic and narrow-minded as everyone else. So I decided to try and put my views aside and surfed sites which tend to support "the opposing" views.



Here, then for your edification is a random selection of "Point/Counterpoint". And as you read through the various sites, keep this thought going as your filtering thought. At what level did it all start (or who cares?), at what level does it turn around (or who cares?), and if nobody cares, who's going to be left to care?

Point: Give Peace a Chance:
Counterpoint: Give Piece a Chance:

For conflicting articles, check these two out:
For peace. And the other view:

On religious temperance:



On religious intemperance:





Or simply an alternative point of view:

For opposing views, check these articles:
For unity: and, of course, a slightly different outlook, check this out.

Well, that brings us around to education, doesn't it?
Creationism vs. evolution (oops! intelligent design....sorry!)



or both?



And if it's both, would fair then be fair?







You know, the scientific community isn't even united itself yet.


And all this doubt still exists in spite of the intuitively obvious evidence that is staring us in the, er, uh, face?


As you can clearly see here, apparently further evidence has come to light in the past few years. This has gotten all our best taboos so horribly and inextricably interwoven with each other. I wonder if this represents the fabric of our society? I can hear the shudders all the way here!!.








Well then, I guess that brings us back to the good old issue of sex. In favour of heterosexual sex and those equally good old-fashioned (but sadly stereotyped) family values, it's a damned good thing our society has built itself on the sturdy foundation we hold so dear. After all, who dares to challenge the studly cowboy and oil baron as the backbone of who we are today. Thank god for heroes, eh?

.

Must be a real bummer for the recent policy shift, there. Don't let The Duke know, OK?

From my personal perspective, though, it's about time. People are people are people. Period.





Even if it is a bit of a mystery at times.












Well, no such tour of issues could leave out paying homage to the olympics, as the opening ceremony gets underway this week.
We idealists still hold out for memories of this as the last bastion of purity, honesty and integrity.

The realist, though, still remembers the day it became a universal political stage

...which, of course sadly has evolved into too much of this.
But, like I said at the outset, I want to be fair-minded and neutral. That doesn't mean I have to change my views, just pay attention to alternates. I discovered how impossible that is to do, when I tripped across this article .
I dare anyone to keep that all straight.

I suspect many of you are cringing in your 'free-speech' panties, wondering if I've crossed too many lines, and infuriated too many censorship groups. I suppose, in a devilishly creative way, that would be a unique kind of concensus....which is probably a goal worth seeking!

In spite of all my cynicism and shallowness I've displayed here, I'm still very much reminded of being very impressed back in those days when I was innocent, young and impressionable. Every single election, whether municipal, provincial or federal, my mother would go out of her way to get all dressed up in her Sunday best clothes; Dad would come home from work and they'd both go to cast their ballots (even though we all knew they always cancelled each other out). In spite of my cynicism, underneath the flippancy, the frustration and the short fuse that always seems to be right there, I know there is an unpenetrable layer of optimism. I fundamentally know....it's not just a case of believing...it's a certainty....that every person is a worthy person. It simply must be. Differences, no matter how profoundly and incompatible they may seem, they must never be allowed to become intransigentally irreconcilable. That is when we lose.

So, do I fear the speech police? Naw!! What would ever give you that idea? I'm protected by the democracy ("a social condition of equality and respect for the individual within the community.") that we hold so dear.

Besides....I've been brain-stamped already.



I even rest comfortably at night, knowing that the 'network' churns non-stop tracking my every keystroke.





Alright, recognizing that I truly do have a precious liberty here, and it allows me to say the things I have, let me pull both tongues out of both my cheeks simultaneously, and whether we're ready to give a one-finger salute


or a two-handed one-finger salute for extra emphasis


or a one-handed, two-finger salute



or even some other variation on the finger theme.




No matter how we do it, just let's keep talking, waving, understanding, misunderstanding, laughing, crying, whatever. But let's, please, stop the senseless brutality towards each other. There just isn't room for it anymore.

Of course, it's easy to "Bush-bash". I have to tell you, though, that I found passing strange that niggling at the back of my cranium as I wondered about the hatred between 'Islamics' and 'Americans', it really isn't much different than the hatred between 'Republicans' or 'Democrats', 'women' and 'men', or 'this' and 'different-than-this'. We don't even know how to like ourselves. How sad is that?

As you'll hear in the following clip, there are 'inside' words that sometimes get out when they perhaps shouldn't (though it feels damn good, don't it!!). This picture is my 'inner beast' screaming out (it'll make more sense once you've watched the clip!).

Sometimes, venting feels as good as meditating, even if it doesn't accomplish as much. It's like washing your hands before you eat.
The real message of this entire tirade, however, is at www.peaceforhumanity.org/index.html. It's the only message. It's the final test. I suggest that if collaboration is a form of cheating, then let's cheat the be-jesus out all of all our regular niceties and normalicies if that's what it takes.

Wll, I got an email from my sister yesterday. She and her husband retired last year to Victoria Island on the West Coast, and are busy every day with tennis, going for walks in the woods, guess-who's-coming-to-dinner dinners, and just daily nice stuff. She mentioned that the rhododendrum are in full bloom. So, I thought I'd take a good whiff of the bloom with her, and just remember what perspective is all about.


Here's to the world! It can be done. It will be done. It must be done.

Posted by Evydense on Thursday, February 09, 2006 at 10:17 a.m. | Permalink