"Where Have You Been?"
I do know that our nation is on the receiving end of some deserved and some vastly undeserved criticism and hardship and for every seemingly genuine bit of caring that rises up, an opportunistic or hollow bit of it lessens the good work being done. Hey Barry Bonds, thanks for answering questions about your steroid use by mentioning Katrina relief. They are most certainly similar topics. Stuff like that chafes me worse than a six hour stint in my Brillo jock strap.
But it's not just New Orleans faux caring, but on all fronts. Oh, and is anyone else a little creeped out by that ad with Clinton and Bush Sr. telling us to donate to Katrina relief? Honestly, if you were on the fence until THAT ad turned you, slice up the arm and not sideways and please don't leave a note.
But when all the smoke clears and the pressing concerns are dealt with, I have a sneaking suspicion that the religious angle will grow and grow and grow as our current regime slips its fundamental noose around the necks of us all. You know what? It's not just Bush and it's not just Republicans. It's people who simply don't know how to deal with the sins of humanity with logic and realize that there will always be murder and rape and that our reptile brain still has some pull with the mammal brain. But still, whenever things happen that defy sanity, the finger pointing gets worse and it always results in the blame being shoved towards the things we create in art and media and not the fact that we're only giving a face to stuff that exists around us.
I think that violence in media is good. Video games. Television. Film. Literature. It's good. It teaches us what's out there or what could be. You know what's better than violence in media? Sex in media. A dead horse, the way that you can commit untold acts of violence just as long as there's no sex, but it's a weird fact. Sex is terrific. In fact, it's pretty vital, though some people ought to use fifteen forms of protection just in case. Violence and sex are awesome. You know what isn't? Being preached to. Not when you don't want to be at least. There's a time and place to be told that kind of stuff, I know because it's when I'm craving Chick Fil-A the most and can't fucking have it.
Where this is going is the rising role of religion, particularily with this hilarious-if-they-weren't-serious Creationism that's sweeping the nation. How does a guy react when he turns the channel and some polyester prophet is talking about how science is lies and how evolution is shite and not either check to see if I am on Comedy Central or go punch a Gideon right in the forehead? I'm not brilliant, but I know that science is in many cases a synonym for fact. The people who are religious should be fighting tooth and nail against this wave of insanity, because I know religious people and the smarter ones acknowledge that they have their faith in God that doesn't exactly have to hinge on the stuff in the Bible being a total pack of facts. You can have faith and still not think that your girlfriend is only your girlfriend because of some ancient rib-sharing rite. You can still have faith and decide that perhaps they didn't get two of every species to hop into a boat for a little journey. I can't get my two dogs to behave at the same time and I've been at it for seven years.
The work by folks like Stephen Jay Gould (who is sadly now Stephen Dead Gould) has opened a lot of eyes and caused some to scratch their heads and wonder, but it seems like the thing we have to fear more than natural disasters (it'd suck if it's actually Sean Connery and his weather device), terrorists, and the fact that everything but rice and water gives us cancer.
It's this kind of thinking, the stuff that makes it harder for people to believe in or find faith. The stuff that makes us wonder why we rail against zealots in the desert when we have plenty here. The stuff that says "you know what, all these years of growth and learning don't mean jack shit".
Creationism is dumb. We used to think the Earth was flat, we got over it. We used to think that Michael Jackson was our friend, we got over it. We used to eat with the same hands we gutted a beast and wiped our ass with without washing, we got over it. We used to be little fish hating life in the sea, we got hairy, grew big ugly balls, and got over it.
Whether you're religious or not, your own belief system revolves around you co-existing with others in some semblance of peace. Religion is about acting a way that you can be proud of, something you feel reflects well on your God and that treats your fellow man well. Right?
RIGHT?
So, cut it with this stupid trend of narrow thinking.
But it's not just New Orleans faux caring, but on all fronts. Oh, and is anyone else a little creeped out by that ad with Clinton and Bush Sr. telling us to donate to Katrina relief? Honestly, if you were on the fence until THAT ad turned you, slice up the arm and not sideways and please don't leave a note.
But when all the smoke clears and the pressing concerns are dealt with, I have a sneaking suspicion that the religious angle will grow and grow and grow as our current regime slips its fundamental noose around the necks of us all. You know what? It's not just Bush and it's not just Republicans. It's people who simply don't know how to deal with the sins of humanity with logic and realize that there will always be murder and rape and that our reptile brain still has some pull with the mammal brain. But still, whenever things happen that defy sanity, the finger pointing gets worse and it always results in the blame being shoved towards the things we create in art and media and not the fact that we're only giving a face to stuff that exists around us.
I think that violence in media is good. Video games. Television. Film. Literature. It's good. It teaches us what's out there or what could be. You know what's better than violence in media? Sex in media. A dead horse, the way that you can commit untold acts of violence just as long as there's no sex, but it's a weird fact. Sex is terrific. In fact, it's pretty vital, though some people ought to use fifteen forms of protection just in case. Violence and sex are awesome. You know what isn't? Being preached to. Not when you don't want to be at least. There's a time and place to be told that kind of stuff, I know because it's when I'm craving Chick Fil-A the most and can't fucking have it.
Where this is going is the rising role of religion, particularily with this hilarious-if-they-weren't-serious Creationism that's sweeping the nation. How does a guy react when he turns the channel and some polyester prophet is talking about how science is lies and how evolution is shite and not either check to see if I am on Comedy Central or go punch a Gideon right in the forehead? I'm not brilliant, but I know that science is in many cases a synonym for fact. The people who are religious should be fighting tooth and nail against this wave of insanity, because I know religious people and the smarter ones acknowledge that they have their faith in God that doesn't exactly have to hinge on the stuff in the Bible being a total pack of facts. You can have faith and still not think that your girlfriend is only your girlfriend because of some ancient rib-sharing rite. You can still have faith and decide that perhaps they didn't get two of every species to hop into a boat for a little journey. I can't get my two dogs to behave at the same time and I've been at it for seven years.
The work by folks like Stephen Jay Gould (who is sadly now Stephen Dead Gould) has opened a lot of eyes and caused some to scratch their heads and wonder, but it seems like the thing we have to fear more than natural disasters (it'd suck if it's actually Sean Connery and his weather device), terrorists, and the fact that everything but rice and water gives us cancer.
It's this kind of thinking, the stuff that makes it harder for people to believe in or find faith. The stuff that makes us wonder why we rail against zealots in the desert when we have plenty here. The stuff that says "you know what, all these years of growth and learning don't mean jack shit".
Creationism is dumb. We used to think the Earth was flat, we got over it. We used to think that Michael Jackson was our friend, we got over it. We used to eat with the same hands we gutted a beast and wiped our ass with without washing, we got over it. We used to be little fish hating life in the sea, we got hairy, grew big ugly balls, and got over it.
Whether you're religious or not, your own belief system revolves around you co-existing with others in some semblance of peace. Religion is about acting a way that you can be proud of, something you feel reflects well on your God and that treats your fellow man well. Right?
RIGHT?
So, cut it with this stupid trend of narrow thinking.