Being calm, being cool, not ranting....

I will not say anything more on the ridiculousness that is the pottersginny thing because frankly, I have better things to do. Beyond this:

Religion is rarely if ever the reason: It is the excuse. People do not truly wage war of any kind in the name of religion, it is the excuse they give for hatred, prejudice and violence. Religion is the excuse used for censorship and refusing to think for oneself. It's also the excuse for many other things, but it's 2:30am and I'm very tired.

Religion should be more than an excuse. Religion should be something we choose ourselves (as opposed to having it forced onto us by family/peers/random trolls) to adopt or choose to discard. I could throw most of the Dogma script at you all, but I'll just direct you to the film itself or here.

You know what I think (let's pretend it matters)? I think it's the exact same God we're all praying to. The Same One (shift key abuse!). But because he gave us free will, because he allows us to make our own decisions, we have different ways of praying to him and different views of what Heaven is. He can be a vengeful God or a loving God depending on how we wish to view Him. Mine is a Catholic God by virtue (or otherwise) of birth. But he is not only a Catholic God. 'My' God loves us all, whether we are straight or gay, white/black/polka-dot, Catholic/Jewish/Muslim/etc. I really believe it's the same one. Something which I suspect will piss some people off when they arrive at the fabled pearly gates. Maybe I'm utterly, utterly wrong. But none of us will know until the moment we shuffle off this mortal coil. So why don't we act like human beans and allow each other our differing opinions. I consider that a right as a member of the human race.

This is something that has been on my mind for a while, even before this whole thing: For the record, although I'm so white I look like the blood donor that couldn't say no, I too am multi-racial/mixed-heritage/whatever you want to call it. I am genetically Irish according to the small amounts of info I have from the adoption agency. I was brought up in and near London by cockneys, one of whom had a Croatian mother, while the other had a N. Irish mother. The only real connection between them all is Catholicism. I can't speak to the kind of tensions kids who have physically/genetically/whatever heritage. I've only ever had to deal with people's bigotry on a few isolated occasions, for which I am thankful. But I will tell you this: I am proud that I have such mixed/confused ancestry. I am proud that there are three different national team footie shirts in my wardrobe. I am proud that I am not one thing or another. I am me. Clare Marie. And yes sometimes growing up, and to this day, I am confused as to who I am. That isn't a feeling limited to mixed-race kids, people. We have our entire lives to work out who we are. If we have it all worked out by the time we reach adulthood, where's the fun to be had afterwards? I don't always know what I'm meant to think when the latest news from the N. Irish peace process comes along, except that I quite desperately want permanent peace for the entire island. For everyone.

I tell you this: if we were all the same, how boring would the world be? It is our differences that make us who we are as much as our similarities.

Right. I've gone on faaar too long about stuff that's probably unimportant or stupid. As always, I hope I haven't offended anyone (which I hope makes me the opposite of certain people). I just write what I feel, man. Apparently this involves lots of brackets. Are they brackets or parentheses?

On a lighter note: Made meself two new avatars, dodged exam revision all day, got my Oscars essay back (teacher is a twat) and wrote an H/G thing which I posted earlier.

Until next time, when I hope to return to my usual inane discussion of movies (Flynn rocks, Crowe doesn't) and rock music (Beatles rock, Oasis don't) and other such stuff. Hope you are all OK. Loff you all muchly.

Being calm, being cool, not ranting....

I will not say anything more on the ridiculousness that is the pottersginny thing because frankly, I have better things to do. Beyond this:

Religion is rarely if ever the reason: It is the excuse. People do not truly wage war of any kind in the name of religion, it is the excuse they give for hatred, prejudice and violence. Religion is the excuse used for censorship and refusing to think for oneself. It's also the excuse for many other things, but it's 2:30am and I'm very tired.

Religion should be more than an excuse. Religion should be something we choose ourselves (as opposed to having it forced onto us by family/peers/random trolls) to adopt or choose to discard. I could throw most of the Dogma script at you all, but I'll just direct you to the film itself or here.

You know what I think (let's pretend it matters)? I think it's the exact same God we're all praying to. The Same One (shift key abuse!). But because he gave us free will, because he allows us to make our own decisions, we have different ways of praying to him and different views of what Heaven is. He can be a vengeful God or a loving God depending on how we wish to view Him. Mine is a Catholic God by virtue (or otherwise) of birth. But he is not only a Catholic God. 'My' God loves us all, whether we are straight or gay, white/black/polka-dot, Catholic/Jewish/Muslim/etc. I really believe it's the same one. Something which I suspect will piss some people off when they arrive at the fabled pearly gates. Maybe I'm utterly, utterly wrong. But none of us will know until the moment we shuffle off this mortal coil. So why don't we act like human beans and allow each other our differing opinions. I consider that a right as a member of the human race.

This is something that has been on my mind for a while, even before this whole thing: For the record, although I'm so white I look like the blood donor that couldn't say no, I too am multi-racial/mixed-heritage/whatever you want to call it. I am genetically Irish according to the small amounts of info I have from the adoption agency. I was brought up in and near London by cockneys, one of whom had a Croatian mother, while the other had a N. Irish mother. The only real connection between them all is Catholicism. I can't speak to the kind of tensions kids who have physically/genetically/whatever heritage. I've only ever had to deal with people's bigotry on a few isolated occasions, for which I am thankful. But I will tell you this: I am proud that I have such mixed/confused ancestry. I am proud that there are three different national team footie shirts in my wardrobe. I am proud that I am not one thing or another. I am me. Clare Marie. And yes sometimes growing up, and to this day, I am confused as to who I am. That isn't a feeling limited to mixed-race kids, people. We have our entire lives to work out who we are. If we have it all worked out by the time we reach adulthood, where's the fun to be had afterwards? I don't always know what I'm meant to think when the latest news from the N. Irish peace process comes along, except that I quite desperately want permanent peace for the entire island. For everyone.

I tell you this: if we were all the same, how boring would the world be? It is our differences that make us who we are as much as our similarities.

Right. I've gone on faaar too long about stuff that's probably unimportant or stupid. As always, I hope I haven't offended anyone (which I hope makes me the opposite of certain people). I just write what I feel, man. Apparently this involves lots of brackets. Are they brackets or parentheses?

On a lighter note: Made meself two new avatars, dodged exam revision all day, got my Oscars essay back (teacher is a twat) and wrote an H/G thing which I posted earlier.

Until next time, when I hope to return to my usual inane discussion of movies (Flynn rocks, Crowe doesn't) and rock music (Beatles rock, Oasis don't) and other such stuff. Hope you are all OK. Loff you all muchly.