I dig this.
This of course points out how while there are passages in the Bible which seem to decry homosexuality, there are also passages which decry the eating of creatures that "hath no fins nor scales in the waters". Which I guess means that God says it's okay to eat fish, dolphins, and even seals. But shrimp, jellyfish, and wet giraffes are off the menu.
And while that's a dig at Christianity, it's really an issue in all religions. You choose which portions of your religious text to focus on, and leave the rest alone. Lotta folks scream about gay sex, not so many worried about the shrimp-eating (although I am now pondering the idea of going to anti-gay protests holding up an anti-shrimp sign like the one on that website).
Like that new Mel Gibson movie, "Beating the Holy Living Fuck Out of Christ". I hear focuses an awful lot on the torture of Jesus, and how his suffering saves all mankind, but not so much on the whole "be kind and generous to others" message that he preached for most of his life.
Sadly, that's a fairly common focus of many Christians.
One of these days I really do mean to write a comprehensive religion article. As you might guess, I'm not exactly a fan.
POTC is a sadomasochistic exercise in religious reinforcement. There's no insight into Christ's last hours (that one isn't already familiar with) or any historical or political context of what went on in that era (which is necessary to understand what Christ's impact). Film violence seems to be perfectly fine if it reinforces certain cultural values (a policeman shooting a criminal, soldier killing a foreigner, or if it reminds us how we're all guilty sinners). I wonder if a black person getting flogged by the police would have produced the same reaction. Probably not. As for the perceived anti-Semitism, the Romans, despite being possibly the most brutal, sadistic regimes in history come off as more sympathetic than the hissable Jews. Actually, the Pharisees seemed a lot like Christian fundamentalists of today. Of course, this misses the point...which is that Christ was killed by all humans, the original sinners. Religion can be misanthropic at times.
One gets the feeling that Gibson was unleashing his own catharsis onto the audience.
Posted by: Eric at March 10, 2004 07:03 PMSo much ink, media, press hang-wringing, teeth-gnashing, pundit-pontificating over one beings suffering. I put 'passion of the Christ' into Google and got back 2,820,000 hits. And that's not counting TV, radio, etc. Conversely, I typed 'dead civilians' in, and got only 397,000 hits.
However, I am not going to chastise Mel 'guaranteed box-office receipts' Gibson for his movie. I will just encourage him that his next film be an as-graphic portrayal of 'shock and awe'. Maybe lotsa slow-motion close-ups of body parts flying, heads being blown off, mothers screaming while holding their dead children, buildings collapsing onto whole families, etc. Yes, that's what I'll do - right after I go piss up a rope.
Posted by: DC at March 11, 2004 10:54 AMHey eric
I beg to differ with you even though I agree Gibson’s movie is just more “religious reinforcement” as you put it. However, I draw the line when you state that I am somehow responsible for Christ’s death, ditto for the “original sin” remark. If Christians want to spend their entire lives trying to atone for an event that went down 2000 years ago, that’s their problem, just leave me out of your fantasy world and don’t take for granted that everybody else on the planet believes this nonsense. If you’d read more good ‘ol USA newspapers, you’d know it wasn’t “all humans” that killed Christ, it was Osama, or maybe Saddam…
Whoa, whoa, whoa, Debra...
Thanks for responding. But it seems you misinterpreted what I said. The comment about "everyone killing Christ" was ironical. In the context I was working with, however poorly I must have done this, I was talking about Christians and this film absolving itself from anti-Semitism by saying, "Oh well, it doesn't matter. We all killed Christ." Sometimes I get carried away with sarcasm, not realizing that it doesn't come through on message boards, though I thought the statement that religion sometimes being misanthropic was a giveaway of the actual meeting of my comments.
P.S. I'm not a Christian. I may have fantasies, but they're not of a religious nature.
Posted by: Eric at March 12, 2004 08:50 AMeric...consider me "whoad"!
Posted by: debra at March 12, 2004 05:38 PMI'll try to watch what I write next time. Eh, who am I kidding?
Posted by: Eric at March 13, 2004 08:59 AMLying Media Bastards is both a radio show and website. The show airs Mondays 2-4pm PST on KillRadio.org, and couples excellent music with angry news commentary. And the website, well, you're looking at it. Both projects focus on our media-marinated world, political lies, corporate tyranny, and the folks fighting the good fight against these monsters. All brought to you by Jake Sexton, The Most Beloved Man in America ®. contact: jake+at+lyingmediabastards.com |
Media News |
December 01, 2004Media MamboThe Great Indecency Hoax- last week, we wrote about how the "massive outcry" to the FCC about a racy Fox TV segment amounted to letters from 20 people. This week, we look at the newest media scandal, the infamous "naked back" commercial. On Monday Night Football, last week, ABC aired an ad for it's popular "Desperate Housewives" TV show, in which one of the actresses from the show attempted to seduce a football player by removing the towel she was wearing to bare her body to him. All the audience saw, however, was her back. No tits, no ass, no crotch, just her back. No one complained. The next Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh told his shocked viewers how the woman had appeard in the commercial "buck naked". Then, the FCC received 50,000 complaints. How many of them actually saw this commercial is anyone's guess. The article also shows the amazing statistics that although the Right is pretending that the "22% of Americans voted based on 'moral values'" statistic shows the return of the Moral Majority, this is actually a huge drop from the 35% who said that in the 2000 election or the 40% who said that in 1996 (when alleged pervert Bill Clinton was re-elected). This fact is so important I'm going to mention it over in the main news section too. Brian Williams may surprise America- Tom Brokaw's replacement anchor, Brian Williams, dismissed the impact of blogs by saying that bloggers are "on an equal footing with someone in a bathroom with a modem." Which is really funny, coming out of the mouth of a dude who's idea of journalism is to read words out loud off a teleprompter. Seriously, if parrots were literate, Brian Williams would be reporting live from the line outside the soup kitchen. In related news, Tom Brokaw has quit NBC Nightly News, and it appears that unlike his predecessor, the new guy can speak without slurring words like a drunk. PR Meets Psy-Ops in War on Terror- in February of 2002, Donald Rumsfeld announced the creation of the Office of Strategic Influence, a new department that would fight the war on terror through misinformation, especially by lying to journalists. Journalists were so up in arms about this that the Pentagon agreed to scrap the program. Don't you think that an agency designed to lie to the public might lie about being shut down, too? This article gives some examples about the US military lying to the press for propaganda and disinformation purposes. Tavis Smiley leaving NPR in December- African-American talk show host Tavis Smiley is opting to not renew his daily talk show on National Public Radio. He criticized his former employers for failing to: "meaningfully reach out to a broad spectrum of Americans who would benefit from public radio but simply don’t know it exists or what it offers ... In the most multicultural, multi-ethnic and multiracial America ever, I believe that NPR can and must do better in the future." He's 100% correct. NPR is white. Polar bear eating a marshmallow at the mayonaise factory white. And the reason it's so white is that it is trying to maintain an affluent listener base (premoniantly older white folks) who will donate money to their stations. This is a great paradox of American public broadcasting, that they have a mandate to express neglected viewpoints and serve marginalized communities, but those folks can't donate money in the amounts that the stations would like to see. U.S. Muslim Cable TV Channel Aims to Build Bridges- it sounds more positive than it is "Bridges TV" seems to simultaneously be a cable channel pursuing an affluent American Muslim demographic, and a way of building understanding and tolerance among American non-Muslims who might happen to watch the channel's programming. I was hoping it would be aimed more at Muslim's worldwide, but it ain't. Still, I'd be interested in seeing how their news programs cover the issues. Every Damned Weblog Post Ever- it's funny cuz it's true. Wikipedia Creators Move Into News- Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia, created collectively by thousands of contributors. It's one of those non-profit, decentralized, collective, public projects that show how good the internet can be. Now, the Wikipedia founders are working on a similar project to create a collaborative news portal, with original content. Honestly, it's quite similar to IndyMedia sites (which reminds me, happy 5th birthday, IndyMedia!). I'll admit, I'm a bit skeptical about the Wikinews project, though. IndyMedia sites work because they're local, focused on certain lefty issues, and they're run by activists invested in their beliefs. I'm not sure what would drive Wikinews or how it would hang together. CBS, NBC ban church ad inviting gays- the United Church of Christ created a TV ad which touts the church's inclusion, even implying that they accept homosexuals into their congregation. Both CBS and NBC are refusing to air the ad. This is not too surprising, as many Americans are uncomfortable about homosexuality, and because TV networks are utter cowards. But CBS' explanation for the ban was odd: "Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples...and the fact that the executive branch has recently proposed a Constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast." Whoa, what? First of all, the ad does not mention marriage at all. Second, since when do positions opposite of the Executive Branch constitute "unacceptable"? This doesn't sound like "we're not airing this because it's controversial", this sounds like "we're afraid of what the President might say." More Media News |
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"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned into." -Jonathan Swift |
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Damn. That joke would have been much funnier if I'd said "apprentice" instead of "intern". |