Wow, time went by quickly today.

[silveradept]

Maybe it was that whole sleeping in thing. You never know, these days. Anyway, there's almost always a feast of the strange and odd around when I put up a post, and today is no exception. A personal anecdote today, however. As I was at work, an adult (or as near as I could tell) came up to the desk, pointed at our containers of mints and said "Give me one." I explained to her that they were prizes for signup for our teen reading game, and that she needed to sign someone up to get one. She said "Oh. Someone gave me one yesterday, and I gave it to a friend thinking I could get another one. Give me one." And then she reached into the box, without as much as a by-your-leave, took a box, and walked away. I was left with the distinct feeling that this person hadn't heard a word I had said at all, or ignored it so totally that, to her, I had said "Sure, have one." I'm flabbergasted by it, and wonder how such a thing could come to pass. After all, she responded when I said, "No, I'm sorry", so it couldn't have been deafness or inability to understand, but... gah. I don't get it. Did she just block me totally or what?

An article with the "smacking" guide posted earlier. To shed, perhaps, a little more light on the subject. Although, perhaps as a success story, it turns out that if you do beat your child regularly, impose a quadrillion rules on them and punish them for inconsequential things, then you too can raise a fine fundamentalist. How many other leaders of the movement to force Christianity on the rest have such checkered pasts.

Other weirdness aboundeth, specifically this extraordinarily medieval view on what witchcraft is, peppered with almost all of the common ignorant accusations. It would seem that either this person didn't do what they are exhorting others to do so, or the validity of their sources is seriously in question. (And, yes, that would include Torah and the Christian Foundational Writings.) Then again, with the government attempting to seize land to protect a giant cross built on it, and trying to block judges from ruling on the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance, perhaps "research" in this day and age is simply praying and waiting for a message from somewhere, be it God or otherwise. More people should start paying attention to the growing threat of Right-Wing "Christians", as I'm sure things have only gotten worse since they began.

An Open Letter to the Iraqi People: Amplify the scandals that happen to you. We might hear more of it at home, but it appears that FEMA is insisting on one of their representatives being present when people in their care talk to the press. Don't want anything bad to slip out now, do we? Nevermind that these days, you need to practically shout to get the media to notice, and then holding their attention is damn near impossible, as they have sound bites and short attention spans and pandering to the masses to take into account.

Inspirational RPG posters. Funny thing is, I get them. And I've only played one module in my life.

This achievement takes iron balls and a lot of skill - namely a 15-year-old with cerebral palsy swims across Lake Ontario, in a little over a day.

That's the workout for tonight. As always, a mess of stuff. None of it necessarily interesting or thought-provoking, but if you get something out of it, all the better.

Comments

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I think she heard you perfectly clearly, and it was more of a challenge...sort of that she knew there was nothing you could really do to her for taking it - or a "what's he going to do to me if i do this anywy" kind of thing. Still weird, though, especially if it was an adult.

[shenalia.livejournal.com]

The "seizing land" comment is very misleading; that issue is about the only one of the many overly religious ones that I've seen come out of the government that I feel actually has quite a bit of validity to it. The government in question is seizing the land from itself in effect to prevent a memorial from being torn down by a minority in the area. I see it less of "the government choosing one religion over another" as "locals who are angry at the prominent religion trying to find ways to punish it for being prominent".

Having a cross on a hilltop does not equate to forcing someone to worship Christianity in any way.

[droewyn.livejournal.com]

I did sacrifice a pomegranate once a few years back. I was very humane, and ate it afterwards so that nothing went to waste.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) Have only read the first page so far, but: very amusing posters. (The 'you need a bigger sword' one: that's why you get so many fictional characters going around with swords taller than they are... *grins*

M) The blood one was also good.

N) (They were all good, though... *smiles*)

[przxqgl.livejournal.com]

FEMS?

[silveradept]

Should read FEMA. Whichever devil came up with typographical errors should be promoted, as he's obviously made something very important.

[silveradept]

I think what weirded me out most was that there was never a request in it - everything she spoke was in the imperative. There were no "Pleases" or a "Thanks" after she took it anyway. Like I said, it's as if she totally ignored what I said while comprehending it.

[silveradept]

True enough, I suppose. Part of it is probably that it's a forty-three foot tall cross on a hillside, and that violates most people's definitions of modest displays. While there's nobody forcing anyone to worship Christianity, people probably do feel uncomfortable with that symbol..."shouting" at them to convert to Christianity. There would likely be similar problems with a forty-three-foot tall pentacle (not to mention the logistical issues involved in that).

So you're right, it's about punishing the prominent religion because it's prominent, but considering the value we place in our symbols, some peopel are going to be offended at what such a symbol's secondary meanings are, too.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

really weird. did she seem to be learning impaired? I mean, it just seems odd that someone would have that much of a lack of social...skills/ethics/whatever without having some kind of other problem.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I would love to see a 43 foot pentacle :)


We've got the huge triple cross thing all over the place in Lancaster. no one seems bothered by it, we've also got the side of a barn along the turnpike painted with "repent and be set free" or something. I can't remember, but I know it makes Erin giggle.

[silveradept]

She didn't outwardly appear to be learning-disabled or anything. Perhaps an Asperger's Syndrome, considering she also didn't really look at my face that much while the conversation was going on. That was my guess, anyway. Perhaps someone with mroe knowledge could enlighten me.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Hmm. using the limeted knowledge I have on Asperger's, I'm not sure about hat. From what I understand, people diagnosed with it tend to be more like persons with OCD. They have problems with social interaction, but it's more in being able to use their body language and understand other people's body languages, which sholdn't create a problem with verbal commnication.

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

You'd think iron balls would be detrimental to swimming ...

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) Eh? Got to page ten, and then they all disappeared...

[fred-smith.livejournal.com]

God, that person in the library. People like that boggle the mind. As they seem to not actually have one. Sociopath, maybe?

No, they're usually nice people who are able to develop beyond the level of idiotic children. But there must be a disability.

[silveradept]

It was a thought. Not necessarily a correct one, though.

[silveradept]

That's just it, though - people don't seem to mind because images of Christianity are everywhere. They either believe it, approve of it, or are so inured to it that they don't really notice it. If we replaced the word "cross" with "pentacle", how much fury do you think it would generate?

[silveradept]

Someone with as much testicular fortitude as thiat swimmer needs not worry about the extra weight.

[silveradept]

That's my guess, too, but I have no idea what it would be.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

*nods* she still was rude, though.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

very true. There are several barns with a five pointed star on it's side, but I don't think they are pagan.

[aoanla.livejournal.com]

Re: the whole thing about the Pledge of Allegiance. How, precisely, was the USA suddenly founded on Christian origins? I mean, considering that most of the Founding Fathers either actively disliked Christianity, or were simply not Christian, and all? Can someone please stop the Religious Christian Right thing from engaging in historical revisionism? (This is almost as bad as the thing about the Dollar Bills, where the Judges returned a verdict that "In God We Trust" wasn't a religious statement...)

[shenalia.livejournal.com]

Depends on how it was displayed, and for what purpose, I suppose. The equivalent to the situation at hand would be a pentacle set in place on a hillside much like this one, with names on the sides of a list of pagan soldiers fallen in foreign wars... probably to give them the recognition that they may not have gotten, especially since "paganism" isn't a recognized religion, specifically, by the armed forces. It's a grouping, true, that they do recognize, but it's not one they have chaplain services for or anything.

[silveradept]

I would think, in that case, that htere would be pressure from many groups to get the "Satanic" symbol off, even if it was erected as a shrine to war dead. And I suspect that many of the governmental entities of this day would, while not necessarily leading the charge, would certainly do nothing to impede such a request.

[silveradept]

If you want the right to avoid historical revisionism, you're going to have to start at the root with young-earth creationism. Then you can work your way up through history to the current point.