Archive for the ‘Debatable’ Category
The Middle East
Due to the conflict between The State Of Irsael and Lebanon, I decided to do a little light Wikipedia reading on the Middle East and why it’s so prone to conflict. In doing so I’ve come to the following conclusions.
- There will never be peace in the Middle East because of a variety of religions vying for control of the same areas.
- Maintaining any kind of stability in the region is critical to the security of many countries outside and within the Middle East.
- The UK and the USA (amongst other countries) are partly responsible for everything that occurs in the Middle East, both good and bad.
- Ignoring the problems in the Middle East would result in more bloodshed.
- Fixing the problems in the Middle East is impossible, but must be attempted because the alternative would be worse.
I honestly do believe that the UK and USA have to stay involved in the Middle East because their involvement prevents the problems in the area from getting worse, even if that doesn’t appear to be the case. Both governments must realise that leaving the Middle East to it’s own devices could possibly result in the start of World War 3, so they must do the best job they can, even if their best isn’t good enough and even if the people of the Middle East don’t want them to interfere.
Some people think the internet is a bad thing
Some time ago I wrote a blog entry about an upcoming TV adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather, after which I recieved a comment from a lady called Jennifer regarding the news…
As it turned out, her husband was quite the Pratchett fan and so she was happy to be able to pass on the news to him. Her comment also indicated to me that she may not be aware that this wouldn’t be the first time that a Pratchett novel had been adapted for TV. So with a quick search of IMDB, I generated a list of all the Pratchett novels that had made the leap from book to film and sent her a quick e-mail with the information.
It turned out that she wasn’t aware of the other TV/film adaptations and was very grateful for the information. With her husband’s birthday fast approaching, she would now have more ideas for presents and might be able to suprise him at last. Our brief conversation ended there and we went our seperate ways, both better off for having come across one another.
However, while I had forgotten all about our brief conversation, it seems Jennifer had not, because today I recieved a wonderful e-mail from her. She had written to let me know that her husband had recently had his 40th birthday and that because of what I had done, he’d recieved his first real birthday suprise in ten years of marriage. Not only that, but the movies are now being enjoyed by the whole family.
I was really chuffed that Jennifer had taken the time to mail me and let me know how the birthday had gone, it put a massive smile on my face! So I guess if anyone ever tells you that the internet is a bad thing, they should read what I’ve written above. The internet is what people make it and I hope it stays that way!
Discuss…
Gay Marriage, an Intelligent Design
Two great things have happened in the last week that all of you should be aware of. Both are decisions that will shape the future of nations and for the first time in a long time, I applaud the USA and the UK for making the right decisions.
In the USA, a federal judge has ruled that Intelligent Design (ID) cannot be taught in science lessons in schools. The main reason simply being that ID is pseudo-science at best and as such, most definitely has no place in a science curriculum. There are rules by which ideas becomes scientific fact and in IDs case, it simply cannot be proven no matter how suggestive the idea might be. Don’t get me wrong, ID seems a very viable idea to me and I would have no problem with it being discussed and debated in a religious or theological classroom, but I’m glad steps have been taken to stop it from replacing or competing with evolution in the science classroom.
In the UK, gay marriage is now legal and while I would prefer to follow the Irish route of calling gay marriages civil partnerships, no matter what they’re called, it should be permitted. From my perspective, two (or more people) should be able to be legally united by the state no matter what their sex, sexual preference or any other preference of difference. The reason I mention that I would prefer the terminology to be a civil partnership, is simply because I view marriage as religious terminology for a religious union and religions should always be able to set their own rules for those unions (no matter how politically correct individuals may consider them).
"Open minded? You’ve got a bloody gaping chasm where your brain should be."
Update: In actuality, the UK has also introduced civil partnerships. It seems the term ‘gay marriage’ is actually just something the media are using to describe same sex unions. Apparently, these civil partnerships are also only open to same sex couples and are not available to heterosexual couples.
Thanks to Geoff Coup for the update above.
To some this may seem like discrimination, but I can actually see some sense in this. The UK state is tied to the Christian Church Of England and as such, I doubt we can ever pass a law that will allow for ‘real’ gay marriages because as I’ve mentioned above, people view marriage as a very religious term and the Church doesn’t support same sex marriage (and likely never will, as is their right).
The best solution to all this would be for the state and the church to be disconnected from one another so that no law can be influenced by any religion. Unfortunately that will likely never happen and so we get left with laws which appear discriminatory, but are in fact merely a result of the state and the church being so inorexably tied together.
