30 DAYS

For some reason, right now I'm in an intellectual mood, so I'm going to digress from the usual senseless banter and write some thoughts I had.

Have you seen the show on the FX channel called 30 Days? Its done by the guy who did the documentary Supersize Me. Brilliant guy. If you haven't seen the show, he takes somebody or some people and exposes them to something for 30 days to explore that "something" and educate people on the findings. It's on every Wednesday.

Last night, the show was about Christians vs. Muslims. VERY interesting. I'm not religious. In fact, the idea of organized religion is something that is foreign to me. Particularly as most are based on "faith", yet they don't typically respect someone else's "faith". Who makes them so self-righteous to think what they have "faith" in is the TRUTH??

At any rate, they took an insurance salesman from BFE West Virginia, a somewhat successful Christian family guy (but definitely a frat guy who never grew up), and stuck him in a fundamentally Muslim household in Dearborn MI (high Muslim population) and he was required to "fit in". He was to wear Islamic-like clothes, read the Qu'ran everyday, grow a beard and generally live like a Muslim. First off, this guy really was a tool. I got the impression he was a good salesman, but other than that - he was seriously clue less - the perfect candidate for the mission. The family he was placed with seemed very nice. They were educated (He was a Dr. and she was finishing law school)peaceful, gracious and polite. Also very true to their beliefs. They deserved better than to be stuck with this guy, but hopefully they were being compensated.

For much of the first two weeks, he was so consumed with not "going against Christianity" that he lost a lot of opportunity to open his mind to another way of life. He then found a cleric who made more sense to him and he was then able to begin learning. He was then able to find a respect for the way they live and some staunch misunderstandings carried by the vast majority of non-Muslim Americans (this was also documented throughout the program).

One of the re-occurring themes to the program was the association between Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. It would be absurd to pretend there isn't a link. It would be even more absurd to deny there is a reason for that association. But are all fundamentalist Christians abortion clinic bombers? Should we look at all of them as potential bombers? Of course not, just as being Muslim doesn't make you a terrorist. I WILL say, however, that the offenders should be dealt with in as cruel of way as they display. In otherwords, I'm tired of hearing about "war abuses" overseas. Fuck that! Torture away at these assholes who are decapitating innocent people and upsetting the peace of the general public violently. Publicly hang these bastards who are bombing abortion clinics. No mercy! Then things would quiet down a little.

Although I don't subscribe to any religion, It's in everyone's best interest to understand other beliefs and ways of life. Its a shame people in this country tend to be so blind (or maybe closed-minded) to these differing concepts.

that's my rant for the month, so have at it.

Oh, and check out this show! It's reality TV of the good kind.