The real religion of America is not God but money. How many days of the week do we devote to making money? How many days do we devote to God? Add it up! What do we really care about? Which would most Americans choose, homelessness or churchlessness? Would they really like to walk Jesus' walk? Give up their money where their mouth is? What is it that really saves us from disaster? God? No, try again. Insurance? Yes! In America insurance is God! Insurance companies pick up the tab for non-moral evil, things like hurricanes, tornadoes, and hailstorms. And insurance companies protect us from God's wrath at the same time! Such a deal! Besides, there's probably no better moneymaking machine on the planet than an American insurance company. Owning insurance in America is not an act of heresy; it's the ultimate statement of faith. Buy a "piece of the Rock," and the "Rock of ages" too! It would be godless not to carry insurance because then you'd have to go on welfare and God knows what lazy bums those people are! Don't forget John Calvin taught that that health, success, and wealth were signs of being one of God's chosen people. Carrying large amounts of insurance is a sure sign of God's grace.
Riddle: "What do Osama bin Laden, Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski, and David Koresh all have in common?
*That is, what do they share besides the obvious: antisocial personalities, hunger to commit murder and mayhem, extremist ideologies, etc,
Answer to the Riddle: All of these terrorists share the same enemy, the process of modernization with its technological progress. Regardless of which tradition they represent, they would all like to return to some mythical good old days before modernization took hold. Modernization represents the ultimate enemy to any traditional society or any fundamentalist. The technological seductions of modernization--television, the Internet, the DVD--threaten to lure members away from any traditional society. The glitter of the gadgets attracts them like moths to a flame. Built as it is on hypertext, the Internet is highly subversive. Type in a word from a holy book and you get 20 hyperlinks to different versions or translations of that particular word. There is no "truth" in such a universe. Relativism abounds; orthodoxy and creed unravel towards chaos and oblivion. No Islamic fundamentalist like Osama bin Laden can tolerate such a world. Neither can a Christian fundamentalist like Koresh. Theodore Kaczynski was an anti-technology Luddite, a Wendell Barry with intent to kill. He sent letter bombs to computer company executives to try to stop the march of progress. The shift from the Industrial Age to the Age of Information left Timothy McVeigh with no job, nothing to do, no place to go. What can an uneducated farmer do in our brave new Information Age? Answer; in frustration and rage he can blow up a building with people in it. McVeigh and Kaczynski, for different reasons, saw progressive, modernizing change as highly threatening to their lives and/or life philosophies.
An atheist in despair seeks: Meaning in philosophy, Beauty in esthetics, Interest in disaster, Comfort in friendship, Cure in science, Tranquility in contemplation, Perspective in nature, Relief in pleasure, Dignity in self-reliance, Freedom in isolation, Antidote in action, And eternity in creativity.
“Calamitas virtutis occasio est.”* –Seneca
*Translation: “Calamity is a man’s true touchstone; misfortune is the test of man’s merit.” From Dictionary of Foreign Phrases, edited by H.P. Jones, John Grant Booksellers, Ltd. Edinburgh, 1949. The notion of action as antidote is not original. Joan Baez originally said, “Action is antidote to despair.”
How does this blogging thing work?
ReplyDeleteThe real religion of America is not God but money. How many days of the week do we devote to making money? How many days do we devote to God? Add it up! What do we really care about? Which would most Americans choose, homelessness or churchlessness? Would they really like to walk Jesus' walk? Give up their money where their mouth is? What is it that really saves us from disaster? God? No, try again. Insurance? Yes! In America insurance is God! Insurance companies pick up the tab for non-moral evil, things like hurricanes, tornadoes, and hailstorms. And insurance companies protect us from God's wrath at the same time! Such a deal! Besides, there's probably no better moneymaking machine on the planet than an American insurance company. Owning insurance in America is not an act of heresy; it's the ultimate statement of faith. Buy a "piece of the Rock," and the "Rock of ages" too! It would be godless not to carry insurance because then you'd have to go on welfare and God knows what lazy bums those people are! Don't forget John Calvin taught that that health, success, and wealth were signs of being one of God's chosen people. Carrying large amounts of insurance is a sure sign of God's grace.
ReplyDeleteShow me an unbiased author and I'll show you an author whose biases are identical to your own.--Paul Ewing
ReplyDeleteRiddle: "What do Osama bin Laden, Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski, and David Koresh all have in common?
ReplyDelete*That is, what do they share besides the obvious: antisocial personalities, hunger to commit murder and mayhem, extremist ideologies, etc,
Answer to the Riddle: All of these terrorists share the same enemy, the process of modernization with its technological progress. Regardless of which tradition they represent, they would all like to return to some mythical good old days before modernization took hold. Modernization represents the ultimate enemy to any traditional society or any fundamentalist. The technological seductions of modernization--television, the Internet, the DVD--threaten to lure members away from any traditional society. The glitter of the gadgets attracts them like moths to a flame. Built as it is on hypertext, the Internet is highly subversive. Type in a word from a holy book and you get 20 hyperlinks to different versions or translations of that particular word. There is no "truth" in such a universe. Relativism abounds; orthodoxy and creed unravel towards chaos and oblivion. No Islamic fundamentalist like Osama bin Laden can tolerate such a world. Neither can a Christian fundamentalist like Koresh. Theodore Kaczynski was an anti-technology Luddite, a Wendell Barry with intent to kill. He sent letter bombs to computer company executives to try to stop the march of progress. The shift from the Industrial Age to the Age of Information left Timothy McVeigh with no job, nothing to do, no place to go. What can an uneducated farmer do in our brave new Information Age? Answer; in frustration and rage he can blow up a building with people in it. McVeigh and Kaczynski, for different reasons, saw progressive, modernizing change as highly threatening to their lives and/or life philosophies.
As long as the title of this album is embedded in my URL, I thought I'd make it available. http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/578973051AcwgIB
ReplyDeleteCalamity Minus God
ReplyDeleteBy Paul Ewing III
An atheist in despair seeks:
Meaning in philosophy,
Beauty in esthetics,
Interest in disaster,
Comfort in friendship,
Cure in science,
Tranquility in contemplation,
Perspective in nature,
Relief in pleasure,
Dignity in self-reliance,
Freedom in isolation,
Antidote in action,
And eternity in creativity.
“Calamitas virtutis occasio est.”* –Seneca
*Translation: “Calamity is a man’s true touchstone; misfortune is the test of man’s merit.” From Dictionary of Foreign Phrases, edited by H.P. Jones, John Grant Booksellers, Ltd. Edinburgh, 1949.
The notion of action as antidote is not original. Joan Baez originally said, “Action is antidote to despair.”