Two words. Under God. They are, at least I think they are in the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States. That may have changed in the last five minutes. The zealotry on both sides has honestly driven my brain into recession. Neither side of my brain can successfully communicate with itself, let alone with its counterpart.
One side of the issue is claiming that “under God” should be removed from the Pledge, citing the argument that not everyone in this country believes in God. Valid point. I know there are such things as atheists; I am friends with a few. Most of the ones I know are pretty open-minded; they follow a live-and-let-live dogma. I believe in God, but I have no religion. I don’t believe in organized religion. Who the hell has the right to tell me how to practice what little faith I do have? There are so many arguments for not believing in God, so I’m not even going to pick one and systematically destroy it; once I do one, I’ll have to go after all of them, and I don’t have that kind of time.
Speaking of believing in God, the other side of this issue is fighting tooth and nail to keep these two little words in the Pledge, apparently believing that the whole world will crash down upon its pillars if this country decides to show God this small offense to appease the militant atheists. These people tend to follow the right-wing conservative stance that justifies everything by slapping a “Jesus Saves” bumper sticker on anything they ever try to do. I’m pretty sure that most of the things these “good, old-fashioned, pure-of-heart-and-mind” people get themselves involved in would piss God off to an almost unimaginable end. I am amazed there hasn’t been another smiting, one of which would rival the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The New Testament shows the son of God being kind to lepers, and bringing salvation to harlots, sinners, fornicators, etc. Practice what you preach, assholes.
Back to the whole “under God” thing. The sheer fact that I find myself discussing this makes me see red flashes. Is this really a major problem in America? Did I pass out, and our economy climb out of the shitter? Are we no longer at war? Are America’s children not being made completely retarded by pop culture when not being subjected to ever-worsening school systems? Is health care more affordable? Do we have a better energy policy? Is our two-party system of government drowning in a sea of ridiculous bullshit? If this happened, then it’s news to me. Better yet, if even one of these things happened, I would probably be running bare-assed through the street singing at the top of my tar-ridden lungs. PAY ATTENTION, I’M ONLY SAYING THIS ONCE: WHY THE HELL DON’T WE SOLVE THESE MORE PRESSING AND MUCH MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES BEFORE WE WORRY ABOUT THIS SHIT?
Seriously, when I was a kid, the only time I said the Pledge of Allegiance was in grade school, and I was to young to know what I was actually saying, let alone give a flying fuck. If people are so worried about what their kids are learning in school, then just don’t fucking send them. Plain and simple. Shelter your kids, and never let them experience any other points of view. God knows they will never, ever, in all their lives, run into someone else with a slightly different point of view. For fuck’s sake, do your parental jobs and put what they see or hear in perspective. Honestly, you people are just as bad as the ones who blame things like Columbine on Marylin Manson or violent video games. It’s your job to draw a line with your kids, not the school system.
I’m not blasting any one side of this issue; I am going after all of you. Get the fuck over yourselves. Get your heads out of your asses, and put a small percentage of the energy you spend on this pointless issue into solving a serious problem. I’m sure you all think that this is a serious issue, and when you’re done parading under the flag of self-righteousness, you go on and pick another issue that is just as “important”. Give me a fucking break.
I can’t make sense of this. I simply can’t. The level of idiocy here is, well, it’s just beyond me. You know what I really think? This country needs less religious-based legislature. Whatever happened to basing our political ideas on what is best for the country as a whole, rather than trying to appease one special interest group at a time? Separation of church and state applies all the time, not just whenever the hell we choose to apply it. Use your fucking brains for once and let some of the little shit go.
