Post 1

This blog will be about all of the weakness and vice that I see among our species.

Bear in mind that this is from the perspective of a high school student, so it won't cover everything :P

1. Religion

In my opinion, this is the biggest vice which grips mankind today. Not only is it a relic of a by-gone age, but it encourages many other deplorable activities such as war, discrimination and abuse. Examples - Operation Enduring Freedom (and its origin, the September 11th terrorist attacks), the Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy, the degradation of Muslim women having to wear the burka, the abuse of children by Jewish priests (circumcision) and many others. I know that some of these examples are by choice, but that very choice reflects a blinkered and restrictive mindset.

Religion promotes ignorance and encourages blind faith. Religion prosecutes science and technology, decrying advances in medicine and genetics 'works of the devil' or 'blasphemous' or 'heresy'.

We as a species, as a civilisation, cannot advance with medieval ideas such as religion acting as monkeys on our backs. People hold on to obsolete ideas. Behind every god, every prayer, is a security blanket, a thumb to suck on, a skirt to hold. People hold on to obsolete ideas because they are scared. People are scared of everything. Religion acts to reassure these people. 

Now, some may say that this is to be admired. But should you reassure someone with lies? With nothing concrete? With your beliefs?

The biggest vice, passed down from our parents since time immemorial, kept because of indoctrination and fear of divine retribution. A vice that needs to be conquered, religion.

2. Lack of education

If people don't know that there are options, then how can they choose? If people cannot see the road, how do they know which path to take?

Everyone deserves education. Knowledge is power, and if some receive knowledge and others don't, it simply creates a society based on intellectual segregation, much like we see today in western societies.

3. Mental weakness

This vice is difficult to describe. To me, it means holding onto an argument which has been proven to be wrong out of stubbornness. Lack of admirable qualities, such as courage, or kindness, or love.

When people cannot behave in a kind way to others, then they hardly deserve to be called people, in other words.

Mental weakness rears its head in the teenagers of today, my classmates. They chase after sex and drugs because they need to maintain an 'image'. They change their clothes, their hairstyle, their personality, all to be 'cool'. What is a man, if not himself? Nothing, that's what. 

It is lack of determination, of depth. When someone is just a shallow pool, filled with shallow ideas, then that is mental weakness.