My Friend Walt

My friend Walter, (he disliked Walt), passed away a few days ago. Still fairly young at 57; cancer had his number.

Walter was a very intelligent man. His mind contained more knowledge about aviation than almost anyone I've ever known; a shame that he lost his mind as the disease spread. By the time it was his time, he barely knew where or who he was. He was a pilot as well as a controller, so knew both sides of the coin when it came to his profession. He worked day shifts, came in early; always grumpy. Made us laugh. Usually we'd leave him alone until he woke up, but every so often would have to tease. He also was extremely detailed in all that he did. If you asked Walter for instructions on how to get somewhere, you should take a seat. Every street and every landmark would be given; it would be a long discussion.

My friend Walter never talked about religion, but some time after the onset of his disease, especially into retirement, he started attending church regularly. Maybe he always attended church and never mentioned it? He knew I was an atheist, so maybe that's why he never brought up his faith. In fact, it was others who told me he went to church every morning.

I hope it brought him some comfort.

Whatever I think of religion as a whole, I've always tried to maintain the thought that it is not the person, but the institution that I have a problem with. Yes, those who preach also come under the gun as they should, but those who hold onto a private belief do not earn my dismay. As far as I'm aware, he had a catholic upbringing, so the institution is the reason for his thoughts.

I'm not positive on this point, but if memory serves me right, his wife friended me on FB. I do not hide what I am; an atheist. I was leery about friending her, since I knew Walter was going to church everyday, but I wanted to be kept in the loop so I accepted. A few weeks or a month later, I looked at my list and noticed she was no longer there. I decided she didn't like my status and I let it go.

Not going to rub salt into an open wound. 

One thought to keep in mind is that religion's greatest assets can be our friends and family. That is how the institution stays alive. It is not the anti-science group, or the silly religious arm of conservative groups. It is the liberal theists who maintain a relationship with those who are firmly planted in reality. It is those we care about that keeps religion alive in the world, because we are normally too caring to hurt them.

Religion tears family and friends apart in many subtle ways.

We never regularly hung out, but when you work with someone for a couple of decades plus, they become family. I hadn't seen Walter for a year and a half or so, always thinking we'd get together one more time. 

Never will happen now. I will miss him.

Take My Hand

I've recently been entrenched in a discussion about unions and how horrible they are for society. A debate that is unmoderated, a debate where all the worst logical fallacies are employed. Well, I guess not all, but to give you the flavor of the idiocy; yes, Hitler has come up. 

I guess it's not that bad, ad homs are the worst of the discussion. I lost my temper once, apologized and stayed away for a few days, but kept following. The ad homs continued from the conservatives, (they really have no debating skills), and whether the authors of the slams thought they were so subtle that no one would notice I do not know, but I do know that I have no respect for the ideas being promulgated. And I really have great distaste for people who think they're subtle and intelligent when in reality their slams are not very subtle, and their minds are incapable of holding a reasonable discussion.

But then again, being cranky and aggressive, I must say it has given me great pleasure recently to wade back in and tell them what I thought of all their jackass conservative ideas. I went as far as to say I'd love to see the conservatives in this country become extinct. Even as far as subliminally forwarding the thought that I'd be happy to help that happen in any way possible.

Sometimes telling someone they're a jackass, or to fuck off, does blow off a little steam without physically hurting someone. 

And I really shouldn't put all conservatives in the same boat, though I think they all have that selfish thought pattern that makes me want to grab a pitchfork and a couple of torches. I know that there might be a conservative or two who may actually want to discuss a thought in an intelligent manner, they're just few and far between. This cast of jokers also cling to 9/11 conspiracies and other looney tunes. 

I know that someone will say, why bother? It is fairly useless to converse with those that cannot comprehend reality. But, these are atheists. Besides all the debaters being atheists, the majority are liberal, which seems to be the norm for groups of atheists; most lean to the left. Most are a bit more compassionate than these yahoos.

I only waded back in because of the seeming weak responses by my progressive friends. They were intelligent responses, they were fact filled, they were thoughtful; and they were losing the debate because the screaming monkeys of the right brought out the guns and shut up the liberal dissenters.

The comment that drew me back into the conversation was a right leaning bastard who wrote, "those who have been taken over by ideology can no longer see the truth."

Okay, gloves coming off now, I hate that tactic. The ones entrenched in their ideology are always the first to claim someone else is having a problem. 

My angry and not very intelligent response:

"I haven't seen the rich idolized this much in years. Unions compared with hitler, what the fuck? You guys are cracking me up. Why don't you go hang out with your idols? Kiss their ass, maybe they'll give you a crumb. 

History shows you have lost this debate. Scream and yell, get your panties in a bind, don't care. Since Reagan we've seen wages drop, benefits drop; basically the Ayn Rand creed has fucked the nation. The Amercan dream no more. And look at the jackass teapartiers now in congress, hey where's the jobs bitches? You keep giving tax break after tax break to the rich and the middle class dwindles. Go ahead and talk about Marxism, I'll talk about what's happening here, which is easy to see for those of us not captured by dogma or ideology. For thirty years this anti-worker creed has been pushed on the american people. It's failed bitches, open up your eyes. You may be a lazy dick licking bitch, but mine work for a living, and we will get paid for it. You're offspring can live in the fucking garbage dumps, not mine. 

Those promoting this free market crap just can't see what's happening. they deny the losses of jobs. They say Americans aren't worth what they are paid. 40 hour work weeks, no thanks. Minimum wage, no thanks. No union protection, kiss my ass."

I ranted for a while. Probably not constructive, but I was looking for the same enjoyment these people were having, and you know, it felt pretty good.

Every so often I think we need to rant at the ignorance that has been allowed to creep into our society. Every so often we need to show the muckrakers, these liars and thieves, that we will fight back.

Though I have blogged similar thoughts in the past, I still think it needs to be said over and over, fight back. I received thanks from the more progressive individuals in the dialogue and that was nice, but I'd like to see them rant once in a while themselves. There comes a time when it is right to pick a fight. 

It is hard for me to believe sometimes that there are people who hate their fellow man so much they'd shoot themselves in the foot to make sure you don't succeed. What is it driving this insanity, the dusty dregs of religion?

Take my hand, lets make a stand.