New Albany is a state of mind … but whose? Since 2004, we’ve been observing the contemporary scene in this slowly awakening old river town. If it’s true that a pre-digital stopped clock is right twice a day, when will New Albany learn to tell time?
Showing posts with label pervasive superstition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pervasive superstition. Show all posts
True, a great deal of reopening fervor owes to personal narcissism and a pervasive ignorance; science always will be attacked because it differs with the delusion of superstition.
However we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking there'd be no active participation in the resistance to science from those entities standing to profit the most from individual narcissism.
Many of the same extreme right operatives who created the “Tea Party” are behind the anti-science and anti-intellectual spectacles opposing measures designed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. And with much the same agenda.
By now, that is not much of a secret, but it is nonetheless necessary to expose these roots, and to debunk the anti-science conspiracy theories they help spread ...
(snip)
As a final thought, it has not escaped my attention that the right-wing anti-science protestors largely did not wear face masks while demonstrating, nor did they observe social distancing. By contrast, the Black Lives Matters protests that erupted after the police murder of George Floyd overwhelmingly wear face masks. (Nor did they carry weapons.) I’ve participated in four Black Lives Matters marches at the time of writing this article, and not only can I confirm that almost everyone wears masks, but there are always a couple of people handing out masks to people who need one. That’s the difference between people who think others should die so they can get a haircut and those with a strong social conscience.
Gradually over time discussions engendered by NAC blog posts have shifted to social media. These days not many comments are appended to original posts, but occasionally one appears -- and every now and then it's so thought-provoking that it simply must be repeated in this space.
God sent me there after being on the road with skynyrd first tase of jesus i really got was with a man Randy cutlip came to our school i was in 7 grade he was in three dog knight band didn't listen much but learned how god set him free no church no preacher he whent to voodoo lady she told him to say theses words light 3 candles and a dead musian would fill his soul he lit the candles black cloud appears then a bright light comes into the room he blew out the candles and reached for the light of jesus thank god he did jesus and him saved my life. The next year i was in 8 grade. I came home there was randy cutlips van world wide bread casting company. All man school told him i was bad selling pot at school. So i went smoked a joint out side my room then went in pulled my dad into the kictchen dad what this guy doing here well son we are host family for him to stay here while he goes through the schools and churches kool i start to go my room he walks behind me he is staying in my room i turn around he i know the basses in that band lynyrd skynyrd really i said he said if you would like come this summer help set up tape record t shirt sales you can meet him ok i said he came and got me that summer we went church camp first as we get out of van some kids up to him brother Randy this girl is laying down with the boys putting spells on them then this boy comes up tells his story that somthing came over him and he wanted it gone they got more people to pray with him he falls to the ground starts sweating gallons of water comes out deamens start to appears in demond voices you cant make me leave he had 16 demons castesed out of him wow did i start to pray read my bible i was listening to every word brother Randy had to say. I wanted what he had a true relationship with christ not a church not preacher jesus and him a lone going to finish the book me and started to do my ministery is called beat the streets ministry i dont have big fancy church with coffee shop or day care i am in street with the sinners the drunks the lady of the knight the vetrans most important of all the children of all black white yellow brown we all have jesus blood pray for some one every day you can see the hurt the sadness on there faces by them lunch pray with with them it cost nothing. If a man or woman can see a problem decern that problem. We are obligated to become part of the solution. That is the price of freedom to me god bless i do give testimony in churches god bless.
Part of it has to do with the "right" to 24/7/365 entertainment and dollar menus.
"Bread and circuses" (or bread and games; from Latin: panem et circenses) is a metonymic phrase critiquing superficial appeasement. It is attributed to Juvenal, a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century AD — and is used commonly in cultural, particularly political, contexts.
In a political context, the phrase means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace — by offering a palliative: for example food (bread) or entertainment (circuses).
Juvenal, who originated the phrase, used it to decry the selfishness of common people and their neglect of wider concerns. The phrase implies a population's erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a priority.
Another part references the inability of a hamster to make sense of his confines while yoked to the wheel.
Then there's the capacity for humans to embrace self-delusion; historically this trait is best illustrated by religious belief. Our reward won't come HERE, but THERE, up in the sky.
And in addition to the 3 billionaires Bernie mentioned, we should also be worried about the expanding fortunes of multi-generational wealth dynasties
The wealthiest 3 billionaires in the U.S. – Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett — now have as much wealth as the bottom half of the U.S. population combined.
Those were the first words spoken at last week’s 2020 Democratic Debate, citing a wealth inequality study by the Institute for Policy Studies.
In fact, Sen. Bernie Sanders mentioned the study, Billionaire Bonanza, several times during the debate.
Fact checkers at The New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN verified Sen. Sanders’ claims.
These extreme levels of wealth inequality are possible, in part, because the bottom fifth of U.S. households are underwater, with zero or negative net worth. And the next fifth has so few assets to fall back on that they live in fear of destitution.
There are times when sheer undiluted barrel-strength inanity leads unexpectedly to an interesting read -- which is to say that contrary to all previous experience, I've managed to learn something from Franklin Graham.
The evangelist Graham functions as a sort of professional court jester for our nation's cheerful contingent of theocratic fascists, a job he apparently inherited from his world-famous father Billy.
At the 1:21 mark of this video clip from 2007, the late, great Christopher Hitchens observes that any American president, however deserving of condemnation or impeachment, could always rely on Billy Graham to run to his side as a defender, toady and crony.
Franklin Graham has filled these shoes quite capably with regard to Donald Trump, hasn't he? That's because the very essence of both politics and religion is about accumulating power, and Graham gets it.
"I never said (Trump) was the best example of the Christian faith. He defends the faith. And I appreciate that very much."
The mind works in mysterious ways, and so let's begin with Graham's wholly predictable thoughts about Hoosier mayor Pete Buttigieg, which in a roundabout way led me from Graham via Leviticus to Old Gehenna.
It’s never a good sign when atheists are the ones offering context to Bible verses that Christians are quoting, but when evangelist Franklin Graham is involved, that’s usually necessary. In a Facebook post purported denouncing people heckling Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, Graham managed to work in the verse that condemns gay people to death.
Franklin Graham: "The Bible makes it very clear that homosexuality is a sin. 'If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination...' (Leviticus 20:13). That’s what God says and that settles it for me. I stand with the Word of God. I care enough about people to tell them the truth and to warn them about the judgment to come for all sin."
See? Don’t heckle people when they’re talking. Just go on Facebook and explain why they deserve to be tortured in hellfire for all of eternity. Like good Christians.
The full verse from Leviticus 20:13, of course, is “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”
At least the hecklers are just rude and ignorant. Graham thinks it’s loving to call for the death penalty for gay people who have sex… except he tries to hide it. Imagine cherry picking the Bible and picking a part that call for the execution of gay people who aren’t celibate. And then pretending you’re acting out of love. What a horrible person.
Graham's superstitious blather aside, Buttigieg being gay has nothing to do with anything, including his presidential aspirations, although Mayor Pete's political ambitions compel us to look past his private life and public speaking flair to those aspects of governance that matter most, as in platforms and policy ideas.
So far, Buttigieg is falling quite short on those job requirements. As usual, Bluegill offers this succinct summary:
The interesting part to me is how much Buttigieg’s fan club and hecklers have in common in terms of their reasoning— purely faith based on both sides.
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It should be obvious by now that Christianity's Bible hasn't had a prominent place in my world of books, so Graham's mention of Leviticus had me wondering about the name itself; what, where or who was Leviticus? I had no idea.
It never got that far, because searching for Leviticus brought me to this excellent article about Hell.
Hell? I always thought Gehenna was a Gaelic notion borrowed by Bob Dylan for the song "Idiot Wind."
Hell seems to be a collective assault on the American imagination — the culmination of our entire post-Columbus cultural history and political infrastructure. Ask anyone familiar with it to describe the scene and you’ll likely get the same description across the board — a furnace of torture, suffering, demons and unfathomable pain. Hell is embedded into our lives, whether we believe in it or not. It’s a place mutually visited by every person’s imagination that has been exposed to an Abrahamic society. It’s a place we condemn undesirables to, a place we reference to instill fear and obedience, a place we devotionally protect our loved ones from being exiled to. For all our certainty of its existence, Hell is perhaps the least understood of places, even by the most studiously pious of individuals. Its assertion into our culture and conscience is a testament to our collective religious illiteracy. So why is it so vital we understand its origins, rather than blindly accept what we’ve been told about it? The latter method has, well, rarely worked in the favor of the common person throughout history.
Alas, Hell is real. Yes, that’s right. Or at least, it’s based off a real place — an ancient landfill to be exact. Although there is no mention of a “hell” in the Bible, it is based on an actual place. In Jerusalem, in the Valley of Hinnom, there is a large trash dump referred to in the Book of Matthew as “Gehenna”.
Yummers. For some reason I can't stop thinking about free fried chicken and the posting of hitches.
It was originally used by the ancient Israelites who sacrificed children and burnt their bodies to appease the pagan Canaanite god Molech. In Leviticus 18:20, God expressed his hatred of the false god Molech, and deemed the place unclean. Gehenna was eventually used as a landfill by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, where people took their trash to be burned. The place began to wreak havoc on daily life in Jerusalem. The smell of burning sewage, flesh, maggots and garbage wreaked absolute havoc on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, causing documented medical problems like nausea and breathing difficulty. Clearly, the place was unpleasant — frightening even — and thus it’s no surprise that Gehenna was used, and still is today, as a metaphor for the final place of punishment for the wicked. It was first used as a symbolic depiction of Hell in Mark 9:47. Gehenna was translated to Hell later, around 1200AD.
In sketching the parameters of this human creation called Hell, the author surveys etymology, the Old Testament and other ancient religions.
The ancient Egyptians had a place called Duat referenced heavily in their Book of the Dead. Maps of Duat were often inscribed on the insides of coffins and sarcophagi to help the deceased navigate the underworld. It is the underworld where violators of the law are condemned, as well as a host of mythological activity. According to the Book of the Dead, the sun god, Ra, goes to Duat every night to battle Apep, the god of Chaos. The dead who enter Duat must travel through various “gates” guarded by anthropomorphic hybrids of human bodies with various animal heads. These gatekeepers were ferocious and vile. For evidence, one need not look beyond their names. Guardians of the Gates of Duat had charming titles like “One Who Eats the Excrement from his Ass” and “Blood Drinker who Lives in the Slaughterhouse”.
“One Who Eats the Excrement from his Ass” sounds like a clinical definition of "brown nose." But enough about board appointments. The author conclusion fits like the dunce's cap on the head of Franklin Graham.
If so much of our public policy is weighted on the words found within the Bible — the alleged words of God himself — it is troubling that we digest the heavily processed and filtered versions of them with such ease and lack of skeptic inquiry. It is imperative to our progression as a species that we understand the origins of our belief systems and the role they play in the human psyche — to instill obedience to the status quo and dissuade any violators with the fear of an eternity of suffering.
All this hellish business brought to mind something supposedly written by the French intellectual Jean-Paul Sartre: "Hell is other people." However, it's not quite so simple.
The line “Hell is other people” in French reads “L’enfer, c’est les autres” or “Hell is [the] others.” (The best known English translation of the play, by Paul Bowles, actually renders the line “Hell is just – other people.”) We get a little more of the flavor of the line in English if we read it as “Hell is the Other.” That’s closer to the point, I believe. Sartre says that the Other – that which is not ourselves – is, or can be, a source of our distress.
In closing, it would be criminal to omit Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers from this educational digression.
I like potato and you like potahto
I like Gehenna and you like Gahanna
Potato, potahto, Gehenna, Gahanna!
Let's call the whole thing off!
Or Alice Cooper, because America's last remaining vaudevillian always gets the last word.
Yesterday D was compelled to attend a meeting held at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, which is located roughly 15 miles west of Corbin, Kentucky. Having never been, I decided to accompany her and share the driving time.
It was a gorgeous morning, and so I walked from the lodge to the falls and back. Near the visitors center, there was an explanation of how the falls came to be.
It isn't nuclear physics: Water meets rocks soft and hard, and erosion is the result. Of course, this process of forming rock and wearing it away has occurred over millions of years, hence the irony.
The same state taken to erecting signs like this, which reflect science, awards charlatans like Ken Ham economic development funds to build a replica of Noah's ark -- which reflects superstition.
For hundreds of years, Hell has been the most fearful place in the human imagination. It is also the most absurd
TO MANY in the West, Hell is just a medieval relic. It went out with ducking stools and witchcraft ... Hell hardly hurts any more. In everyday parlance (“What the hell are you doing?”), it is merely a bark, not a place ... The devils and pitchforks, the brimstone clouds and wailing souls, have been cleared away, rather as a mad aunt might be shut up in the attic.
But hold on. For many people in the world, Hell still exists; not just as a concept, but as a place on the map. “Hell is Real,” declare the billboards across the American South: as real as the next town. To make it an abstraction is comforting and tidy, but doesn’t work. Religion thrives on fear, as well as hope: without fear, bad behaviour has no sanction and clerical authority wins scant respect.
Having surveyed the conceptual history of this unprovable notion, the newspaper offers a lighthearted tourist brochure.
Hell is steadily losing adherents. The Infernal Tourist Board (chief field-researchers Dante Alighieri and John Milton) has therefore produced a promotional flyer
... Time stands still here, as the ocean boils and the great abyss yawns before you. Feel the hot sand under your feet, watch the chimeras and gorgons frolic, take a trip on a demon’s back, smell the brimstone on the breeze! You know how you always hope holidays will never end? This one never will.
In the video, Nye says that while everybody is entitled to his/her own opinion, creationism is unequivocally wrong, and that people who still believe it -- or more importantly, insist it is taught to their children -- hold society back for everybody. Nye argues we need a scientifically literate and educated population.
In his words: "I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine, but don't make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can—we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems."
Biblical truth may be YOUR truth, but it isn't mine. That's what the Constitution's all about, and why fundamentalists correctly sense that the gay marriage debate is about far more than just that one, specific issue. What it's really about is a nation drawing ever closer to dispensing with the fiction that the law for all is somehow "dependent" on one religion's holy book.
According to Dennis Kruse, the Indiana state senator sponsoring creationism in schools, "I believe in creation, and I believe it deserves to be taught in our public schools." Well, I believe in sado-masochism. Shall we teach it, too? But wait -- I'm in no position to force my beliefs on schoolchildren. Those "believing" like Sen. Kruse have turned Indiana into a Danielstock.
The best comment at the newspaper's site was from Wut:
"Teach the flying spaghetti monster! We are truly blessed by his Noodly Appendages."
Yet again we see state Republicans mass to advance legislation that isn't only irrelevant, but harmful to educational standards, and serves the side purpose of making Hoosiers look like buffoons. But thanks to Sen. Grooms for answering the question promptly and not clereting it from his FB page.
Meanwhile, originator Kruse's explanation astounds. What other of his personal beliefs need to be transformed into holy writ? What if he's into sado-masochism? Scourging? Lite beer?
Many people in the U.S.—perhaps 20 million to 40 million—believe there will be a Second Coming in their lifetimes, followed by the Rapture. In this event, they say, the righteous will be spirited away to a better place while the godless remain on Earth. But what will become of all the pets?
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