Babies on the bus go wah wah wah
Wherein I list those who deserve to be mocked
George Gillespie of Medina County, Ohio, is suing America Online for allegedly failing to do anything about teasing, humiliation and abuse he endured in one of the online service's chat rooms.
Lara Anderson. Stephen Colbert pokes fun at N.C. State Visiting associate professor Michael Adams. Professor Adams has a laugh, but sophomore Lara Anderson whines: "I think it makes our school look like we're not very competent," Anderson said. "And now I think it's another reason for UNC students to make fun of us." I recommend Lara work on her self esteem issues before issuing any more statements to a newspaper.
Anyone upset about JT Leroy or James Frey. One author adopts a personae and the other fabricates details in a memoir. That's never happened before; oh, the outrage.
Vincent Williams. Speaking of outrage, Vincent Williams thinks a funny SNL video is "postmodern black face" and racist. No and no. Two white comedians mocking other white guys who cluelessly adopt rap culture is the very definition of not racist. And can we stop diminishing the meaning of the word "racist." A racist is a person who believes that one race is superior to another. It does not mean prejudiced or bigoted; you can be a bigot without being racist. Based on this article, it would be easier to argue that Vincent Williams is a bigot rather than Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg are racists. Update: read this. It's crazy delicious--and that's the last time I will ever utter that phrase...unless I run into Vincent Williams.
Megachurch Christianity. Virginia Postrel rips them a new one: If megachurches want to play bad-to-mediocre rock instead of great hymns, that's their business. But the spread of Christian pap does have spillovers, not the least of which is that devout Christian faith no longer brings with it a deep familiarity with what's actually in the Bible, as opposed to a few verses from the preacher's PowerPoint. Unless the person is over a certain age, Biblical literacy, when you do find it, rarely means acquaintance with great English. Forget theological or philosophical sophistication. I'd settle for the ability to comprehend complex sentences.
I probably find the rise of the megachurches more disturbing than Ms Postrel does. Religion should challenge you, should inspire you to be a better person. Not be some ego-scratching, glad-handing feel-goodery barely removed from new age idiocy. Ran into a megachurch customer in Florida a few months back. Kept asking if we new of [name of some guy] who ran a church in Atlanta. He was puzzled that we didn't. I was more puzzled that he was more interested in a cult of personality worship than actual devotion.
Anyone complaining about my using "feel-goodery."
George Gillespie of Medina County, Ohio, is suing America Online for allegedly failing to do anything about teasing, humiliation and abuse he endured in one of the online service's chat rooms.
Lara Anderson. Stephen Colbert pokes fun at N.C. State Visiting associate professor Michael Adams. Professor Adams has a laugh, but sophomore Lara Anderson whines: "I think it makes our school look like we're not very competent," Anderson said. "And now I think it's another reason for UNC students to make fun of us." I recommend Lara work on her self esteem issues before issuing any more statements to a newspaper.
Anyone upset about JT Leroy or James Frey. One author adopts a personae and the other fabricates details in a memoir. That's never happened before; oh, the outrage.
Vincent Williams. Speaking of outrage, Vincent Williams thinks a funny SNL video is "postmodern black face" and racist. No and no. Two white comedians mocking other white guys who cluelessly adopt rap culture is the very definition of not racist. And can we stop diminishing the meaning of the word "racist." A racist is a person who believes that one race is superior to another. It does not mean prejudiced or bigoted; you can be a bigot without being racist. Based on this article, it would be easier to argue that Vincent Williams is a bigot rather than Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg are racists. Update: read this. It's crazy delicious--and that's the last time I will ever utter that phrase...unless I run into Vincent Williams.
Megachurch Christianity. Virginia Postrel rips them a new one: If megachurches want to play bad-to-mediocre rock instead of great hymns, that's their business. But the spread of Christian pap does have spillovers, not the least of which is that devout Christian faith no longer brings with it a deep familiarity with what's actually in the Bible, as opposed to a few verses from the preacher's PowerPoint. Unless the person is over a certain age, Biblical literacy, when you do find it, rarely means acquaintance with great English. Forget theological or philosophical sophistication. I'd settle for the ability to comprehend complex sentences.
I probably find the rise of the megachurches more disturbing than Ms Postrel does. Religion should challenge you, should inspire you to be a better person. Not be some ego-scratching, glad-handing feel-goodery barely removed from new age idiocy. Ran into a megachurch customer in Florida a few months back. Kept asking if we new of [name of some guy] who ran a church in Atlanta. He was puzzled that we didn't. I was more puzzled that he was more interested in a cult of personality worship than actual devotion.
Anyone complaining about my using "feel-goodery."
posted by bill at 1:08 PM
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