Shoot the Messenger!

straw man (from www.dictionary.com)
n.

1. A person who is set up as a cover or front for a questionable enterprise.
2. An argument or opponent set up so as to be easily refuted or defeated.
3. A bundle of straw made into the likeness of a man and often used as a scarecrow.

So there is this book out titled "God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything." The book attattacked not only 'God' but also religious and spiritual leaders such as Mother Theresa, Gandhi, and Dalai Lama. I suppose normally I would have just shrug it off and see the book as just another Atheist Propaganda and no doubt that atheists are the primary audience (buyers) of this book.

Ironically, atheists and skeptics alike always accuse religious people and paranormal researchers/practitioners/writers that all they care about is making money and that they publish books and set up conferences and seminars to take money from the gullible.

They use words such as 'Scam' or 'Fraud' to those people.

But then nowadays we see more atheism books are being published and that the skeptics and atheists have set up seminars (on a cruise, even!) and lectures just like those 'scam artists.'

hmm......I see a double standard here.

I do believe that there are many scam artists out there, but i don't think that you can only find them in the league of paranormal or religion. I think you can find those frauds in the atheistic and skeptic camps as well.

After all, why did the author decide to sell his book to a publishing company which charges 24.99 for the book? How is he different from other researchers who published books about, say, near-death experience? Scam, huh?

why doesn't he just put his work online, and not copyrighted, so that all his fellow atheists can read his work for free? simple, HE WANTS TO MAKE MONEY!

how obvious can that be?

But that's beside the focus of this entry.

so Hitchens went ahead attacking all those people- claiming that what they stand for is merely a facade, and that underneath they were a racist (Gandhi), a ruthless monarch (Dalai Lama), and a fraud (Mother Theresa).

are those allegations true? I think the honest answer from me would be 'i don't know.' but what motivates me to write this entry is not who they really are, but what they teach.

All of them taught tolerance, universal freedom, love, and peace........and that is good enough for me.

there are many people who preach these kind of things, but then they end up doing things that go against their teaching- i can think of quite a few pastors or religious leaders who did that, but should we not listen to their messages because of the flaw (no matter how serious and perverted) of their characters? Should you stop loving others because a minister who taught love is the most important thing killed someone intentionally? Should you not seek peace just because Dalai Lama is a ruthless monarch who teaches about peace and compassion?

The message is more important than the messenger. No one is perfect, free of flaws. and there are always shades of gray- where people share different opinion about the messengers. we shouldn't get carried away by the flaws in them, but rather, we should focus more on the messages and learn from the messages.

instead, we have people who find faults in others and attack them for their weakness, and ignoring the messages they have to share. they get so wrapped up about being 'right' about their opinion of certain people that they would do anything to invalidate everything that they stand for......what's their reward? that they're right? that we shouldn't listen to anyone who can't live up to the standard that he/she is teaching?

i doubt that many people can truly live up to the standard of their own moral values- and i also believe that some of them are tainted by malicious remarks and accusations made by others out of- what? i dont know...jealousy? hatred for religion? contempt for authority figure?

if you really care about the truth, then you should focus more on the messages that are being conveyed, not attacking people's for their inability to live up their standards, or worse, making up lies about them to prove a point.

because then those people are just building up a straw man- someone to blame, a scapegoat, when the problem isn't really just about that one person, but more involved and global than one would like to admit.

hence, shoot the messenger!

there are no monsters- just people with flaws. some struggle with them, some merely let their flaws consume them. only a very few is able to overcome their flaws.