Atheism Corner

Humanity in Progress

Old Fascism in Europe – the Latvia Edition

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Latvia March for Waffen SS
Latvia March for Waffen SS

This is not a new story, many countries that were unfortunate enough to be located between the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany suffer from the inability to celebrate World War II events properly, in some of the cases because their blunt cooperation with the Nazi regime was as close as you can get to being partners in crimes against humanity and in other cases because of the confusing battle against fascists on the one side and communists on the other.

This is somewhat the situation in Latvia, where war veterans seek the description that would make them as brave as they can possibly be and less tied into the old Fascist ways of Europe. The equation is simple, in the beginning they had to fight the soviets from taking over, after that the Nazis and in the end the many years of Soviet oppression, it is no surprise that most of all these people want to be less associated with the soviets than any other nation or political party, which draws them closer to the default… which is the Waffen SS.

Young Latvians were forced into recruiting into the Nazi armed forces, maybe a part went willingly but it is sure that most did not want to fight a war that had nothing to do with this country, or its ideology. However once in the ranks they did fight and die for the Nazi war monster, and some continued to fight the soviets after the war was over. Now these people have a day to commemorate their actions, on March 17th they march in memory of serving in other people’s armies and dying for other nation causes – as demented as they could be.

This causes some reaction on the Russian side, because no one wants to see people who made battle against your country march and glorify that event, the few Russians available in Latvia protest against this march. What does actually leave us with? That in todays world it is more important to be a veteran than a war hero, what you fought for (or why you did that) counts much less and is of less concern to anyone, the only thing that matters is that nations are happy to sacrifice the facts and honesty for the glory and fake impression of old battles.

After all, if you have been to the game and suffered the injuries, why not tell everyone you played fair and won?

Baltimore Tourist Attack Second Video Reveals Cruelty

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This, second video, of the touristed attacked at Baltimore, gives another chance to observe the attack, which is already trademarked as a cowardly “sucker punch” attack on an unsuspecting person who was just walking about his own business. The main attention moves from the attack to the response of those who are filming the incident, those who participate in it and those who are spectators of it.

What kind of society have we become that something like that can happen without anyone’s interference or, at the very least, mild protest? This is the U.S.A. year 2012, with a president who, by merely being elected, represents that progress of American society, a country that is fighting its way back into a solid economy and a country that is still the main protector of human rights and liberties around the globe.

The behavior on the video is not just criminal, it is not – in any way – brave or gangster like, because it does not take a real fight to subdue the innocent person but a cowardly blow to the back of the head, with as many as 10 people attacking the person on the ground it is fair to say that no one will call those attackers brave or strong, they simply took advantage of an innocent person. And to add insult to injury they saw the need to rob him not only of his material goods but also of his respect.

These people deserve very little respect from fellow citizens, as impoverished and poor as they may be an honest person should never deteriorate into this animal form of cruelty, mixed with the contempt for human life.

A Bird Flu in Different Perspective

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Deadly Flu - Deadlier People

That killer H5N1 “Chicken Flu” research has come up with all kinds of surprising things, but it looks like some have serious objections as to the publication of the experiments and the results, the problem is that this information could potentially be used be terrorists to spread viruses around rather than study them and possible cures for humans.

This assertion alone should make us realize in what crazy times we live in, the fear that someone would unleash a virus that has the potential of killing millions and millions of humans all over the world, without difference of culture religion or color,is an indication that some people out there just want to get ahead with the killing, even if this same virus could very well come back to kill them and their families.

So the results and the main ideas of the chicken flu will be published soon, so scientists could use that in further understanding this virus and how to protect us humans against it and its potential growth. If there are indeed people out there that want to get this virus out in the open let us hope they practice what they preach and infect themselves first.

Benetton Hits the Nerve Again

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Benetton does it again, we thought that they have decided to not aggravate anyone any more, and here they are touching on some pretty heavy religious nerves.

Is this a Bad Kiss?

The Benetton ads, like ones of the past, are made with controversy in mind, this is a company that consistently produced scandalous ads and rises above the mere commercial intent of the photography, somehow we end up talking about the campaigns they run.

This current scandal is over a bunch of world leaders photo shopped ads, in which apparent rivals kiss each other on the lips, making this a more sensual kiss (however it is not a “french”, open mouth kiss), and all of the ads are labeled “un-hate”, suggesting that the people in the photos hate each other, and some heavy lip kissing will solve it.

The idea is not so bright, in my humble opinion, because it seems a little silly to suggest that people hate each other in the first place, who knows what people feel towards each other, even when talking about politicians and religious leaders?

The reaction did not take long, first it was the Vatican that sounded a very upset and annoyed voice over this, followed by everyone else, even the white house. But the real shocker here is that they are all focused primarily on the sexual innuendo that the ads suggests, with the exception of French president Nicolas Sarkozy and  German Chancellor Angela Merkel, all the kissing is done by men, the pope and an Egyptian  Imam, Obama kissing Chinese and Venezuelan prime ministers etc.

So the real sting here, as far as the people photo shopped into kissing each other, is that it shows them as homosexuals, not the suggestion that they hate each other. In today’s world it is much more important to not seem gay in any way and to hate anyone is almost a banal reality.

In other words – of course they hate each other, but they sure ain’t gay.