Does Anyone Really Read David Brooks?

 

Hmm, better weigh in on this Jeremy Lin while there's still time!

The Jeremy Lin Problem

By DAVID BROOKS

Jeremy Lin is a basketball player who has been playing exceptionally well lately. How exactly is this a problem?

Jeremy Lin is anomalous in all sorts of ways. He’s a Harvard grad in the N.B.A., an Asian-American man in professional sports. But we shouldn’t neglect the biggest anomaly. He’s a religious person in professional sports.

Oh my God! Have you never watched a professional sports event?

  

 

 

Seriously, there's more genuflecting and sky-pointing in a Major League ballgame than in most churches.

We’ve become accustomed to the faith-driven athlete and coach, from Billy Sunday [in a shotgun ragtime band?] to Tim Tebow. 

So, how is he an anomaly? How can a religious man in sports be considered an anomaly if we've become accustomed to religious men in sports?

We’ve become accustomed to the faith-driven athlete and coach, from Billy Sunday to Tim Tebow. But we shouldn’t forget how problematic this is. The moral ethos of sport is in tension with the moral ethos of faith, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim. . .

The sports hero tries to perform great deeds in order to win glory and fame. It doesn’t really matter whether he has good intentions. . .Ascent in the sports universe is a straight shot. You set your goal, and you climb toward greatness. But ascent in the religious universe often proceeds by a series of inversions: You have to be willing to lose yourself in order to find yourself; to gain everything you have to be willing to give up everything; the last shall be first; it’s not about you. 

Yeah, that's great, Dave. Any chance that you might some day make the same point about the Capitalist ethos? That maybe it's just a wee bit hypocritical to talk about God and Jesus all the time while living in a system that rewards the greedy, the acquisitive, the selfish the least godly amongst us?  That there might be a contradiction between claiming to worship the man who said "sell all you have and give the money to the poor" while enacting policies that ensure that the wealthiest can continue to amass more and more wealth at the expense of everyone else? How about the difficulty in reconciling "Thou shalt not kill" and "Blessed are the Peacemakers" with 10 years of constant war and sabre-rattling?  No, I don't think you'd be allowed to write for the NY Times if you were aware of those types of contradictions.

For many religious teachers, humility is the primary virtue. You achieve loftiness of spirit by performing the most menial services. (That’s why shepherds are perpetually becoming kings in the Bible.)

If by perpetually, you mean once, then sure. I mean, I'm no theologian, but other than David, I sure can't think of another Biblical king who started out as a shepherd.

 

This David ...................................................Not This one.

The most perceptive athletes have always tried to wrestle with this conflict. Sports history is littered with odd quotations from people who try to reconcile their love of sport with their religious creed — and fail.

[citation needed]

 Jeremy Lin has wrestled with this tension quite openly. In a 2010 interview with the Web site Patheos, Lin recalled, “I wanted to do well for myself and my team. How can I possibly give that up and play selflessly for God?”

Maybe you could just assume that God has bigger fish to fry and probably couldn't care less how many assists you have?

Jeremy Lin is now living this creative contradiction.  

When he was a bench-warmer getting released by Golden State and Houston he wasn't? God only notices the really good players?

 Much of the anger that arises when religion mixes with sport or with politics comes from people who want to deny that this contradiction exists and who want to live in a world in which there is only one morality

I think most of the anger comes from people who feel like they are just trying to watch a game and didn't really sign up for a sermon.  Also, it's really aggravating when dolts like you hype up a Tim Tebow or Jeremy Lin as if an athlete with religious convictions were a rarity.

Happy Caturday!

stereo skifcha from xgabberx on Vimeo.

Why there is no "White History Month"

It never fails. Every February some whiny smart-ass will complain that there's a black history month so how come there isn't a white history month?

It reminds me of the time in every smartass kid's life when he says to his mom, "there's a Mother's Day and a Father's Day, how come there's no Children's Day?" And the mother answers "Because every day is Children's Day." And at the time you feel like

 

But eventually you grow up and looking back you realize that, yeah, being a kid was a pretty sweet deal.

Apparently, these people never grew up: http://wheniswhitehistorymonth.tumblr.com/

Rick Santorum Has No Sense of Irony

If there's one thing Rick Santorum can't stand, it's the government making peoples' decisions for them!

Santorum slams Obama administration as 'elite snobs'

Posted by

CNN's Ashley Killough

"They don't believe you can make these decisions. They need to make these decisions for you," Santorum said, referring to the Obama administration.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to make sure that women don't get to make their own reproductive decisions. Obviously, the government needs to decide whether you can have birth control or get an abortion. 

You know, be careful what you wish for, Religious Right. You wanted a president that would govern by traditional Christian rules, you just might get one. But guess what, suckers, those rules are gonnabe Catholic. Say goodbye to birth control, and get ready to add on to your house, 'cause you're gonna need another nursery!


Seriously, Santorum is not just opposed to making Catholic hospitals pay for birth control, he's opposed to birth control period.  remember this quote?

One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country, the whole sexual libertine idea... It's not okay

or this:

I don’t think it works. I think it’s harmful to women. I think it’s harmful to our society to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated …, particularly among the young and it has I think we’ve seen very, very harmful long-term consequences to the society. Birth control to me enables that and I don’t think it’s  a healthy thing for our country.”  [emphasis added]

And of course, this exchange with Jake Tapper:

Tapper asked, “Democrats say that one of the reasons you lost that year was because you are, in their view, out of the mainstream. . . about whether or not a state has the right to make a law against married couples using contraceptives. Is that something you’re at all concerned about?

“The state has a right to do that,” said Santorum. “I have never questioned that the state has a right to do that. It is not a constitutional right. The state has the right to pass whatever statues they have.”
“That is the thing I have said about the activism of the Supreme Court--they are creating rights, and they should be left up to the people to decide,” he added.

 It should be up to "the people" to decide whether or not you have rights. The Supreme Court should not go around handing out rights willy-nilly. Of course states should be allowed to ban birth control.

And this is no longer a hypothetical situation. Several states are introducing "fetal personhood" bills which would, among other things, outlaw the Pill. Santorum would support these insane laws. And if you think you can count on the Supreme Court to overturn laws banning birth control, there are 2 problems with that.

1: This is the worst Supreme Court in history, and the ideologues who gave us Bush v. Gore and Citizens United also happen to all be Catholic.

2: Rick Santorum seems to think that he can "overturn" Supreme Court decisions anyway.

Rick Santorum Says He Will Overturn The Supreme Court If Same-Sex Marriage Is Ruled Legal

“I would do the same thing I would with Roe v. Wade, which I would seek to try and overturn it. I think judicial tyranny is a serious issue in this race and this country. And we need judges who respect the people’s voice. Let the people decide with respect to what the constitution says, if in fact they would go through a constitutional amendment process.”

 

Why should Constitutional scholars decide what the Constitution says? Obviously, the Constitution should be interpreted by folks who get it mixed up with the Declaration of Independence and got their knowledge of its content from Schoolhouse Rock.


Always remember: Rick Santorum is fucking crazy.

Also, Rick Santorum is Fucking Insane.

The Lorax Movie is Coming Out Soon

And cue ridiculous right-wing outrage in 3. ..  2. . .1. . .

EPA & Hollywood Use Lorax To Brainwash Kids On Green Energy And Anti-Capitalism

This odd little character speaks for the trees and hates industrialized civilization. He's going to be teaching your kids to hate capitalism.

The Lorax Movie Pre-Review

On the screen appeared a trailer for Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. . . 

Too early to review it, to slam it, poo-poo it?
I simply don’t care, why should I first have to view it?
It’s not a movie for kids but propaganda from “Big Green.”
I’ll explain what I mean.

(Sure, why should you have to see a movie before you trash it? Why waste time?)

Is de-forestation still a problem outside of Brazil?
(A rhetorical question: I know the drill.)

Um, even if it was only happening in Brazil, The Brazilian Rain Forest is the largest in the world. De-foresting Brazil would have huge negative consequences for the planet.

The trailer showed a world in which all trees are gone.
Instead of making me feel sad, it just made me yawn.

There are more trees being planted now than ever before.
Those “greenies,” however, would just call me a right-wing whore.

I was going to go with "moronic cocksucker," but Okay, "right-wing whore" it is! * Also, new trees being planted is nice, but it takes decades for them to grow large enough to replace the old ones.

You see, poor Dr. Seuss died in 1991,
And sadly since then he has been no fun.
The Lorax he wrote in 1970 when people were littering
These days folks are more likely to be Twittering.

Yes, thank God littering isn't a thing that happens anymore!  What a fucking moron.


 * The "whore" in question is  Thomas Thurlow, 

Reviving Climate Change: The Lorax Will Sell Your Kids on Saving the Planet

This is a clear example of Hollywood movie studios pushing government propaganda. The EPA and the Organic Elite like Whole Foods Market and over 70 other partners are partnering up to sell this idea of humans are bad and the earth is good to children through a beloved Dr. Seuss story.

I don't know whose government you're referring to, our government has not really been pushing a lot of pro-environmental anything that I can think of.

So what is supposed to be so terrible about telling kids that cutting down all the trees would be a bad thing?