Falimentul Ateismului Optiuni

[Octavi]

Is Europe the New Dark Continent?
By Dale Hurd, CBN News Sr. Reporter
http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/News/040301a.asp

Acesta este un articol de propaganda fundamentalista crestina, tipic american. Sau in tot cazul, tipic pentru "reteaua de radio-televiziune crestina a SUA". . . .
Totusi, trecand peste "umplutura" propagandistica, acest articol prezinta o realitate incontestabila, bazata pe statisici. El pune niste probleme care ar trebui sa-i ingrijoreze pe europeni.

O prima neliniste ar trebui sa provina dinspre posibilitatea dezastruoasa a ivirii unui clivaj politic si ideologic permanent si care dupa unii pare chiar sa se adânceasca intre cea mai dinamica economie a lumii, cel mai mare pol al inovatiei, stiintei si tehnologiei (SUA) si continentul nostru.
Racirea relatiilor intre forta militara care a ferit in ultimele 5 decenii Europa de multe rele si in fapt a ferit Europa de . . . . Europa insasi, nu e de bun augur pentru nici unul dintre malurile atlanticului.

Articolul ne arata apoi pe cazul Europei, falimentul omenirii (nu si a omului ca individ, insa) ca specie dotata cu ratiune. Spun asta gandindu-ma la nevoia inca resimtita de o majoritate a oamenilor, de a fi mintiti pentru a ramane in echilibru cu sine insusi si mediul social in care evolueaza.
Un alt ”mic” amanunt; un “amanunt” pe care propagandismul integrismului american, cu siguranta l-a aruncat intentionat in balanta inspre finalul articolului: e vorba de faptul ca Europa azi atee, risca tocmai datorita faptului ca este atee, sa devina maine prada celui mai devastatator exclusivism religios, anume islamul.
Ateii deci, o specie etern batuta de soarta pare-se, au astfel obligatia sa aleaga azi intre 2 alternative extrem de incomode: fundamentalismul crestin de tip american, “bushist”, al ceasului, si cel islamic, de maine. Eu unul, deja stiu ce aleg.

Cateva elemente cheie ale articolului:
* 61 la suta dintre americani sunt optimisti cand e vorba de viitor, doar 42 la suta dintre englezi, 29 la suta dintre francezi si 15 la suta dintre nemti.
* mai putin de 5 procente dintre europeni merg la biserica.
* mai putin de 3 procente dintre britanici merg in mod regulat la biserica; din aceste 3 procente, jumatate sunt . . . . negrii (populatie in mod traditional ignoranta, needucata), negrii care reprezinta doar 5 la suta din populatia regatului unit.
* in Franta sunt mai multi musulmani practicanti, decat catolici botezati! Dintr-o populatie de 60 de milioane de frantuzi, mai putin de 4 milioane sunt botezati.
* un reporter englez pe continent, spune ca pe strazile Europei vezi mai multi caini, decat copii.
* de trei ori mai multi americani cred in nasterea din fecioara, decat in teoria evolutiei.
* in Europa, ca personalitate-model, Isus Cristos (1 procent) este SELECTAT ULTIMUL dintr-o lista oferita de un sondaj, cu un scor de 61 de ori mai mic decat cel al lui . . . . Nelson Mandela; situandu-se chiar si dupa Britney Spears (6 procente) . . . .
* biserica europeana isi leaga sperantele de revigorare a credintei de demografia dinamica a minoritatilor (negrii, arabi, etc.), la care sentimentul religios este inca puternic, o tendinta si o alianta care ar trebui sa ingrijoreze autohtonul ateu.
* islamul este religia cu cea mai puternica crestere pe continentul nostru.

Trist asadar ca si pentru omul de azi mai e valabil, se pare, ceea ce unul dintre primii sociologi ai religiei (A. Comte, cel care spunea ca “religia/credinta este o stare subiectiva si irationala”) socotea, anume ca "pierzi religia, pierzi busola". Europenii vor parca sa-i dea o confirmare peste secole . . . .
Cu aceasta convingere in minte, Comte a incercat candva sa infiinteze o "religie pozitivista", umanista, care sa indeparteze formele clasice. N-a reusit.

Ar trebui totusi spus ca ateii, cu structura lor mentala asa pesimista si un psihic labil (propagandistul da un exemplu in articol), sunt cei care umplu organizatiile umanitare internationale, ca “Médecins sans frontières” de ex.
O morala inalta deci, nu prespune automat credinta; alaturi de puzderia de organizatii caritative crestine americane, europenii alatura si ei o serie cu nume cat se poate de onorabile.

[aquilla]

Asta ca sa mai spulberam un mit si ca sa-l trezesc pe Octavi din somnul lui hipnotic.


The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).
The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth. Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day (The Week, Jan. 7, 2005).
"The International Adult Literacy Survey...found that Americans with less than nine years of education 'score worse than virtually all of the other countries'" (Jeremy Rifkin's superbly documented book The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, p.78).
Our workers are so ignorant and lack so many basic skills that American businesses spend $30 billion a year on remedial training (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004). No wonder they relocate elsewhere!
"The European Union leads the U.S. in...the number of science and engineering graduates; public research and development (R&D) expenditures; and new capital raised" (The European Dream, p.70).
"Europe surpassed the United States in the mid-1990s as the largest producer of scientific literature" (The European Dream, p.70).
Nevertheless, Congress cut funds to the National Science Foundation. The agency will issue 1,000 fewer research grants this year (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004).
Foreign applications to U.S. grad schools declined 28 percent last year. Foreign student enrollment on all levels fell for the first time in three decades, but increased greatly in Europe and China. Last year Chinese grad-school graduates in the U.S. dropped 56 percent, Indians 51 percent, South Koreans 28 percent (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004). We're not the place to be anymore.
The World Health Organization "ranked the countries of the world in terms of overall health performance, and the U.S. [was]...37th." In the fairness of health care, we're 54th. "The irony is that the United States spends more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world" (The European Dream, pp.79-80). Pay more, get lots, lots less.
"The U.S. and South Africa are the only two developed countries in the world that do not provide health care for all their citizens" (The European Dream, p.80). Excuse me, but since when is South Africa a "developed" country? Anyway, that's the company we're keeping.
Lack of health insurance coverage causes 18,000 unnecessary American deaths a year. (That's six times the number of people killed on 9/11.) (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005.)
"U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the developed nations. Only Mexico scores lower" (The European Dream, p.81). Been to Mexico lately? Does it look "developed" to you? Yet it's the only "developed" country to score lower in childhood poverty.
Twelve million American families--more than 10 percent of all U.S. households--"continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some point last year" numbered 3.9 million (NYT, Nov. 22, 2004).
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The United States is 41st in the world in infant mortality. Cuba scores higher (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).
Women are 70 percent more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).
The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder (CNN, Dec. 14, 2004).
"Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the 1980s.... In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew only slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1 percent" (The European Dream, p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other industrialized country, and get less vacation time.
"Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies" (The European Dream, p.66). "In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies, conducted by Global Finance, all but one were European" (The European Dream, p.69).
"Fourteen of the 20 largest commercial banks in the world today are European.... In the chemical industry, the European company BASF is the world's leader, and three of the top six players are European. In engineering and construction, three of the top five companies are European.... The two others are Japanese. Not a single American engineering and construction company is included among the world's top nine competitors. In food and consumer products, Nestlé and Unilever, two European giants, rank first and second, respectively, in the world. In the food and drugstore retail trade, two European companies...are first and second, and European companies make up five of the top ten. Only four U.S. companies are on the list" (The European Dream, p.68).
The United States has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the last decade (CNN, Jan. 12, 2005).
U.S. employers eliminated 1 million jobs in 2004 (The Week, Jan. 14, 2005).
Three million six hundred thousand Americans ran out of unemployment insurance last year; 1.8 million--one in five--unemployed workers are jobless for more than six months (NYT, Jan. 9, 2005).
Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea hold 40 percent of our government debt. (That's why we talk nice to them.) "By helping keep mortgage rates from rising, China has come to play an enormous and little-noticed role in sustaining the American housing boom" (NYT, Dec. 4, 2004). Read that twice. We owe our housing boom to China, because they want us to keep buying all that stuff they manufacture.
Sometime in the next 10 years Brazil will probably pass the U.S. as the world's largest agricultural producer. Brazil is now the world's largest exporter of chickens, orange juice, sugar, coffee, and tobacco. Last year, Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest beef producer. (Hear that, you poor deluded cowboys?) As a result, while we bear record trade deficits, Brazil boasts a $30 billion trade surplus (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
As of last June, the U.S. imported more food than it exported (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
Bush: 62,027,582 votes. Kerry: 59,026,003 votes. Number of eligible voters who didn't show up: 79,279,000 (NYT, Dec. 26, 2004). That's more than a third. Way more. If more than a third of Iraqis don't show for their election, no country in the world will think that election legitimate.
One-third of all U.S. children are born out of wedlock. One-half of all U.S. children will live in a one-parent house (CNN, Dec. 10, 2004).
"Americans are now spending more money on gambling than on movies, videos, DVDs, music, and books combined" (The European Dream, p.28).
"Nearly one out of four Americans [believe] that using violence to get what they want is acceptable" (The European Dream, p.32).
Forty-three percent of Americans think torture is sometimes justified, according to a PEW Poll (Associated Press, Aug. 19, 2004).
"Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last year for which such data are available" (USA Today, Dec. 21, 2004).
"The International Association of Chiefs of Police said that cuts by the [Bush] administration in federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more vulnerable than ever" (USA Today, Nov. 17, 2004).
No. 1? In most important categories we're not even in the Top 10 anymore. Not even close.

The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and delusion.