Pointless

I read today that channel 4 will be providing extensive coverage of Ramadan this year. For those that don't know Ramadan is the Muslim period of prayer and fasting that lasts roughly one month every year, a period of 30 or so days when Muslims are not supposed to eat, drink, smoke or have sex between dawn and sunset. I'm sure TV coverage of hungry, thirsty and horny people praying will be riveting for some, but as an atheist I would struggle to think of any kind of coverage of anything more pointless (well, maybe big brother or that awful thing in the jungle)

Channel 4 is claiming that these programmes will "provoke" us non-Muslims and bring to our attention the period of personal sacrifice and worship about to take place, what? In what kind of warped universe is the act of skipping lunch and afternoon nooky for a few weeks any kind of "sacrifice"? For me, (real) sacrifice, is doing something like Captain Oates did on the Terra Nova expedition to the Antarctic he wandered out of a warm tent to a certain frosty death so that his comrades wouldn't be slowed down by his ill heath or perhaps the 300 Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae who faced overwhelming odds and yet stood their ground for their tribe; some might even see the deaths of the thousands of lads that went over the top at the Somme as some kind of sacrifice, let's not mince words though sometimes sacrifice can be stupid and pointless.

Surely true personal sacrifice has to contain some aspect of altruism or it's just plain old self interest, (imagined or otherwise) isn't it? Why would anyone be interested in or impressed by watching a bunch of people skipping lunch because they think this helps to feather their own imagined eternal nest like some kind of deistic version of the apprentice? I think what's more likely is that most non-religious and/or rational-secular people here will see this all as slightly comedic; something to be ridiculed and parodied (more like the egotistic, self-centred candidates on the TV show), certainly not thought provoking in the way the producers seem to hope.

Of course in a liberal democracy like ours people should be allowed to believe whatever they wish (including the people that think this kind of sacrifice is pointless) free speech is a privilege that unfortunately isn't afforded to most people in most Islamic countries. So, if some Muslims want to give up lunch, sex and silk cut then good for them, if others don't then good for them too! But, be careful what you wish for, some ideas and beliefs are probably better kept within the confines of our personal lives and not exposed to the barbed critique of outside and unsympathetic perspectives unless that criticism is sought; we all know how sensitive some people can be about these things.