Courtesy John Spooner and The Age
In general, conservatism equals cowardice. It holds that the future is frightening, that we must get as much as we can now to be relaxed and comfortable, and that we must not allow anything or anyone to interfere with the getting. Conservatism is the refusal to countenance death. G.I. Gurdjieff said that there is mechanism that is turned off in the human species: the ability to understand and embrace the inevitability of death. If this were functioning, not one minute would be wasted in hatred of The Other. We would simply comprehend that we are all in this life together.
Sadly the human race is mostly conservative. In other words, cowardly.
In our haste to get rid of John Howard, leave us not forget that Kevin Rudd, the bloke who will take his place, is a conservative Christian. This means, among other things, that he believes that marriage is only possible between a man and a woman. After all, the Bible tells him so.
Rudolph Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, held the same belief. We're not equating Rudd with Höss, but wouldn't it be refreshing to encounter a "leader" who wasn't confined to a belief system based on the later misinterpretations of a frightened patriarchy? Jesus Christ preached love and tolerance as the path to enlightenment. He could not possibly have advocated something as municipal-minded as a ban on gay marriage. Jesus did not discriminate.
Rudd is politician, not a hero. Like Howard, he voted against the stem cell research bill passed by Parliament a while back. Wedged relentlessly by Howard, Rudd has de-boned most policies sacred to Labor. We like to think that he will change once elected, but as Ross Gittens (The Rudd Identity) suggests, he's gone too far: a Rudd Government will be 90 per cent the same as the Illiberal Party and 10 per cent Labor.
But here's the thing: So many Australians are sickened by the Howard Government's amoral opportunism and immoral trashing of the fair go that a 10 per cent improvement will be cause for celebrations the equal of Collingwood winning a premiership. In Australian parlance, that's saying something.
Links:
• Kyle Sandilands, Kevin Rudd argue gay marriage
• Rudd raises eyebrows with gay marriage
HH don't say anything against me mate, tin-tin, at this stage, please. Just the very thought of 3 more years of this mob makes me reach for the suitcase on top of the wardrobe and think 'Norway'. Hell, man/woman, once he wins the election and we get rid of the shriveled worm, as you suggest, everybody will be gay. Even Kev.
Dark humoured cartoon, with a christian type tinge, enclosed to cheer us all up.
http://laweekly.blogs.com/fish/2007/10/jesus-fucking-c.html#comments
Posted by joe2 on October 24, 2007
*sigh*
So the usual pro abortion, pro euthanasia, pro gay marriage, pro stem cell research, pro everything, lunatic element of the Left rears it's ugly head. The old, "there's no right or wrong, just different" chorus shouted under the banner of "freedom".
What about pedophiles? Surely you wouldn't suggest they're doing anything evil by acting on their impulses? They're just "different". What does the Bible "tell" on that one?
Authors have been writing against religion for 2000 years. Guess what? They died as they lived - with smug faced arrogance plastered all over the faces. The Church remains.
There is one thing on which we do agree - the repugnance of HoWARdism. Bring on the Christian Socialist Revolution. Go Rudd!
Posted by Neo on October 24, 2007
Regrettably, your impeccably constructed last sentence is on the money. Things just couldn;t get worse, so any better is a lot better. We have fallen a long, long way.
Posted by phil on October 24, 2007
What about pedophiles?
What about them? What do they have to do with the topic at hand?
Surely you wouldn't suggest they're doing anything evil by acting on their impulses?
Who's making this argument? What you're doing is bashing a strawman. I thought you Christians had a Commandment against bearing false witness.
Posted by AV on October 26, 2007