pres.umptuo.us

I came across this long, yet great, article entitled, “The World’s Most Toxic Value System“, essentially harping on honor and it’s effects on creating an effective society. There’s a lot of really good stuff, but this point in particular stuck out:

Nothing better illustrates the thar mentality better than the fury directed by Islamic militants against Danish and Norwegian cartoons of Mohammed. Sacrilegious art in other cultures can offend and get people angry but the lunatic response of radical Islamists is in a class by itself. It’s the shrieking, out of control petulance of a three-year old throwing a tantrum. People infected with this attitude will be utterly incapable of recognizing wrongdoing by their own society, utterly incapable of taking criticism or recognizing the need for correction.

The points on the degradation of women are also of note. It’s funny that you’d think after so many centuries of lasting civilizations, issues like these wouldn’t be a problem. But it looks like tradition, religion, and pride have a way of their own.

• Jesus-With You Always. I really want to comission him to do one for poker.

  Thursday June 29, 2006

Following up on commencement speeches (A bit late, I know), but I ran into Kurt Vonnegut’s speech to Agnes Scott College in 1999. Agnes is a women’s college, so obviously the speech is directed towards women. Excellent quotes though:

A computer teaches a child what a computer can become.

An educated human being teaches a child what a child can become.

Some of you may know that I am a Humanist, not a Christian. But I say of Jesus, as all Humanists do, ”If what he said was good and so much of it is absolutely beautiful, what can it matter if he was God or not?”

If Christ hadn’t delivered the Sermon on the Mount, with its message of mercy and pity, I wouldn’t want to be a human being.

I would just as soon be a rattlesnake.

Now this part here illustrated the genius of Vonnegut. At the beginning of the speech, he brings up this excellent quote about what we can all hope to contribute to this world:

”A woman’s reach should exceed her grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”

And of course the original ”A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”

Then later on, he talks about children and becoming teachers to teach children:

A child’s reach should exceed its grasp, or what’s a heaven for?

His beliefs about Christianity and Jesus Christ are something I strongly believe in myself. His philosophy on revenge is something that we should all adhere to, but we all know that’s a tough one to pull off.

Remind me to write an entry about how I’ve gone from Atheism to Agnosticism sometime.