Okay, I’ll admit it: the original purpose of this post was to blast the ACLU, as I’m not a big fan of them in particular, and believe that about 90% of their claims are retarded and blown way out of proportion. However, after actually doing a little thought (for a change) before just banging out a couple hundred words just to change the front page of this site a little bit, I think there’s a lot more people here to blame than just the ACLU.
The problem is that out in the Mojave Desert, California, off of the Zzyzx exit (that links to Google maps of the area – nothing but brown) – a place most people know simply because of its proximity to Baker, one of few stops up the 15 Freeway going to Las Vegas, where one can fill up with ridiculously priced gas and look at the world’s biggest thermometer just to see that, yes, it’s DAMN HOT – is a piece of Federal Preserve that contains a rock, which on top of that is a cross made out of pipe covered with peeling white paint that is a memorial to World War I Veterans. This cross, which was originally placed there about 75 years ago, had to be covered with plywood a while back and is now the subject of a Supreme Court case, which will determine if it, since it’s on Federal Land, is a violation of the Establishment Clause in the Constitution, which says that the Government may not establish a religion. But I’m sure you already knew that.
Now I’m not here to get into the whole Establishment Clause / separation of Church and State / how high should the wall go issue because that’s been done way too many times and it’s clear that nobody, not even the Supreme Court, has a good answer to that, which is why they take every case of this nature one by one instead of making some sort of general rule (even though that “general rule” the one that says that the Government can’t establish a religion, and was written over 200 years ago).
In this particular case, I think they’ll eventually say that since the cross was put there so long ago it’s more of a historic thing now, blah blah blah, it can stay. Big whoop. But why the hell did this become such a big issue in the first place? Or for that matter, why do any of these Establishment cases, be it a cross, the Ten Commandments, Nativity Scenes, etc. become such big issues? Personally, I think it’s retarded – and not just on the side of the ACLU – the morons who make a ruckus out of this sort of thing are equally to blame.
I take that back, because the ACLU isn’t wholly to blame. I’ll start with them first though: Why is a stupid pipe cross with peeling white paint such a big freaking deal? Especially one in a place that is so far away from any civilization that most people don’t even know it’s there, or if they do don’t even care to go see it because it’s in the MIDDLE OF THE DESERT? Are you guys (the ACLU) really that dense to try to argue that this thing is so “offensive” to people that it has to be brought to the Supreme Court? Seriously, things like this may get you money or fame if you win, but at the cost of what? It makes you all look like complete jackasses just to get what you want. Consider it a lower-case “t,” or a goofy plus symbol if that helps, but you can’t honestly tell me that this thing is: a.) offensive; and/or b.) the Government trying to “establish” a religion by erecting a crappily-welded pipe on a rock that only the gila monsters see. As it turns out though, it wasn’t even the Government who put it up. It was a medic from WWI. So I’m sorry, but no, it’s not the Government trying to brainwash you all with hidden crosses scattered throughout the desert. Get over it; get over yourselves. (In the interest of full disclosure, however, somebody wanted to place an item from a different religion at this same location, and what request was denied. This even proves my point further, though, because why there? There’s a million other rocks in the desert. Pick the next one over, and build your own memorial with Buddha or Vishnu or whoever you want).
Now, the other side of it. For all the Catholics, Christians, rednecks, etc. that want this thing to stay. I ask you the same questions: why is it such a big deal? After all, nobody really sees it; I’ve driven on the nearest road many times (though admittedly more cognizant going north towards Vegas than driving by it on the way back) and never have seen it (NOBODY gets off at Zzyzx either, they just point at the sign and make some sort of stupid comment about how they ran out of street names or something). And another thing, what’s more important – the cross itself, or the symbolism of what it represents? What I mean by that is, is it more important to have this one cross here, and make people upset about it, or maybe try to compromise or take it down to show the compassion and love that the cross represents? Personally I think things like this are just as detrimental to the gaining of new members to the congregation as crazy sidewalk evangelists or frauds like Peter Popoff or horrible things like Tammy Faye Bakker’s make-up.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: I think we all need to take a step back, relax, and instead of fighting to get our own way all the time, try to solve issues as idiotic as this- or even things like the Ten Commandments (who cares? they’re pretty good moral guidelines, right?) or the Nativity Scene (it’s because of that baby, afterall, that your ass gets a couple days off work and some pretty cool free stuff every year, no?) – without wasting the time of the Courts and the money of the taxpayers. We all know that religion and politics don’t mix, and that not everybody is always going to be happy about everything. It’s the Court’s job to shut this sort of thing down early, or mandate some sort of mediation (sort of like the converse of sharing of a trophy between children who won something together), because we all no doubt can most likely agree on one thing: that we all have much more important things to worry about these days than a couple pieces of pipe in the middle of the desert.
Slapbacks