What's The Harm

Have you ever wondered why so many people care so much about things that do no harm to anyone?  I have, and it’s recently been a recurring theme politically, professionally, and personally.

Starting with that former one, in Iowa and other republican-led states, politicians and their activist buddies are primarily focused on passing laws that hurt the LGBTQ community.  Why?  How are they or anyone else being harmed by library books, drag shows, or gender-identity causes?

The answer is they aren't harmed, but they're scared -- not only about change, but about losing money, power (same thing), and religion (also the same thing!).  Fake conservatives want no threats to their straight white Christian world.

Moving on the the professional front, I work with vendors who need authorization forms.  That's no problem, until they start requiring a specific manner of delivery.  We've long ago entered the digital age, and the COVID-19 pandemic made it even more common, but I still work with vendors who require original documents.

Who is harmed by accepting verifiable electronic signatures?  I guarantee these companies are going to digitize the document anyway!  I suppose the answer here is, some companies will only do things the way they've always done them.

Finally on the personal level, I've experienced an increase in the already-high number of people who want to make everything about themselves.  No conversation can be had without them taking it over, for nothing can be more important than what they or their loved ones do.

They'll even complain when told good news, if it isn't given at the time and place or their choosing.  A family / friend getting more attention harms no one; it only interrupts the desire of some for affirmation from others.  (Thanks, Facebook!)  Those who represent the 'some' should be avoided.

My conclusion in all of these items is pretty libertarian: If it harms no one else, why do you care?

What's Wrong With Merry Christmas

The holiday season is upon us, with lots of helpful Santas, and a few scattered Grinches.  It also means we're all going to be exposed to another useless argument about saying 'Merry Christmas' as opposed to the more generic 'Happy Holidays' or 'Seasons Greetings'.

I grew up in a super-conservative Christian area.  There was / is no controversy about this issue there; one was / is expected to say Merry Christmas lest they be identified as an outsider.  I imagine this is true for most of the U.S. fruited plain, which is vastly rural and Christian.

But once you've lived in a more populated area, and have plenty of non-Christian friends, the lines get blurred.  I'm much more likely to say Happy Holidays now, not because political-correctness requires it, but because it's easier.  It covers more bases, and I simply don't have to think about it.

The other day, I asked my non-Christian neighbor about his thoughts, not only on Merry Christmas, but other traditions such as Christmas trees and presents.  A native of India, he said he thought nothing of it.  He certainly was not offended in any way.  Unlike me, he came from a religiously diverse country, and everyone there respected others' traditions.

I'm not offended by anyone who wants to say Merry Christmas, but I am offended by those who would expect it of me, or that think it's the only holiday greeting that should be posted on public property.  Those people are close-minded, and ironically, not being very Christian when it comes to respecting others and their faiths.

Just accept my secular holiday greeting if you get it, as I would accept a non-secular one, and let's move on.

Good, Evil, And Religion

There's been so much rhetoric lately on domestic terrorism, given the recent events in Paris and now San Bernadino, CA.  It seems there's no middle ground for people who think the answer is arming ourselves with more automatic weapons, or banning said weapons, or perhaps banning immigration altogether.

This week, it was taken to the extreme by the non-to-be-taken-seriously Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who suggested banning new Muslims from entering America.  It's an unconstitutional, certifiably insane idea, but he actually gets cheers from other extreme Republicans for saying it.

I plan to blog about the presidential candidates sometime before the Iowa caucuses.  In the meantime, to all who think like Donald Trump, I say in the famous words of Joseph Welsh to Senator Joseph McCarthy, who destroyed lives in the 1950s with false accusations of communism:  "Have you no sense of decency?"

The underlying current behind all of this rhetoric is religion.  We like to think religion reminds us to love our fellow man, but aren't there as many examples of religion making us hate?

I'm not just talking about radical Islam, either.  I know plenty of Christians who have no problem discriminating against gays (yes, that counts as hate), for no other reason than their religion tells them to do so.  Religion and religious differences have promulgated hate for centuries, from the Crusades to the Revolutionary War to the World Wars.

The other day, I came across a quote from more than a decade ago, attributed to Steven Weinberg.  He's an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions on the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles.  (Whaaaaat?)  Let's just assume he's a very smart dude.  Oh, he's also an atheist.  His quote pretty much sums up how this deal works:

“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things.  But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.”