Friday, January 02, 2009
Holy Land... Holy Shit
(2)
A visit to the fridge for another beer at 1715 revealed an interesting program on CNBC: 'Untold Wealth: Rise of the Super Rich.' Alright! I'm recording the remainder on CD. Maybe I'll do a blurb on it next week.
But the subject for tonight will be... The Holy Land.
I must admit at the outset that I have a problem understanding the concept of 'Holy Land.' Isn't all land, 'holy'? Isn't the sea 'holy' too? And what about 'holy days?' Aren't all days holy? My problem is related to my lack of 'belief,' of course. The Bible, The Koran, are 'holy books.' But aren't all books, 'holy?' 'Holy' is a very wierd word. In fact there are also 'holy words!' I do not understand the word, 'holy' as it is used by 'religious people.' To me the word 'holy' is superfluous. Everything is 'holy' or nothing is 'holy.' Everything is the same... real. I do not understand the idea of the holy, except perhaps as a complex emotion: a real emotion in response to an imaginary idea. Religion is full of that.
As I type this, the 'Holy Land' is in turmoil as Israeli military forces strike targets in Gaza, home of The Palestinians. The attacks are in response to rocket attacks by Gazanians on Israel, which are in turn a response to Israeli attempts to steal Palestinian land on the West Bank. True, the Israelis are stealing this Palestinian land as legally as possible... that much is true, but the Palestinians refuse to accept the process. To them, theft is theft, no matter the legality of it. I side with the Palestinians on this issue. Theft is theft.
The current statistics place the number of Israelis killed at 4, while the number of Palestinians killed is 400 plus. 1700 Palestinians have been wounded. Hmm. I just attempted to make a comparison to the American population of approximately 300 million. What percentage of Gazanians were killed? What does that translate to in terms of the American population? What's the population of Israel? What percentage of Israelis were killed?
The answer seems to be... You do the math. I'm waaay too drunk.
A visit to the fridge for another beer at 1715 revealed an interesting program on CNBC: 'Untold Wealth: Rise of the Super Rich.' Alright! I'm recording the remainder on CD. Maybe I'll do a blurb on it next week.
But the subject for tonight will be... The Holy Land.
I must admit at the outset that I have a problem understanding the concept of 'Holy Land.' Isn't all land, 'holy'? Isn't the sea 'holy' too? And what about 'holy days?' Aren't all days holy? My problem is related to my lack of 'belief,' of course. The Bible, The Koran, are 'holy books.' But aren't all books, 'holy?' 'Holy' is a very wierd word. In fact there are also 'holy words!' I do not understand the word, 'holy' as it is used by 'religious people.' To me the word 'holy' is superfluous. Everything is 'holy' or nothing is 'holy.' Everything is the same... real. I do not understand the idea of the holy, except perhaps as a complex emotion: a real emotion in response to an imaginary idea. Religion is full of that.
As I type this, the 'Holy Land' is in turmoil as Israeli military forces strike targets in Gaza, home of The Palestinians. The attacks are in response to rocket attacks by Gazanians on Israel, which are in turn a response to Israeli attempts to steal Palestinian land on the West Bank. True, the Israelis are stealing this Palestinian land as legally as possible... that much is true, but the Palestinians refuse to accept the process. To them, theft is theft, no matter the legality of it. I side with the Palestinians on this issue. Theft is theft.
The current statistics place the number of Israelis killed at 4, while the number of Palestinians killed is 400 plus. 1700 Palestinians have been wounded. Hmm. I just attempted to make a comparison to the American population of approximately 300 million. What percentage of Gazanians were killed? What does that translate to in terms of the American population? What's the population of Israel? What percentage of Israelis were killed?
The answer seems to be... You do the math. I'm waaay too drunk.
