Ad Competion: Banning All Religion

In the Australian TV show "The Pitch", ad agencies "compete to sell the unsellable." In this clip, two spots make the case for banning all religion.

via @brainpicker

It's the Virgin Mary in a tree!!

Hey guys.
Hawaii has divine sightings of the Virgin Mary, too.

Thomas Kinkade, Painter of God's Light and Threat to the Hundred-Acre Wood

Here's a very old article about Thomas Kinkade from the L.A. Times, a favorite painter around these parts.

A lot of it is how he's taken his schmaltzy brain-ruining paintings and turned them into a huge kabillion dollar business, allegedly devaluing it and then buying it back at a relative pittance. There's also a nice bit in there about heckling Siegfried and Roy and peeing on Winnie the Pooh.

NOTE: This article is from 2006, so it's entirely likely that it this point in time, Mr. Kinkade has reformed completely, and is now actually God's Servant on Earth, as originally alleged.

Ground Zero Mosque Discussion, Part 2

I figured that while I was in NYC, I'd visit 45-51 Park Place, future site of Cordoba House, known to some as the "Ground Zero Mosque", and former site of a Burlington Coat Factory. I wanted to see what any protestors might have to say, in the hopes that I could add something useful to our discussion, aside from my own irritation.

I was expecting huge angry crowds overlooking the ruins of the World Trade Center, but it was down this side alley, and there was only this one old guy in a suit with a big cross around his neck. (It was Saturday, and I guess the throngs come out after church.) He had like four signs on large flimsy boards and there was enough stuff written on them that he seemed like a kook. I was going to avoid him, but as I walked past him the wind took his signs, and so I helped him out.

I asked him what he was doing there, and he mumbled and fumbled and handed me a card with what I know now to be the Serenity Prayer. He then went on to talk about Hamas, and how they weren't all bad, in the beginning; and that Christians and Muslims can and should get along, and I said probably; and then he said that everyone should treat each other with dignity, and while I saying that I could get behind that, he said "Except for the Jews, and Zionists, they are evil and will be judged" and then I kind of said good day and moved on.

I realize that this one fellow, or the people protesting Cordoba House don't represent all of Christianity, just like the 9/11 attackers don't represent all of Muslimdom. Problem is, when it comes to religion, it seems like the kooks are the ones doing all the representing, so it's easy to see why things get out of hand.

If that comparison (protesters to hijackers) seems out of line, you're super-wrong. I think the "Ground Zero Mosque" protestors do far more violence to the idea of America than Al Qaeda could ever hope to. The way I learned it, this country was founded (at least in part) on principles of freedom of speech and religion; on the idea of live and let live. I look at those complaining about this building, and I can't help but think of how completely unAmerican these people are. What could be more unAmerican than attempting to deny others liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? (and in the case Odori pointed out, life)

It's funny, because when I hear the far right throw around the term "unAmerican", it's about not blindly supporting the president during wartime, or chipping in on keeping our citizens healthy, or having sane assault rifle regulation. My conclusion: My America is better than their America, by kind of a lot.

(At this point, I find myself standing and saluting the American flag Steve Rogers-like, but I am aware that traits I equate with decency and goodness are not unique to these United States. I acknowledge that many people in countries such as South Korea, Canada, the Republic of Kenya, and Iceland are also not busybody assholes cowering in fear, desperate in their need to prove that their magic space boss is tougher and more real than some other guy's magic space boss.)

Apologies for not chiming in on the other post. I thought my rant might take up too much space (turns out I used up a lot of my space with the thinly-related story about the lone guy standing in front of Park 51), and I wanted to see the protesters for myself (and again, all I saw was that guy). I totally agree with what you guys said; all of it. Anyone trying to stop this community center should be ashamed. If they succeed in stopping it, we should all be ashamed.

Anyway, later that day, this happened.

Christianity in the Hawaii Republican Party

Check out this bit from the chairman of the Republican Party of Hawaii. (He's promoting "Duke" _ Hawaii's lieutenant governor and the party's only serious candidate for governor.)

"Duke will win because the church has been behind him the entire time operating in the POWER and the AUTHORITY of the NAME OF JESUS!"

Ground Zero Mosque Discussion

Litcube suggested that one of the New Yorkers here do a post on the proposed so-called "Ground Zero Mosque". As a former New Yorker, and as an American, and as a human being, I certainly have an opinion on this, and I think it's kind of a strong opinion; but rather than rant and rant I think I'd rather hear what more reasonable people have to say about the issue. That's you. Go.

Discussing heaven

From a review of a new book on heaven, "Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination With the Afterlife" by Lisa Miller. (via Andrew Sullivan)

Heaven is constantly shifting shape because it is a history of subconscious human longings. Show me your heaven, and I'll show you what's lacking in your life. The desert-dwellers who wrote the Bible and the Quran lived in thirst--so their heavens were forever running with rivers and fountains and springs. African-American slaves believed they were headed for a heaven where "the first would be last, and the last would be first"--so they would be the free men dominating white slaves. Today's Islamist suicide-bombers live in a society starved of sex, so their heaven is a 72-virgin gang-bang.

I see your Mormons...

...and raise you Jehovah's Witnesses

Mormon Cartoon

Nothing like a cartoon to really highlight deeply, deeply crazy beliefs. Also note the large amount of rotoscoping--real footage exists for a lot of this, dudes.

What's the most important story?

Happy winter solstice!

I was at Stonehenge again for the solstice. There were way less people than in the summer.

There was a druid called King Arthur there. Some other druids were facing each way and chanting 'let there be peace in the east', 'let there be peace in the west', and so on when the sun came up.

Did it get more peaceful at all in Hawaii around 8:08 GMT this morning*?

*That's 21 December 2009, 10:08PM Hawaii time.

The True Dangers of Pokémon

Congratulations, stupid!

A Sampling of Anti-Gay Marriage Ads

The Huffington Post has put together a nice little sampling of anti-gay marriage ads. Over and over you hear "it's not hate" and "it's not bigotry". The ads are full of encapsulated little concrete reasons for why you should oppose gay marriage. There are references to statistics and studies, none of which is dwelled on much. The ads invariably return to the idea of "doing what's right". The language and imagery really give me the impression that the ads are preaching to the converted.

Two things going on here. First, the ads are intended to offer concrete (often economic) justifications why gay marriage should be stopped. Second, the ads appeal to the motivations of the motivated, the reasons why the viewers rage so strongly against gays getting all married. This part seems to be heavily encrypted, but the motivations seem to range somewhere between "it's wrong" to "it's disgusting".

What strikes me most here is the stark disconnect between the justifications and the motivations. Usually both aren't so clearly displayed, but I think it's this same disconnect that makes select Teabaggers so inarticulate. See also the state's rights arguments made in defense of slavery in America.

The ads, I believe, are intended to provide alternate ammunition to people whose primary reasons are at best personal and irrelevant (and at worst; very, very mean). It seems to me that if you make your point using canned statistics, while keeping your real convictions to yourself, then maybe you're not entirely on the correct side of the argument.

I don't mean to use only examples opposed to my own alignment (Neutral Good). I'm sure there are cases of the Secular Left doing this as well. I just can't think of any, possibly because it's rarer, but more likely because this sort of thing is harder to see when you're doing it yourself.

link via @shortpacked


UPDATE: Guilty! I saw this picture:


from this article and immediately started trying to think up reasons why the war in Iraq is a bad idea, just so that little girl wouldn't have to say goodbye to her dad. I'm no better than those racist and homophobic bigots, rhetorically speaking. I hang my head in shame.

Fig. 4 Character Alignment Graph

Atheist, Gnostic, Theist, Agnostic

Here's an interesting delineation of terms often thrown around during religious debate, using a diagram that looks like it could appear in the appendices of Deities & Demigods. He's definitely coming to this from a certain point of view, and I'm not sure he gets everything right. For instance, I bet there are a lot more theist agnostics around than he thinks. Also, you can make his diagram out of origami.

No Darwin films allowed here

"A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer. "

Read the whole article.

(And sorry if you've all already seen this! It's a few days old.)

Eddie Izzard: On Mass Murderers

Since we're on the subject, and Panic mentioned that whole magic number and empathy thing, and it's Eddie Izzard, after all...

Bonus! I hadn't seen this one before!

Crashes with a Message

Sort of. Mostly, the makers of this series of little morality plays just prove that they are completely fucking mental.

Happy summer solstice!

I was at Stonehenge this morning at sunrise, it was neat! I had to escort small children up to the stones through heaving crowds of drunken college students and druids (I think they were, they had cloaks)

A few things collected from the internet this week

I wish I had the strength of will to fact-check this myself

This, is a fucking awesome walrus

The Perry Bible Fellowship

School lunches from around the world!

I believe the story for this was a guy asked his girlfriend to draw what happens during her period


And the title of this one is apparently "Rebel Rebel"

Have a good weekend, P.o.T.!