IanKoviak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For what it's worth—nice to see Tulsi as a
> speaker at [reasonrally.org]

This is weird since this rally is a group of the more famous and vocal skeptics, humanists, and atheists. Tulsi is not one of them. Just read the bios of all the speakers. Maybe she's going there to meet Johnny Depp. ha. How did she even get an invite or get on the speaker list?! What's her game?

Perhaps it is an underground Bernie Sanders rally, but other than that, why is she attending?

Quote
Reason Rally

Reason Rally 2016 is a celebration of fact-driven public policy, the value of critical thinking, and the voting power of secular Americans...

Hear a range of noted atheists, scientists, and entertainers.
...
the Reason Rally Coalition, which is made up of 22 groups across the atheist, skeptic, and humanist movement...

People should contact them and send Sol's video about Tulsi's Guru.

You can contact them here and voice your concerns.

Or contact their executive director Lyz Liddell.

Get a load of these SCREWHEADS



It was a special request for a photoshop, but I'm working with a crappy free app on an iPhone 5 (small screen)

The iPhone 5 that blew a nice sized hole in the Chris Butler cult

REASON RALLY!!

Yo YO! I'd like to introduce you to our panel, we got Old Dirty Bastard, Method Man, the RZA, the GZA, Ghostface Killa, Inspecta Deck, Raekwon The Chef, U-God a.k.a. Golden Arms and for some reason some ho from Hawaii.

WU TANG!

KILLA BEEZ ON A SWARM

PROTECT YA NECK, KID



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2016 03:16AM by Rama Das (slave name).

M E T H O D MAN

Shame On A N****

Tulsi Gabbard's fellow panelists.

I vote WU for life

Hey, I'd rather have Tulsi in a Reason Rally then in a SIF kirtan. I'd rather have her rub shoulders with critical thinkers then to associate her campaign and public image with butler. Even if it is a sham and or on some agenda pretext. At least outwardly it is promoting and supporting critical thinking and organizations that promote realistic agendas and objectives—as opposed to mythical ones.

I can understand the skeptics and we're all jaded on it here and can see though it all, but in light of where she could be taking things—this at least keeps her in a zone that is responsible. It is funny that she is so completely flexible in her stance on issues and ideals. It makes you really wonder how attached to the hip she is with butler. I mean, butler made a career of slamming these types of groups and various other institutions and beliefs. And now that he is old and living under pounds of tinfoil, how much are his personal views really changing? He is obviously not coming out and preaching anything new, so it's hard to tell what he believes and his stance on things. One can only assume and relate what his current beliefs are based on what his disciples, like Tusli, are reflecting and supporting. So, is it safe to assume that Butler's stance is now protective of science and atheism and religious tolerance (that all faiths have a place—not just krishnaism)? Is it safe to assume butler is pro-gay marriage and that maybe he is hiding his face because it would take too much energy to explain his sudden change of heart? Needless to say—it's confusing. Without an official statement from SIF it's up to the average person to speculate what butler really represents and stands for.

On a side noe, and back to the ISKCON abuses—having been in butler's illegal schools and having seen and endured the idiocy of the whole affair, I have to say that the biggest challenge was this superiority complex that most devotees have. We grew up being taught that we had something of eternal value and the rest of the world did. And that is one reason why this Tusli reason rally thing is really great in some respects. Because it sheds light on the fact that she is not touting her religion as superior or a better approach to spirituality or self reflection etc. And if she even mildly attempts to, the other speakers at reason rally will have a field day with it.

Lets rewind a few years. If I had been in butlers school being taught that all beliefs have a place and none are any more superior than the next in light of them being appropriate and unique to the practitioner, I'd have had a very different world view. If I had heard butlers lectures and they were about openness to all faiths and belief systems that promote compassion and kindness and ethics and morals, critical thinking—well, lets just say I would not have as much gripe with it all.

Instead, we grew up believing certain ideas and ideals. Many of those resulted in a crippled view of the world and what we stood for. In a school with no counselors to deal with mental breaks that students where having, all we had was butlers bigoted lectures and scriptural mythology as a guide to try to make sense of what was going on in ourselves and the world around us. This is a far cry from reason rally and support for rationalism.

In many ways, Tulsi represents the very chaos and confusion that the vedic scriptures claim the age of Kali to have. Here we have a self avowed hindu, swearing on the gita which condemns reason and logic as lesser (even domniac) approaches to ascertaining truth). Who supports gay marriage and equality even though her guru and own father made a campaign of opposing such lifestyle choices. She fought in a bogus bush-era war and now uses her military position to climb social ladders and yet denounces the BS reasons for said war. What's crazy, is that this double standard and back and forth (well, progressive, evolving stance, to be nice) is rarely reflected in the media as suspect or something to question.

But as a public figure—she is no doubt being perceived as promoting and standing by progressive values and evolving/unifying humanistic ideas.

On the topic of chaos and confusion. If you look up christ butler or siddhawarupananda—there is literally several dozen URLs that show up. They are all simple sites that have pleasant butler quotes and pictures. It's hard to know what's official and it also ends up making them look bad as if they are hiding something. How many sites do they really need? It's comic really.

Haha, too late, Ian, I already complained. They are vetting her.

That awkward moment when you realize you're at the wrong rally...

Ian- those who have chosen to offer obeissances to Butler,
will ALWAYS be at the wrong rally....

In the “Rally of Life”...they have totally opted out.


This video is from a young man who has chosen to step away from any “religion” This is a solid & logical opinion as to why organized cults and religious dogmas may be so harmful:

"The only things that really matters with any religion (or dogma): living from the heart and being kind.”

[youtu.be]

"Conclusion:
These dangerous religious beliefs just go to show that most organized religion [or cults] has/have long been infected with madness and insanity. The history of religion shows that, overall, it is a highly distorted lens through which to see the world, whatever good it may bring to individual cases. Ultimately, humanity is entering a new era of consciousness where religion and priestly middlemen are no longer necessary. If religion is to survive going forward, it needs to drop all its dangerous religious beliefs, rigid doctrine, stale dogma, sense of superiority and outdated notions in a big hurry – before it becomes an antiquated irrelevance."


Butler becoming irrelevant....hmm.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2016 02:35AM by VoxVeritasVita Das.

Her Royal Hinduness Tulsi's new gig is hobnobbing with progressives. Sure, under the guise of diversity, Manchurian liberals are free to join and speak.

I'm sure for her opening remarks it is ... In the Bhagavadgita, it says ... blah blah blah ... . Pitiful.


Message
 
Tulsi Gabbard? Are you f---ing kidding me? I'm an ex-member of a Hare Krishna cult who, together with other ex-members lost family members, loved ones or friends to a dogmatic, hateful, bigoted and anti-reasoning guru, she and her family are the royalties of. Your impressive roster shattered with this one, almost, to be very frank, stupid. Google is your friend, get your vetting right. Having her is simply anti-reason.
[forum.culteducation.com]


Reason Rally <info@reasonrally.org>
May 24 (3 days ago)


to me

Thanks for reaching out to us.

Like all of the Reason Rally’s staff, board, and volunteers, Rep. Gabbard speaks for herself. Her views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Reason Rally Coalition, or anyone else involved in the Reason Rally. All of our speakers hold a wide range of opinions on innumerable controversial topics, and at one time or another have said things that others have disagreed with. We do not wish to silence or censor any of our speakers. Further, we have no delusions of being able to provide a speaker lineup in which every speaker appeals to every attendee. Instead, our goal is to provide a variety of speakers that appeal to the incredible diversity of secular Americans - a lineup in which every attendee can find something -- more likely many things -- to get excited about.

We look forward to seeing you at the Rally!


dharmabum
May 24 (3 days ago)


to Reason

I concur. It is just unfortunate that there really are enemies or oppositions to the concept of an open society. The issue with religious cults has always been ignored by laws and society at large because abuses and victims are marginal, usually unaccounted and religious freedom is guaranteed and protected by democratic principles.
For your goal to be truly diverse, I suggest you might as well include the far right views and the woowoo people like Deepak Chopra. I stand by my conviction on behalf of victims of religious cults that there are cases when progressive movements should responsibly draw a line and refuse to become a useful tool to advance collectivist ideology Tulsi Gabbard is a representative of.

Have a look at this. (I have quoted the article only in parts.)

Viewpoint: Why Hindu groups are against California textbook change

Textbooks are read by all who are assigned courses at tax supported schools in California.

This is no longer an issue confined to the Second District of Hawaii.

You pay state taxes. Do you want your money to fund textbooks in which
omit or misrepresent caste discrimination in Hindu history -- and its impact
on Indian politics and economics today?

Put these terms into Google. (Quotation marks are the same as putting
something into the exact phrase slot.)

"tulsi gabbard" "Hindu American Foundation"

[www.google.com]

[www.bbc.com]

Thousands of academics and Indians have signed a petition to stop the California State Board of Education from changing "India" to "South Asia" in its social studies textbooks. Associate Professor at Santa Clara University Rohit Chopra explains what the controversy is about.



What it means to be Hindu and Indian have long been the subject of argument in India.

These disagreements have been amplified since the crowning of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, often taking ugly forms on social media or the street.
In California, a similar conflict is playing out about the representation of Hinduism and India in state textbooks for 11 to 13-year-olds, recalling a fight on the same matter a decade ago.

The debate centres significantly on the renaming of India as South Asia and the role of caste in Indian society.

Confusing terms

Quote

The rationale for calling the region South Asia, advocated by a group of distinguished academics, is that it is a more accurate descriptive term for the region, one that does not equate India as it existed before 1947 with the modern Indian nation-state.

Terms like "ancient India" and India, they argue, could be confusing in certain contexts for the students, in addition to obscuring the common historical past of modern India and Pakistan respectively.

Media coverage has typically pitted this group of academics as well as secular South Asian organisations against a group of conservative Hindu-American organisations, like the Hindu American Foundation (HAF).

The Hindu-American organisations accuse the academics of wanting to "erase" India itself by recommending the change of name. These groups also seek to remove references to caste prejudice in the textbooks.
The academics, on the other hand, argue that South Asia is a more logically appropriate term than India for the textbooks. They also hold that deleting references to caste contradicts the educational goal that students should develop a rich and nuanced understanding of the region.
Yet this starkly demarcated opposition, while making for good copy, masks some important issues about immigrant identity in the US, understandable parental anxieties, and the politics of the study of Hinduism in the US.
As someone who has researched the global Hindu right, yet is opposed to its politics, as an Indian in the US, and as a parent, I find that the debate, as it has been framed in the media, neglects underlying issues of crucial importance.
A key issue has to do with why groups such as the HAF possess legitimacy among many Hindu students and Hindu communities, not all of whom
may share their politically and culturally conservative view of Hinduism?

The answer is simple: the same sorts of groups, regardless of their politics, are also often the first ones to protest racist depictions of Indians or Hindus, such as when American Eagle Outfitters printed the image of Lord Ganesha on flip-flops.

.....

Caste question

So cultural organisations like the HAF are often the only venue for Indians to get their children to learn about the Indian epics, for instance, through summer camps. That does not make everyone who attends such events a Hindu nationalist or even a Hindu conservative. The same arguably holds for many of those opposing the change of India to South Asia.

And

Quote

The question of caste is more complicated. Removing all references to caste from the textbooks would constitute a consummate act of symbolic violence, echoing the brutal history of violence enacted upon Dalits by caste Hindus over centuries.
Ironically, it would conform to that most American of habits: historical amnesia about America's own forgetting of its violence against its Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Sikh, or African-American populations.

Stereotypical views

At the same time, it is a fair point that caste does not exhaust Hinduism, and that for an alarmingly large number of Americans, Hinduism is still little more than caste and cows. Perhaps one might add call centres to that list.
As a parent, I share the worries of many Indian-Americans that my son should not be labelled on the basis of a limited, stereotypical, view of India centred on caste.