I got out from under the god thing a long time ago - or more accurately, I started pushing back against it as a teenager in the late 60s. It still took me a very long time to come to the realization that I am actually atheistic - I guess I just got an earlier start than most. Anyway, it's always seemed to me that it should be relatively simple for anybody else to break away as well, but when I put aside my own ego and I stop and listen to the stories people tell of what it's taken for them to get free, I have to count myself lucky to have been afforded the space to make my own decisions. From John Pavlovitz, here's the story of a guy who's starting to get it. At the very least, he understands that way too often, religion is just another political straightjacket.
I’ve outgrown the furrowed-browed warnings of a sky that is perpetually falling.
I’ve outgrown the snarling brimstone preaching that brokers in damnation.
I’ve outgrown the vile war rhetoric that continually demands an encroaching enemy.
I’ve outgrown the expectation that my faith is the sole property of a political party.
I’ve outgrown violent bigotry and xenophobia disguised as Biblical obedience.
I’ve outgrown God wrapped in a flag and soaked in rabid nationalism.
I’ve outgrown the incessant attacks on the Gay, Muslim, and Atheist communities.
I’ve outgrown theology as a hammer always looking for a nail.
I’ve outgrown the cramped, creaky, rusting box that God never belonged in anyway.
Most of all though, I’ve outgrown something that simply no longer feels like love, something I no longer see much of Jesus in.
If religion it is to be worth holding on to, it should be the place were the marginalized feel the most visible, where the hurting receive the most tender care, where the outsiders find the safest refuge.
It should be the place where diversity is fiercely pursued and equality loudly championed; where all of humanity finds a permanent home and where justice runs the show.
That is not what this thing is. This is FoxNews and red cup protests and persecution complexes. It’s opulent, big box megachurches and coddled, untouchable celebrity pastors. It’s pop culture boycotts and manufactured outrage. It’s just wars and justified shootings. It’s all manner of bullying and intolerance in the name of Jesus.
Feeling estrangement from these things is a good thing.
Ripped from the blogosphere, the rawness of daily reality comes to life in the guise of Mock Paper Scissors:
The Death Of The Media, Bret Baier Edition
THE OTHER DUMB ONE has a mind like a steel trap… let’s be honest here: if video of dancing NJ Muslims existed, Fox would be playing it 24×7. The fact that they are NOT playing it 24×7 is pretty much proof that there is no documentary evidence that NJ Muslims ever danced in the streets.
But that’s not really the Death of the Media news. Let’s go to BRET BAIER’S response:
“The original statement is thousands and thousands of people in Jersey City celebrating. If you’re just going to get technical, that’s – I don’t know if that has been backed up. Yes, people were celebrating, in some number.”
If you’re going to get technical… that’s weasel speak for “I got nothing, but the boss doesn’t want us to concede.” A network news anchor just defended some BS with, if you’re going to get technical. Your job, Bret, is to get technical with everything, and that’s why YOU are today’s Death of the Media.
Tengrain nails it with: "If video of dancing Muslims existed, Fox would be playing it 24x7."
There were people in this country who celebrated JFK's assassination. I'm not dismissing the probability that there was something shittily celebratory going on somewhere in USAmerica Inc, and I'm not condoning the shittiness, but politics makes for some pretty shitty behavior - let's try to remember at least that much if not much else in terms of details.
And let's also try to remember that we all have the right to be asshole-ish enough to say "Yay" at exactly the wrong time in response to exactly the wrong occurrence.
And one more little thing: We have video of the first plane crashing into the WTC, and while Jersey City ain't Manhattan, if there was any truth to the statement about thousands and thousands - or hundreds, or dozens, or handfuls - if any of that was anything more than Munchausen level bullshit, we'd have the fuckin' video.
And one more one more thing: There's a weird aspect about that piece that makes me think DumFux News is trying to give me the impression that they're trying to be all introspective and self-examining; that maybe they're trying to walk back some of the crazier shit. What clues might that provide us as to the thinking of the apparatchiks there at the GOP Ministry of Misinformation?
On the 145th anniversary of my (occasional) home town. From Wikipedia:
In 1870, the Colorado Central Railroad laid tracks through the area on its route from Golden to link up with the Kansas Pacific Railroad and the Denver Pacific Railroad at Jersey Junction, 3 miles (5 km) north of Denver. On December 1, 1870, Benjamin F. Wadsworth and Louis A. Reno platted the Ralston Point townsite along the railroad. To avoid confusion with other communities along Ralston Creek, Ralston Point was soon renamed Arvada in honor of Hiram Arvada Haskin, brother-in-law of settler Mary Wadsworth.[11] Her husband, Benjamin Wadsworth, became the first postmaster of Arvada. Colorado was granted statehood on August 1, 1876, and the Town of Arvada was formally incorporated on August 14, 1904. A vibrant agricultural community, Arvada claimed the title "Celery Capital of the World."
I had a semi-crummy old farmhouse at 7898 Reno Dr. The landmark water tower was right next door. The water tower survives, but both the house and the street were erased to make way for "progress". So I guess Mr Wolff is to be taken quite literally in this case.
I held off as long as I could. Now let's get out there and shop our asses off, people. The planet's not gonna fuck up itself, y'know. We'll start with a nice assortment of ornaments for your Holiday Tree:
On a tip from my brother, I went over to Fandango to look at the trailer for a new movie called Spotlight. I clicked on the start arrow and ended up having to see 2 video ads before I got to the trailer. So, in order to watch the commercial for the movie - it's a commercial; I went in search of a commercial because I wanted to see a commercial. And as if that's not bad enough, I had to sit thru a coupla commercials I didn't wanna see before they'd let me see the commercial I did wanna see. I'm trying to decide if I'm a little bummed and/or aggravated at the extreme levels of monetization going on, or if I'm more than a little impressed that somebody's figured out just how captive we are to this kinda crap. Or maybe I'm just pissed that I'm willing to put up with the whole mess. My head hurts - I may start drinking early today.
For those of you scoring at home - or even if you're all by yourself - somebody's gotta be trying to keep track of all the shitty things Trump has said or done - things that so many of the Press Poodles tell us will blow him up and scatter his remains to the four winds. But then, somehow, he stays around because the "lefty librul lame-stream media" are unable to resist breaking away from any and all programming to make sure we all get to see Lil Donny doing whatever he does that will surely disgust all of us, while we are never quite disgusted enough to stop watching that crap which of course is why they keep showing us that crap.
There is by now evidence from a variety of laboratories around the world using a variety of methodological techniques leading to the virtually inescapable conclusion that the cognitive-motivational styles of leftists and rightists are quite different. This research consistently finds that conservatism is positively associated with heightened epistemic concerns for order, structure, closure, certainty, consistency, simplicity, and familiarity, as well as existential concerns such as perceptions of danger, sensitivity to threat, and death anxiety.
Ripping the scab off the big festering ulcer on the national ass - all of those being apt metaphors for the GOP, btw.
And oh yeah - ya gotta get all the way to 36:15 for the cool holiday surprise - for me anyway. But first, there's a bit of brilliant at about 9:00 when driftglass hits one out, talking about Matthew Dowd, using a font size metaphor.
This popped up quite a few places. Just need to get it in before I lose it.
I think it has to start taking it's toll after a while. Any attention is better than being ignored as far as Trump cares - he knows it's hard to find 'bad' publicity. But there's a point where you become Terminally Uncool. Like when Dick Nixon's handlers knew he needed something to help him "connect with the youngsters" in the late 60s, and so they invited Up With People to perform at The White House, and then at some rallies. Fuckin' disaster was all that was.
Here's a little taste (sorry). Although it does feature a very young Glenn Close - but don't listen to the whole thing. Seriously - it could give you diabetes. Don't do it:
Anyway, when people are laughing, and they're laughing not because you elicit some pathos, but because you're pathetic and they pity you - time to turn around and head back to the barn.
