Joking aside, this informo-pinion-rant is probably going to be the least related to religion specifically out of the three segments. That's not to say I won't be using religion as an example, ooh no, it just happens to be the most extreme example of something that really, really annoys me. Now that's out of the way, let us begin.
I would like to tell you a little story, friends. Once upon a time there was a girl. Spoiler, that girl is me. She was on the internet one day and found an entertaining image that she decided to share with Facebook. The image was this:
I guess comic is more of an accurate description. Oh well. Anyways, I put this on my facebook wall because I thought it was funny. I found it funny and wanted to share it with my friends, some of whom may also find it funny. They did. It got likes and shiz. End of story, right?
Wrong. About a week after posting this I got a text from a friend asking me to remove the picture from my feed because it had offended her. She was fairly religious and insisted that just because I thought it was funny did not mean it would be taken as a joke by all, it had quite annoyed her. I honestly had to recheck the post to see if the picture was in fact the one above, thinking maybe I'd accidentally posted my support of puppy drowning or the like. I refused to take the picture down because, in my defense, the picture was in no way aimed at this friend and was intended as a joke. I then, in a possible misjudgment, went on to question why my friend had had such a reaction to the picture. I asked if, perhaps, it was evidence of an insecurity in her own faith and had nothing to do with me whatsoever.
She didn't talk to me for a week. Maths class was awkward as hell. I moved class the next week (that was gonna happen anyway but it was aptly timed).
This, dear readers, is one example of my experience with the easily offended. I've come across many such people while inching my way along this here mortal coil, not all of them religious but all of them equally taken aback at their precious whatever being questioned. I am far from the most tactful of people. I try, I really do, but only when the situation deserves it. Religion (or anything similarly trivial) does not deserve it.
Here's the thing, readers: Nothing is above jokes. Not religion, not death, not bad people. Nothing. If something believes itself above jokes it is clearly not secure in itself that it can withstand being laughed at. If we collectively refuse to make jokes about something, it gains power over us. And that's generally not good. They say that humour is the enemy of authority and I wholeheartedly believe that. People were executed for making jokes at the expense of Nazis and communists and tyrants. Why? Because even those with the most control are insecure. And jokes niggle away at that insecurity. Satire has power, political cartoons in the Sunday paper have power, Youtubers who make fun of Kim Jong Un have power. Because humour is power. I'm losing the run of myself, back to my point.
So, why do normal people get so offended when I insult something like religion? They're not the pope, or a rabbi or preacher. Why the knee jerk offence? This is due to a phenomenon which has seen a significant rise in the boom of the internet: attaching your personality to the things you like. This is what I want to talk about.
There's a concept called BIRGing. Basking In Reflected Glory. This is the phenomenon that a sports fan feels when their team wins, or a fan of a TV show feels when their favourite two characters finally get together. The individuals themselves have nothing to do with the outcome, yet feel pride and happiness for their success. It's a little bit like national pride (which is a topic for another day, friends). BIRGing is usually accompanied by CORFing. Cutting Off Reflected Failure. This is when the sports fan's team doesn't win, or that perfect couple doesn't end up together (*ahem* Katara and Zuko *ahem ahem*). The fans can disengage themselves because, after all, they have no personal input to the result so it shouldn't affect them.
However, and this is a big however, that is not how human nature works. People can't disengage that easily. If they could there would be far fewer riots at football games and much, much less non-canon shipping fanfiction on the internet. We are social creatures and we get invested in things we like. That's our nature and it's normal. But we need to keep it in check.
It's important for people to understand that, should someone insult or dislike something you like, they are not insulting you. For example, if someone (let's call them Bob, for the sake of ease) really liked the film "Grease", I have every right to say that I think it's overrated (which I do. Rant for another day). If I were to say this, Bob may see it as my insulting the movie. Fair enough. If Bob personally took offence at my insulting this movie, there we have a problem. If he were to not talk to me for a week for not liking the same movie as him, people would think he was being unreasonable. Substitute in religion and I get people saying "Well, you shouldn't've insulted the thing".
It all comes down to self esteem. Organised religion's more "wolf in sheep's clothing" aspect is taking advantage of people in dark places by promising them something better. What's that thing, you ask? Attaching their personalities to religion of course! And the worst thing (or "worst" depending on how you see it) is that it does help people. No, that's not a bad thing (I'm really digging a hole here, aren't I?) but the fact that they've now invested so much of their self esteem and their happiness in one organisation is a little worrying. I'll go back to my Dumbo analogy from the last installment. Dumbo thought he needed the magic feather to fly. But what would happen if he never learned to fly without the feather? He's quite possibly worse off that before because he's so heavily dependent on that one, small, incredibly flimsy thing. Commitment to an organisation similar to this or its more extreme cousin: drug addiction. Alcoholics feel like they can't be fun or interesting without drink. Caffeine addicts feel they can't wake up without their morning boost. Those dependent on religion feel they can't be confident in themselves without their God and church behind them. It's not healthy.
To quote the book of Beuller:
While I know it's not as easy as all that, it's a good place to start. Try not to attach your personality to Justin Bieber, or Arsenal, or The Church of Reformed Baptist Lamb Chops. Your personality is yours. Try and have faith in yourself.
And with that, friends, I conclude my three part segment on Religion! I hope you've gleaned some insight from it, of what an awful and blasphemous person I am if nothing else. Final thoughts to leave you with: Try not to accept things blindly. We have critical facilities for a reason and we need to see through our own bullshit from time to time. Question everything. Question me, if you want to, the comments are just below. I'll probably answer, we can have a nice chat. Try not to be super easily offended. If your friends have to pussyfoot around everything they want to say to you, they're not going to be comfortable around you. That ain't good.
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| Why? I like the way you think. |
Embrace the Madness
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