SlowpokeBlog

Good job, Vatican people. You've elected a guy who says, "We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism... that recognizes nothing definite and leaves only one's own ego and one's own desires as the final measure" (See E.J. Dionne, Washington Post). Well, the inverse of relativism is absolutism -- the utter conviction that your faith alone is correct and everyone else is wrong. Just what the world needs now, eh? I cringe in anticipation of all the right-wing culture warriors bleating pseudo-intellectual gibberish about the "dictatorship of relativism" -- paradoxical nonsense if I ever heard any. And all this crap about one's ego and desires floating in the abyss rather than being anchored by faith... you know, there was a little thing called the Enlightenment. Not that I expect the Pope to be a champion of reason, but it would be nice if he didn't paint secularists as morally unhinged hedonists.

An aside: I picked up a free "Biodot" at a work fair today, which is pretty much like a mood ring in sticker form. It's supposed to help you monitor stress. In the past few minutes, I see my biodot has gone from turquoise ("Relaxing") to reddish-orange ("Unsettled"/"Tense").