Respect is for the Weak

So here’s what happened. I posted on the 108 Facebook Page a picture of torture conducted during the spanish inquisition. Someone from France (which is only important because this person is not fluent in English, yet will jump to conclusions regarding my use of that language) got insulted. Someone else who is a Krishna devotee also got perplexed, and others felt “sad” at the way the ensuing debate proceeded.

Which leads you to ask, How did the ensuing debate proceed, right?

Glad you asked. I’ll tell you later.

First let me answer a different question you are sure to have: Why did you do that? Why did you post that picture on the 108 page?

Why I Did It

I’ll tell you why.

108 is a “religious band” – whether the members of 108 like it that way or not. We are a band which deals with subjects and topics which the ordinary human being thoroughly connects to religion. Therefore the topic of religion is highly relevant to 108.

I was writing an article about the (de)evolution of astrology in the Western world, and I came to the topic of the effect of the Church’s repression of astrologers. This led me to the Inquisition era and theme, and Google presented me with a whole slew of gut-wrenching (literally) images. When I saw these I felt that such a gigantic crime had been committed by religion on humanity. Therefore I commented on it on the 108 page.

Why?

Because people think we are a “religious” band. And therefore people better know clear and straight exactly what our opinions are about “religion.”

Respect All Religions

You still there? Still wondering how that debate went?

It started off by people saying that we should be more respectful of other people’s religions. How in God’s holy name is posting a picture of the spanish inquisition disrespectful of a religion????????? I posted a picture of the Spanish Inquisition and people are inferring that I am making an insult to Christianity?

Well, yes, fuck yes. Even if I didn’t mean it that way in the first place, allow me to now take this golden opportunity to insult the fuck out of Christianity – the religion which literally raped, tormented, and tortured thousands upon thousands of people for years and years and years on end – because those people had bad brains – they had “incorrect ideas”. FUCK THAT.

Now, let me be fair. An insult to Christianity does not mean that I don’t have plenty of insults up my sleeves for all the other religions, including for the holier-than-thou bigot caste-system mongers of the closest thing there is to “my own religion” – Hinduism.

So I posted another picture and explained: 108 will never “respect” this type of repression – regardless if it be imposed by priests, rabbis, brahmins, mullahs, teachers, police, kings, or bankers!!!

What Nazis and Christians don’t Have in Common

This is "Respectful", BTW

People seem to think that posting a picture of the Inquisition is an insult to my neighbor who is a Christian (even though thank god more or less since moving to Japan I don’t have such neighbors, hehehe). Please heed this newsflash: it’s not.

But let’s just say, for now, that it is.

This possibility – that I was insulting Christians – really got the French guy mad! In retaliation, he asked if he could call me a Nazi because my grandpa’s family owned slaves.

Well, to be clear it was my grandma’s family who owned slaves, but that’s really going off on a tangent. Secondly, Nazi’s killed Jews and Homosexuals – they weren’t in the slaving business per se. But let’s overlook that little historical pimple and just rephrase the objection as: can I call you a nazi because your great grandpa was Hitler? Or, Can I call you a racist because your great grandma owned slaves?

The answer, really, is “yes” – conditionally. The condition is whether or not I still hold a major portion of the same beliefs and attitudes as my great grandpa or grandma. If I was Hitler’s great grandson and I still maintained the same basic set of beliefs which he held, then yes, you should correctly call me a Nazi, please. Or if I still hold the same basic set of beliefs and attitudes about “Negros” that Grandma Jean’s family held – then yes, you can aptly call me a Racist.

In fact, even if I have no relationship to Grandma Jean or Grandpa Hitler – you can still call me a racist or a nazi if I hold the same basic ideas and beliefs as they.

This is really why you are sort of right if you feel that broadcasting a picture of the Inquisition is a threat and an offense against modern Christians. Because the majority of the beliefs and ideologies held by the majority of modern Christians across the world are significantly similar to the beliefs and ideologies of Christians from the middle ages.

Jesus is still God. The Church is still those only way to get to Jesus. And the Priest is the representative of the Church, therefore Jesus, therefore God to you. So you better listen up. Essentially the bible, church, and priest are the ones with the power – not you or me.

Yeah, yeah yeah, The Church doesn’t conduct inquisitions today. Blah blah blah.

Guess what doll… it’s because they can’t.

Not because they wouldn’t.

Hatred for One and All without Discrimination

Even he has problems, though he's pretty damn cool! (HOT)

So what, do I hate you because you like Jesus?

No. Actually I can see from many facets how Jesus is sort of really cool and spiritual and interesting to me too.

What is up with the hypersensitivity?

It’s a sign of weakness, friends.

Spiritual weakness.

I thoroughly hate the people who have inquisitional minds – be they Catholic, Protestant, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, whatever. And for christ’s long haired sake please don’t be so silly to think that religions have a monopoly on being terrible. I hate the repression of thought in China by the atheistic communist government with the same umbrella of hatred under which those photos of the inquisition are sheltered.

I don’t discriminate in the distribution of my hatred, nor my love and respect.

You know what I think is respectable?

Strong ideas.

Ideas that are not afraid of insults.

Ideas that have strength and can exercise those strengths in a fight. Ideas that withhold against debate, verification, etc. Ideas, hypothesis which stand in line and face the experiments – and submit to the data.

I guess in this way you could call me a spiritual scientist.