Monday, October 15, 2012

Daily Links, Oct 15, 2012

Looking down on Lishan town.

Pinned to my house with sore throat and headache. Hope you got out today. The island was talking about Brother 300, who had gone to gas station after gas station in Changhua. He'd tell the employee to fill 'er up, then go off to the bathroom, or pretend he was harried and talking on his phone. When the fill up was finished, he'd say he only said $300 and said he wouldn't pay for the rest. 14 stations attested to this. His photo was finally circulated, and he inevitably he drove into a gas station where it was posted. He yelled at the workers there, then threatened to have someone come and "redecorate the place". All on tape too. A welcome comic relief from all the crap that the government isn't doing anything about.....

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7 comments:

Readin said...

"...and Christianity is a minority religion with little political influence, and thankfully, likely to stay that way. So different from the insanity that grips the US where I come from."

First those nutty Christians came to the America seeking freedom to practice their religion and eventually infacted all the colonies with crazy ideas like religious tolerance.

Then those religious nuts in England used their outsized influence to push the crown into not only outlawing the slave trade for England, but also using the Royal Navy to enforc the ban against other peaceful slave trading nations.

Then the religous nuts in America got the bug and started their extremist push for abolition and even outright equality for black people - something even Abe Lincoln wouldn't support.

Of course we all know where that led to - churches in America pushing for so-call "civil rights" for black people in the 1960s.

/sarcasm over

wait, a little more:

And then there was the big oopsie - prohibition which nearly destroyed the nation and like the bankrupting New Deal and War on Poverty is still with us because the prohibition has never been repealed.

And let's not forget that abortion is illegal in every state except Hawaii. And when churches were ordered to start directly paying for things they find morally abhorrent, the state caved and said no they would never force churches or even individuals to do such a thing.

And don't forget that America is the only country where all forms of pornography are outlawed and the laws keep getting stricter. Meanwhile gambling has been contained so that it is only legal in Nevada.

Which part of the US did you say you were from?

Readin said...

How much influence did the Presbyterian church have in Taiwan during the push for democracy the end of martial law?

Michael Turton said...

Presbyterian Church had a huge influence on the push for democracy.

First those nutty Christians came to the America seeking freedom to practice their religion and eventually infacted all the colonies with crazy ideas like religious tolerance.


Actually, they came to practice religious intolerance and hate and to ensure other beliefs could not gain a foothold. Protestant Christians hung Quakers in Boston until 1661, ensured that Canada would not join the US because of America's anti-Catholic laws which in many places kept Catholics out of public life, supported slavery......I mean, we could go on all day.

In any case, the Christian madness and intolerance that has gripped the US at present, is not taking over here. It's like a breath of fresh air, living here. Religious toleration and indifference is one of the island's most attractive qualities.

Michael

Readin said...

For some of the groups, "freedom to practice their religion did mean practicing a religious intolerance. But that wasn't true for all the groups. And the groups came to co-exist peacefully. It was America, where very religious came and settled, that got rid of the idea of a national church and wrote the first amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech, press, and religion.

And again, it was the religious leaders who pushed for the end of the slave trade, the end of slavery, the end of jim crow and racial segregation. It is the religious leaders of today who, though far less influential than in the past, push for reform of prisons so that rape will stop being a regular practice and subject of Late Night talk show jokes.

Of course the issue that is most readily identified with churches today is abortion. And despite the claim that religious "insanity" grips the nation, abortion on demand still remains legal everywhere in America. Our Democratic candidates for how office regularly promise to appoint only judges who will uphold Roe v. Wade while our Republican candidates are put under enormous pressure by the media to promise "no litmus test" for judges. We have a president who believes it should not only be legal to kill babies inside the womb, but that it should be legal to pull them part of the way out and kill them, and that if somehow the baby manages to survive the attempt to kill it and finds itself alive and viable outside the mother then it should be legal to put the baby in a closet to allow it to die of neglect.

Michael Turton said...

You're welcome to believe whatever myths about history you like [shrug]. I will continue to enjoy living in tolerant, non-Christian Taiwan, and hoping US-style religious madness stays in the US. Taiwan is a great place to be an atheist in, and sometimes I like to remind readers of that.

Michael

Readin said...

"And the groups came to co-exist peacefully."

I suppose that could be misinterpreted. Over time the groups interacted and even those that were originally intolerant began to co-exist peacefully with their neighbors.

Anonymous said...

This begs the question, WHY did "those nutty Christians" have to come all the way to America to find "freedom"?

I'm pretty sure it wasn't the Turks they were fleeing from.