The much-applauded landing of the roving Mars Science Laboratory (a.k.a Curiosity) has gotten me started thinking about the sorry state of curiosity in modern society.
Sure, there are still explorers and inventors among us; but a dismaying percentage of our forays into curiosity tend to be frivolous ("TomKat's former dry cleaner: does he have as many zombies in his family tree as Brangelina's podiatrist?") or self-destructive, involving how many red lights we can run, how many hot dogs we can gobble down or how many antibiotics we haven't tried on our STDs yet. ("Hmmm...I wonder how many marbles I can cram up my nose. And since there's mucous involved, could I get it federally subsidized as a green project?")
An unfortunate combination of smugness, inertia and prejudice has trapped us in a prison of willful ignorance. I'd like to see curiosity spurring us on toward some laudable goals of self-improvement, empathy and the betterment of mankind.
Imagine the impact if just one young man would pause for a moment to extend the challenge, "Fellas, I've heard rumors that there are mythical Americans who can actually maintain style and identity WITHOUT showing their underwear to the world. Do you suppose we could try walking a mile in their moccasins?"
I'd like to see even one Hollywood scribe think to himself, "I've heard that millions of Americans somehow live out satisfying lives without even ONCE writing a sitcom script containing gratuitous quips about a heterosexual character's girl-on-girl college experimentation. Maybe..."
What if a few more self-absorbed parents-to-be scratched their heads and wondered, "John, honey, do you suppose there's anything in your late parents' diaries that would reveal just HOW they managed to pick a baby name that didn't saddle you with a lifetime of causing spellchecks to self-destruct?"
Isn't it time that a corporate board of directors really thought outside the box? ("We COULD hire another cookie-cutter executive and pay him 100 times what the people under him are making...or we could hire a partially trained chimpanzee and let HIM rubber-stamp outsourcing orders, fling bribes at officials and cover his eyes to environmental violations.")
Could curiosity force a few armchair theologians to venture out and seek EYEWITNESS VERIFICATION of the hordes of hypocrites who are supposedly spilling off the pews of every single church in the country? You know, the hypocrites who (darn it!) block these guys from participating in organized religion.
The possibilities for altering attitudes, questioning habits and changing antisocial behavior are endless. When we encounter someone with different values and priorities, we tend to shrug our shoulders, cluck our tongues and sigh "There's no accounting for taste" — instead of trying to understand How The Other Half Lives or trying to wrap our minds around how someone else can possibly survive without our custom blend of luxuries and vices.
Let's stop letting curiosity kill the cat. Let curiosity kill the dumb behavior.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I want to indulge my own curiosity. I'm anxious to see just how long Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can go without sharing his new rationale for pro-choice policies. ("You didn't hear it from me, but a little birdie tells me that these fetuses haven't paid income tax in the past 10 years!")
Copyright 2012 Danny Tyree. Danny welcomes reader e-mail responses at tyreetyrades@aol.com and visits to his Facebook fan page "Tyree's Tyrades". Danny's' weekly column is distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. newspaper syndicate.
Engaged Voter posted at 2:18 pm on Wed, Aug 15, 2012.
"will no longer refrence you any any further post."
Yes yes, I know...run off like a kicked dog with your tail betweeen your legs.
You're not the first religious doofus to run away from facts and evidence on this forum, and I doubt you'll be the last.
But rest assured, I will continue to call you cowards out on your filth and lies.
Engaged Voter posted at 2:14 pm on Wed, Aug 15, 2012.
Does anyone else find it both strange and amusing that a person who rejects logic and reason in favor of faith-based superstitious Bronze Age myths uses the word Reason in their username?
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." - Inigo Montoya. :D
Engaged Voter posted at 2:11 pm on Wed, Aug 15, 2012.
"We are obviously on polar opposite ends of the spectrum on this and reality."
Indeed we are! And to prove which side of Reality I am on, allow me to quote:
"Jesus Christ helping people in their life"
You have evidence of this JC person? Or is this another faith-based, out-of-touch-with-reality claim?
" I see know point"
That speaks for itself. Pay attention kids, ignorance is a BAD thing. ;)
"I will pray for you."
Kindly take your cowardly superstitious threats (veiled in prayer, typical cowardice from your ilk) and shove them where the sun doesn't shine.
Also, thank you for exposing yourself as an ignorant, close-minded bigot.
You did a far better job of it than I could have!
VofReason posted at 12:57 pm on Wed, Aug 15, 2012.
Thank you for cementing my point EV. I think now everyone has a pretty good idea of your brand of common sense. I have to say that there has been wrongs in the name of religion, but my experience has been mostly of Church and Jesus Christ helping people in their life and intiating them to help others. We are obviously on polar opposite ends of the spectrum on this and reality. I see know point in giving any validation to your submissions ever again here and will no longer refrence you any any further post. I will pray for you.
Cerulean posted at 3:00 pm on Tue, Aug 14, 2012.
“The Bible has been here in some form for thousands of years . . . “
I recently re-watched a Nova production about the decipherment of the Maya hieroglyphs, ‘Cracking the Maya Code’. The story reiterates the Christian tradition of destroying the written text of, in this case, native Central Americans. Thousands of Mayan books and people were burned in fire.
Fortunately, for human kind, three of the Maya books survived which helped scholars crack the code.
Engaged Voter posted at 2:08 pm on Tue, Aug 14, 2012.
"I think you all need therapy."
Says the person who believes a magic wizard in the sky poofed the universe into existence using magic.
It's funny because he's not joking. LOL!
Engaged Voter posted at 1:53 pm on Tue, Aug 14, 2012.
"something that has done so much good for so many for so long"
Wow...what the HECK?! Next he'll claim the Holocaust and Moon landing never happened! What complete ignorance of history. Pathetic.
VofReason, your excuse for religion is a horrible one. It reminds me of the serial rapist who wanted a lenient sentence because he gave several thousand dollars to a charity for homeless children. Good deeds don't cancel out inhuman acts of violence and cruelty. Sorry about that. ;)
"The Bible has been here in some form for thousands of years"
The Iliad and the Epic of Gilgamesh have been here longer...did you have a point?
"Why do you think you have the right answer and even if you believe you do, who are you to tell us?"
This is the right question, but you are asking the wrong people...ask those who claim to "know" that their superstitious nonsense is true, since THEY are the ones pushing their silly beliefs on the rest of us.
VofReason posted at 1:25 pm on Tue, Aug 14, 2012.
Thank goodness we were able to see right through the argument of innovation and creativity to the real nemisis that is religion. I think you all need therapy. Some day you should look in the mirror and ask yourself how you can get so angry over something that has done so much good for so many for so long. In expansive terms, Enraged Voter, slick Willie and even I are relatively insignificant in the body of man in our time and perhaps impact on the world- some greater some lesser. The Bible has been here in some form for thousands of years and discussed and disected by people much smarter then any one here. Why do you think you have the right answer and even if you believe you do, who are you to tell us?
Engaged Voter posted at 1:16 pm on Mon, Aug 13, 2012.
"The natural man is an enemy to God."
Yes, and the fire breathing dragon is an enemy to the Cockatrice.
(both statements have equal validity, and both are Bible based...funny eh?)
"We are given to understand that He will be returning."
Ah yes, the "understanding" that comes from a book that claims the Earth is flat, rests on pillars, and doesn't move. I would call that a MISunderstanding.
"we'll be forging plows out of our swords and pruning hooks out of our spears, studying war no more."
Well that sure is strange, since that Jesus character in the Bible preached the exact opposite of this...
Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I [am] strong.
Matthew 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Not to mention - any DECENT parent with a SHRED of morality is unworthy, according to Jesus(and I am happy to be unworthy if this monstrous insanity is what is required!):
Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Dale Whiting posted at 12:18 pm on Mon, Aug 13, 2012.
Ok guys, I got your point.
Religion is the problem. However I would qualify your point. Modern religious thought has become a big part of the problem. It's human nature that is the problem. The natural man is an enemy to God.
The way I read the New Testament [and other works like the Koran] years ago someone challenged the way human behavior was being controlled by the few in power using religion as the control mechanism. And He paid dearly for that challenge.
We are given to understand that He will be returning. When He does, looks like He'll have His work cut out for Him. There is no way the US is a Christian Nation. It is those who believe that it is who are the problem. With His return, they'd better watch out!
Willie, FYI, we Mormons agree with you totally. There is no 'skydaddy' waiting to spank us. He's got better things to do. We'll be spanking ourselves. Engaged Voter, those better things include planting a new tree. Deep Space, we'll be forging plows out of our swords and pruning hooks out of our spears, studying war no more. I like that tree! How about you?
Arizona Willie posted at 11:32 am on Mon, Aug 13, 2012.
Engaged Voter: the name for the replace for religion is SECULAR HUMANISM.
We arrive at the same rules -- don't kill anyone -- don't steal -- don't mess with someone's wife etc. etc. but no god is necessary as a basis.
Secular humanism motivates us to do the right thing BECAUSE it is right -- not because some ' skydaddy ' is going to spank us after we die.
Engaged Voter posted at 9:27 am on Mon, Aug 13, 2012.
"An unfortunate combination of smugness, inertia and prejudice has trapped us in a prison of willful ignorance. "
This unfortunate combination has a name - Religion.
"Could curiosity force a few armchair theologians to venture out and seek EYEWITNESS VERIFICATION"
Um...no. Verification, whether eyewitness or credible evidence, has no meaning to people with a faith-based worldview. Hence the Creationism nonsense creeping into our schools.
Religion is like the old tree in the front yard that has died. For years it provided shade for the house, a playground for the kids, and home to many critters. But now it is time to remove it so it can be replaced with something better.
DeepSpace posted at 8:44 am on Mon, Aug 13, 2012.
Earth Is The True Planet Of War, Not Mars (Curiosity Rover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj5ju9ag2ZI