#WhiteManMarchProtestSigns
Did your conversation with “Steve” really happen? It seems a bit off. We have to take your word for this. There is no way to prove it really happened. After your post about the Marilyn Monroe quote, I have to wonder about your integrity. ~ What about the people, who do not agree with your religion, who are attacked by preachers? ~ I was attacked for seven years, by a co worker, after I asked him to turn down his radio. Before this, I had made my peace with Jesus. I didn’t agree with most of what was said about him ~ I see Jesus through the people that believe in him. My experience has been horrific. Since I don’t agree with the scheme for life after death, I see no reason to make excuses for Jesus. ~ I have read that carburetor is french for do not touch ~ @lexiconvalley blog post about accents, based on a lexicon valley episode ~ don’t play leapfrog with a unicorn ~ bad lip sync videos are funny ~ This must be chatter about religion day. I suppose it is better than a hokey buzzfeed video about crime and race. ~ If the text is boring you can always look at the pictures. ~ It might be a trap. ~ Maybe a better question would be, Why do you think? ~ when poc use the n word, pwoc haters don’t have to ~ poc trash themselves by using n word ~ @chescaleigh when poc use #nword, , pwoc h8rs don’t have to, the poc are doing it for them ~ Aren’t most reviews written from complimentary copies? ~ I read an interview once with Christopher Isherwood. There is no online source. The concept is that you are drawn to a religion by the people you meet in that religion. The beliefs are more or less irrelevant. Religion is about people, not beliefs. A corollary notion is that if someone can attract you to a religion, then they can also drive you away from it. This is a big deal in jesus worship, with it’s intense interest in recruiting new followers. As to the matter of where you fit in if you have decided, after repeated exposure and painful contemplation, that you don’t agree with these beliefs …. I don’t have all the answers. ~ would you like a pepsi? ~ In the few days I have been reading your blog, you have had material posted every day. This gives me a reason to come here. If you keep the quantity up, the quality will take care of itself. ~ Is it ethical to modify an adjective for the purpose of creating a noun? ~ Just as you should never go grocery shopping hungry, you should never shop for clothes naked ~ It might save time in fitting rooms. ~ I would say more, and perhaps will later. Now, I have to get on the road to my job. The problem of what I call “positive facism” is not exclusive to Hollywood. Many people like to glorify the positive, and deny that anything non wonderful exists. Jesus worshipers are some of the worst. The trouble is, when the going gets dull, many people think it is a sign of weakness. If their role model does this without boredom, it must be something wrong with me. This is a problem. ~ The good news is that the “church” is located in Harlem. I think the “found in Atlanta” business is a mistake. We have enough weirdos already. ~ All we know about Jesus is what the bible tells us. It really isn’t very much. We choose which parts to focus on. What you think about Jesus says more about you than it does Jesus. ~ ” dude who is the most popular person everywhere he goes” One exception might be the place where they screamed “crucify him”. ~ You should be careful when you say americans should quit consuming stupid cultural material. They might quit reading your blog. ~ Actually, they are Irish. It should read the O’Nomatopoeia empire. ~ It was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. The formerly homeless man had some good stories. Unfortunately, only so much can make it into one conversation. The next time an *official blogger* comes to a coffe shop with free parking, I will think about stopping by. ~ What goes around comes around. A lot of preachers say hurtful things. People like to get even with the hired entertainement.~ Holy straw man. Did you write the “Rachel” letter, so that you could reply to it? ~ changing the c, at the end of his name, to o … was a stroke of genius ~ 1-The bearded man currently lives in Americus GA. This is in south Georgia. It is just down the road from Plains. He calls Jimmy Carter “Cousin Jimmy.”2- I have written at great length about the concept of prayer. While it may have some value to others, it is a casualty of my horrific experience with Jesus. I just don’t know what to make of it. 3- It is said that prayer is talking to G-d, while meditation is listening. It has been my experience that many Jesus worshipers talk too much. 4- It would be a wonderful thing if people were as proud of their ability to listen as they were of the clever things that they say. ~ Nothing about midtown is bottomless. ~ What is Socoilogy? ~ 1-What is this about? It is frustrating to come in after an altercation, and hear people talk about it, and not know what it was about. 2-Was this regarding the comments about SMS? I don’t know the specifics of the situation. However, there is a cycle of elation at finding a tribe to belong to, and then disillusionment when you learn that the players are human. 3- I agree with the need to maintain a safe space here. On the other hand, the concept of removing someone from the group should be done very, very carefully. I have said things that bothered people, and been shunned as a result. I suspect that I was misunderstood. Since almost nothing was said directly to me, I have no way of knowing. ~ Is the adjective necessary? When a parent mocks a person, they may be mocking their own child. ~ thank you for not embedding the text on the picture ~ This is a nice image. Whoever (Whosoever) created this took the time to make his text come out as a solid rectangle. Happy Pie Day ~ ” All the treasure in the world can’t buy peace in your mind and soul” It can buy dandy image manipulation software, but won’t give you the taste to use it properly. ~ WDSTF is almost thirty years old. An update is needed by a person gifted in musical communication ~ do you use the buzz, or the radio? ~ white trashcan ~ You do not paste inspiring quotes over your photographs. Thank you. ~ Maybe we could keep the initials GSV, and have a different acronym for every event. Gorgon Serpent Vitals Great Southern Voters Gross Spam Version Geraldo Samuel Voytek ~ Is that where the expression “gay card” came from? ~ “Ever notice how ‘What the hell’ is always the right answer?” ― Marilyn Monroe The word on this quote The Actress, a character based on Marilyn, in the movie Insignificance. Her exact words were: “Have you ever noticed how ‘What the hell’ is always the right decision to make?” ~ #WhiteManMarchProtestSigns grow up #WhiteManMarchProtestSigns you don’t have to shout ~ You can take it to the next gathering. Someone might need a way to fly home. ~ Diaspora Organic Group DOG ~ Maybe the person meant to ask what country his family is from. Why is that bigoted? ~ Fred Phelps is an attention whore. Let’s ignore his funeral.~ I is the shortest, skinniest, word in the language. Those qualities apply to palindromic usage. The lower case has an ornamental tittle. Sarah Palin, the dromic politician, likes to talk about I. ~ Campbell’s chicken noodle soup was originally called Noodle soup with chicken. It did not sell well, and was going to be discontinued. One day, an actor screwed up while reading a radio script, and called it chicken noodle soup. The new name caught on. ~ I thought it was Seattle. ~ Many of the political mail outs in Georgia are produced by a company called Rosetta Stone. ~ When the world turns to prayer, the people go mad ~ POC is a bad term, lumping in groups of people with different stories into one collection ~ A note to saturday: Enjoy this beautiful Angel ~ curley, larry, moe ~ it is amazing how many good lines there are in that film ~ John passes, and one remembers John’s money ~ I cleaned the lint filter in the dryer ~ Is there a recording of YOL singing that quote? ~ sweet spring is your time is my time is our time – for springtime is lovetime and viva sweet love. – e.e. cummings ~ a man is drowning 25 yards off shore. the democrat throws 50 yards of rope and doesn’t tie it to anything the republican throws 10 yards of rope, and says that swimming fifteen yards will build character ~ You your facts your logic ~ Maybe the language needs another word for people you enjoy spending time with. Maybe they are fun to be around, but are they really your friend? (no all caps, only one question mark) ~ Anyone with internet access can start a blog. If he wants this item written about, then he can do it himself. If he wants four million hits a month for his output, then he needs to get busy. ~ hbd #Elton, #Aretha, #Flannery O’Connor ~ Some give Mr. Hirshfeld the credit, or blame, for coining the term racism. ~ there are no air ducks anywhere ducks live in water ~ is that why so many bellies are round? ~ Someone needs to stay at work while parents take care of sick kids ~ Pictures are from The Library of Congress. ~ Selah
Institutional Racism
It is blackberry winter in Brookhaven. PG is editing pictures from The Library of Congress, some of which will illustrate this post. While fussing over group portraits from a Navy vessel, PG is listening to The Glenn Show. Today’s episode features the host, Glenn Loury, and frequent guest John McWhorter. Both men are professors at Ivy League institutions. They are also African Americans. Their conversations are usually entertaining, and provide fodder for slack blogger content.
The first part of the chat involves politicians who say, in effect, “my opponent is not black enough.” An incident involving Barack Obama was discussed. In some of his early elections, the opponent charged that BHO was too closely connected to the big money elite.
Duh. You don’t get elected to public office without having wealthy friends. They want a return on their investment. This has been a problem for the *naive* people who thought they were voting for hope and change. BHO did not raise a billion dollars without making shady promises.
Most politicians face the “authentic enough” issue. When running in the party primary, they try to appear blacker than Spike Lee, or more conservative than Herbert Hoover. When the general election arrives, the need to reach less radical voters arises. Many politicians see the need to back away from what they were saying a few weeks earlier. Saints do not win elections.
After a while, Doctors Loury and McWhorter moved onto the issue of gentrification. Dr. McWhorter wrote a Time magazine piece, “Spike Lee’s Racism Isn’t Cute: ‘M—–f—– Hipster’ Is the New ‘Honkey” Regarding this article, there is a lovely quote from Dr. McWhorter. The quote says to always remember that racism is institutional.
People twitter hissy fits about racism like to have it both ways. They will tell you that racism is *really* about institutional systems that oppress POC. Ok, fine. Exactly what does a tweet, quoting a joke taken out of context, have to do with institutional systems of oppression?
Oreo
This feature was originally posted on the 100th anniversary of the Oreo. The cookie sandwich was first sold in New York on March 6, 1912. Over 491 billion Oreos have been sold.
About.com 20th Century History has a few details on this important anniversary. In 1898, several baking companies merged to form the National Biscuit Company (NaBisCo), the maker of Oreo cookies. By 1902, Nabisco created Barnum’s Animal cookies and made them famous by selling them in a little box designed like a cage with a string attached (to hang on Christmas trees).
In 1912, Nabisco had a new idea for a cookie – two chocolate disks with a creme filling in between. The first Oreo cookie looked very similar to the Oreo cookie of today, with only a slight difference in the design on the chocolate disks…
So how did the Oreo get its name? The people at Nabisco aren’t quite sure. Some believe that the cookie’s name was taken from the French word for gold, “or” (the main color on early Oreo packages). Others claim the name stemmed from the shape of a hill-shaped test version; thus naming the cookie in Greek for mountain, “oreo.” Still others believe the name is a combination of taking the “re” from “cream” and placing it between the two “o”s in “chocolate” – making “o-re-o.” And still others believe that the cookie was named Oreo because it was short and easy to pronounce. (This source says 362 billion Oreos have been sold.)
In the early sixties, Oreos had a great commercial. Youtube apparently does not have a copy. The song went “Girls are nice but oh what icing comes in oreos. Oreos, the best because it’s the grandest cookie that ever was. Little girls have pretty curls but I like oreos; Oreos, the best because it’s the grandest cookie that ever was…”
HT goes to the always entertaining site, The Field Negro. There is an unfortunate urban usage of Oreo, about people who are black outside, but white inside. Field lists ten people who qualify. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
The Six G-ds of Christianity
There is a discussion brewing in the Jesus Worship blogosphere on the question of ” Is Christianity really monotheistic ”. This is in response to a post, on the subject of the unquestioning Christian .
There is a “motivational” poster, with the headline “Ten signs you are an unquestioning Christian”. One of these (either number one or ten) deals with monotheism. To wit: “You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of G-ds claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of your G-d.” Some writers are promising/threatening to write about all ten of these arguments, and the feature on monotheism is the first.
PG is a recovering Baptist, who is severely alienated from Jesus. He does suspect that there is a G-d, and is in no way an “atheist”. The tracts linked to above tend to break down the discussion to atheists vs. christians, which is highly misleading.
PG has been knocking around for some time the idea of a post about the six G-ds of Jesus Worshipers. The appearance of this series…at blogs that ban PG from commenting…has spurred him into action. Whether or not there will be more comments (from PG) remains to be seen.
Christianity claims to be a monotheistic religion. This means, there is only one G-d. In contrast, the Romans and Greeks had G-ds and G-ddesses galore, and the Hindus have literally millions of deities. In what was claimed by some as an advancement, the Jews worshiped one G-d. (Zoraroastrians are said to be monotheistic, and did it before the Jews. There may be others.)
One of the sacred tracts of Judaism and Christianity is the ten commandments . The first three relate to the concept of monotheism, and the proper way to talk about G-d.
1-Thou shalt have no other G-ds before me.
2-Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy G-d am a jealous G-d, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
3-Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy G-d in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
As a side note, PG has heard something about the use of Lord as a name for G-d. The riff is that “Lord” was an expression for an English nobleman. When the Bible was translated by James I, his workers used the L word as a synonym for G-d. The words for G-d in the Greek and Hebrew texts that comprised the Bible do not translate as Lord…that word was inserted by the anglocentric workers of James I. This is something that PG read in a book by Tom Robbins, and has no other source for. It may, or may not be true. If it is, then it just might be a violation of the third commandment.
Getting back to monotheism, does Christianity live up to the first commandment? This may seem to be a silly question when you consider the concept of the trinity. At some point in the early days of Jesus Worship, a decision was made to split G-d into three parts. We now had the father, the son, and the holy ghost. (Which makes for a neat blessing…the father the son the holy ghost, whoever eats fastest gets the most) The first commandment is still in effect, but, well, you just have to understand. The Jews continued to worship one G-d, and when Mohammed started his franchise, he changed the name to Allah. In that version, there is no G-d but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger.
Meanwhile, the Jesus Worshipers were good at converting and reproducing, and soon had a very popular religion. But was it one G-d only? The faith had a book of ancient texts that they call “the word of G-d”. The fact that it was written, copied, edited and translated by man did not stop folks. The first commandment would seem to prohibit this custom, but, you just have to believe.
PG is willing to concede the point that he doesn’t understand the concept of the Trinity. He thinks it is a concoction of the Council of Nicea, and a violation of the first commandment. This is something that seems to happen a lot with Christianity…to proclaim one thing as a rule, to apparently violate that rule, but have a clever explanation that few seem to understand.
This does not explain the other G-ds of Christianity. For this discussion, we will focus on three…the Bible, Satan, and Salvation.
The Catholic Church had a conference to establish a consistent canon for their church. This conference became known as the Council of Nicea. (This conference is where the concept of the Triune G-d was formulated.) The texts in use by the church at the time were collected in one book. Some texts were not used, and there is a good possibility that the texts that were used were edited. This committee effort became known as the Bible.
During the protestant reformation, the new churches needed a source for their authority over the people. It was during this time that the concept of the Bible as the “Word of G-d” became known. This in effect made a G-d out of a book. This is in direct defiance of the First Commandment, which teaches to have no other G-d before you.
The book has been interpreted into many languages, and the interpretations have been interpreted. The star of the New Testament, Jesus, spoke Aramaic. His words were recorded, in Greek, many years after he *died*. Any quote from Jesus has been translated at least twice. This is from texts that were written many years after he lived. And yet, people talk about what Jesus taught, and have confidence, that they know what they are talking about. (The only things we know about Jesus is what the Council of Nicea chose to tell us.)
At some point, the idea began to float around that the Bible was not only the word of G-d, but that it was inerrant…that is, without errors. This would presume that no body in the chain of production made a mistake. This includes a scribe copying a text, and a Catholic editor assembling a canon. Nobody translating ancient languages, from ragged source materials, made a mistake. The people who make this claim seem to assume that they have a perfect understanding of this text. Is it a coincidence that the spell check suggestion for inerrant is ignorant?
This one is too blatant to let slide. When you declare a text to be the “word of G-d”, you are making a G-d out of a book. There is a semantic argument to be made… you can say that this isn’t worship. Lets say it out loud… calling the Bible the “word of G-d” makes a G-d out of a book, in violation of the First Commandment. This is not monotheism.
A quick look at the way Satan is treated by the church shows a curious similarity to worship. Yes, it is backhanded worship, and lots of negative things are said about Beelzebub. He with the horns and tail is given credit for all kinds of powers, and needs to be fought (with human collateral damage). Yes, Jesus Worshipers give the Devil his due, and then some.
The last “G-d” that we will look at today is Salvation, or the Christian scheme for life after death. Anyone living in the USA has heard this plan a thousand times, and many agree with it. Some do not agree with it. It is none of your business how PG feels. (Your guess is probably correct.)
What is undeniable is the importance placed on salvation in Christianity. It is discussed in every church meeting, often at top volume, and with dramatics that would shame a ham actor. Salvation is said to justify all the rudeness and verbal abuse that Jesus Worshiper inflict on their neighbors. If you do not agree with the concept of Salvation, you have no business belonging to a Christian Church.
Does this hysterical emphasis on Salvation make a G-d out of the concept? As with the Bible and Satan, it is a matter of perspective. A good argument could be made that Jesus Worshipers treat these three items with G-d like devotion, and make G-ds out of them.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Anita Aretha and Elton
In the early nineties, PG had too much free time. On March 25 of one year, he looked in the fishwrapper, and found a list of famous people with birthdays.
There was an unlikely trio celebrating that day. This would be (in order of appearance) Anita Bryant (1940), Aretha Franklin (1942), and Elton John (1947). All three have been paid for singing. The three have a total of five husbands, with Miss Bryant and Mr. John currently attached (Not to each other). Miss Franklin has good taste in hats.
Several other people have arrived on planet earth on March 25. They include , in 1911, Jack Ruby, the killer of Lee Harvey Oswald (d. 1967) (They don’t say alleged when it was on live TV). 1918 produced Howard Cosell, American sports reporter (d. 1995). Flannery O’Connor (d. 1964) arrived in 1925. 1934 gave us Gloria Steinem. In 1937 Tom Monaghan, founder of Dominos pizza, arrived. (The delivery was nine months, and twenty nine minutes, after the order was placed.) To make room for all this talent, Buck Owens died March 25, 2006.
March 25 is after the spring equinox, and has been Easter. A few noteworthy events have gone down on this day. In 1894, Coxey’s Army departed Massillon, Ohio for Washington D.C. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire killed 146 garment workers in New York City. In 1939 Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli becomes Pope Pius XII, to the delight of Adolph Hitler. 1955 saw the United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” as obscene. In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono began their first Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel.
HT and applause to wikipedia. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Did Joseph Think It Was His Kid?
As you may have heard, SCOTUS is hearing oral, and possibly anal, arguments about gay marriage today. In a stroke of irony, this is day after March 25, nine months before Christmas. In other words, a crucial day, in the most famous unconsummated marriage in history.
PG began to ponder the traditional marriage of Joseph and Mary. Apparently, Joseph’s last name is lost to history. The question of the day is “when did Joseph and Mary get married?”. Facilities such as Liberty Gospel Tracts and Fish Eaters Traditional Catholic Forum have answers.
LGT (the B got kicked out for some reason) contributes a bible passage, Matthew 1:18-19. 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
Put her away in the privy? That is some kinky business there. Maybe the Christians and Jews have it all wrong. The thirds Abrahamic religion, Islam, might have the answer. A site, TurnToIslam, has another point of view about the traditional definition of marriage.
What about Mary, Jesus’ Mother peace be upon both of them? How old was she when she got pregnant? Not only was it a custom in the Arab society to Engage/Marry a young girl it was also common in the Jewish society. The case of Mary the mother of Jesus comes to mind, in non biblical sources she was between 11-14 years old when she conceived Jesus. Mary had already been “BETROTHED” to Joseph before conceiving Jesus. Joseph was a much older man. therefore Mary was younger than 11-14 years of age when she was “BETHROED” to Joseph. We Muslims would never call Joseph a Child Molester, nor would we refer to the “Holy Ghost” of the Bible, that “Impregnated” Mary as a “Rapist” or “Adulterer”.
“….it is possible that Mary gave birth to her Son when she was about thirteen or fourteen years of age….”Mary was approximately 14 years old when she got pregnant with Jesus. Joseph, Mary’s Husband is believed to be around 36. Mary was only 13 when she married Joseph. When she first was arranged with Joseph she was between 7 to 9 years old.”
According to the “Oxford Dictionary Bible” commentary, Mary (peace be upon her) was was 12 years old when she became impregnated. So if I want to be as silly and ridiculous as many of the Christians, I would respond to them by saying that Mary was psychologically and emotionally devastated for getting pregnant at a very young age. And speaking of “child molesting”, since most Christians believe that Jesus is the Creator of this universe, then why did G-D allow himself to enter life through a 12-year old young girl’s vagina? Please note that we Muslims love and respect Allah Almighty, Mary, Jesus and Allah’s Message to the People of the Book (The Jews and Christians). In other words, we Muslims would never make fun of Christianity through such childish topic like this one as many ridiculous Christians do make fun of Islam through our Prophet’s (peace be upon him) marriage.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
POC
PG saw a tweet that he agreed with. His reasons for agreement were probably different from the reasons of the tweeter, Black Girl Dangerous. In any event, this is something that PG has wanted to opine about for a while. It will be a good excuse to write text. Something needs to go between the pictures, from The Library of Congress. Permission to quote the tweets has been requested. If this permission is granted, the tweets will be included.
The tweets were about the expression POC. For those who are new here, POC stands for person/people of color. It is a preferred expression for people who are not of european origin, and use a language other than english. People of color is similar to colored people. The latter expression is considered offensive in 2014.
The fine print for @BlackGirlDanger says “Amplifying the voices of queer and trans* people of color. We don’t respond to clueless white tweets.” BGD responded to the comment by @chamblee54. The gravatar image for c54 has a paper bag over his melanin challenged face. Maybe the comment was clueful. In any event, a reply was made.
As for POC, it lumps too many different groups of people, with too many different experiences, together. It doesn’t say very much. Some POC are oppressed. Some POC are privileged. Many people who claim POC status have experienced little of the oppression that many African Americans face.
This is not the first time the BGD has written about this. There was a post recently, 4 Ways to Push Back Against Your Privilege. Part four is about people who think it is cool to say they are POC, when they haven’t really had the experience. The post is copyrighted. You are encouraged to use the link and see for yourself what BGD has to say.
In June of 2012, a firestorm broke out in Atlanta about a drag queen named Sharon Needles. The linked post tells a bit of the story. PG made a comment. He was criticized by a person, who used the expression “those of us who are people of color” in the diatribe.
PG has heard that this person is of Indian origin. (PG also heard that the person was a FTM trans person, hence the lack of gender pronouns.) The amount of wealth, education, and privilege possessed by this person is not known. This person is clearly not of African origin, and might be caucasian. It is unlikely that this person has experienced the oppression faced by many African Americans. Why does this person make angry statements, with the phrase “those of us who are people of color”?
Chamblee54 
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