Thinking Out Loud

Have you ever seen a movie where you wish the ending was different? Have you ever thought, if I had done it, I would have done it differently? Maybe Ilsa ends up with Rick in someone's version; maybe Neil McCauley does not end up dead at the hands of Lt. Vincent Hanna. It is this sinking feeling that infuses my thoughts each time I listen to "Stan" by Eminem. I wish Stan would treat his doting girlfriend ("your picture on my wall, it reminds me, that it's not so bad") better and stop wishing that he and his idol should "be together". Dido sings a haunting melody and I feel a sense of dread (even though I have listened to the song many times) and the car crash at the end of the third verse brings a melancholic feeling no matter how cheerful I was prior to listening to the song. How far would our obsession with the celebrities take us? Do we really want to worship the celebrities and be like them so much that our identities end up disappearing? What ...

Go to: Part 1 | Part 2 Why should we not ignore religion? We have witnessed an extreme of religious fundamentalism in the September 11 attacks. Why regard the extreme? How about the moderate ones? RD argues that the majority of people who directly influence social policies and political procedures can be regarded as religious moderates who promote religion as a way of life and when this 'way-of-life' contradicts with another, we see incursion or at least unrest. Religion without resilient obstructions thrives and develops into fundamentalism, where humans sacrifice themselves for martyrdom. Martyrdom is mainly made possible by turning impressionable young minds against other religions/beliefs and the most alarming issue raised by RD is the indoctrination of children. One of the traits of human evolution is the children look up to the adults to fashion their lives which becomes dangerous when parents (try to) force their religious ideals onto their children (see Exhibit B: Jesu...