hobbit-humanist
Humanism, atheism, some politics and lots of common sense.
Archive for the category “On Tv”
Continuing Lies
It’s a funny old world isn’t it? People believe almost anything these days including the daily news. The question is how much news do stations actually show and how much input and influence do governments actually have on them?
I try to watch a broad section of news channels including Russia Today and Al-Jazeera, and of course being a British citizen I regularly watch and use the BBC as a news source. Big news stations aside I also use many internet sites for information also.
Take last weeks Islamic orientated killing in Woolwich, London. Many news stations opted to show a condensed clip of the killer talking after murdering a British soldier. David Cameron issued a carefully worded statement condemning the killing but said it had nothing to do with Islam. However the full version of the post killing clip clearly shows it had everything to do with Islam. Prominent British Muslims also distanced themselves from the killing and deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg quoted a peaceful extract from the Koran. Radical Muslim spokesman Anjem Choudary courted controversy as usual. The day after the killing the BBC ran an article saying immigration figures released showed a down turn in migration to the UK, however the Migration Watch UK website welcomed the figures but highlighted its own in its ‘Immigration and Visa Statistics’ article dated 23rd May which showed increases in other areas. I’d say personally immigration is still rising and will continue to do so, government figures are merely smoke and mirrors. Having worked with immigrants in the past I know how easy it is for Eastern Europeans to get here unchecked and when Bulgaria and Romania are allowed to come here in 2014 then it will be even more noticeable than the growing amount of foreign accents on the streets of the UK. I’m not racist by any measure and I’m all for a multicultural society but I suspect there may come a time when too much multiculturalism will be detrimental to our own culture and way of life, especially if left unchecked, in fact I’d go as far as saying I no longer think multiculturalism is working here.
It seems the government and indeed the last government are awkward with immigration and even though they are becoming more aware of problems they are still detached from what is happening in towns and cities across the UK. Thus we have continuing lies when it comes to what’s really happening. News stations seem selective of content as with the Woolwich murder when they could have shown more but I’m guessing the powers that be wanted to limit this so as not to encourage further unrest. Whilst I can see some logic in this I don’t particularly like being told half a story or an edited one. When crimes have religious connections we should say so and not be scared of knee jerk reactions from religious groups because at the end of the day we are supposed to be a secular society.
Cruel World
I must confess that the last few days have been difficult. At the weekend two people in the town where I lived lost their lives to an explosion which wrecked their house (and those adjoining too), the cause is yet to be identified. Added to that my dad isn’t in the best of health lately and its causing some concern. For me personally though, my body blow came on Tuesday. I saw an eye specialist/surgeon who basically told me I probably will lose my eyesight prematurely because of a problem that cannot be resolved by surgery, in fact in some respects its just a matter of time. Travelling back home on the train I felt detached and numb, the current problems I’m having with my sight made me even more conscious of matters and it made me realise how truly vulnerable we are in this world. I think in the past I’ve relied on surgeons and medical help but the truth of the matter is they cannot cure everything. The news took some getting to grips with but will not deter me from living life to the full, though I face a problem, as the great Carthaginian general Hannibal once said “I will either find a way or make one”, and that’s how I view the current obstacle in front of me.
Then yesterday came those dreadful events yesterday in London in which a soldier lost his life to extremists, that alone made me realise how lucky I still am. Today David Cameron made a statement saying this had nothing to do with Islam despite the fact the killers had shouted “Allah Akbar” when decapitating the unfortunate soldier who they’d ran over in a cowardly fashion before doing so. The scenes on the news were shocking. It turns out one of the killers was a Christian before converting to Islam. A fleeting thought passed through my mind that you don’t see Christians killing people in this fashion but then images of Charles Manson, David Koresh and Dena Schlosser filled my head (among others).
Many cultures are underpinned by religion and when you have a multicultural society then religious views only serve to increase friction which ignites as they clash. Take away religion from multiculturalism and you’d not have nothing near the same problems. The prime minister obviously chose his words carefully on the news and so did various Muslim leaders on different news platforms because quite rationally nobody wants to incite more trouble but as we know violence breeds more violence especially if fuelled by racial or religious hatred. More bizarrely today the BBC published an article which said immigration was down, was this purely coincidental among current tensions?
Politicians and religious leaders chose their words carefully because words are power tools, whilst they tried to swerve away from Islam the blunt truth is the killers would have been inspired by words from the Koran that encourage violence, here’s some quotes of Muhammad;
“Slay the idolators wherever ye find them”
“Fight those who believe not in Allah… nor acknowledge the religion of truth”
“Smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger tips off them”
“O prophet exhort the believers to fight”
The thing is, people still believe this stuff and similar rubbish in the bible and its time we grew up mentally and consigned religion to history. As for the greater Muslim community here, I know most of you are peaceful and yesterdays tragic events aren’t representative of all but I think your religion is backward and repressive. If we look at its sources its basically borrowed much from Christianity and added other bits, Muhammad’s main goal seems to have been conquest and conversion whilst he was alive and of course that continued after and is still continuing. That said, Muslim fundamentalists and Christian ones, they are all the same – aggressive.
Getting back to the title and point of the thread though, the reality is life is often very cruel, just take the recent Oklahoma tornado for instance, would any Christian like to try and justify that to me in a God sense? Many of us shy away from the reality and cruelty of life because it disturbs us but sooner or later reality comes knocking. nature and life are cruel at times and nothing sums it up better than this Gary Numan quote I found the other day;
“If nature is proof of God’s amazing creation then I have truly seen the light, and the light is black. Nature is genius at its most cruel and savage. No benevolent God could have come up with such an outrage.”
When you constantly see outrages, disasters and murders or experience the harsher reality of life yourself then it’s not hard to see how transparent, impotent and fictional gods really are …
Touching…. But!
I think the story/video currently being played by the news media and social networking sites about the woman finding her dog after the Oklahoma tornado is touching but….. 24 people are dead including 9 children. Why the excitement about a dog? Human deaths seem suddenly forgot as people gives thanks to god for saving a dog! Incidentally this is the same god that just let an entire suburb get laid to waste.
Religious Round Up News #3
Continuing the excellent monthly YouTube series. I lost count in this one how many pastors and priests had been arrested for abuse. As usual the video is informative and eye opening.
No Greater Victory
I can’t deny, I have a weakness for swords and sandal TV shows. The long running Spartacus series finally ended this weekend and although this final series hasn’t been my most favourite it ended with a truly great episode. It’s been a great ride steeped in fake blood, plot, intrigue and plenty of bare flesh. Most productions these days have to be glamorised and changed to appeal to a wide audience, if we had the capability to view real history then much of it would be bloody, grim, dark and make us realise how good we have it today!
As Spartacus lay dying he uttered the words;
‘There is no greater victory than to fall from this world a free man.’
