[Buddha-l] Re: Texas liberals

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Thu, 2005-06-30 at 01:20 +0100, Stephen Hodge wrote:

> I think it means, you guys ought to look at a list of other countries
> that retain the death penalty.  Nice company you keep.

Yes, it really is a disgrace that the death penalty has not been
abolished throughout the United States. There are some states that do
not allow it, but it really should be abolished everywhere in this
country (and on the planet and in the galaxy). Abolition of the death
penalty is, however, unlikely to occur within the next few decades in
los Estados Unidos, until Buddhists make up the majority in the all
three branches of government.

> Just confirms the image that the US projects to the world these days:
> a backward, barbaric country that is largely populated by morons.

Saying that most Americans are morons does not do justice to the
problem. The problem is not that Americans lack native intelligence, as
morons do, but that we are so abysmally educated. The educational system
has been made dramatically worse by the Bush administration, of course,
whose only interest in education is to see people kept so ignorant that
they will vote for Republicans.

The impoverished educational system, I suggest, is the principal reason
why the following statistics obtain in the USA: 76% of the population
believe in the biblical account of creation; 79% believe that the
miracles described in the Bible literally occurred; 76% believe in
angels and the devil; 67% believe they will continue to be conscious
after the death of the material body; 15% believe that Darwin's theory
of evolution is the best hypothesis for the origins of life on earth. My
guess is that one would have to go either to a Muslim country or a
Buddhist country to find people with beliefs as backwards as those.

The sad thing is, it ain't Texas's fault. In a national survey of
educators, who were asked to name the best faculties in their fields,
University of Texas in Austin came within the top three in almost every
field, and first in many. University of Texas, and other universities in
the state, manage to attract the finest teachers and scholars (such as
our own Andy Fort, a long-time denizen of buddha-l). The most recent US
president who was truly a Texan (in contrast to los Bushes, padre y
hijo, who were born and brought up in Connecticut and moved to Texas for
opportunistic motivations) was actually pretty good for the educational
systems in this country.

Here comes one of my very rare moments of seriousness, even verging on
sincerity: I have a little bit (not a hell of a lot, but at least some)
remorse for poking fun at Texas. I can't hepp it. Making fun of Texans
is the official state recreational activity in New Mexico, and I love
recreation almost as much as I loved the first creation. But I really
ought to keep Texas jokes to myself, rather than airing them on an
international forum such as buddha-l. Besides, making fun of Texans
distracts people's minds from Republicans, which is what Buddhists are
bound by Dharmic vows to ridicule. 

-- 
Richard Hayes
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes