Just when I thought that PETA was the most ridiculous organization ever, they do this… and completely prove me right. All I ask is that you read the actual letter that they sent. Wonderful!
A couple weeks ago, I turned to PBS, anxious to watch the beginning of the Ron Paul’s [non]convention, Rally for the Republic. Just for consistency’s sake, I do not endorse Ron Paul, his rally, or his Republic. (although I do enjoy its Battle Hymn). I do not endorse third parties or extremists in first or second parties. It was about noon and I was excited because I would only have missed a small portion of Howard Phillips’ speech. I turned to PBS… Arthur. I hit the power button on the remote control… Arthur. Then again… still Arthur. It turns out this does not change the programming but rather only turns the television on an off. Okay, it’s PBS. Fine. They do kids stuff first, no problem. So I pulled out my MacBook (a little blog product placement) and went to CNN.com. Nope. Fox News is both balanced and fair so certainly they’d have coverage. Yeah… not so much. MSNBC. Not even an article. Finally in a moment of desperation, I did something I would not recommend ever. I went to C-Span. [BOREDOM ALERT] I’m not proud of it, but like I said, I was desperate. Well, wouldn’t you know. C-Span 2 was covering it and streaming it through their website. I immediately knew I was in trouble. I was right. There were no videos. NO VIDEOS. How could I trust anything they said? Not that it would have mattered. There were no syllogisms. Very little spontaneous chanting. No change. No mavericks. No appeals to God or MLK. What’s worse is that what they did say was so stinking confusing. It was all policies, constitution, and personal responsibility, blah, blah, blah. Now I’m no Samantha Jones, but even I know thats no way to throw a convention-party. Seriously guys. Stick to the issues; gay marriage, the war, Barack and Sarah’s inexperience, John’s age! Thats it! The Federal Reserve, American sovereignty, and did someone mention von Mises? Thats Austrian, not American buddies. Get with the program!
There was one ray of light though. Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a former WWF superstar and co-star in “Predator”. Certainly he could get rowdy and bring that convention-tension that keeps me watching. I even watched footage of him body slam Hulk Hogan to remind me of his credentials. Even still, I couldn’t feel it. While he did scream and get the crowd all riled up, he didn’t even bring up the fact that Sarah Palin is a mother of five or that if Barack Obama wins, so do the terrorists. I expected more from the second coolest Governor in the history of the United States that acted in the movie Predator. I expected more from Ron Paul. I expected more from… what party is it? It did, however, make me realize the great importance and dedication of the media. They knew the people didn’t want to watch this. They knew that two parties and two conventions are enough! They had a choice and they made a gut decision, a good gut decision. I like that and I thank you CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS, you make my decisions much less complicated and I promise to trust your judgment. From here on out, if you’re not covering it, I’m not watching because its not important.
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Last night I watched the Republican National Convention coverage on PBS. Now let me stop there and make this reminder: I am not a Republican and, with any luck, I never will be. However, I am terribly interested (albeit less interested than two weeks ago) in politics in America and was compelled to watch. Honestly, what better example of the current political structure than a whole bunch of people, who all think alike, getting together in a big building and talking about how much awesomer they are than the other guys.
Anyway, it was a truly grand event! There would be three or four minute videos talking about how awesome a certain person was and how much they did for me, and how through the war, banning abortion, and off-shore drilling, they were going to continue to secure my God-given America freedoms in America under God. Then that person would come out and talk about how awesome the McCain/Palin ticket is and why they will (and MUST) win the election. Sometimes I would ask myself why I should heed their endorsement, but then my thoughts would turn to the awesome montage I just saw of how awesome they are and I would think to myself, “Man, this wo/man is awesome! And if s/he’s so awesome and s/he thinks McCain/Palin is awesome, well then they must be as awesome as they come!” Their speeches all were in strangely familiar syllogistic form and went something like this:
“My fellow Republicans and my fellow Americans, we are right. McCain/Palin is we. Ergo, McCain/Palin is right. Concordantly, Obama is wrong. You see, as we gather here today, war for freedom, abortion, God, maverick. One man is maverick enough to stand up to big Washington. One woman (pause for applause) is maverick enough to be on his maverick-y team. McCain is that maverick. Ergo, we need McCain. Palin is a woman. Remember God? Consequently, Obama is change. Change away from supporting the troops, the family, America and God. Freedom will not survive Obama. Don’t you love America? Freedom. Maverick. God. Woman. President. Remember the video that introduced me. Freedom. America. Freedom. God bless you and God bless America!”
This was usually followed and interrupted by uproarious applause and random chants of “U-S-A!, U-S-A!”. And just as I had finished my rowdiest “A”… a new video! I haven’t seen something this riveting in a week! My favorite part, though, was last night when Johnny Mac, the maverick himself, was speaking. There were actually protestors at the convention. One guy had a sign that said “McCain votes against Vets” and this other woman held up something that was immediately taken down and she was removed from the event. I have no idea what it said. I just think its funny. Nobody paid them much mind. Nobody’s opinion there was swayed in the least, but there they were. So heres to you protesters! You didn’t really accomplish anything except purchasing tickets to support the opposing cause and bringing a couple seconds of interesting to three days of mind-numbing boredom. For that, I salute you.
Posted in Politics | 5 Comments »
Last night I watched the Democratic National Convention coverage on PBS. Now let me stop there and make this statement: I am not a Democrat and, with any luck, I never will be. However, I am terribly interested in politics in America and was compelled to watch. Honestly, what better example of the current political structure than a whole bunch of people, who all think alike, getting together in a big building and talking about how much awesomer they are than the other guys. I can’t wait until next week when the GOP does it. (note: I am not a Republican and, with any luck, I never will be.)
Anyway, it was a truly grand event! There would be three or four minute videos talking about how awesome a certain person was and how much they did for me, the little guy who they looked to as an equal, in spite of my being so much littler than them. Then that person would come out and talk about how awesome Obama is and why he should be the next president. Sometimes I would ask myself why I should heed their endorsement, but then my thoughts would turn to the awesome montage I just saw of how awesome they are and I would think to myself, “Man, this wo/man is awesome! And if s/he’s so awesome and s/he thinks Obama is awesome, well then Obama must be as awesome as they come!” Their speeches all were in seemly syllogistic form and went something like this:
“My fellow Democrats and my fellow Americans, we are right. Obama is we. Ergo, Obama is right. Concordantly, McCain is wrong. You see, as we gather here today, bad war, Katrina, universal health care. One man can change that. You see because we need change. Obama is change. Ergo, we need Obama. Remember Martin Luther King Jr.? Consequently, McCain is not change. We don’t need more McCain. Remember George W. Bush? Change. Obama. MLK. Health Care. President. Remember the video that introduced me. Change. Hope. Change. Thank you and good night!”
This was usually followed by uproarious applause and sometimes even weeping. I’m not kidding. And just as I had finished wiping that final tear from my eye… a new video! This continued for a while (2 hours) until something different and dare I say interesting happened. The convention announcer voice guy called Donald Miller to the stage to close the day in prayer. PBS immediately cut to Jim Lehrer and I immediately went to CNN.com’s live coverage of the convention. I was able to catch the tail end of his prayer and today I Youtube’d (I love how that’s a socially acceptable verb now) the rest of it. After listening, I had a few thoughts.
1) I liked that Donald Miller prayed at the DNC. (Not that my opinion really matters that much) But I think his explanation for choosing to benedict was dead on. When asked why he chose to pray at the convention he simply replied, “Someone calls you and asks you to pray, you do.” I think that’s a true and good statement.
2) Miller’s prayer brought to light, both in its content and in its critique (and there’s been a lot of criticism already), the growing tension in the church on just what it is Jesus Christ is about and how that relates to our political involvement in the United States. Is Christianity about social justice or personal morality? Are these terms mutually exclusive? If so, which has primacy? If not, what aspects of both hold primacy? Either way, how should we vote, what should we seek as a nation, and how should we go about seeking it?
3) Miller’s prayer, in spite of being peppered with “liberal” agenda (universal health care, ending corporate gluttony, etc.), showed God as the only one capable of bringing change to this world and Jesus as the one whose death affords us the privilege of aiding in that change. He did not hesitate to call God father or to turn our focus to Jesus. It may not have been the gospel message some probably would have liked to see, but it was effective in presenting Jesus as the one who rights wrongs.
For me, Miller’s prayer was the bright spot in an otherwise pretty unexciting first night of the DNC. It actually caused me to think. You can see a transcript and a video of Donald Miller’s at his website, Donald Miller Words.
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I am a pacifist. I mean this not only in the sense that I act non-violently. I am a pacifist when it comes to my philosophical framework. I am a pacifist when it comes to political involvement. I am a pacifist when it comes to reading the Bible. This is a reality that I understand fully. I understand that when I come to the pages of Scripture, I come to it as a book about the Prince of Peace establishing his peaceable Kingdom and interpret it’s passages that way. I understand that pacifism as it is understood by my culture, by my friends (both pacifist and not) and by me, is not a perfect system and therefore cannot produce a perfect approach to Scripture. Sin has made this so. I am fallen and my fallen system does not do justice to the complexities of Scripture where the birth of Christ brings the proclamation of peace on earth and then presents a Jesus who comes not to bring peace but a sword. I understand the inadequecies of my framework for reading the Bible. However, I understand that I have this framework AND that if I didn’t have the pacifist hermenuetic, I would necessarily have some other hermenuetical approach to Scripture.
Here is a general reality. Like it or not, you have a framework that you use to help you understand the Bible. You may not have a specific name for it, but its there. It may not be Reformed, Dispensational, or any brand of milleniallism, but it is there. I understand the human desire to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge those terms in hopes of not being boxed in to a specific dogma. I understand that boxes not only box you in, but box others out. I understand that we must carefully tread the fine line between exclusion and embrace, but we must do so honestly. When we say that we come to the Bible “open” and “without pressuppositions” we are deceiving ourselves AND making honest conversations and peacemaking impossible. However, if we are honest, with at least our basic presuppositions, we can have dialogue and make peace.
Posted in Philosophy, Theology | 4 Comments »
