17 Comments
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Bill Heath's avatar

How could anybody hate a fairy?

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SCA's avatar

Well. You been around the same Substacks as I have. Hatred is indeed a very pleasurable emotion for some.

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mary-lou's avatar

with any conflict the most important part is how to solve it, getting past the pain and getting back to a form of earthly harmony. but really big conflicts need a lot of effort, from many sides (and cultists aren't well-known for their flexibility). most of us want peace.

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Mrs. McFarland's avatar

Exactly. Organized religions provided the structures needed to developing civilizations…. But to piggy back on your op Ed, organized religions have outlived their good. What we now know about the age and infiniteness of our universe would seem enormous enough for a “course correction “ if you will. I mean here we are watching the Middle East destroy itself over what? Several religions a mere several thousand years old?? It’s why I keep saying it would possibly be a good thing for some ETs to show up for some proper perspective….

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SCA's avatar

If everyone would just stick to celebrations of fertility and the changing seasons, we'd be able to keep all the food and lose the derangements.

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Mrs. McFarland's avatar

LOL!! What? No Christmas? The economy would surely falter…..

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SCA's avatar

Heck, I love Yuletide. Remember Woolworth's? They used to sell these lovely little Norfolk pines covered with wooden Christmas ornaments. The poor trees never lasted long but the ornaments last forever. I have an artificial tabletop tree I take out every year and decorate with great joy. Depending on how lazy I am, it might sit on the piano until July or so.

Of course this past Christmas, still dealing with the Misadventure of the Wrist, I left the Christmas box untouched in the closet and we just did the traditional Jewish Christmas meal of pastrami sandwiches (the alternate menu to Chinese takeout). Hoping this year will see the full shebang redux.

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Mrs. McFarland's avatar

I know, I just always find it amusing when the seasonal bashing of Christians begins, no Christmas songs at the School Holiday concerts, no decorating Classrooms…. And then, the retailers can barely wait until Halloween is over to drape their stores with garland, bells and bows with the Christmas Muzak and endless Sales!! Cheesy booze breathing Santas ,good… Nativity Scenes , bad….so, let’s put Christmas in its proper place but c’mon folks our entire sales year depends on Holiday Numbers!!!! Probably why the Seinfeld “ Festivus for the Rest of us” always makes me smile!! My daughter had a good grade school friend whose Mom was Jewish, the Dad Christian… she thought that was like winning the lottery!!

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SCA's avatar

You should have seen me, my first Christmas during my first marriage when I finally got to buy a tree. We had a studio apt. and I didn't realize that those big pines spread their branches in the indoor warmth. We had to move the furniture to make room for it.

And I get all choked up over performances of "Good King Wenceslas."

And guess what piece my kid performed at his second-grade annual school music concert. Hint: by my absolute favorite composer, German Baroque. It was a flawless performance though the kid hadn't practiced very hard leading up to the concert, and kept making mistakes at home. I was afraid he'd be embarrassed. And he kept saying to me "don't worry, mom, I've got it."

And then in the actual moment--I felt there was a cloud of transcendence all around my head. The room was silent for a few seconds and then exploded in applause. I remember thinking to myself "I can die now and go straight to heaven on the wings of this joy and pride."

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Mrs. McFarland's avatar

Bach?? Which piece? Christmas carols in general are more beautiful and emotional auf Deutsch. My favorite is “ Es ist ein Rose Ersprungen .” I love your tree story, my first Christmas tree as a Mrs is similar but our oversized purchase was a result of too many adult beverages at a company party…..

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Steersman's avatar

👍 Here's looking at you kid ... 😉🙂

Reminds me though of Wafa Sultan's "A God Who Hates", highly recommended though rather depressing:

https://www.amazon.com/God-Who-Hates-Courageous-Inflamed/dp/0312538367

Pretty much all religions have their pathological manifestations -- I'm reminded of the " 'abominable fancy' [which] was first used by Frederic Farrar for the long-standing Christian idea that the eternal punishment of the damned in Hell entertains the saved in Heaven"; schadenfreude for fun and prophet/profit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abominable_fancy

But Islam seems particularly prone to that.

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SCA's avatar

It's that Islam keeps exterminating its enlightenment. Judaism and Christianity lost the ability to successfully complete the job. Not that they've given up trying.

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Steersman's avatar

Indeed. A classic article that I'd read ages ago, highly recommended:

"Why the Arabic World Turned Away from Science

On the lost Golden Age and the rejection of reason":

https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/why-the-arabic-world-turned-away-from-science

Of particular note:

"This prejudice — what Fouad Ajami has called (referring to the Arab world) 'a political tradition of belligerent self-pity' — is undoubtedly one of Islam’s biggest obstacles. It makes information that contradicts orthodox belief irrelevant, and it closes off debate about the nature and history of Islam."

A rather common human failing -- somewhat characteristic of the Woke in particular, and of too many "feminists". You may remember "Feminists love Islamists":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQw3KSYD3ns

Unfortunately many of the so-called "gender-criticals" are in the same boat.

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SCA's avatar

Ajami was of Persian Shia ancestry and it's no surprise his feelings about mainstream Islam nor his support for the US invasion of Iraq where Shias had been an oppressed majority.

Those morons of history like TE Lawrence who elevated Arabian peninsula tribal chiefs to Western-constructed monarch status are, I hope, among multitudes roasting in God's Big Tandoor in the Sky. It's that Saudi money which funded the most extremist madrassas throughout the entire Muslim world which has brought us to this current situation.

I saw this personally. It used to be common in Pakistani Punjab during Ramazan for ordinary people to go to fairs and enjoy themselves, eating and drinking (non-alcoholic beverages) as their inclinations might be, and nowadays that will get you killed. Or it would if anyone dared to do it anymore.

Hijab-wearing for Western-settled/born Muslim girls is now a political statement even while Muslim women trapped in Muslim countries are being murdered by state agents or their loving families for refusing to submit to a custom nowhere commanded in the Quran. (The only pertinent verse is about covering one's bosom and behaving modestly.) Of course the same is seen in ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects where it's the particular obsession of one's rabbinical line that determines how a woman must demonstrate that modesty.

It's all performance and not very artful.

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