Have I Wronged Huck? [David Freddoso]The old free-will shell game is alive and well in Huckaworld. Here it isn't merely a question of God's foreknowledge of events causing us to question the truth of our ability to choose. Here, rather, the baby Jesus is the literal, proximate cause of alterations in human behavior. His ghostly hand shall guide each finger to the touch-screen and wag each tongue in the caucus meetings. Th' effect and cause, the punishment and sin. It's like John Donne, but totally retarded.
From a reader, who says he will not be voting for HuckabeeI think you’re misreading Huckabee’s comment...He never said God wants him to win, he merely stated that it wasn’t him who was causing the increase in his voter popularity, but God...And yes, it may well be that God allows Hillary to become President in part so that we can suffer for our own good. That doesn’t cancel out the idea that God is blessing Huckabee’s fortunes at this point, for His own reasons, whoever wins the nominations or the election.Fair enough — although I have heard people talk about Providence, and it seemed different when I watched the video. Probably he meant it that way, it just didn't come out quite right — at least I thought so.
-The Corner
Unlike the legion liberals now crying to heaven that Mormon Mitt's vision of the city on the hill excludes unbelievers, I am not bothered by any of this. I'm amused. There are many, many things wrong with America, and there are many terrible bumps and catastrophes yet to come for our sclerotic global empire, but descent into theocracy is not one of them. I have visited megachurches in my time, and however grandiose the rhetoric of civilizational rebirth, these are, at last, bastions of the same boring, self-righteous, consumerist, suburban, shopping-mall bas-bourgeoisie as, well, the suburbs and the shopping malls. As a fag and as a man whose good friend had an abortion only last month, I'm not unsympathetic to the fear that faith-based governance will prove restrictive of personal choice, or discriminatory against the Gay, or insistent that prisoners find reform through Jesus and Jesus alone. But at the root of it, these people are simply not serious. They aren't Martin Luther or John Calvin or, Lord knows, the Inquisition. Their committment to doctrine is wholly flimsy. The bland ecumenicalism of Mitt's bizarro-JFK speech isn't an act. Their version of a Christian Republic looks like Bible Camp. It's all wholesome activities and bad guitar-playing. The People love to be told that Jesus loves them and that if they pray hard enough he will intercess in their ARM payments and guarantee them low, low APR financing on their next purchase! They still look at porn on the net, and they still fuck women other than their wives.
15 comments:
and christian women, except asian ones, still have extra-/premarital sex. lots and lots of it.
But at the root of it, these people are simply not serious.
Or all that bright.
IOZ doesn't get it on this issue. Faith is never serious in the general population. Never has been, never will be, anywhere. Not in the megachurches of exurbia, nor in Wahabi mosques of Saudi Arabia. Just like communists were by and large not serious about communism, but very serious about communism as a power tool. Nor were most rank and file Nazis serious about fascism. After millions of murders in the name of religion, both secular and divine, it is clear that seriousness is not the issue. Power is.
If communism were a power tool, I think it would be a belt sander.
Speaking of tools, ever use an impact drill? It's really cool, but if you stop paying attention, it'll slap you silly. As will these twits. So long as the potentially persecuted keep paying attention, I agree -- these people are neither Luther, nor Calvin, nor the Inquisition. But, at least some of them would like to be.
I've been struggling through The Court of the Red Czar. It becomes obvious that those people were unbelivably interested only in self; except, it appears, for Stalin. He actually believed in what he was doing. Everybody else was either in it for the booty or scared. And, in it for the booty.
What the hell is the concern about 20 million or so Russians dead in Siberia? Well, none really. Still, it does make one think...
As for the totalitarianism of the Mormon faith, ever been to Salt Lake City? Or, for that matter, read Steven Covey? On the other hand, Jim McMahon never stopped drinking, smoking and swearing all the while he was at BYU. So, as totalitarians go, they are probably pretty inept. On the other hand, ever go through some of those isolated small towns in Utah? Maybe not so inept. Totalitarianism worked really well in Sparta, until they won...
Carlito was voting for Romney?
And what's Shelton Benjamin got to do with it?
Well said, guthman. The thought going through my head as I read this post was: "Wait, how is the attitude ioz describes different from the attitude of people in every other theocracy ever?"
Oh great, so if IOZ's prediction is right, we'll eventually be living in a hypocritical theocracy, like Saudi Arabia, rather than a repressive theocracy like the Taliban. That's a relief!
IOZ, you're not a wrestling fan are you? I actually found this place through someone on a message board that is nominally about wrestling. Or was that just the first picture that came up on a GIS for wrestling?
What accomplishments does the Religious Right actually have under its belt that makes theocracy seem any closer? If anything, it seems to me like it's been the recipient of a long period of ass-kicking. Look at the has-beens whose support "cultural conservatives" are claiming cred from and imagine any of their predecessors trying that back in these celebrities' hey-days. You can call it cultural degradation or the smell of victory depending on whether it's your ox being gored. Every election the pols say "Vote for us, we're against abortion!", then once in office "Sorry, us politicians can't do anything because of that liberal Supreme Court", and so on since Roe v. Wade with much Sound & Fury signifying nothing. If they actually succeeded in overturning it it would eliminate a reason to vote for them, so why would they even want to do that?
it's not about power.
they're not sure what it's about. that's the problem.
people just need to leave things alone.
They still look at porn on the net, and they still fuck women other than their wives.
And they still kill unbelievers in large numbers and call it God's will. Life is mundane enough for us holed up in Fortress America, but it's rather terrifying for many on the outside.
They still look at porn on the net, and they still fuck women other than their wives.
Also men other than their... um ... wives.
yave: "And they still kill unbelievers in large numbers and call it God's will." You have an excellent point, but how does this distinguish them from high-church Episcopalians, Marxist-Leninists, Maoists, and ordinary hunter-gatherers? Ioz' argument was that the megachurch types were not seriously different from their nice moderate-to-liberal counterparts, who also killed unbelievers in large numbers and called it spreading democracy and freedom.
It's easy to become worried about future rights when reading about some of these theocrats who seemingly have access to the levers of power and who get appointed to posts where they could theoretically do damage. But in the end, we've had access to too many goodies to snatch them away now. Tell us we can't have abortions or birth control pills anymore and there will be some some interesting blowback. Plus at this point there are a lot of women in the establishment. Not that there are no examples of leaders turning on their own kind while keeping the rights to themselves, but it makes it less likely in our sort of society and the women are distributed among all the different factions.
As for lovable homos like our dear IOZ, I don't think they have to worry either. The zeitgeist is moving fast.
About the picture accompanying this post: so, the former Romney supporter is the bottom, but who's the top, and how can I get him to fly through the air in my direction?
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