10.15.07
I Have Fury
I did have a semi-coherent rant ready for you all tonight about my organizational habits. In an odd fit of appropriateness, that all got tossed out the window when I saw this on a church sign on the way home:
WE DON’T NEED TO KNOW ALL THE THINGS WE WANT TO KNOW
….please tell me I’m not alone in thinking that’s the single dumbest phrase ever uttered. Completely irregardless of where I found it, mind you, I had the same reaction: “That’s f%#$ing stupid.” I certainly respect the rights of people to hold differing opinions but if someone in all sincerity said that to me, face-to-face, and expected me to believe it, I’d sock him.
Yeah. I’ll calm down tomorrow. Right now I need to eat. It’s times like this I wish I could go back to my old ‘irritated and hungry’ phrase of “I must devour the flesh of a chicken or cow to sate my rage”. “I must eat soy protein and simmer in fury and health” doesn’t have the same ring, y’know?
Pez said,
10.15.07 at 7:30 pm
…you know, I actually agree with it.
Rob Browning said,
10.15.07 at 7:37 pm
It might be a true statement, but that doesn’t make it relevant.
Rob
Katyanna said,
10.15.07 at 8:46 pm
I can understand why they would put it up. People who question faith and feel the need to know things. It just sounds silly to state it like that. But then, it was on a church and heaven forbid people should want something. Wouldn’t have been a catholic church, by chance, would it? What with the new Vatican scandal and all.
John said,
10.16.07 at 4:46 am
Pez: After a little rethinking, I suppose there’s some defensibility to the statement– I certainly wouldn’t want my SSN or my bank account information spread around– but in general, the default state implied by the statement, “you don’t need to know that”, just doesn’t sit well with me. As Kat said, the statement’s just worded poorly, and off the top of my head I don’t know how it could be re-worded to convey the same general message but not alarm me.
Kat: I’m going to decline to say on what church I found it, save to say it wasn’t a Catholic church. I’ve actually noticed that Catholic or Lutheran churches don’t have snarky or irritating messages as often as other denominations.
I don’t have a problem with faith per se, but I do have a problem with people being told categorically not to question what they decide to question. Some of the brightest people in history questioned their faith, and what they found either disillusioned them or reinforced their faith… who’s to say it’s going to work one way or the other for everyone who questions? It’s an individual choice and that’s why the statement bothers me so badly. Questioning everything is just my default state, I guess.
John said,
10.16.07 at 7:26 am
Addendum: On further reflection, it’s mostly the fact that the phrase “you don’t need to know that” heavily implies an extension of “so don’t ask” which bothers me so greatly.