We take pride in it, yet just yesterday (23 Oct 2008 NZ time) I heard on the news that in Afghanistan a guy that downloaded an article about women and Islam was to be sentenced to death! Only from the outcry from other countries was that sentence commuted to 20 years in prison.
Everyone is so afraid of persecution that they who scream the loudest feels safest. Its like school yard bullying, just on a much larger scale. If you dont knock the school scapegoat, you get shit too. If you as a judge, dont dish out harsh sentences to those expressing an opinion, or for having a life outside of Islam or whatever, then you could be in big trouble from other paranoid Islamists who want to point the finger at (anyone but themselves thank you very much) you.
Can't we just grow up? Or is my earlier suspicion of humans correct? Which is: "There's no such thing as an adult, they're all just kids, maybe a bit bigger and a bit slower, probly fatter, but they're still just behaving like children!"
How would you feel if you had the opportunity to represent mankind at an interstellar convention held somewhere in this galaxy? Bloody embarrassed if you ask me. To just suggest that other planets have probably got the same kinds of problems is a bit of a shortcut too if you ask me.
Human? We should be ashamed.
