Saltmeister
The Dangerous Dinner
Well that is what you say. But why should I agree with you? Do you live in the U.S.? Do you live in a Western country? I may not live in the U.S., but I do live in a Western country. I know what it's like to live in one. I know that most women don't get raped. When I go to work, school or university and I meet someone who smiles, shakes my hand, looks me in the eye and talks to me in a confident manner, I think, this person would never have been raped by anyone (at least not recently). They'd be seeing a psychologist, having a nervous breakdown, be very angry, withdrawn or for someone reason not turn up at work, school or university.
To me it makes sense. I don't hear stories about people getting raped when I am eavesdropping on their conversations and gossip. If there was enough rape happening, I would hear about it from at least somewhere. Sooner or later I'd hear the word "rape" mentioned among the people I see around me. I'd listen, tune in and eavesdrop on their conversation and think, this is not good. I will think, this should not be happening in my country, in my neighbourhood. But I rarely hear about it.
What I was saying was that, even if a woman was raped every 32 seconds, it would only have been enough to affect only 1% of the population. That is the case whether or not a woman is raped once or multiple times in a year. According to the mathematics, the time interval you specified (32 seconds) is not small enough to make it a problem that affects 99% of the population in a year. I have to say then, that rape is very uncommon in the U.S. So 99% of the female population doesn't need your religious teachings because they are not being raped. According to the mathematics, you'd be wrong to say that most of them are like that. No, most of them are not like that.
I can understand you like saying that most of them are like that, but even if you believed that, do you live in a Western country, let alone the U.S.? If not, how could you possibly know? Where do you get this information about the society in which I live? Do you get it from your religious leaders? Do you get it from the newspaper and television? Do you get it from your family and friends?
Are your sources reliable enough to say that most of them are like that? And....I have already shown how, based on your statement that a woman was raped every 32 seconds, it would only affect 1% of the women in the population. So even the information you have stated implies that only 1% of the women are being raped in a year.
You can't trust your religious leaders, because most of them have either never been to the U.S. or other Western countries, and even if they did, never really interacted enough with the general population to know them well enough to have accurate perceptions about them. They mingle with Muslims in that country, but not the general population. Religious leaders of Abrahamic traditions, particularly those of Islam and Christianity, often cook up wild, outrageous, sensationalist stories about how the rest, the so-called "heathen population" is behaving. But whatever corrupt mindset they think the "heathen" possess, most of it is untrue. These religious leaders want to make your/our religion look good, so they brag about how your/our religion's teachings have helped us become better people. But most of it is propaganda and sensationalism. So you can't trust your religious leaders when they say the U.S. is the rape capital of the world. They are deceiving you, even though they might think that they are telling you the truth. They want you to think that so that you think that that is the reason why you will continue to adhere to whatever tradition it is you follow. That's because they actually believe that stuff themselves.
So what if you got it from a newspaper? Well, then we ask the journalist who wrote the article. Do they live in the U.S.? Same argument as before. It's just propaganda and sensationalism. The journalist doesn't really know the American people. So what if you got it from your family and friends? Same argument again. They never went to the U.S.
So when people say most of them are like that they are talking about beliefs that they got that came from unreliable sources. They say that because they want to believe that. They are talking about a people they never knew. A lot of Muslims and Christians want to believe that the so-called "heathen" are romping away their lives in lustful orgies. But if you actually visit that country, that society, that culture, that community, you will find that it just doesn't happen. They may not follow your/our religious traditions but very often the society and culture itself has its own values and teachings and these values and teachings train people how to behave. But you wouldn't know that because you haven't actually lived long enough in the U.S. to really know what values people have over there.
I believe there are much better reasons to follow a tradition than talking about how often people are raped, particularly if you live in a society where rape only happens to less than 1% of the population, based on the information that you have given!!!
People are not always taught right and wrong by religion. Very often, they already know what is right and wrong because their parents, friends, the news or society as a whole tells them it's wrong. People see rape as wrong. They see adultery as wrong. They see lying as wrong. They see murder as wrong. They see all these things as wrong because the people around them hate it. Apart from labelling these things as wrong, society often teaches people other things to discourage bad behaviour. So no, religious teachings are not always necessary for good behaviour. I say that even though I have a religious background and religious beliefs.
I didn't mention your other points. This doesn't mean I agreed with them. Maybe I just thought they were unimportant or just didn't care about them.
I agree that saying rape is wrong isn't good enough. But a society or culture often has values, teachings and traditions that discourage rape. You don't need values or teachings that are divine or religious to discourage rape. I can formulate a philosophy for discouraging people from raping. If people like that philosophy, and if I know how to shape society to reduce the rate of rape, the rate at which crimes happen, then the rate of at which crime and rape happens will decrease. Western societies achieve this by giving people jobs, careers, computers, playstations, television, movies, candy, tasty food and other toys to play with and enjoy so that they have better things to think and dream about than raping women, stealing, murdering and robbing banks.
That's right. You don't always have to give people a religion to get them to behave. Sometimes all you need is some toys and candy for them to enjoy.
If people have more toys to play with and more candy to eat, the crime rate will drop. This is the toys and candy society.
