First of all, this rant is mostly about American conservatives, who are rather different from the European ones that I'm more used to. However, it's the American ones we usually hear about over here because...well, they're so much more extreme. It seems like right-wing extremists are totally legal and accepted in the US. We sort of started getting rid of that after WWII, but hey, everyone's entitled to their own opinion. I support everybody's right to express their beliefs and feelings, but for some reason I find it more balanced and fair that this goes both ways. With extremists, this hardly ever occurs. Also, extremists have this peculiar way of expressing themselves in that they tend to be off-the-point and clearly misinformed. Some of them seem brainwashed. This goes for any kind of extremists, not just conservatists even though those are the ones I'm addressing right now.

Of course, in their eyes I'm stupid and the one who's misinformed. I just don't see their problem. What's happened in their lives which make them so angry with other people, so scared and so paranoid? What makes them think they're above this god a lot of them are worshipping? Judging other people is, after all, playing god. Makes me wonder if their god really intended this to happen in the first place. I'm saying "their god" because I just can't believe in someone who just lets all of this happen. Sometimes I'm hoping this god realised what a mistake (s)he's made and started all over again on some other planet or in some other universe, abandoning this place, because I'd like to think that if there were a god or several gods who ruled the universe, (s)he/they would like their creation to be equally perfect to themselves. I'm undoubtedly not the only one to ever have said this, so I'm pretty sure the so-called Christians have already lots of premade replies to this one. After all, they're getting pretty used to having to defend their religion these days, as the Enlightenment Age has come and gone and we're all a little bit less superstitious and a lot more skeptical. We've become a lot more scientific in our personal approach to problems that come up.

The thing that led this on, was a comment made on this blog, by semi-regular reader Percy, containing a link to Conservative Petitions, a website I support in no way whatsoever, mainly because I discovered I agree with them on one point only, and only halfway through that one. There were quite a few, in my view, outrageous comments and accusations on that site, and some of them were outright appalling. The lack of homosexual rights is a pet peeve of mine, if you could put such a serious problem under such a trivial label. Three of the petitions I read were particularly aggressive towards gays. One of them basically equals homosexuals to paedophiles. I totally agree with them that paedophiliac tendencies are vile and I can't even begin to express what I think of those offenders, but then that is the general belief among people all around the world; the Christian fanatics aren't the ones that came up with that idea. But when they state that homosexuals should not be allowed to become mentors within the "Big Brothers, Big Sisters" movement because there was a case about a paedophile, homosexual man molesting his "little brother" in the programme, I'm thinking "does that mean all Catholic priests should not be allowed to be around children at all?" Generalisation is very dangerous.

In another petition Conservative Petitions stated that "Wal-Mart is the lynch pin in the sodomites' plans to conquer America and subvert our nation's morals." The sodomites they're talking about here, are the American homosexuals, apparently. For some reason they threaten America, it seems. I'm having a very hard time believing this. Firstly, I'm having problems picturing this ever happening. Secondly, I'm having great trouble understanding how anyone can say this. In a third petition they say "If America's youth isn't propagandized, how else will homosexuals have fresh meat upon which to feed? They are counting on confused minds, when faced with life's awkward moments of doubt, choosing to believe the lie." Fresh meat upon which to feed??? This is absolutely horrid. It scares me beyond belief that some people actually feel this way; I'm wondering what makes them say it. What goes on in their minds? I am too far away from their stand to ever in the least bit understand their views, however, and even though it would be interesting to catch a glimpse of what goes on in there, I must say I'm relieved that I'll never understand it. I can see the cause in some instances, but never feel the same, thus I'll never comprehend that view.

Many of the other petitions seem to be full of paranoid views. I bet some of those people are amazed every day when they wake up to see that Armageddon hasn't happened yet. They'd probably be better off living in secluded villages in the mountains or something. Coming to think of it, some of them already do. I find it very frustrating that the nation that calls itself the Greatest Nation in the World (and believe me, the rest of the world mostly don't think of the US that way) is harbouring these extremists. When they say that "homosexuals experience high rates of sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse problems, mental health problems and infection from AIDS." I'd like to point out that the substance abuse problems and mental health problems appear due to intolerant people like themselves. The AIDS problem is a big threat to everyone. I'm educated enough to agree to the fact that yes, there was a larger proportion of gay people with HIV/AIDS when the illness first appeared, so that would have been correct back then. (Sidenote: Then how on earth did it spread to all those "straight" people? Hmm...) I'm sick and tired of the constant talking about sex that "Christian" conservatives do; why they are so much more fascinated by the subject than the rest of us, at that I can only make am uneducated guess, so I won't. "Despite what homosexuals claim, no person is 'born gay.' This behavior is changeable. It is an unhealthy lifestyle, and children should not be led to believe homosexuality is equivalent to heterosexuality." They keep pointing out that "tens of thousands" of homosexuals have "changed" and are now ex-homosexuals. Interesting term. Might I comment upon the fact that between 5 and 10 per cent of the world consider themselves to be gay, and a much larger portion are bisexual? That means between 300,000,000 and 600,000,000 people are homosexual. Yes, that is at least 300 million people. Most of these people are persecuted (some to a larger degree than others) because of their sexuality, many are tortured and killed because of it, and somehow that makes me think they'd probably change their sexuality if they could.

This whole thing worries me. The bigotry annoys me and the blatant disregard of other people's feelings angers me. Perhaps a cup of tea would help.

Current track: Crowded House - There Goes God (quite fittingly)

Labels: current affairs, personal