It was a dark and stormy night … *cough*
I call certain subjects Rant Switches. When these subjects are broached in my presence, I feel a rant bubbling up, and it takes some effort to keep it in. Tirades against the limitations of humanity in general, and about those subjects in paricular.
Belgian community squabbles – flemish against walloons – have long belonged to those subjects. Right now, the BHV crisis is so incredibly absurd that I’m almost speechless. So a small part of the population would need to vote for one subgroup of our poor excuse for a political class instead of another subgroup ? Who Bloody Cares ? Don’t we have anything more important to think about, like the country’s national debt, its administrative sclerosis, unemployment, etc, etc ? Really ?
And don’t get me started on the burqa ban.
Why ban burqas (head to toe islamic veil for women): reasons given:
- a terrorist could be hiding under it and video cameras couldn’t identify them
- to free women from fundamentalist control.
By this reasoning, large sunglasses, wigs, carnival costumes don’t really enhance facial recognition either. Hell, furry conventions or goth meetups are out of the question. While we’re at it, by law we should be obliged to present our faces at the best possible angle when passing a surveillance camera. Anyone see any problem here ?
O wait, it’s in the name of security. Why are you protesting against that ? That’s suspect, no ? Do you, or any of your friend, have any connections to subversive groups ? We need to datamine all your conversations, and take you in for questioning, it’s a matter of state security.
The second reason is even more laughable: free islamic women ? First off, do they want to be freed ? Has anyone asked burqa-wearing women if they wanted to throw off the cloth ? It may be equivalent to asking them to walk around in their bras, for all we know.
And if it’s a matter of oppression – do you really think that forbidding women to cover themselves will help them ? In all probability, if they couldn’t leave the house without their burqa, now, they won’t be able to leave the house at all.
And oh, there’s the small matter of antagonizing parts of a large belgian community. It’s in effect saying ‘you are not welcome here’. Bully behaviour. It’s not by singling out one group and imposing a ban, that anything, at all, will be helped.
Bravo, I say. Pat yourselves on the back. You, who we voted for, have really made our country a better place. We were known for our pedophilic incidents, let’s also be known for ground-breaking stupidity.
breathe in, breathe out … OK, I’ve got it back under control. Carry on.
I’m grinning ear-to-ear and I’m mighty tempted to say something along the lines of “I love you” :p. Looks like we share at least two rant switches
.
Oh dear. So much anger.
Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. It is the path to the Dark Side. Your hate has made you powerfull. Now, fulfill your destiny!
*cue dramatic music*
I don’t want to be the one that flips your switch, but the Dark Side has cookies. You can haz sum.
I hope that this comment made you smile.
@Bram
@Amedee: cookies are always welcome
All agreed up to the “we voted for”. I certainly didn’t vote for any of the incompetents currently allegedly governing us. If there was a hell, it would be very cold there if ever I started voting for coservative right-wing dinosaurs listening to the voices in their heads.
@philip I meant we as in ‘we as a nation’. several bits of my brains would need to be removed before I voted MR, too.
Dear Elise, I completely agree with you but I advise you to resume your yoga exercise if you feel again those “rant switches”!
I’m afraid that this is a worldwide problem. As long as we don’t start seeing ourselves as humans rather than “nations”, we will never reach true enlightenment.
This is exactly what “they” want (divide and conquer). Money, power and social status won’t matter once we will have depleted all of earth’s resources… At the rate that we’re going, it may be sooner than later.
Ralf, yes, unfortunately, it’s part of our genetic heritage, and a flaw in this day and age.
I have given some thought to your reply. I found a song that actually sums it all up (at least in my opinion). This is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anp4zcjFrAE
I heard through the grapevine that you were in the States. I hope you had a great time.