Freethinking Upstart

I just got back from a gathering with frum people.

I can understand why some skeptics are particularly vitriolic towards them.

Generalizing is bad, but it's oh so hard not to do.

As he was speaking, I could begin to feel my blood boil. It started out slow, and of course I disagreed with most of what he was saying. I kept thinking, "Bullshit, Cough, Cough," to myself. But this is religion. It gives these people meaning. Who the hell am I to take this away from them?

Then the subject switched to politics. The conspiracy theories about Obama started surfacing. I had heard rumors that there were those that believed these sorts of things, but I guess I didn't really believe it. Someone seemed to start to compare Obama to Hitler, and I finally started to speak up. "Wait, wait, wait," I started to say. I'd been getting more and more frustrated by what people were saying as the night grew on. Fortunately, I had a nice buzz going on, so my reaction time was slow. He interrupted me, "Just listen to my point! I'm not comparing Obama to Hitler."

"OK."

"So all these people, Hitler, Stalin, they all convinced people with their words."

Forget it, I thought to myself. It's pointless.

But then the conversation got more and more conspiratorial, and more and more racist. My body started to betray me. I closed up. My arms folded. I put my head down, trying to resist speaking out, all the while trying to convince myself that I should stand up and say something. For God's sake! WTF are these people thinking?

I realized I was being irrational. "It's much better to face these kinds of things, with a sense of poise and rationality."

But I was surely going to avoid these gatherings like the plague. I can't have myself realizing that there are billions of people that believe ancient writings were dictated by a supernatural superhuman-like being, that Obama has something up his sleeve, and that, by whispering the right words at the right time the redemption of humanity is somehow effected. No. It's much better to crawl back in my liberal hole and look at all the benefits these beliefs offer to people. Yes. Now that's much better.

My advice to those that associate with RW and/or Religious fanatics, STOP! GET AWAY! You will eventually go mad, or become very bitter. Heck, you probably already are.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled writings from a young man, highly influenced by liberal academia. One that looks benevolently on religion and even the more extreme religious people. Who am I to judge? I mean, come on! Religion, even religious belief, has a lot of good stuff to offer. Sure, it's not for me but neither is country music and I don't see anyone decrying that! Whew... That feels much better.

*Disclaimer: This post is reactionary. I just needed to vent. That loud music on the ride home didn't do the trick. But some coooool lyrical jazz almost did. If it weren't for those long comercial breaks, this post might have never been.*