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2
Dec
2018
The space probe InSight landed safely on Mars last Tuesday. NASA is working on plans to send humans to Mars. When it happens, I hope NASA will include some real estate developers.
They would love Mars. It looks exactly like what they do to the earth when they’re building new projects.
Mars has no vegetation. No tree-hugging residents to protest about the destruction of their natural habitat. No cuddly animals to arouse the sympathies of sentimental do-gooders.
For over 20 years, I have taken my dog for walks on the ridge that rises to the east of my home. Although it doesn’t have palm trees and sandy beaches, it’s about as close to paradise as I can imagine. Knee-high grass grows wild among the pines. Sunlight filters through the branches, illuminating the local sunflowers. From a rock bluff, I have a view along the 160-km lake that fills the Okanagan valley.
But a developer – I could name the company, but any other developer would do the same – bought that ridge.
Categories: Sharp Edges
Tags: mission, global warming, subdivisions, bulldozers, Mars, wasteland, IPCC
16
Apr
2017
Some evangelical churches used to practice “shunning”. (I don’t think it’s as common as it used to be.) If a member was judged to have violated the moral standards of the community, that member was shunned. Shut out, essentially. Cut off from contact with other members of the community, sometimes even from members of their own family.
The purpose of shunning was not to make the person feel guilty. Rightly or wrongly, that had already been determined. The purpose was to make victims feel ashamed.
Shaming was also, I submit, the purpose of crucifixion. Crucifixion was more than a means of executing someone. A spear in the gut, a club on the head, a knife to the neck, killed much more quickly, more efficiently.
Crucifixion was designed to cause shame.
Tags: crucifixion, Shame, guilt, mission