Zealot
Most of you have heard about the Fox News interview with Reza Aslan. It was embedded above the first time this feature was published. Youtube is not eternal. Dr. Aslan is promoting a book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.
The interview created a fuss. It was a win/win situation. Fox News is seen as defenders of the Christian faith. Dr. Aslan sells books. The New York Times has a quote. ““I’ll be perfectly honest — I’m thrilled at the response that people have had to the interview. You can’t buy this kind of publicity.”
In the Fox/henhouse matchup, Dr. Aslan emphasizes his multiple degrees. It is true that he is well educated. It is also true that his day job, at the University of California, Riverside, is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing. (Appalling visual warning) Dr. Aslan has “a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction.“
There is a more civilized interview with NPR. It turns out that Dr. Aslan left Iran as a child. This was during the Khomeini revolution.The departure was a hectic affair. When Dr. Aslan was fifteen, he was “born again”. He spent a few years as an aggressive Jesus worshiper. At some point the Christian thing faded away, and Dr. Aslan went back to Islam. Whatever.
Many say that the book has few original ideas about Jesus. In other words, the book is old ideas, with a new marketing twist. Since Christianity may be the most successful marketing effort in history, this is somehow fitting. It is also beside the point. Jesus worshipers are more interested in the death of Jesus, than in his life. Zealot should have little impact on marketing the scheme for life after death.
There is a certain synchronicity in the current conflict. PG has wondered lately, why was someone so mad at Jesus that an execution was necessary? In other words, instead of What Would Jesus Do, the question should be What Did Jesus Do? According to Dr. Aslan, Jesus made trouble for the Roman rulers of Palestine. When it came time to compile the Bible, it was convenient to blame the execution on the Jews. There is also the possibility Jesus committed a more devious crime, which was dutifully covered up by the Bible committee.
The myth vs. history angle gets worked over. Many feel that the nativity story is not completely accurate. However, for many years, people were concerned about the birth of the Messiah, not the details about where the delivery occurred. As stated on NPR, “the truth of that story was more important than the facts of it.” This kind of talk makes PG dizzy. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Be Kind To Your Enemy
Did Jesus say to “Love your enemy” ? Some believe this, and do it. Some claim to believe this, and practice the opposite. There are others who claim to love their enemies, but you have to understand what they mean by it. It can be very confusing. This is a repost.
PG went to a source for documentation. Oh, the blessed conjunction of copy paste with public domain. When PG entered enemy (singular) in the search engine, 100 verses came up. When the request was made plural (enemies), 237 entries popped up. The last mention of enemies is Revelation 11:12 “And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.” Loving your enemies does not include bringing them to heaven with you. There is also the star of the show.
Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
There is scholarly debate about what Jesus did, or did not, say. The words available to modern man have been copied by hand, edited, translated, and interpreted. PG does not know Aramaic from Alabama. Like anyone else, PG can only read and listen, and think for himself.
In a sense it does not matter what Jesus “really” said. The cult of Jesus Worship is going to believe what it wants. More important, it is going to practice what it wants. As far as the difference between what Jesus “really” said, and what his believers say and do…they can explain.
What follows is a humble suggestion. Maybe the translators and scribes got it wrong. Maybe Jesus did not say to love your enemy. Maybe what Jesus said was to show kindness to everyone. This is a practice thing, rather than a belief thing.
It is not as much fun to be nice to someone, as it is to scream about life after death. Kindness does not need to be justified by a quote from a magic book. You just need to do it.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Skimpy Evidence
#prayforhim ~ The opening story is of a history class. They are discussing the origins of civilization. They say Africa is not mentioned. Isn’t that the continent that contains Egypt? ~ That is just one problem with this article. It makes a lot of sweeping assumptions, based on skimpy evidence. I agree that cultural differences should be taken into consideration while teaching. I also suspect that it goes on a lot more than that correspondent sees. There is also the matter of what might be called the subtle bigotry of low expectations. Are black students held to the same standards as white students? Maybe they should not be. Or maybe we are cheating them out of a good education. I am not always smart enough to know the answer. I have been away from public schools for a long time, so I don’t really know what is going on. I just have a sense that this article is off target in a lot of ways. ~ I am also leery of displaying skeptical thought on facebook. This is the home office of ad hominem attacks. ~ Carmen Miranda ~ The broccoli issue reminds me of the jesus issue. People with christian privilege assume that you share their obsession with life after death. They think that telling you endlessly about it will change your mind. It is like yelling at a hispanic person in english. No matter how loud or insulting you are, they simply do not understand what you are saying. Just like I do not find ad hominem attacks to be refreshing. Either to my face, or otherwise. ~ leftover coffee – works better with a gas stove – microwave discharge – 26 mins · Edited · Like ~ You wrote a story once about what you wore to your “first gay party.” ~ Are the stairwells booby trap locked? In some buildings, the stairs are only for emergencies. It is a security thing that I do not understand. ~ ” Because you don’t go for cynical, boring, corporate marketing ploys.” That would mean not reading The Matt Walsh Blog ~ Time and again, ______’s efforts to find a pliant _____ partner that is both credible with _____ and willing to eschew violence, have backfired. Would-be partners have turned into foes or lost the support of their people. ~ Jodie did you mean “bionic in the spine”? A typo can change the meaning completely. ~ bionic in the spin sounds like a dance ~ You have been blocked from following this account at the request of the user. ~ The goat boutique sure has changed. ~ Maybe it is a rogue lone cell of the IDF which drops fragmentation bombs on a civilian population ~ A physical therapist told me, when my L5S1 was in disarray, not to sit down. This puts pressure on the lower spine. I am not familiar with your situation, and this might not apply to you. ~ I wrote a feature recently, The end of racism There was a quote from Dr. McWhorter. “When decrying racism opens no door and teaches no skill, it becomes a schoolroom tattletale affair. It is unworthy of all of us: “He’s just a racist” intoned like “nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!”” ~ we are all oppressed in certain ways, and we all occupy the position of the oppressor in other ways. But in some attempt to reconcile this contradiction, we want to believe that victimhood gives us carte blanche, that we are automatically on the more inclusive, aware, and equitable side of the curve. ~ The pictures for this feature are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. ~ selah
PU Is Short For Pun
1. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference.
He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from the algebra class. It was a weapon of math disruption.
5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
6.. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.
7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering..
8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie..
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
14. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway.
One hat said to the other, ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head..’
15. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
16. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’
17. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital.
When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ‘No change yet.’
18. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
19. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
20. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
21. A backward poet writes inverse.
22. In democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count that votes.
23. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
24. Don’t join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.
25. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
26. Stories are in the public duh-main. This is a repost.
The End Of Racism
One of the touted TED talks in the weekly email is Color blind or color brave? It is by Mellody Hobson, a POC in the investment business. It is the standard call to talk more about race. Talk, talk, talk, and talk some more. The word listen is not used.
At the 3:13 mark, Mrs. Hobson makes a remarkable statement. “Now I know there are people out there who will say that the election of Barack Obama meant that it was the end of racial discrimination for all eternity, right?” It is possible that someone has said that. There are also people who say the earth is flat.
PG asked Mr. Google about this. The top two results are about the TED talk. The third result is an article in Forbes magazine, Racism In America Is Over. It is written by John McWhorter, one of the “black guys at Bloggingheads.tv.” Dr. McWhorter does say racism is over, sort of. The problems that remain are a lot worse. Too much food for thought, for a population with intellectual bulimia.
There is a quote in the Forbes article that is pure gold. “When decrying racism opens no door and teaches no skill, it becomes a schoolroom tattletale affair. It is unworthy of all of us: “He’s just a racist” intoned like “nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!””
There are a lot more results. PG is getting tired of looking. If you want to see for yourself, google “the election of Barack Obama meant that it was the end of racial discrimination for all eternity.” Except for a rogue title editor at Forbes, almost nobody has said that. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Blue Tail Fly
Q: What does “Jimmy crack corn” mean, and why does he not care?—Matt, Columbus, Ohio
PG was trolling stupidquestion.net when there was a convergence of stupidity. (The site does not exist in 2012.) All his life he had heard “Blue Tail Fly”, and been embarrassed. And there, in (pardon the expression) black and white, was someone who wondered the same thing.
It seems as though “Blue Tail Fly” started out as a minstrel song. For those who don’t know, minstrel shows were white people putting on black makeup, and imitating African Americans. Minstrelsy is not well thought of these days.
The story of BTF involves a slave named Jim. A fly bit the pony the old massa was riding, the pony was offended, and threw the old massa off. He was hurt landing, and died. Jim still has to crack corn, but he doesn’t care anymore, because old massa has gone away.
Dave Barry took a poll once to find out the stupidest song of all time. The overwhelming winner/loser was “MacArthur Park”. The combination of over the top show stopping, while singing about a cake left out in the rain, makes this ditty a duh classic.
In the spirit of corny convergence, the video is a karaoke version featuring Donna Summer . Miss Summer is a talented singer, who happened to connect with Giorgio Moroder. Lots of singers could have hit the big time by fronting those records. Donna Summer hit the jackpot.
For a proper post, there needs to be a third stupid song. This is not about stupid bands, singing about being D U M B. Even though they totally don’t belong, there is a video of the Ramones included. PG saw the Ramones at the Agora Ballroom in 1983. This was after their prime, and before a homeless man caught the Ballroom on fire.
We still need a third stupid song, and PG wants to get this posted with as little research as possible. Just like some writer was once given twenty minutes to write a song, and he decided to do the worst song he could think of. The result was “Wild Thing”. PG used to have a 45 of someone who sounded like Bobby Kennedy singing “Wild Thing”. This video (of the Troggs performing “Wild Thing”) has the late Casey Kasem, and Portuguese subtitles.
This is a repost. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. This was downtown Atlanta in 1941.
Runoff
Yesterday was the runoff. In Georgia, the runoff is the inevitable part two. Some people say the runoff system is racist. In Georgia, everything is described as racist.
Not many people paid attention to this runoff. Jack Kingston and David Perdue were trying to get the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. The winner will face Michelle Nunn in November. Her main qualification is being the daughter of a former U.S. Senator.
This was not what you call a sexy election. PG lost interest after Karen Handel finished third in the primary. You should never use the word sexy in the same paragraph as the name Karen Handel.
PG is a label resistant, non affiliated, voter. The spectacle of Republicans arguing over who is more conservative than whom is amusing at best, and deeply depressing at worst.
The runoff candidates sent mailouts to PG. These are handy for bloggers. You stack them up when they come in. When you need some text to go between the pictures, you let out your inner snarxist.
Neither Mr. Perdue nor Mr. Kingston look good in these glossy sheets of card stock. Technically. one flyer came from a PAC, and was not authorized by any candidate. It showed a station wagon, full of dollars, with dollars flying out the window. The tens and twenties seem to spell something. Subliminal advertising gets more liberal all the time.
Mr. Kingston was the candidate with the flyers from Rosetta Stone Communications. It is cute. One side is dirt on Mr. Perdue. The insults are on a file folder, with the words BIG GOVERNMENT on the tab. There is a fax message header on the insult sheet. The message was sent at 17:56.
The other side tries to be positive. There is a picture of Mr. Kingston talking to a black man. The CONSERVATIVE RECORD is recited. The dude is “endorsed by the NRA, fair tax sponsor, 100% pro life record, cut Obama’s budget by $3.6 billion, 100% small business voting record.”
Below that is “Jack’s ENDORSEMENTS:” Karen Handel, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, Erick Erickson, Phil Gingrey, and Hershel Walker. Mr. Erickson endorsed Mrs. Handel in the primary, and is zero for two in this election. Maybe Red State is not as cool as some people think.
This was the final touch. PG decided that Mr. Perdue was the lesser of the two evils. Apparently, Georgia agrees. Mr, Perdue got 50.9% of the vote.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. The spell check suggestion for Perdue is Duper.
The Problem Of Anti-Racism
Some people are proud of being anti-racist. This is not always something to be proud about. Often, as in anti communism and homophobia, the struggle against the unseen enemy is worse than the problem you are fighting. When you denounce someone as racist, you might be talking about yourself.
The discussion that follows should not be seen as pro racist. People should treat people with kindness. The word people does not need an adjective. This kindness should be extended to those who do not share your opinions about racism.
Maybe you should lead by example. Instead of worrying about how your neighbor thinks, worry about how you think. If you don’t like the nasty word don’t use it.
To some, racism is the ultimate taboo. It is the worst charge you can make about a person, and the quickest to be made. Once accused, you are guilty until proven innocent. It does not help that the definition of racism is expanding all the time. What one person considers racism is normal thinking to another. It used to be that racism was when you treated someone poorly because of their ethnicity. Now is is a multi faceted boogieman about power and prejudice. Keeping up can be a full time job.
Anti-communism has been compared to anti-racism. To our younger readers, there used to be a system of government called communism. It was alleged to be involved in a cold war with the United States. This cold war was the justification for a bloated military industrial complex. Many crooked politicians were elected on the basis of being anti communist. Often, the fight against communism was worse than the actual system of government.
Anti-racism is the new McCarthyism. Guilt by association is the rule. Difficult to refute charges are made against people. The charge of racism is used as a red herring.
Homophobia is compared to anti-racism. In both cases, the accuser has a set of standards. If the accused does not meet those standards, then the accused is considered fair game for abuse. The accused and the accuser may not agree on these standards. That does not matter. If someone wants to make the accusation, then they will, and will feel righteous about doing so.
It is frequently speculated that the homophobe is secretly gay. The need to be heard badmouthing gays stems from a perceived need to prove heterosexuality. Could this be the case with the anti racist? Maybe the anti-racist is secretly afraid that he/she might be a racist. The “calling out” of others, for perceived racism, is an effort to overcompensate for his/her own shortcomings.
Some things need to be said one more time. People should treat people with kindness. The word people does not need an adjective. Shaming and guilt mongering, because someone does not share your attitudes about race, is not appropriate. To use an anti-communist expression, there are better ways to win hearts and minds. This is a repost. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter died Wednesday, July 16, 2014. He was born John Dawson Winter III, on Feb. 23, 1944, in Beaumont TX, which makes him 70. He was an skinny albino, and played guitar.
In 1971, the rock concert phenomenon was a snowball rolling down a mountain, getting bigger every inch of the way. The combination of loud music, theatrics, and public dope smoking had a lot of appeal. Johnny Winter was one of the hottest performers.
In Atlanta, the number one venue was the Municipal Auditorium. It was a sturdy concrete building on Courtland Avenue, in the middle of Georgia State University. The front of the building is still there, but the guts are long gone. When a Johnny Winter concert was announced for May 1971, 6,000 tickets went fast. The Omni would open in 17 months.
At this time, PG wasn’t quite into the concert thing. The first show he saw at the Auditorium was in March 1972. The second act was Edgar Winter, Johnny’s younger brother. The headliner, Humble Pie, might as well have not shown up.
At some point in the proceedings, Johnny Winter began using heroin. He took some time off to recover. When the comeback tour was announced in 1973, PG was ready. On the morning tickets went on sale, he was at the Sears in Athens GA, and copped front row seats. The show was scheduled for the Fox Theater, which had not been used for concerts long. Until then, it was mostly a movie house.
The opening act was Foghat. They were amazing. Foghat built a career by opening for acts that somehow didn’t quite measure up.
Johnny Winter just wasn’t very good that night. He didn’t have Rick Derringer, or a second guitar of any sort, to play with. It was him, a bass, and drummer, and his girlfriend. The lady beat a cowbell with a drumstick, and did some backing vocals.
Pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
FFBF/SJW
The first thing I did when starting this post was to look for another post. I typed post rac into google advanced search. The suggested search was POST RACIAL, in all caps. Somehow, shouting that phrase seems appropriate.
It is a facebook mainstay. Someone will put up a link, and tell you to show this to anyone who says America is post racial. I was going to find an example of this. I fell into an internet rabbit hole.
There is this former facebook friend. This post tells part of the story. FFBF might be a SJW, or social justice warrior. In the words of the Urban Dictionary: “SJW Social Justice Warrior. A pejorative term for an individual who repeatedly and vehemently engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a shallow or not well-thought-out way….”
It looks like the chamblee54 plan for amerika becoming post-racial is going to have to wait. When you look for something on the intertubes, you might spend all morning not finding it. The line about amerika not being post-racial was not there. There was a link to a helpful feature, 23 Quotes That Perfectly Explain Racism (To People Who Don’t “See Color”)
Hyperbole in article titles is alive and well. I read the article. I also see color all the time, except in the black and white photographs that illustrate this feature. (“The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. ) I read “23 Quotes,” and am more confused than ever.
There was a quote from the king of Twitter, Teju Cole. “People of color, women, and gays — who now have greater access to the centers of influence that ever before — are under pressure to be well-behaved when talking about their struggles. There is an expectation that we can talk about sins but no one must be identified as a sinner: newspapers love to describe words or deeds as “racially charged” even in those cases when it would be more honest to say “racist”; we agree that there is rampant misogyny, but misogynists are nowhere to be found; homophobia is a problem but no one is homophobic. One cumulative effect of this policed language is that when someone dares to point out something as obvious as white privilege, it is seen as unduly provocative. Marginalized voices in America have fewer and fewer avenues to speak plainly about what they suffer; the effect of this enforced civility is that those voices are falsified or blocked entirely from the discourse.”
This is not completely true. There is a social media revolution. Anyone with internet access, and too much free time, can preach to the world. This contradicts one line… “Marginalized voices in America have fewer and fewer avenues to speak plainly about what they suffer” The truth is, the marginalized not only have voices, but a PA system that reaches a billion people.
Newspapers are dying. They are being replaced by facebook, twitter, and the latest dot com opinion monger. Unfortunately, many of these people do not think before they tweet.
Mr. Cole says “newspapers love to describe words or deeds as “racially charged” even in those cases when it would be more honest to say “racist”” The trouble is, people read twitter much more than the fishwrapper. And in many cases, what should be described as racially charged is described as racist. And people in social media just love to say racist.
Racist has become the all purpose insult. It is used to describe all sorts of things, few of which have anything to do with institutional systems creating oppression. When you label something as racist, there is no more thinking. The judgement has been rendered. If nothing else, amerika would be better off if we used the words racism/racist less often, and with a bit more, um, discrimination.
How Redneck Are You?
The quiz, How Redneck Are You?, had to happen. PG had too much free time, and took the test. He might lose points for writing a blog post about it. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The test is eleven multiple choice questions. PG did not give a correct answer until number fo-wer, “Do you own camo clothes?” The camo cargo shorts were purchased at Walmart.
Other questions that worked for PG were seven … “What role does WD-40 play in your life?” … and ten … “Is NASCAR a real sport?” PG was just kidding when he said that NASCAR was rigged. Number eleven was close. “Do you really care what other people think of your lifestyle?”
The full set of teeth did not seem to hurt none. “You are 60% Redneck. We ain’t sure if you’re a real redneck or not, but you sure could pass for one if pressed. Just need the right uniform… “
In an curious act of political correctness, race was not mentioned. Most rednecks do not appreciate African Americans. That is probably the most polite way of saying this.
This was discussed in the comments. “…just because someone is redneck doesn’t mean they are racist. ~ true but it doesn’t hurt.. ~ Agreed 100 % why do idiots have to bring rasicm into everything ~ because they have been brainwashed by race baiters.”
How Southern Are You?
There is yet another internet quiz, How Southern Are You? When you get your score, you are invited to post the results on facebook. Do you add, or subtract, points for that?
There are ten multiple choice questions. The first one is “1. Which refreshing drink would you reach for on a hot summer day? Coca-Cola Sprite Sweet Tea Beer” If you are a retired drunk, who likes unsweet tea, it is ok to lie here. You have to keep up appearances. The same goes for question 2. The fact that the nearest Piggly Wiggly is one hundred miles away is of no concern.
Questions 5 and 8 are about language. Yes, the phrase “Bless your heart” means “I think you are ignorant,” but only if you are very polite. Number 8 is about Y’all, the word. The quiz only asks if you use it. It does not ask if you only use Y’all as a plural.
The first time around, PG got “You are 100% Southern.” Then he wanted to see if number 5 said “Bless your heart” or “Bless her heart.” You are probably more southern if you say the latter.
On this round, PG tried to be as unsouthern as possible. He knows better than to think a pig pickin’ is where you check out fat girls. Still, you have to do your research. On this round, the result was 3% Southern. “Well bless your heart! You don’t know the first thing about what it means to be Southern!”
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
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