Is this a rant?

[WritersBlock]

I'm not trying to promote my blog here. I'm just interested in opinions. I tried to make a serious, thought-provoking statement, but I've been told that it reads like a rant. I'm just wondering if I should delete it now, because it's one of the few that really wasn't intended as such.

Just imagine you're a devout Christian. Or a devout believer in any religion; I'm using Christianity as an example.

You hold certain things holy. There are some things you just don't do, because they break God's sacred law. You believe that if you do certain things, and do not repent or seek forgiveness in remorse afterward, you will spend eternity in hell.

You believe this with all your heart. Your religion is the foundation upon which you live your life. There are things you just would never dream of doing; wicked things that mock your Lord and Savior; things that fill you with revulsion.

Think about it for a minute. What are some of those awful, wicked things? Are they thoughts? Actions? Words? What are some of the worst sins possible for you to imagine committing?

They're awful, aren't they? Horrible, the things the imagination can come up with....


Now - imagine you're in a foreign prison, and your interrogators decide you aren't telling them what they want to hear. Knowing your strong religious beliefs, they decide to use them against you.

http://deardubya.blog-city.com/read/1036312.htm

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. Reads pretty thoughtful to me-nice style, btw

And believe you me, I know about ranting

[WritersBlock]

3. Thank you.

I was getting a bit worried there for awhile.

I wasn't even in bitch-mode when I wrote this one.

[NoSheep]

2. I believe that you have made a very good point in your statement

about the hypocrisy of the current US administration. Some people, who would like to immediately discredit your point of view and draw attention away from your attempt to think reasonably and critically about a serious issue, would, perhaps, call it a rant. Perhaps those are the same people who believe analogies are no longer an important test of a person's ability to be reasonable, as in the current changes to the SAT. Because, what you have done here, is make a very simple, easy to comprehend analogy. As we have seen, this administration, and those who support it, are experts at twisting the truth. The truth is not important to them. And that, too, is what your statement is about: the simple truth that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you, IF you say you are a fair and good person. They say they are fair and good people......"well then it only stands to reason"......but we know, they are anything but reasonable, good and fair.
I don't feel you should silence yourself because that is what they want; to discredit ANY opinion that is reasonable that does not serve their greedy ends. Your point of view is important, that there should be a relationship between our own feelings and the way we behave toward others.

[WritersBlock]

4. I'm glad it came over that way to you.

The person who said it was a rant didn't mean it in a derogatory way - they said that maybe it just meant they knew me too well.

But if I have made a good analogy, I have succeeded in what I set out to do in that post. Thanks.

[NoSheep]

5. It did occur to me that the person who said it was a rant, was someone

who was trying to be helpful. None of us want to sound "crazy". But I do think this is something we should consider....these jerks have made us question the very intent of our own language. They have influenced enough of us that we have to stop and examine even the sanest statements. We can't help it now. This is a very serious, insidious way of affecting the minds of even the most progressive Americans. And I think it is evil.

[WritersBlock]

6. I couldn't agree more.

I can't count the number of things that I have begun to write, then discarded for fear of the way they sounded. It has made me feel very paranoid. I agree with you totally; it is evil.

[txaslftist]

7. Not a rant, a thoughtful post.

[MetalMilitia]

8. heh

makes sense

[WritersBlock]

21. Thank you. I was hoping it was. n/t

[tubbacheez]

9. Good post, esp. in describing how psychological abuse is relative. nt

[MetalMilitia]

10. Hey

Can anyone tell me how many posts I need to send PM's?

[MetalMilitia]

12. replying to myself to get posts

Kinda lame ya need a certain amount to PM somone

[MetalMilitia]

13. bleh

bleh

[ArkDem]

11. The Horror.

[MetalMilitia]

14. one more time

one more time

[MetalMilitia]

18. sorry

sorry

[MetalMilitia]

19. 9

9

[MetalMilitia]

20. 10

10

[bettyellen]

22. take it to the lounge, dude...

this bullshit does not belong here.

[hfojvt]

15. I would not call it a rant

but I am not sure that it works.
First, most people have not been arrested or jailed. They cannot imagine that they would be, and they also can't imagine why an innocent person might be (at least jailed by the Americans - the good guys.)
Second, I am not sure that you will have any impact on fundies since your depiction of Christianity does not square with fundy philosophy. To them, sins do not get you into hell any more than virtuous acts will get you into heaven. The key for them is faith in Jesus, and not anything they do or are made to do.
Third, to a fundy you cannot compare the faith of a Christian (which is holy and true) to the faith of a Muslim (which is idolatrous and fanatical and maybe even satanic).
I found your thought experiment to be moving, but you are preaching to the choir there.

[WritersBlock]

23. You make a very good point.

I tried very hard to remember sermons I'd heard from various church services through the years, but I suppose the fact that I'm not a regular church-goer shows through.

[ultraist]

16. Very nice piece!

I think it is a sensitive and thoughtful way to make your point. It also flows nicely.

The only thing I see that gives them ammunition to call it "a rant" is that you do use a lot of very emotive language, such as "wicked things ...that fill you with revulsion." I understand why you chose those words, but they lean towards high drama. Your entry is certainly not a rant though, IMO.

It's a fine balance to employ emotive language and not sound over the top. I am not a writer and I'm certainly not skilled at it.

I do think the BEST writing is that which is highly emotive, yet presents a reasonable argument; such writing also makes for the greatest speeches.

Well done! I enjoyed reading it.

[WritersBlock]

24. Thanks.

It was certainly emotive, because it's something I feel strongly about; the sort of thing I wish I could say to every single RWer, just to make them LISTEN (don't we all have things like that!) The first few drafts were even worse.

I'm glad you enjoyed reading it.

[tom_paine]

17. Well, it does tail up a little bit at the end into the rant zone

but generally, no, it is not a very hysterical point of view, except to Busheviks, who have been programmed like Nazis to reject any Non-Party Approved Materials or line of thinking.

It is not coincidental that this use of religion mirrors what the Nazis did to Jews, making them eat pork off the Torah and so forth.

Yet another similarity between the Busheviks and their spiritual forebears.

[WritersBlock]

25. Yep. My thoughts exactly on the similarity.

The second part was something I considered leaving out, but I put it in for the hard-cases who are incapable of empathy and can only relate to something if it adversely affects them directly.