Apr

30

Hinduism: The True Story

April 30, 2008 by Brandon | 2 Comments

A little while ago, I wrote a post about the new Mike Myers film The Love Guru and how the film is enraging some Hindus because they think it belittles their faith. I even got a slightly annoyed commenter respond to it.

Well, you know what? Hinduism is fully deserving of criticism, just like Christianity. It is just as ignorant and stupid as Christianity and it breeds idiots.

I sound a little angry don’t I? I should be. And everyone else should be too.

This is the stuff religion does.

(CNN) — A man, incensed that a 6-year-old girl chose to walk through a path reserved for upper caste villagers, pushed her into burning embers, police in north India said Wednesday. She was seriously burned.

The girl is a Dalit, or an “untouchable,” according to India’s traditional caste system.

[...]

Hindus believe there are five main groups of people, four of which sprang from the body of the first man.

The Brahmin class comes from the mouth. They are the priests and holy men, the most elevated of the castes.

Next is the Ksatriyas, the kings, warriors and soldiers created from the arms.

The Vaisyas come from the thighs. They are the merchants and traders of society.

And the Sudras, or laborers, come from the feet.

The last group is the Dalits, or the “untouchables.” They’re considered too impure to have come from the primordial being. Untouchables are often forced to work in menial jobs. They drink from separate wells. They use different entry ways, coming and going from buildings.

[...]

“Dalits are seen to pollute higher caste people if they come in touch with them, hence the ‘untouchables,’” the group says on its Web site. “If a higher caste Hindu is touched by, or even had a Dalit’s shadow fall across them, they consider themselves to be polluted and have to go through a rigorous series of rituals to be cleansed.”

Luckily, this man was arrested and is being charged with attempted murder, thanks to people trying to change this asinine religious-based social structure and to India’s constitution which outlaws such discrimination.



Apr

28

I found this story about Iran warning against the importation of Barbie dolls to be amusing. It comes as no surprise that they’d be against Barbie dolls, since they don’t make a Malibu Burka Barbie.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – A top Iranian judiciary official warned Monday against the “destructive” cultural and social consequences of importing Barbie dolls and other Western toys. Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi said in an official letter to Vice President Parviz Davoudi that the Western toys was a “danger” that needed to be stopped.

“The irregular importation of such toys, which unfortunately arrive through unofficial sources and smuggling, is destructive culturally and a social danger,” Najafabadi said in his letter, a copy of which was made available to The Associated Press.

Iranian markets have been inundated with smuggled Western toys in recent years partly due to a dramatic rise in purchasing power as a result of increased oil revenues.

While importing the toys is not necessarily illegal, it is discouraged by a government that made its name on preserving Iran from Western cultural influences.

In Monday’s letter, Najafabadi said the increasing visibility of Western dolls was raising the alarm among authorities who were considering intervening.

“The displays of personalities such as Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter … as well as the irregular importation of unsanctioned computer games and movies are all warning bells to the officials in the cultural arena,” the letter said.

Najafabadi said Iran was the world’s third biggest importer of toys, and these smuggled imports posed a threat to the “identity” of the new generation.

“Undoubtedly, the personality and identity of the new generation and our children, as a result of unrestricted importation of toys, has been put at risk and caused irreparable damages,” he said.

Authorities launched a temporary campaign of confiscating Barbie from toy stores in 2002, denouncing the un-Islamic sensibilities of the iconic American doll. The campaign was eventually discontinued.

That same year, though, Iran introduced a competing doll—the twins Dara and Sara, who promoted traditional values with their modest clothing and pro-family stories but they proved unable to stem the Barbie tide.

In 1996, the head of a government-backed children’s agency called Barbie a “Trojan horse” sneaking in Western influences such as makeup and revealing clothes.

Barbie is sold wearing swimsuits and miniskirts in a society where women must wear head scarves in public and men and women are not allowed to swim together.



Apr

28

The Results Are In

April 28, 2008 by Brandon | Leave a Comment

Hey everyone. I know there haven’t been many updates in the past few days. I’ve been slightly busy with starting a new full-time job and Mario Kart Wii. It can’t be helped.

In any event, here’s a lovely update concerning the polygamist sect.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Texas child welfare officials say more than half the teen girls swept into state custody from a polygamist sect’s ranch have been pregnant. Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar says 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 were living on the ranch in Eldorado. Of that group, 31 already have children or are pregnant.

State officials took custody of all 463 children at the Yearning For Zion Ranch more than three weeks ago after a raid prompted by calls to a domestic violence hotline.

Child welfare officials say there was a pattern of underage girls forced into “spiritual marriages” with much older men at the ranch.


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.



Apr

26

Lethal Cuteness

April 26, 2008 by Brandon | Leave a Comment

 This little guy probably requires a background check to own.



Apr

22

The Terrible Power of Photoshop

April 22, 2008 by Brandon | 1 Comment

I made these last night and posted them over in a comment at Possummomma. Enjoy.

 
 
 



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What is Fractal Wrongness?

The state of being wrong at every conceivable scale of resolution. That is, from a distance, a fractally wrong person's worldview is incorrect; and furthermore, if you zoom in on any small part of that person's worldview, that part is just as wrong as the whole worldview.

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