Anyone else disturbed by this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7d37r3iUds&feature=rec-HM-r2

Comment I posted on the video:
Well this kid certainly has some talent. But this also creeps the f*** out of me. Seeing such a young mind already hijacked by religion is like throwing rocks into my gears. It grates, badly.

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel similarily about it?

Despite everything I've written about religion on these boards, I liked it. That was very beautiful.

Now, what does disturb me is when Palestinian children recite nursery rhymes about how Jews are swine, utter abominations, and should be put to death, and are then rewarded by their parents with cake.

(Unfortunately, I forget the name of that documentary.)

In both of these cases, you can rest assured that these words have absolutely no meaning to the kids reciting them. Their expressions betray that quite clearly. Of course, if these kids stay in their current environments, they will soon learn how to put these words into practice, and become as prejudiced as their their parents want them to be.

If I don't focus on the fact that it has anything to do with religion, I find the sound of the kid's voice beautiful and almost hypnotic. But whenever I think of all the damage done in the name of religion (of any sort), I find myself pretty creeped out.

Children are 'hijacked' by religion as soon as it's possible to get to them. For your average Christian child, it's around the time he or she learns about Santa Claus. It's a little disturbing in that case... maybe moreso in Islam where your average practitioner takes his faith more seriously.

Well if you start from the point that Islam is absolutely wrong and brings nothing but ill effect, or make that blanket statement with religion or supernaturalism as a whole is automatically a hijack, then I suppose so, but I haven't really looked into it or practiced it any notable amount, so I really can't say, especially when I can't understand a word he's saying.

Not really shocked, no. Being shocked at this can be seen as a patronizing view of things that reduces religious behavior to moral and political aspects in their narrow sense. Religion is a natural response to certain situations, broadly speaking. When censuring its restrictions and miseries, one isn't reacting much differently than when the stereotypically religious react to the world around them in apparently arbitrary ways. You can take religion as a set of symptoms to a number of problems (probably life itself, to many). By rejecting such signs and reactions we avoid the issues themselves, and get tangled in the problem under the terms of those symptoms.

Symptoms of life include religion, rejection of religion. Condition goes into remission in nearly all cases within one hundred years.

Creaphis said:
Symptoms of life include religion, rejection of religion.

?

myk said:

?

It's not unlikely for pharmaceuticals/illnesses to have completely opposite adverse effects.

Zaldron said:

It's not unlikely for pharmaceuticals/illnesses to have completely opposite adverse effects.

At least those are genuinely fun.

Zaldron said:
It's not unlikely for pharmaceuticals/illnesses to have completely opposite adverse effects.

And when the former are applied to a bad diagnosis of the latter, the damage is two-sided and possibly enhanced.

myk said:

?

The symptoms aren't simultaneous. In many cases of life only one of these symptoms appears. However, a single case of life can include both of the aforementioned symptoms, even multiple times and in any order.

Espi said:

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel similarily about it?

I feel exactly like you.

Creaphis said:
The symptoms aren't simultaneous. In many cases of life only one of these symptoms appears. However, a single case of life can include both of the aforementioned symptoms, even multiple times and in any order.

You need to wake from that out-of-body state you got yourself into.

Doesn't disturb me. Here's an English translation for anyone who's interested

Creaphis said:

The symptoms aren't simultaneous. In many cases of life only one of these symptoms appears. However, a single case of life can include both of the aforementioned symptoms, even multiple times and in any order.

Can those symptoms be vaccinated against or is each considered to cure the other? Should they be allowed to run their course?

Creaphis said:

Symptoms of life include religion, rejection of religion.

What about animals... or better yet... PLANTS??

Inferno said:

What about animals... or better yet... PLANTS??

Note the word "include." This list is nowhere close to comprehensive.

GreyGhost said:

Can those symptoms be vaccinated against or is each considered to cure the other? Should they be allowed to run their course?

Unfortunately, all vaccinations and treatments for life carry an extraordinarily high mortality risk.

Creaphis said:
The symptoms aren't simultaneous.

Let's break this systemic premise down to something applicable:

It's more like when they ask someone whether they are gay, but the real question would be how gay are you and in what way?

ok, so religion can be good, or can be bad. who cares? its life, live and let live. the world will never be perfect. everyone will always be different, and fighting for what they believe in. get used to it.

myk said:

Let's break this systemic premise down to something applicable

Or I'll just stop using it, as I didn't mean much with it anyways. Somehow this led me to say this and now things are getting out of hand.

Curiously "getting out of hand" has to do with my point in that post. A critique of religion can become determined by religion which is an abstraction with various cultural and biological elements powering it, and becomes more far removed from life than the arbitrary (irrational) religious practice. Hence the "bad diagnosis" metaphor later.

myk said:

Let's break this systemic premise down to something applicable:

It's more like when they ask someone whether they are gay, but the real question would be how gay are you and in what way?

Everyone is gay for Bridget

Future Bin Laden right there

Maybe we should just declare war on these sort of people so that their differences never threaten us.


Oh wait.....



Seems certain presidents beat me to that idea.

It was disturbing to watch though. It is very easy to corrupt religion to teach people to hate, and if you get them young enough, it is near impossible to undo that hatred.

Though that is not necessarily the case with this particular kid. It is just different from us. Whenever they recite the Koran publicly, it is always sung, never spoken, and usually improvised, as this kid is doing.

It's not really any different from having to learn the Lord Prayer's at school, the Armed Forces prayer in the army, and picking those excelling at chanting for further education/chanting in almost all Christian countries.

This is really no different than someone reciting the Lord's Prayer. Religion is just something you adopt along with other family customs. The average Christian family will think a child singing the Lord's Prayer perfectly normal. The average Muslim family will think this just as normal, though they might be just as weirded out by someone saying the lord's prayer, especially if they don't understand English. If this was in English, there wouldn't be nearly half as many people being creeped out by this. It's really just cultural shock. Culture results in differences, differences result in fear, fear results in hatred and that is why we have wars. If people would learn to keep an open mind, then differences wouldn't result in fear, and the cycle would be broken.

And then there is this:

I'm not really sure what it is that's disturbing you. Lots of religions include posing early influence on kids. Think about Baptisms and Barmitzvahs

I don't find it particularly disturbing. No more so than kids at Sunday school chanting the Lord's Prayer and no more disturbing than this either:

JohnnyRancid said:

I'm not really sure what it is that's disturbing you. Lots of religions include posing early influence on kids. Think about Baptisms and Barmitzvahs

Yeah, frankly I'd be more disturbed if she was wearing a midriff and talking on a cell phone while eating a big mac.

JohnnyRancid said:

I'm not really sure what it is that's disturbing you. Lots of religions include posing early influence on kids. Think about Baptisms and Barmitzvahs

That's precisely what's disturbing, regardless of which religion is doing it. =p

I hope he manages to avoid ending up a complete nutjob.