silveradept | Well...

..you guys do deserve an update, since I feel a little bit better. I'm still under suspension, though, so it's not all fixed.

Still stuck in the reserves for THREE WEEKS now. Might not even be able to play in the Band-o-Rama concert because of this. That would be a real irritation, because it would mean that I've played in zero of those concerts (for two years, the facility was under renovations, and so the concert didn't happen.) So I'm still feeling a bad vibe over this. Not much I can do about it.

I thought this article is very interesting, about the increased prophetic rhetoric of the current President. It is very interesting what happens, when people think that God is on their side and speaking through them.

The techno-buff in me goes "cooooooool!" at the concept of Koolio, a robot designed to deliver snacks and sodas to university professors who might otherwise think not to eat. I could use something like that.

The thesis is going to be Lethal. I'm headed back to the library tomorrow to see if I can't whack up some more sources.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

To be fair to Bush, his "prophetic rhetoric" isn't really anything of the sort. Frequently stating that Freedom and Liberty are God's will is entirely reasonable if you (a) believe that Freedom and Liberty are good things and (b) hold to the idea that God approves of such good things. Whether continuously expressing such ideals in religious terms is a good idea for a leader of a religiously diverse state is another matter, of course. What is more like prophetic rhetoric is his famous comment - which I'm surprised the article didn't go into - that he thought God wanted him to be president; although even if he is there by divine appointment (and assuming God didn't simply inflict him upon America as the 21st-century equivalent of visiting a plague of locusts on a sinful land), that shouldn't mean he or anyone else assumes he's not fallible, or that God's on his side directing everything he does.

...that said, given Bush seems unaware of or unwilling to admit to making any mistakes at all, let alone serious screw-ups (famously being unable to think of having made any when asked), there are reasonable grounds for suspicion that he's on some complacently delusional I-am-the-right-hand-gun-of-Grud power trip ("All it takes is a steady hand, a sure eye, and faith in the power and good providence of the Grud Almighty. Oh yeah, gimme Hallelujah.") Or, he might just not find it easy to own up to having screwed up. Which on the one hand arguably indicates insufficient humility or courage to be a good leader; on the other hand, given the potential audience, and the media's propensity for ripping people to shreds if it'll make a good story and ignoring the most outrageous things if it won't, most people (like myself) would be shit-scared of admitting they'd done anything wrong if in his shoes. (But then, most people didn't volunteer themselves for office. He did.)

(I also find the idea of the republican party as a seat of prophetic utterance to be amusingly surreal, considering how different their agenda is to the average biblical prophet's. Figures like Isaiah, Micah and Amos condemned worship of idols (and sacrifice of children to same), the oppression of the poor by the rich and powerful (like it being impossible for the poor to get justice in the courts - sounds familiar) and religious hypocrisy. I don't think you could introduce a full-blown genuine prophet to many modern politicians without sparks flying.)

(On the subject, a quote from a republican senate candidate: "I think it's perfectly clear if you ask people are you going to vote against God or for the Democratic party they will stand with God." (source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3735606.stm)) Which may possibly have been taken seriously out of context, which the article doesn't give much of.)

Anyway. Good luck on the thesis. I feel your pain. (Paper & thesis to write myself.)

Also, I wish there was an edit function on comments so I could fix stuff. Dammit. Ah well, nothing too major or unclear (I hope). (I'd delete and repost, but the e-mail notification of replies means I try to avoid doing this so I don't spam people's inboxes.)

We'll take it para by para:

Truthfully said. Espousing Freedom and Liberty is not a bad thing, espousing that Freedom and Liberty are the sole provinces and blessings of your god, especially someplace like America, is asking for trouble.

As is publicly saying that you're the Chosen of god. The not admitting to mistakes probably stems from this, because if god appointed you, you can't be wrong, now can you? (*hissss*) But you do make a valid point. Even when it was pretty obvious that he'd done something, Clinton denied it on television, so maybe the media jackals really are that dangerous.

I agree that the prophets, if they are here, are not politicians. They're probably spread out amongst the anarchists, revolutionaries, and tireless campaigners for social justice. The politicians seem to think themselves the prophets (and your example bit helps to prove it), and so I have to wonder what the punishment will be for listening to false ones...

Now back to the thesis...

In fairness to Bush, it seems that the full quote runs something like "I believe God wants me to be President. But if that doesn't happen, that's okay. I'm loved at home, and that's more important." So, he isn't actually thinking of himself as definitely the Chosen One or something.

Also, PFF update (http://forums.keenspot.com/viewtopic.php?p=1482428#1482428) at long last.

Ah, good. He's still on this side of sanity for the moment.

However, I'm far more interested in the excellent PFF update. Nice job.

Well...

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