Stuff Not Covered in First Post, Christianism

-I read...A LOT. Not just dystopian fiction, but also Russian literature (pre- and post-Revolutionary) and old American classics such as The Scarlet Letter (I love Hawthorne :) )

Yes, I have a "thing," a sort of infatuation with Russian literature, which has manifested into an interest in anything Russian, including music (Regina Spektor) and movies (Nightwatch). I really like Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master & Margarita, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. I also enjoy Russian-American authors such as Vladimir Nabokov (recently finished Lolita and Invitation to a Beheading) and especially Ayn Rand.

I also read political science texts. I have, in my room, finished, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, American Theocracy, and What's the Matter With Kansas? Ironically, AT and WtMWK? are both written by Republicans!

On End of Faith: I have been a radical atheist before I read this book, thanks to history classes, independent study, and attention to politics. Sam Harris merely verbalized and clarified (thank you Mr Harris!) my sentiments, scaring the crap out of me all the while. What I knew little of at the time was that Jesus was not as "white" (pure) as Elmer Gantries and Grand Inquisitors make him out to be.

However, I think the book is mistitled: "The end of reason," because if these invertebrates and schizophrenics take over, all expressions of reason (Socrates, Rand, Darwin, into the bonfire, Nazi-style or F451!) and even (especially) loving sexual expression will be illegal, replaced by government-sanctioned schizophrenia and by rape between Offred and the Commander. Would there at least be a "Jezebel's," some remnant, though cheapened, sexual outlet? [See The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.]

I had a dream last night that I was a horrific monster. I only got a glimpse of myself but I think I looked something like the Overmind in StarCraft. It was pretty cool.

I have to tell you that I'm big into history. I'm particularly interested in the totalitarian regimes in the pre- and post-WW2 eras, from Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and Franco, to Ayatollah Khomeini and the rising fascist* faction of the Republican party. My interest is not at all in support of or the desire to repeat their actions, but instead to prevent them from happening again. I will not say anything bad about them because their actions speak for themselves, but the formulas and conditions that led to such tyranny are almost textbook, from the Bolsheviks to Stalin, from the Muslims to Khomeini.

Radical sentiment is enormously high. A figure rises up as a champion of the cause. That figure obtains political power - and betrays everything. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. When I look at people under the spell of Falwell, Robertson, Dobson, etc., I am absolutely terrified because I know how those leaders really feel: They merely want power. Falwell recently described his followers as a "flock." This might have largely gone unnoticed, but I'm going to deconstruct it.

Flock: A group of sheep. What are sheep (for those unfamiliar with human or animal behavior)? Sheep are basically passive animals who do whatever they are told (by a shepherd or vicious dogs on a farm), or sit and eat, minding their own business.

Does anyone see where I'm going? Is there anyone who wants me to keep going?

Ted Haggard expressed anger at evolutionists' description of humans as "animals" (which we are, when everything is boiled down), but the ironic thing is that he and these men capitalize on the unthinking nature of their followers, and treat their followers exactly like the lowest of animals by playing "Follow the Leader." He and others profit because in intellect and self-worth, these people are animals, specifically either sheep (if the activities are benign, which is rare) or lemmings (taken into consideration the political implications of sheep-dom).

"The most dangerous people, I think, are those that either deny, or are wholly ignorant of the consequences of what they advocate." I said these words to an email to my father, and I would like them spread to the minds of every intelligent, critically-thinking human being on this planet. This is why democracy worldwide is in dire straits, from European militant Muslims to Christian Nationalist Americans (Michelle Goldberg).

*Fascist: A significant faction of the Republican party (the Religious Right/Christian conservatives) has no regard for individual thought and power over his or her own life. They seek to shove Christian doctrine and dogma (sexual suppression, misogyny, xenophobia, IGNORANCE) down the throats of every American, as Khomeini did to every Iranian in the 1980s. A Washington correspondent for the NY Times even titled his book American Fascists.