15 February 2006

Transmission Gully still not worth it

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yes Transit still wants to build the coastal expressway instead of Transmission Gully. (the image is the profile of Transmission Gully compared to the existing route)
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Good.
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There isn’t the money for Transmission Gully – it is an uneconomic project and the media have been hoodwinked by Porirua City and the shockingly poor policy advice that sits within it. Porirua City Council does not know better than Transit, Greater Wellington Regional Council and peer reviewed consultants about roading costs – it just has a blinkered agenda. It wont raise rates to pay for Transmission Gully, even though its citizens would be some of the major beneficiaries. Porirua doesn't have the money - all the road user taxes from Wellington are committed for the next ten years (including the money that goes into the Crown account) - so it would have to be money taken from other government spending/tax cuts/borrowing to build a project with an economic return of 50c for every dollar spent on it. Wellington City Council has been trying to point much of this out - and it has a more credible policy department than any other Wellington territorial authority.
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The coastal expressway does not need building now – the median barrier along the coast does, and that has funding from Land Transport NZ (see your petrol tax sometimes is spent well). The barrier costs around $16 million, 4-laning costs around 30 times that, Transmission Gully costs around 70 times that.
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The focus for the corridor between Mackays Crossing and Paremata should be on a bypass for Pukerua Bay and a flyover at Paekakariki, which will make access in both communities safer and quicker. Congestion at Paremata has been ameliorated by the recently opened upgrade. Transit can pursue options for four-laning along the coast after that, and when congestion gets bad enough. Notice the road hasn’t been closed for a while – because it mainly gets closed due to accidents. When the barrier is up, there will be even fewer accidents and it will rarely be closed. With four lanes it is extremely unlikely all lanes will be closed at once – hardly worth an extra $500 million at that point, when you can use that money for something else – like remaining in your pocket!
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The argument that Transit promised Transmission Gully and residents planned on that basis has some validity – but by no means was funding ever promised – the study that preceded the current round of consultation demonstrated that Transmission Gully was over three times what previous estimates had been.
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Besides that the other components of the Western Corridor plan are difficult to argue against, the Kapiti Western Link Road (as a 70km/h arterial please!), extension of the rail service and higher frequency services, the Petone-Grenada link road and some other improvements are all worth proceeding with.
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The next step is to see what the conclusion of the hearings panel are, and then the final recommended corridor plan adopted by the GW regional council and Transit. By the way, a good question and answer summary is on the GW website here and the whole proposed Western Corridor plan on a pdf document here.

Fund your OWN public TV



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Stuff reports a call by a bunch of high profile New Zealanders for a compulsory pay TV channel – sold as a public non-commercial channel. It would be compulsory pay TV because you would be forced to pay for it regardless of whether or not you watch it.
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As such channels exist overseas, they think you should be made to pay for one here, as you are made to pay for National Radio and Concert FM
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Of course, there is little stopping this parade of rather wealthy New Zealanders setting it up themselves, buying frequencies and running such a channel with donations. TVNZ, after all, holds frequencies for a nationwide UHF TV channel, and the Maori reserved UHF frequencies still exist (Maori Television uses a frequency owned by Sky).
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Unfortunately I doubt the people concerned are willing to put their hands in their pockets for a non-commercial TV channel. You see, when you want something expensive, most people would rather spend their money on other things, like holidays or Sky TV.
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Public funded TV is expensive. ABC TV in Australia costs A$526 million a year , and the BBC sucks £123 (around $300) a year from British households to fund 2 analogue and 4 digital tv channels, and half a dozen radio stations for the whole country. Of course there are about 15x the households in Britain. Around a third of New Zealand households pay around 50% more than that for dozens of channels that they presumably want.
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The big problem is that those advocating public TV complain about a lack of decent local programmes and too much advertising. Well ask those who produce the programmes. If people who worked in the industry charged less for their services there could be more programmes. If people wanted them they would pay for them – ahhh but they cost far more than imported programmes you say. It is a bit like complaining that too many fly economy class, it would be better to have decent seats with decent food, like those people who fly business class – someone else ought to pay!
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Ah but it is about our culture. This is the argument I heard from the local content lobbyists for years - why make the conversation about money! Whose culture? So public TV reflects culture does it? Is that why 80% of Australian TV viewing is NOT done in front of the half billion dollar compulsory pay TV channel? Is that why public TV is almost invariably rather leftwing in outlook? (though TV3 news can give them a run for their money).
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Well if it is about culture then stop trying to put your hand into other people’s pockets and work for free or a lot less. If the culture vultures care so much about culture they wont charge what they do for their services because it will be done out of love – after all socialists often say how much they wish so much was not about money.
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They claim most people are ready to throw their tvs out the of their windows. Who is stopping them? Do something else, listen to the radio, play your own music, read a book, talk to people, go outside!
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Television is not a right – it is a service and it can be funded in three ways:
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Advertising: Where you, the viewer, get a free service in exchange for businesses (and the state!) promoting products and services to you. However to keep you watching, the channel must give you shows you want to watch, so that the audience is at its greatest.
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The people advocating public TV don’t like commercial television though. There is an undercurrent of thinking that what the great unwashed like the most is poor quality – the proletariat only like rugby, imported comedies and reality TV shows. This is not good enough for our esteemed New Zealanders who despise this as drivel. Commercial TV targets particular audiences that may be interested in particular products, so beyond that we have…
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Subscription TV: To convince people to pay for extra channels has been quite a feat, mostly by putting sports on it. However it does mean that people get what they pay for, and the choice is growing year by year. Again the public TV lobby see this as crass “why should you have to pay for it”, as if Dame Malvina would do all her concerts for free. Well pay TV is like buying magazines, people increasingly buy the channels they want and at any time, can give it up.
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Voluntarily funded TV: US PBS is largely this, as are the handful of non-commercial (but not commercial free) channels around the country. People donate money and the station operates. You make a decision whether public TV is something you want to support, or you would rather save up for something else. Triangle TV in Auckland is a hybrid of this and commercial broadcasting, and there are similar channels in Dunedin and Nelson.
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None of this washes with the public TV lobby, but fortunately the government wont give them what they want. This is because Treasury looked into this some years ago and the cost is astronomical – those public TV people don’t come cheap you know!
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So I suggest the coalition of the (willing?) raise cash, buy some frequencies and transmitters and have a go themselves. They will soon see that most New Zealanders couldn’t give a damn or are not willing to put their money where their mouths are.
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I've found in the UK that the most challenging programmes are not on the BBC, but on Channel 4 - which is prepared to show documentaries such as "religion the root of all evil". Commercial TV can be different - the BBC wont even call terrorists terrorists as it is too scared of offending anyone!

14 February 2006

War with Iran

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The Oxford Research Group has released a report on the consequences of war with Iran (whether Israeli or US attack), to strike at its nuclear facilities and capability to retaliate. It estimates that it could lead to a wider war in the Middle East, kill 10,000 people and solidify backing for the current regime, and anti-American feeling in the Middle East. Iran could retaliate with suicide speedboats against oil tankers and a ground offensive would be untenable, requiring 100,000 troops.
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The full text of the report is here. It recommends that all non-military options be pursued to respond to Iran's nuclear programme - which, of course, should be pursued first. Diplomatic and trade sanctions may have a better chance of helping the regime topple than war. However, Iraq's nuclear facilities is Osiraq were knocked out by Israel in 1986, which did not result in war - but that was simpler.
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However.
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Nuclear attack on Tel Aviv, population 358 000. Imagine one third killed = 129 000.
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Maybe Iran is bluffing. Maybe Iran wont use nuclear weapons, maybe it wont supply nuclear materials to terrorists it supplies, funds and trains now. Maybe....
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Hopefully a diplomatic solution can be found that is verifiable, and Iran can be brought back from the brink. If it can't and Iran uses what it looks like it is acquiring, then it will be too late.
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Iran needs to be threatened with economic sanctions and isolation if it continues, and an opening up if it opens it facilities for full inspection and verification. Its government and people should know that there is a willingness to strangle Iran economically if it persists, and to use military force if necessary. As long as Iran has murderous intent against Israel, Israel will not sit by and watch hundreds of thousands of its civilians be incinerated.
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After all, if Iran uses a nuclear weapon against Israel - there should be no doubt that the Israeli and US response will make that the end of the Islamic Republic.

Bottled water and waste

Now the Greens have this as their latest guilt trip for consumers. Lindsay Mitchell agrees with them in part (and is probably slightly concerned about that).
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People spending their own money to buy something they want – bottled water. This is despite the quality of tap water getting better and despite many people not knowing the taste difference.
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A lot of that may be true. It may also be true that people are drinking more water, because of the health benefits, and that more people in air conditioned environments are feeling dehydrated. People buy bottled water for when they exercise, and travelling on planes and trains. Some (like me) buy bottled water because the tap water is foul (though I am in London) and I am prepared to pay for water that I prefer.
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The main whine appears to be that people are wasting money – like they “waste” money buying petrol when they could be travelling by other means. It sounds just as paternalistic and school prefect like as the Christians are on sex. It may cost 10,000 times more to bottle water than reticulate it, but if people are willing to pay for it, it is no different than buying too many pairs of shoes – nobody else’s business!
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However, a more substantive concern is “what about the plastic bottles”. Now there may be arguments that if people are replacing drinking other bottled drinks like soft drinks, then there is no net impact at all. Some bottles are recycled too. Regardless of that, there is a legitimate question.
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Is the world going to be swamped with all these bottles using up land and making our cities and landscapes ridden with garbage?
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No.
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“Our landfills are creaking” gives as image of mountains of rubbish about to spill over. There is plenty of land for landfills – think of where the main Wellington city one is in Happy Valley – vast acres of valleys and land to the west and south of it where landfills could exist with nobody being affected. It is more a matter of whether it makes economic sense. Bjorn Lomborg claims that the entire waste of the US for the 21st century, assuming the population doubles, would take up an area roughly 28 miles square and 100 feet high. Not exactly overflowing is it when the USA covers 3537441 square miles. It is no reason to not reduce waste, but one problem is the incentives.
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Local government typically runs landfills and does not always operate them to make a profit, like an investment. If it did, the cost of using them would go up, increasing pressure for waste reduction and improving the economics of recycling. Ah, but people will tip rubbish in public areas you say. The tragedy of the commons - and something that tends to only occur on public land. Time to sell that land too, but in the meantime this is where law enforcement and councils could focus their efforts - sell the landfills and enforce laws against tipping. Littering is something that environmentalists spend far too little time being concerned about.

Christian fundamentalism and sex

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Who put the mental into fundamentalism?
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I have been engaging regularly with another blogger who has decided (for unrelated reasons) to cease blogging on political matters – this is AJ Chesswas. I did so because I have, what some may say is a masochistic tendency, to engage with those and ideas that are almost the complete opposite of mine. Friends know this in my collection of North Korean propaganda, but I also find engagement with socialists, ecologists, religious zealots and racists all intriguing. At best it challenges me on what I believe and tests it, at worst it just gets me wound up.
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My main engagement has been the curious religious fascination with sex. As Muslims get all agitated about cartoons depicting Mohammed, Christians get most agitated in New Zealand about sexual behaviour. The opposition to the Civil Union Bill was driven by people opposed to homosexual behaviour and relationships. Simple as that.
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Opposition to legalising prostitution was driven by people opposed to sex being a commodity – although there is a wider concern about this, as prostitution makes many people uncomfortable with the “what if it was your daughter” argument. Few defended the right of adults to choose to have sex with money exchanging.
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Christians got extremely wound up when sodomy and male same-sex acts (they ARE different, sodomy is not just a homosexual practice and lesbian sex has never been prohibited) were legalised in the 1980s. Marches with the flag and enormous petitions, concern that teenage boys would suddenly start bumming each other because it was legal. I was 15 at the time and it didn’t cause me to look at my friend’s bums in a new light.
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So why do they get so wound up? I figured AJ Chesswas would enlighten me as his views on these matters are some of the most radical I have seen. I didn’t want just some quotes from the Bible, but some reasoning and to be fair, scripture was the weapon of last resort.
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He, after all, got extremely agitated when I explained I had engaged in behaviour that, at one time, was illegal in New Zealand. Check out this :
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“When a person consents to making a bad choice there is a huge duty on us to help prevent them doing it. How much more a duty when we are the one causing them to do it? How much more when as a man we're abusing the fickle choice of women who we know are so easily manipulated?”
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“If only you knew the repulsion and wrath that is flamed in the belly of a God-fearing man when he hears of a woman being sexually perverted. Get help Scott. That is both an insult, a compliment and a threat.”

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So before the lynch mob was sent on a plane to London (where, frankly we are talking genocide proportions if all the people in Britain who did this are going to get punished), I had to ask. Why does this matter? Why do they get SO angry?
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If people respect each other, don’t assault, steal or defraud from each other and get along peacefully, isn’t that enough? Why should the state be involved in private matters and why, indeed, should individuals give a damn whether their neighbours are married or not, enjoying sodomy, banging their sheep or making chocolate capsicum and parsnip cupcakes?
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It is a fundamental liberal maxim that people should be able to do what they wish, as long as they do not infringe upon the right of others to do the same. Christian fundamentalists dismiss this as a secular religion - and say to enforce this is "forcing my views on them", as if NOT doing something is MAKING you do something. Leaving people to choose is not forcing anyone, it is free will.
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Not only is liberalism utility maximising (allowing maximum creativity, risk taking and accountability for risk taking), but is moral. It is moral because people own their lives – anybody else owning your life is called slavery. It is also moral because it seems absurd and offensive for anyone else to have control over your body - if you (and whoever you are with) consent to do something, why is someone not participating in a better position to not only say no, but to punish you for not agreeing? What made that person the guardian of your body?
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Well this is the answer I got:
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"Sex is a private act, and that is the basis of my resistance to what has become a very public debate. But it is only a private act when that privacy actually means something - ie when it is expressed monogamously in a committed and covenantal relationship. When it is exposed, or people expose themselves, that deviant sexual practices are not only common but being publicised, celebrated and encouraged - then sexuality is of significant concern to any moral person who's in touch with the next generation".
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A private act, but only when you do it the way they want you to (and because they don't want any manuals of naked people showing you different ways of doing it), because otherwise it is a "bad choice”. Although he wanted to punish people for the bad choice too because:
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“What I'm saying that where a choice is a bad choice then it doesn't matter whose consent is involved - it is a bad choice and both participants are acting in a destructive, irresponsible, undignified and inhumane manner.”
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Not clear why it is destructive to enjoy a sexual act, irresponsible to whom, undignified (is just an expression of taste) and inhumane is unclear when two adults consent.
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Then there is a plea to the majority – with one problem. Unfortunately Christian fundamentalists surround themselves with people who agree with them (as many of us do, life is happier when you don’t have to deal with others) he said:
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“most people need little help in trying to understand how the practices you talk of are perverted!! Most people couldn't bear to even use the srts of terms you are using in this discussion!”
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I said sodomy, oral sex and masturbation. Terms I have used in discussions with quite a few people. I think most people would not think of those as perverted, particularly the latter two – some may not be a personal preference, but he is clearly deluding himself if he thinks "most people" think that way. Given the best Christian political result in the elections has been around 6% for United Future (and much of that vote was not on religious ground), it is clear that, as a bumper sticker in the US read, the "moral majority is neither"!
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However then we come to the crux of it – scripture was quoted and:
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“In marriage a husband and wife have chosen to refrain from the most pleasurable experience available to them, and save that as a gift for each other. This gift and its ongoing life withtin their marriage is a symbol of the exclusive love and life they share in their hearts for each other. When people figure out the right place to put things the blessing that follows is the joy of being a parent. The joy of bringing into the world new life, and meaningfully recreating something that will live and last because of you”
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Ok, I would disagree with much of that, but – setting aside agreement on this - this surely is still a matter of choice. Why regulate to require people have no sex unless it is heterosexual coitus within marriage? Why throw people in prison for sodomy? Well..
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“How can such an important matter not be the interest of a people's government? This is even more important than things like smoking, alcohol and obesity, because it deals with a person's core relationships and identities. If we get this right, and children are given the right start to life by two parents who truly love each other, we probably won't even have to deal with the problems and addictions that arise from a person's depression and lack of meaningful relationships and identity.”
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Furthermore..
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“And if there are any sexual acts that are more risky than sodomy they certainly should be illegal!! Force is certainly a very good argument when dealing with the immoral and unreasonable!”
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I wont even mention a long list if he wont search the internet for them!
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Apparently the state should control our core relationships and identities. Keen on a state arranged marriage anyone? Can’t have been hooking up with the wrong partner now can we? Should the state determine your career (identity)? What else must the state protect us from?
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Two people apparently will truly love each other if they withhold sex and this will deal with the problems from depression and lack of meaningful relationships. Of course if you are gay, then the glowing “love” of those who “care” will seek to “cure” you, because, after all, just because you are “immoral and unreasonable” doesn’t mean you can’t repent – rather like those who offend against the Party under communist systems.
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So there you have it – beyond simply saying the Bible says so (the Bible bans eating shellfish as well) it is simply immoral, offends Christian fundamentalists and apparently has some amazing effect on depression, meaningful relationships and identity. Anyone who has had a less than optimal marriage or is gay will find this laughable. I believe Christian fundamentalists (and other religious fundamentalists) have an obsession with sex for bigger reasons. Yes, the Bible is strict on these things (although the Adam and Eve story means that humanity was bred from the incestuous coupling of their children), but I think sex cuts to the heart of what it is to be human in many ways and that is why religious people want it regulated. Mr Chesswas once argued:
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“Comparing fihgting to sexual immorality is like comparing apples to sausage rolls. It really bugs me when people say it's hypocritical of Christians to want to ban pornography, but not violence.”
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Well when you are into banning, which is a violent act in itself, it would be more hypocritical to ban people from it! In short, this was in the context of how good fist fighting can be!! Mr Chesswas regards that as ok, but many sex acts as abominable.
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Sex is an expression of self – the most selfish act anyone can commit. You can’t have sex (short of lying on your back and thinking of England) properly without it being something you want and enjoy. If you do it just to give someone else pleasure (while you are nonchalant about it) you are – more than any other activity – being untrue to yourself, and you wont do it very well. Sex is THE act of selfishness, two people (or more) getting immense personal pleasure from performing acts for their own gratification. It just so happens that you enjoy giving the other person their gratification as well, as it heightens YOURS.
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It is immensely pleasurable, one of the most highly regarded entertainment activities – partly because it doesn’t happen very well without someone else wanting to do it, and because it involves revealing physical and personal traits and habits that most of us don’t want to observe in most people we know. In short, most of us find a small proportion of people attractive for sex and of them, a small proportion find us attractive, and of them, some still wont regardless – making it highly prized, highly pleasurable and very selfish. Sex is the ultimate hedonistic experience – highly desired and often denied and often restrained by reality – you can never always have sex with whoever you want. When you use force or try with those unable to consent, it is a crime and rightfully so.
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Christians don’t like the pleasure from sex – they prefer sacrifice. After all, they worship a God who is said to have sacrificed the life of its son for the sake of everyone else alive then and forever more. Not just sacrifice the life, but through an enduring humiliating painful torturing death. The omnipotent God does this to its son and this is an act of love? Bizarre. However, throughout Christianity is an asceticism and denial of self. Christians accept sex for procreation because biology means they have to. You can live your life without any sex of any kind – women will still menstruate and men will still ejaculate spontaneously (through overflow), but it is rather sad. It is no coincidence that nuns and priests are meant to be celibate (choir boys were nowhere in the Bible as an exception), sacrificing themselves to God.
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Christian fundamentalists have taken this further by celebrating the pleasure of sex within heterosexual matrimony as a privilege that is granted by God – in thanks for you making a procreative couple. If God wanted children (explains the interests some priests have in them) then, the omniscient being could have ensured women laid countless eggs and men fertilised them extra-corporally.
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It is a paternalistic authoritarian attitude which effectively claims ownership of everyone’s lives under the umbrella of “love”. In George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 – the state had perfected artificial insemination, in order to ban sex and intimate relations between people. This was because they interfered with love for Big Brother. How close is that to the theocracy proposed by Mr Chesswas? The acts are to be banned and depictions and promotion of them too – so your body is controlled and your mind too, through censorship.
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The best explanation of the attitude was in THIS comment
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“There is a big difference between administering law and punishment responsibly and lovingly, and doing it hatefully a la Hitler. This is very much a reality in the way a loving parent disciplines and punishes their children..
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No there isn’t – it is mere semantics and a matter of degree. There is nothing loving about locking someone in prison, the difference is that Nazi Germany exterminated many of those it despised – a matter of degree. The state lovingly will do violence to you, lock you up and tell you what you did is wrong – because the state is controlled by people who believe in a ghost you don’t believe in and which cannot be proven to exist. Brian Tamaki and those Christian voters who switched to National in their droves last election are seeking an Iranian style theocracy - like Europe had in the middle ages. One that treats you all as children, and which has the state controlling your body and your mind. The fundamental difference with Nazi Germany or Maoist China is degree – theocrats would probably not be genocidal, just prison wardens.
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There is no substance of reason behind Christian fundamentality – it is as dangerous an idea as Islamic fundamentalism – both forms of religious fascism, both trying to enforce a subjective supernatural based belief system and ban others. The key difference with Islam is that, outside the USA, there are very few Christian fundamentalists. They want your body and your mind, as the followers of fundamentalist religion not only know the truth, but they will use all means they can to enforce it.
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As a footnote Mr Chesswas has noted that he is being challenged already because of “a romantic involvement with a Labour party campaigning feminist law graduate! All of this has resulted in a significant challenge to my views on biblical literalism. But then, as has so often been pointed out, if I were to truly be a biblical literalist I’d have to tie scriptures to my hands and my forehead, refrain from trimming my beard, and not wear clothing made of different types of material!”
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Indeed! I think it is odd that people who hold a book in such esteem then decide it is appropriate to skip over significant portions of it. Now I am no theologist, but I don’t think the Bible says anywhere “these chapters supersede these ones”. That is why I find it difficult to understand people who choose a religion, but only those parts they like, it is like they want a “god” but the “god” they want must be too nice to have meant all that was said in that “holy book”. Maybe they are too scared to do this.