Thursday, May 26, 2005

Pretty safe bets

I think it's a pretty safe bet that if somebody stood in Times Square and yelled that he was an Orthodox Jew who worked seven days a week and if anybody objected to him being a workaholic 'they could just take their Sabbath junk and shove it' - well, essentially nobody would mistake him for an Orthodox Jew, now would they?

I think it's a pretty safe bet that if someone went around India thrashing innocent cows in the face with a whip, and tried to excuse it on the grounds that 'in his experience Hindus were seen as old-fashioned and so he was going to counter the sacred cow thing in the name of establishing a New Hinduism more in step with the times' - well, essentially nobody would approve of his scheme, would they?

I think it's a pretty safe bet that if someone insisted upon hanging upside down on a trapeze bar in a Shinto Temple so he could stick his tongue out at worshippers every time they clapped, on the grounds that he'd decided that Shinto needed to lighten up and by all means needed to get rid of that clapping business - well, essentially everybody could see that he was out of bounds, couldn't they?

I think it's a pretty safe bet that if someone walked into a Buddhist church during a service and loudly asserted that all that Middle Path talk was a crock and he was there to tell everybody what that Siddhartha Gautama guy should have said - well, essentially nobody would think he was handling his dispute with Buddha's teachings properly, now would they?

I think it's a pretty safe bet that if somebody walked into a Catholic church and told people he was there to tell them what that Pope guy should be saying...

1 comment:

Bookworm said...

Wonderful post. It's always interesting to hear people who are obviously hostile to what you stand for, telling you to make reforms that are "for your own good."