Mars, Sikhs, Hindus and Polyamory! Oh My!

Way too much going on today for me to focus on one thing.

First of all, my heart aches for the Sikh community. Unlike the meaningless loss of the Aurora shooting, this apparently had a motivation that you can articulate your grief against. This is one hate crime among many, and one that leaves me with a profound sense of sorrow that people are still committing violence over ethnicity here in this country. I want us to be better than this. All my love and sympathy to the Sikh community of Wisconsin.

On a brighter note, we have landed on Mars. The Mars Rover Curiosity landed last night, and although I did not stay up to watch the landing, I am enthralled by the images this morning. I am currently reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars, and I am so excited and hopeful. Not merely for science, but because I think we need Mars right now. We need hope. I hope that NASA will receive more funding thanks to the attention this mission is receiving. I would like to see the first human walk on Mars in my lifetime. I think I could die happy knowing that my species will not kill itself to extinction stuck stupidly on this planet but wander among the stars crafting new adventures. Also, check out this post on the women behind the Mars landing mission.

To see the achievement of Mars alongside the shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin is such a strange thing. How much farther could we go if we weren’t bound by stupid hate and cruel fear?

Ramesh Rao writes for the Hindu section on Patheos, and his latest column is a humdinger that made me want to clap in agreement:

We are told that American officials discussed with political leaders and others concerns about harassment of minorities and missionaries. There is no mention that these officials expressed any concern about the majority community being harassed, discriminated against, killed, or maimed. For example, in late 2010 Hindus were attacked in the Deganga district of West Bengal. Indian newspapers, following a self-imposed rule, never mentioned who attacked whom with what consequences. In the case of the Deganga riots, Hindu families were attacked and uprooted from their homes, Hindu men and boys killed, and women raped by their Muslim neighbors as they were egged on by a Muslim legislator. It is the rare Indian journalistwho will stick his or her neck out to report that Hindus were targeted and attacked. The State Department report is mum about this as if it does not matter what happens to Hindus in India.

Regarding Christian missionaries, posing as tourists and traveling on tourist visas, there is enough evidence about the havoc they cause in India as they traverse the country with money in their pockets and dreams in their heads of planting churches and converting Hindus. There is a reason that India provides different types of visas, just as the U.S. does. Trying to shame the country by reporting that missionaries have been harassed or denied visas is one way of keeping the pressure on.

Ramesh kicks ass. That is all. Go read the whole article.

The Wild Hunt mentioned a show about polyamory awhile back and I didn’t pay much attention. Probably because I figured it would be bad and nowhere near as awesome as Terisa Greenan’s web series Family. Then I read this review, and while I still think it’s probably bad, I am now convinced it is awesomely bad. I plan to watch the show and unleash my full snark upon it, thus sparing my readers a smidge of my vast sarcasm reserves. My favorite quote from the review is this:

And be prepared to talk about your feelings a lot. Like, basically all the time. Wanna talk about last night’s Breaking Bad or that weird lady you saw in line at CVS this morning? No time, we have feelings to talk about.

Or maybe I won’t spare you. Maybe I’ll have a weekly snark-fest on the blog, followed by a nice lament over how I wish someone would give Greenan piles of money (while she would retain full creative control) to revive Family. Oh, and check out my interview with Terisa from last year where she explains why she turned down reality show offers.