Its hard not to have been affected by the happenings in Woolwich recently, and its hit me in a way I never expected. The nature of the attack; its violence (meat cleavers? really?), its randomness, the apparent lack of concern or emotion in the face of the perpetrators, and personally speaking....witnessing the insanity that then turned up all over social networking feeds.
I know some of my friends are racist. You can spot them too, they commonly start sentences with "I'm not racist, but....." and then proceed to say something so strikingly racist you wonder how that caveat ever managed to bump its way up to the start of the sentence. Simply saying you're not something is no good if you then prove that you are that something in the same breath.
But that's their position. I cannot tell them how to think or feel, and I wouldn't expect them to change their beliefs because of something I say. Racism is not something you're born with, you learn it. Its environmental. Happily, this means you can unlearn it too; you just have to want to.
After the Woolwich murders, many have decided their racism is well justified. My issue has always been with the religious aspect. I won't judge someone on their race, but I'm afraid I now judge everyone on their religious beliefs. I'm hoping it will pass, but the incident last week has snapped something in me and I can no longer stomach the bullshit that comes with organised religion. Its difficult not to focus on Islam, but there are plenty other organised religions bringing pain, misery and suffering in the name of something supposedly good.
I read, often, that the attack was not religiously motivated. I also read that the men were mentally ill. That they were oppressed. That they were angry. That they were drug abusers even. I doubt you, the reader, would stay with me as I picked apart each one of those reasons....or excuses.....so I won't bother. The men were certainly confused; they referred to 'our' government and then 'your' government. 'Our' country and 'your' country. As yet, its not clear what they wanted, or what they wanted to prove. They have, and deserve, little sympathy and if I was the resident nurse attending to their gunshot wounds, it would be difficult not to bring a little NaCl to work with me.
The majority of Muslims are peace-loving. Brilliant. Keep it up then. Their problem is they need to rat out and deal with those that are not. If they know some clerics are extreme, preaching hate and fundamentalism, they need to clean their own house. Then strip them of whatever title or license they need to preach their shit and they get rid of them. The Quran appears to be so ambiguous that it can advocate any amount of death, violence and bloodshed, and yet when read by another proves itself to be a book of peace and goodwill.
This is a massive problem. There must be an ultimate truth there, otherwise the thing is worthless as a spiritual guide.
Of course, as an atheist I believe all 'good books' to be inherently worthless. I have lost all respect for religious rituals and posing. Its bullshit, its make believe. We need to grow up and move the fuck on. Muslims seem to be the touchiest when it comes to having fun poked at their beliefs, and they need to get a grip. If their faith is strong, then what does a little Danish cartoon matter? Does Allah not preach forgiveness? If not, why the fuck not? Surely that's a first in any divine being's handbook.
We now have the counter-attacks, we have coked up lager fuelled idiots marching the streets of Britain making with the Nazi salute. The biggest idiots are the media for reporting it. As long as they do, attack and counter-attack will continue.
Religion appeals to those who think themselves so important they can't just cease to be. There is no afterlife, pleasant or otherwise. You die. You just stop. Being scared of this is fine. Being scared of anything is fine, but know that fear of something doesn't make anything less so. If you want to live on, you do so through your kids, your acts and gestures, the things you leave behind be they experiences with others or music, books, paintings. You don't see Allah, you don't see God, you are aware of nothing.
My solution is a radical one and probably seen as ridiculous by many. Simply; ban all religion. This country becomes secular. Keep the buildings up - churches, mosques, as relics, as museums even, but you cannot practice in there. No praying, no worshipping. Nothing. If you want to believe in that shit, you go somewhere else and do it. You are then responsible for your actions, for your life, for the good and bad, for courage, for strength, for forgiveness. Attributing this stuff to a figment of your imagination is bad for your mental health, you need to give yourself some credit. I have lost my patience with religion, and the people who fanatically believe in it. Whether the attack was religiously motivated or not, I'm afraid that's what Woolwich did to me.
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