Judge, Jury & Executioner

There are no grays. There is only right and wrong, anything that isn't right, is wrong. Anything that sparkles isn't manly.

In contemporary U.S. society, everyone mainly practices their inalienable right to be a 'judge.' We believe that passing judgment protects us (saturated fat is bad, blond is good.) Persons and situations are taken out of their context and put on heartless trial to determine their value versus the hegemonic norm . We have so much dogma telling the good people what to think, who to believe, what to reject, and what to accept. And who really escapes this? No one. It doesn't matter what group a person belongs to, there is always an 'other' to fear and hate.

It's the oversimplification that gets us.

Suffering occurs.

And by becoming a 'judge' everyone can 'protect' themselves.

As a human being I try to practice understanding from any point of view, but even I have 'others' that strike anger into my heart. Let me give you and example from my life, particularly.

I have a hate tendency, and I will admit it. It's not that I dislike a minority, or a sexual orientation, it's not that I have any particular issue with Islam or Judaism. It is certainly religious in sway: it's the christians. Not just the catholics, or the mormons, it's the presbyterians, and the protestants. It's any of them. I don't really pretend it's a logical feeling anymore. I've aligned myself, from a young age, with the queers, with the punks, with the intellectual dissidents. I want nothing more than to be left alone, and with my blossoming education of religious history, I learned just how bad they are (as a group) at leaving people alone.

As a part of the 'queer' group I am other to the norm, so to me, christians are the 'other.' It doesn't matter how self-oriented their faithful activities are, I find them strange, upsetting, and frightening. It intimidates my sense of self control. I don't fear conspiracies on the part of the government, I fear thought control through the guise of religion.

The most profound way a system can control its inhabitants is via their rights to their body. Think about the hot issues that relate to religion and sometime politics: abortion, same-sex marriage, drug laws, the illegality of suicide and assisted suicide. All these things relate to our ability to control our own bodies. It parades under the guise of 'help' but the question I wish to beg is: how can one person ever really know what is right for another person without living their life from day one, from their point of view?

What do you think?