I often wonder if people think about the things that they say. Even in an environment like a local "letters to the editor" column in a newspaper, sloppy thinking abounds. I've seen this before, but it showed up on Digg again today, and I got curious where "Soldotna" is. Turns out, it's less than 200 miles from Wasilla, land of Sarah Palin. I don't mean to impugn all of Alaska with these two examples of morons, but it certainly does make me wonder...
Monday, November 3, 2008
Atheists should get out of the country?
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I'm so impressed with you that you were able to talk about this so calmly and refer to it as "sloppy thinking", which is really a polite understatement. This type of shit really gets me foaming at the mouth.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how religious people can honestly think they'll still get into "heaven" when they behave like hateful beasts toward other people. Talk about not taking the core Jesus message to heart.
Hey, update. I was so annoyed by this that I googled the woman's name.
ReplyDeleteI am so relieved to hear it's a hoax, although Snopes noted that sadly, a lot of people wrote to them sharing her perspective. The paper also posted something about it.
I feel a little foolish, but at the same time, I know this attitude is out there. My parents are much like that. I think that if they were allowed to push a button that would transport every American atheist to Canada, they would probably do it.
Yeah, the letter, although in this instance proved to be a hoax, is far too similar to hundreds of letters that are actually printed, at least here in Omaha.
ReplyDeleteAnd the paper, in their admission, still had this unfortunate bit to say: "In two days, we receive more than 30 letters. Some were angry with her. Some were angry with us. They said we should be ashamed of ourselves for printing it, and that we would never have done that if it were about blacks or Jews. They’re right, we wouldn’t have. However, to be an atheist, you make a conscious choice."
So, according to them, the sentiment is still OK, because you have to choose to be one of these horrible atheists? Unfortunate blacks and jews are born that way, but when you choose atheism, you invite bigoted hate speech?