By: probitus

probitus — Thu, 04 Nov 2004 16:04:03 +0000

Thank you so much for this site, Scott.
In the wake of this election it has become crystal clear that the latent religious disease in our society has entered an advanced stage. This is a disease that enables this meshing of religion into all civic discourse, that legitimizes mythology as equivalent to fact, that embraces dogma over reason, that encourages the marginilization of those that differ or dissent, and that endlessly seeks to codify this way of thinking into our laws and constitution.
In the same way that the Nazis manipulated the latent illnesses in German society in order to gain power, the Karl Roves of this country have found a magic formula for success: Use the existant American tendencies toward fundamentalism and frontier justice to advance an agenda that has no moral compass of its own, but has simply and cynically duped those infected with this Bible-inspired illness in order to grab and hold on to power. One of the many unfortunate (an likely immediate) consequences of this ‘bargain’ is that reciprocity will be demanded… Bush is gonna have to dance with who brung ‘im! He will do so happily, and I fear that this will take many horrible forms in our country’s legislative policies, executive actions and judicial appointments and decisions. Read: Chief Justice Antonin Scalia. And that’s just for starters.
We who failed on Novemver 2nd simply sought, perhaps *too* simply, to remove the guy at the top. But the numbers and the exit polls point to the fact that the true problem is deeper and more systemic. If we don’t treat the disease itself, even if we are ultimately successful in making sure we do not elect Jeb in ’08, it is only a matter of time before someone new again comes along to use the religious prejudices and hatred of Americans to their own advantage.
Here’s a great article that addresses the inherent problems imposed by all religions:
http://www.stupidwish.net/religion.html
On a side note, the day after Ron Suskind’s article hit the street I immediately looked up ‘realitybasedcommunity’ domain names. At the time .com was already gone but was undeveloped (and remains so today) but .net was available. I came *this* close to grabbing it but decided against it only because I thought I wouldn’t have the time to devote to doing something really good with it. How thrilled was I today on discovering that you had. Your site is great and I couldn’t agree more with the mission of it and the sentiments within. I’ll be putting a link to it on my own blog (http://probitus.obrien4.net) and expect to be a frequent visitor and commenter.
Take care.
- Brendan

Comments on: Redistricting

By: probitus