OK, I'm going to give a tiny bit of flesh to the stereotype of atheists' grinchiness by doing some pet-peeving. I complain today about balloon releases made to celebrate "the human spirit" in some form or another. Many times they commemorate a dead person and have quasi-religious overtones.
Of course balloon releases anywhere near a coastline allow balloons to drift out over the ocean and fall in, where they're ingested by sea turtles and all manner of other sea creatures who mistake them for jellyfish. The balloons often foul the animal's digestive system, leading to a slow death by starvation. Every time I see one of these releases, I do a slow burn. The ocean's under enough pressure from us without adding this completely gratuitous insult.
How is "the human spirit" celebrated by littering the ocean with slow-acting death traps? How about a ceremony of songs instead, or a dance? Something that consumes nothing but human energy and leaves no residue?
Or, on a darker note, perhaps it IS an appropriate image: humans, caught up in a semi-mystical rapture, looking up and up and not bothering to notice the wide trail of destructive consequences. Could describe many religiously motivated activities...
