The sublime and the ridiculous

Nice, eh? Came in the email today…
That’s for Song of the Shiver Barrens which is Book 3 in The Mirage Makers trilogy. Book 1, Heart of the Mirage, was also a finalist, but in 2006.

That’s the sublime part.
And then there’s the ridiculous.

This from today’s paper:
The religious police in Saudi Arabia have banned red roses ahead of Valentine’s Day. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has ordered florists and gift shops to remove any items coloured scarlet…

Wow.
So giving your wife or your husband a red rose is a vice in some parts of the world it seems. Shades of the Scarlet Letter.

This has got to be in the running for my top award of the year for “How to Make Your Religion Look Stupid.”


Comments

The sublime and the ridiculous — 5 Comments

  1. Any religion that needs its own thought police doesn’t have much going for it. An inquisition by any other name is just as diabolical.

    In my more optimistic moments, I hope for a world where every individual is allowed by the global community to think what they like. Of course, I guess I’m assuming that eventually dogmatic religions will die out, and we’ll all be free-thinkers willing to discuss and debate from a basis of evidence-based reality. That still leaves plenty of moral/ethical grey areas to disagree about!

    Yes, I’m naive. 🙂

  2. At least they didn’t ban Valentine’s Day altogether (though I confess it’s not one of my personal favourites).

    One wonders whether the Commissioners have recently bought shares in the chocolate gift box industry; or perhaps they have a thing for black lace and leather? Will their wives give them bars of soap and a pointed look on Thursday?

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