I will admit, that I have heard a lot of advice from celebrities on weighty subjects over the years: from Britney Spears and the Dixie Chicks on the Iraq War to Madonna on international adoption and K.I.S.S. on the feasability of a two-state solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Now, Elton John ... excuse me, SIR Elton John ... has spoken out in order to set us straight (no pun intended). He states that organized religion needs to be abolished. While I do admit that organized religion has caused quite a great deal of unnecessary quarelling and conflict over the centuries, I'm not sure that it has exactly created a world of "hateful lemmings" (something of a bizarre metaphor). Nor do I quite understand how he makes the leap in attributing anti-gay sentiment in Latvia, Russia and Poland (until 1991 all officially atheist countries) to organized religion. Nor, quite frankly, do I really understand what organized religion has to do with anti-gay sentiment at all (you will find that different members of different religions take a wide variety of stances on the subject...and therefore Sir Elton is including in his condemnation such gay-friendly religions as Buddhism in Thailand).
Nor do I understand how he can combine this statement with other statements praising Jesus and Sunday school (the latter mostly for its stickers) and religious gays. Nor how he can call for a worldwide religious conclave (in my opinion the best idea from this muddled tirade, and reminiscent of something from Dune) by the religions he wants to ban.
Nor, to be honest, can I remember just why this man is famous in the first place. Something about singing...
13 Nov 2006
12 Nov 2006
Lest We Forget
Today is Veteran's Day. We should remember the veterans of all our conflicts today. If you don't mind acting like Canadians, Brits or Australians, wear a poppy flower in memoriam.
It is interesting that in the former Soviet Union veterans are honored on Victory Day, the day marking the fall of Nazi Germany in World War II. By contrast, the West remembers its Veterans today (and in America, confusingly, also on Memorial Day, although I am not too clear whether it is specifically veterans killed in combat who are remembered on May 28, or all deceased vets, or just all deceased). Today is the 88th anniversary of the cease-fire that ultimately ended the First World War, and that led to the Versailles Treaties. It was the unwillingness of the Western Powers to uphold these treaties and to occupy and disarm Germany, as well as the fiction generated today that the German military was unbeaten and had been betrayed by Jewish-led Socialists and Communists, that ultimately led to the far more destructive (and better-remembered) Second World War. So today, a day that has become something of a forgotten holiday, should be a day to remember that any conflict can be a lost cause if we lose the political will to properly resolve them. Such conflicts will not disappear, however. They will come back to us, often in a more horrible guise.
It is interesting that in the former Soviet Union veterans are honored on Victory Day, the day marking the fall of Nazi Germany in World War II. By contrast, the West remembers its Veterans today (and in America, confusingly, also on Memorial Day, although I am not too clear whether it is specifically veterans killed in combat who are remembered on May 28, or all deceased vets, or just all deceased). Today is the 88th anniversary of the cease-fire that ultimately ended the First World War, and that led to the Versailles Treaties. It was the unwillingness of the Western Powers to uphold these treaties and to occupy and disarm Germany, as well as the fiction generated today that the German military was unbeaten and had been betrayed by Jewish-led Socialists and Communists, that ultimately led to the far more destructive (and better-remembered) Second World War. So today, a day that has become something of a forgotten holiday, should be a day to remember that any conflict can be a lost cause if we lose the political will to properly resolve them. Such conflicts will not disappear, however. They will come back to us, often in a more horrible guise.
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