The freedom of blogging is something of a double edged sword. On one hand, the freedom to write about anything, and cast your opinion, on the other, the knowledge that making yourself look a bit silly or going a bit too far with your opinion will ruin any reputation you want to build up as a credible blogger.
Most people acknowledge that political correctness has gone a bit mad, but you still have to toe the party line, as it were, perhaps be a little inhibited in your own opinion. Nobody in their right mind deliberately sets out to offend someone; but you still have to mind your P's and Q's when venturing into casting your own view in a topical hotbed.
Race, sexuality, religion, three taboo subjects where you dare not venture in fear of being cast racist, homophobic or.. well.. opening one hell of a can of worms when it comes to religion. However, there does come that time where you allow yourself and your own beliefs to be offended purely by listening to someone elses, and feel unable to respond in fear of offending them.
I'm not religious; I admire those that are, because they can find an inner strength they never knew they had or a faith, even if they do attribute it somewhat unfairly to a higher being. It really can strengthen people. Personally, I like to think I'm open minded on the subject. I do think it's a fine line, because the definition of a singular religion generally means you follow that chosen God and denounce all others (before I get an overwhelming response to this, I know it's flippant, but it's not what I want to focus on so I'm just making a general point to steer where I need to get to).
I watched one of those lifestyle programmes the other night; you know the ones. Banged up Abroad, My Close Call with Death, When Animals Go Wrong, etc, the one I watched was about a guy who had entered into a coma and recovered, and said that during his coma, he came "face to face with the devil" and had some kind of conversation with him. It's not an uncommon tale, is it? People have a close call with death and have a vision.
People's belief of the afterlife, if any, is directly linked to their religious belief. If you are a Christian, you're going to Heaven, etc. I can appreciate the need to believe in something and as said, I am fairly open minded about the possibility that there is a greater being.
But, if someone is going to tell me in all seriousness that they came "face to face" with the "devil" and had a life changing experience because of it and expect me to believe them? No, sorry. But you can't say no without offending their religious belief can you? You can't say that during the coma their body was in the hospital room the entire time and CCTV will prove it. That the person was unconcious and they had a dream, no matter how real it felt at the time. I totally believe the extensive scientific research that has concluded that near death experiences trigger some kind of life assessment, the whole "life flashing before your eyes" thing. The white light theory as the body shuts down makes sense. What doesn't make sense is having a dream about something that isn't even proven to exist, something you physically have never seen, and then waking up, trying to convince someone and then being offended on account of your belief when they don't believe you.
My rationale was this; if I moved to a desert island with the missus and had two lovely kids, told them nothing was to happen after they die apart from rotting in the ground (sorry for the bluntness) but there was a Superman in the Sky who would rescue them if they were very good and they could start their life from whatever point they wanted, that's what they would be conditioned to believe. It stands to reason that their near death experience may be coming face to face with Superman. It's not a watertight theory; granted. But it's as close to an equivalent as I could twist into being ridiculous.
If I said that I had a dream last night that I won the lottery; I wouldn't be able to go into a bank and withdraw the money. I would be laughed out or, more likely, escorted by the police. The explanation of the dream wouldn't really stand up in court.
I'm all for respecting people's beliefs; but surely we are allowed a right of reply when our intelligence is being insulted?
Interesting points, yolkie. Good read as usual. I think we should be and are allowed the right of reply but, annoyingly, you must be careful of some of the things you say these days.
ReplyDeleteThe guy who said that he had 'come face to face' with the devil is an absolute loony. He may have been doing what you despise the most, which is when people do their utmost (to quote Yolkie Talkie 4) "to get their 5 minutes of fame".