09/30 Open Thread - International Blasphemy Rights Day

Do we really need a blasphemy rights day? Most probably yes, especially globally, In the USofA it would seem to be covered by the First Amendment, twice; the right to free speech and freedom of religion, but it really isn't. Those rights are not respected, supported or enforced. They've been under constant attack since the founding of this country and the attacks keep getting more frequent, continuous, constant and pervasive. Seriously, thou shalt not say anything which could reasonably be expected to hurt anybody's fee fees in any way for any reason, nor shalt thou, in any way whatsoever, contradict, challenge, or question the accepted narrative promulgated by the government, "experts", the media, the powerful, or assorted cliques of true believers. There is a war on disinformation, a word that has lost all meaning other than that which the government or other powerful groups do not wish people to know hear, but I digress. The entire idea for such a day came about when, on 9/30/2005, "controversial" (satirical) drawings of Muhammad were printed in a Danish newspaper and all hell broke loose.

The right to blaspheme, or freedom to blaspheme is possibly best seen as an assertion that there should be no prohibitions, legal or social, on blasphemy. For starts, what the hell is blasphemy? Nobody can define it in a rational manner, IMHO. I entered the word "blasphemy" is a google search bar. Up popped the following, allegedly from Oxford Languages:

he act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk. "he was detained on charges of blasphemy"

Please note that "profane" simply means not sacred, or secular, which is pretty much all everyday talk, the weather, fashions, baseball scores, poetry, literature, most political promises, etc. Meanwhile, "Gods" and "sacred things" have no universal objective meanings, they are just subjective babblespeak about the je ne cest quois that each believer personally believes in. On top of that, "sacriligous" is simply more of the same. My favorite definition is "involving or committing sacrilege.. Can you say circularity? Sure you can. Alternatively, there is irreverent which means nothing more that not exhibiting deep respect or admiration for, or, alternatively, not giving a shit about. How can any of this nonsensical gibberish be the basis for silencing or punishing anybody? What if their personal diety thingus requires them to speak thusly, like a holy commandment to disrespect any and all other dieties except the one the believer believes in?

You can't narrow this down, but you can, imho correctly. broaden it, such the wikipedia definition:

Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered inviolable.

Here we see the ultimate extension to graven images, relics, selected texts of books, and, in the minds of some, certain politicians, public figures, and the like. "Idols" need not be inanimate and icons need not be painted or carved. Idolatry is sadly common among the followers of numerous jumped-up ordinary humans, but I digress again, I see.

I am aware that this definition refers to an "insult", but that just begs the question; an insult is whatever anybody, for whatever (twisted) reason, considers to be insulting. All to often it is simply something insufficiently reverent, like failure to bow, kow-tow, genuflect, kneel, or otherwise acknowledge the majesty of someone or something, even if they or it isn't intrinsically special. I realize that everything in life would go a lot smoother if everybody afforded everybody else a reasonable degree of respect, but things would also go a lot smoother if people weren't so sensitive about so many things. Maybe its a boomer thing, but when I was growing up that everybody was always telling each other stuff like "you're so dumb you think that General Mills was a soldier", and it was a very rare individual who took umbrage at that stuff. I mean, just what kind of petty deity is it who can't take a joke, or shrug off an insult?

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On this day in history:

September 30, 1791, was he first performance of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute

1863 – Georges Bizet's opera Les pêcheurs de perles, premiered .

On September 30, 1882 Thomas Edison's first commercial hydroelectric plant began operation

On September 30,1935, the Hoover Dam was dedicated. The dam created Lake Mead, a huge reservoir backed up behind it, and was the cause of the creation of Boulder City, Nevada, which was built to house and serve those working on the dam during its construction.

September 30, 1938, was the date of the infamous Munich Agreement between Britain, France, Germany and Italy allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland, previously part of Czechoslovakia, which was not party to the agreement. What remained of Czechoslovakia was quickly divvied up by assorted other countries, and, of course, Germany too, with the result that it simply evaporated from existence.

1938 – The League of Nations unanimously outlawed "intentional bombings of civilian populations". That and subsequent expressions of like sentiments have been consistently ignored by all militaries ever since

September 30, 1941, was the second and final day of the Babi Yar massacre. Pursuant to a decision and order to kill all of the Jews in Kiev, German soldiers, Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, and other Ukrainian Nazis and collaborators killed approximately 33,771 Jews in a 2 day massacre. Ukrainian participation and the Ukrainian participants in this and other genocidal operations in Russia have generally been given a pass by the Western Allies and western historians because the victims, though Jews, were also goldurn no good dirty Russkies.

On September 30, 1943, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy was dedicated by FDR. Created largely in response to the disastrous 1934 SS Morro Castle fire. This institution should not be confused with the California Maritime Academy created in 1929, which is still the only degree granting Maritime Academy on the West Coast because reasons.

On September 30, 1954, the world's first nuke powered ship, appropriately enough, a warship, the USS Nautilus, was commissioned.

On September 30, 1962, Caesar Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association AND James Meredith entered the U. of Mississippi despite rules mandating racial segregation. (Queue Phil Ochs).

1980 – Ethernet specifications were published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.

1999 – The second Tokaimura nuclear accident caused the deaths of two technicians and irradiated 667 other persons

2005 – "Controversial" drawings of Muhammad were printed in a Danish newspaper. Things got really ugly

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Some people who were born on this day:

Fame is only good for one thing - they will cash your check in a small town.

~~ Truman Capote 1207 – Rumi, a renowned mystic and poet. 1550 – Michael Maestlin, astronomer and mathematician 1765 – José María Morelos, priest and revolutionary leader who took over after the execution of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. 1814 – Lucinda Hinsdale Stone, feminist, educator, and writer 1832 – Ann Jarvis, activist, community organizer, and co-founder of Mother's Day. 1870 – Jean Baptiste Perrin, physicist and chemist 1882 – Hans Geiger, physicist 1883 – Nora Stanton Blatch Barney, civil engineer, architect, and suffragist 1897 – Charlotte Wolff, physician and psychotherapist, wrote influential works on lesbianism and sexuality and dreck on hand analysis 1901 – Thelma Terry, bassist and bandleader 1917 – Buddy Rich, drummer, bandleader, and actor 1924 – Truman Capote, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter 1928 – Elie Wiesel, author and activist 1933 – Cissy Houston, singer 1935 – Johnny Mathis, singer and actor 1940 – Dewey Martin, drummer 1942 – Gus Dudgeon, record producer 1942 – Frankie Lymon, singer and songwriter 1943 – Marilyn McCoo, singer 1946 – Héctor Lavoe, singer and songwriter 1947 – Marc Bolan, singer, songwriter, and guitarist (Glam Rock) 1952 – John Lombardo, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1953 – Matt Abts, drummer 1954 – Basia, singer, songwriter, and record producer 1954 – Scott Fields, guitarist, bandleader, and composer 1954 – Patrice Rushen, singer, songwriter, and producer 1958 – Marty Stuart, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1977 – Nick Curran, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer

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Some people who died on this day:

Logarithmic plots are a device of the devil.

~~ Charles Francis Richter 1977 – Mary Ford, singer and guitarist 1985 – Charles Francis Richter, seismologist and physicist 2011 – Anwar al-Awlaki, prominent anti-US propagandist; the first US citizen assassinated without due process by drone strike. In separate attacks, the US subsequently murdered his teenage son and 8 year old daughter, both also US citizens, neither of whom had been accused of anything. Do not say bad things about the US.

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Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Birth of Morelos (Mexico) International Translation Day International Blasphemy Rights Day International Podcast Day

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