i am a rotten filthy stinking liar

i said i wan't going to have more to say about 11/23/2006, but i'm going back on that. what else would you expect from an atheist-leaning fan of that notorious satan worshipper and dirty homosexual pervert, a. crowley? that's right: nothing but dirty homosexual perverted lies.

so, there they were, now for the honest part.

early on in my visit, 203's dad related a tale of how, just weeks prior, he had approached his local catholic priest and posited this question, paraphrased of course, and likely misremembered:

the jews are brainwashed into believing that jesus is not the messiah, as are the ay-rabs. why aren't we, who consider jesus to be our savior, also considered brainwashed?

now, i know he said it very differently than that, but that was the thrust. the priest, spinelessly answered something along the lines of "i don't know," rather than "because we're right".

i should have pursued the topic with the man, but at that point i'd only known him half a day or so and wasn't ready for that sort of conversation. i write this because upon reading my post of yesterday, 203 wondered why i didn't reference this subject. i told her that the idea of "brainwashing" was a latent subtext in my post, which, unlike my filthy stinking liarage about not posting about 11/23 again, was the truth.

his confrontational question is a fascinating one and reveals perhaps that he's come to similar conclusions as i have. i do not consider "all religions equal", as a pragmatist, i believe in doing what works. for him, evidently, the big C is working. his question indicates that to some (unknown by me) extent, he sees through the hand waving to what's going on beneath. any modern programming language can be made to do any modern programming task. similarly, and modern religion (huh, there's a funny) can be made to do any modern religious task. if you've been a practicing java programmer for 10 years, or a practising Catholic for 70, and your programming language and religion are getting the job done for you, why switch now, even if you can see the wool over your eyes?

the answer, of course, has to do with using the right tool for the job. but just as with programming languages, so with religion: while there may be a better tool for the job, you're faced with a deadline and learning a new tool may take more time than you've got, or at least, more time than is worth the incremental gain in efficiency offered by the new tool.

imho, someone who can realize that his way of thinking is a result, to some extent, of brainwashing is light years ahead of the majority of the human species.

how many young people die for their version of dogmatic theism (or any other dogma of choice) without having the chance to consider that other dogmatic theisms may be just as personally compelling, and therefore, just as (in)valid?

we actually discussed brainwashing at least one other time during TG, in regards to new rules in army boot camp (where sister #2's son #2 works). in the past, recruits were not allowed to use the phone during basic. now, they can. sister #2's son #2 wondered aloud, jokingly, how recruits could be expected to receive proper brainwashing if they could call outside. i pointed out that it was no joking matter: the first and most basic technique of brainwashing is isolation (see "V for Vendetta" for a superb illustration). the open culture in much of america these days makes difficult the successful religious brainwashing, because children come into contact with other children of different persuasions (where this is not the case, the homogenous adherence to a particular dogma is apparent and self-reinforcing). but how much better a chance a young person growing up in even a place like Waynesville, MO has of escaping (or choosing not to escape) the brainwashing of his community than a young person growing up in Gaza!

but even the young person of Gaza has a decent fighting chance these days (perhaps a better chance than someone growing up in Waynesville -- I may have it backward), being in close proximity to jews, christians, and atheists -- so long as they're not shooting at him and his family. religious brainwashing is not the only or most necessary form. hatred can be just as effective, if not more effective, than dogmatic theistic mind control.

exposure to the big bad world out there is the most effective counter (after imagination) to the various brainwashings that we all labour through.

clearly, 203's dad has made it well beyond the stage of "young person", and, if his story was accurately relayed, has also made it to a point of (again, imho) wisdom far greater than the priest he talked to, the priest who had no answer to why his own religion was better than islam or judaism, but (presumably) remained a priest. exposure to the big bad world out there is not something that 203's parents lack.

203 worried that i might think her folks were "simple country folk", which i knew was nonsense before i met them. at the time 203's dad told us this story, i thought it just an example of how he is a joker with his head screwed on right (later re-verified by his thanksgiving "grace"). now, a little analysis later, i realize that it also indicates that we're closer than might be guessed in our understandings of how the world turns. and that, as i knew going in, her folks are no slouches intellectually.

which is why we got along so well, no doubt.