Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
South Park, satire, a quiz, and Passover
One thing about an AOL dial-up internet connection: you quickly learn to be judicious in your choice of links. No power surfing like I do at home, nosirree.
Thanks to my Vegas trip, I missed the much talked about South Park episode wherein Jesus and Bush pooped on an American flag. According to Billmon, over in “Right Blogostan [he has a link to Malkin] the hysteria du jour revolves around the refusal of the producers of South Park to permit an cartoon image of Mohammad to appear on the show.” So, I’ll take Billmon’s word for it, since Michelle’s site is graphics-intensive, truly a slow load, and in any case, evil.
Story goes, South Park‘s producers refused to let Parker and Stone show images of Mohammed, so they crafted a flag-pooping extravaganza in retaliation. I’d like to point out that in my opinion, this makes for far better satire. I haven’t seen it, so maybe I’m way off base, but why satirize something when the victims of your satire are unlikely to ever see the show? On the other hand, making fun of hypocrisy close to home is always fair game.
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Quick Quiz (answer at the end)
Las Vegas means:
A) The burning carburetors
B) The hella cute red-headed singers
C) The asparagus-and-tofu eaters, orÂ
D)Â The meadows
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Passover galls me. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but without much explanation. Here’s the short version. Bear in mind, please, I’m not a theologist. I’m not even much of a believer — more of a devout agnostic — but, like the sign on David Duchovny’s wall in X-Files, I want to believe. But so many things make it impossible: history, the Bible, current affairs, life in general.
Back to Passover. Read your Bible: in the later plagues, Pharoah really does want to let the Hebrews go, but on more than one occasion “God hardened Pharoah’s heart.” Whatever happened to free will? This heart-hardening thing happens most conspicuously with the tenth plague, when the Angel of Death passes over (get it? That’s what the holiday’s name commemorates) the Hebrews’ homes whilst slaughtering the Egyptians’ first-born sons.
Even without the heart-hardening stuff, is this really appropriate behavior for God? This is something which should stick in the craw of every believing Jew or Christian. But does it? And how is this killing of the innocents supposed to be a good thing?
I’ve never heard a satisfactory answer to this question. Give it to me if you got it. For now, I’m content to interpret this much as I do the other slaughters of the Old Testament: it’s okay to kill The Other, particularly if it’s part of God’s plan. We’re not supposed to understand all of His plan, after all (see: Job).
I would have a much better time getting my heart behind this if it weren’t for the suffering and death inflicted upon innocent Egyptians. Why should they all suffer? It’s not as if they chose their Pharoahs in a democratic election.
End rant.
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Quiz Answer: if you chose (C), The asparagus-and-tofu eaters, you were wrong. That would be Las Vegans, a nearby gambling town which thrived for a few months in the fern bar heyday of the mid-80s, but ultimately went bankrupt thanks to their stubborn insistence on smoke-free casinos.
All other answers were correct.
D.
I’m just sorry SP didn’t use the Constitution. I guess it’s easier to draw a flag. Bush poops on the flag and wipes with the constitution, I guess. Hope you’re having fun in Vegas, baby!
Would it help with the Passover thing to realise that the festival predates its association with the Exodus?
Passover has its origins in the agricultural practice of transhumance – the seasonal moving of flocks from winter to summer pastures. The Moses and plagues business was retrofitted, just as Christian aspects were retrofitted onto existing pagan festivals: Candlemas, now held to mark the presentation of Christ at the Temple (and incidentally the occasion on which King Arthur drew his sword from the stone) has its origins in festivals such as the Irish Imbolc, which marked the start of Spring.
I’m not sure that this helps with the vindictiveness issue, but hey, if it all made sense what excuse would there be for fighting religious wars?
It’s all politics. After the nature worshippers were wiped out, the ones who believed in god(s) needed something to keep the rabble in line and servile. So they invented a religion that could scare the bejeesus out of the peasants. They then worked it so that women were no longer a threat, and made it into three ‘different’ religions, which all do the same thing. Obey out of fear, hate from ignorance, and control women’s bodies.
Meanwhile, the real god has washed his hands of humanity, packed his bags, and has headed out towards another galaxy to see if he can do thngs right this time and insist on only being a high-paid movie star.
Welcome to my world – dial-up city. It truly sucks, doesn’t it? (sucks even worse using the internet on training wheels – aka AOL) DSL isn’t available in my area of the woods; I live in a town with too little population density to have cable and I refuse to pay about $100/month on top of a huge installation fee for satellite internet after chopping down about 15 70-foot trees to get the signal. This of course leads to my not being able to see or hear so many things. Oh well, some of the ignorance in the populace is because they don’t all have reasonably priced high-speed access.
Samantha is right about the history of our (western)religions. Women were disenfranchised from power/leadership roles and so many truthful and peaceful beliefs were lost.
You ask “is this really appropriate behavior for God?” Heck no, but our leadership stopped thinking about god long ago. Just shove in an “l” and you’ll see what they worship.
So much religious stuff looks like people just made it up as they went along. It kind of makes me think that people just made it up as they went along.
It’s Occam’s Razor, really: which is more likely, that there’s a God who wrote stuff down in assorted books that, examined rationally, looks like people made it up, or that people just made it up?
I know what you mean about wanting to believe, though.
My favorite Jewish explanation for everything comes from Rabbi Kushner in one of his books, To Life…he pretty much says “God is arbitrary – get over it.”
*insert the requisite shiver and WTF declaration*
But I like Sam’s take on it best. *g*
re: South Park…
According to scuttlebutt from friends watching the news on this item, the producers/writers of South Park have Jesus offering to blow Bush. Network folks got upset, saying “You can’t do THAT on EASTER SUNDAY!” To which Trey & Matt replied THAT is the POINT, that their own sponsors wouldn’t allow them to defame one religious icon (they have their cartoon characters saying “It’s just a cartoon, man” when Muslims get bent out of shape with Denmark over the cartoons), but it was okay to insult another religious faction (Christianity). The producers said THAT is what isn’t right…that we as a nation are afraid of going to war over insulting our “enemies” but not willing to go the distance to protect our own freedom of speech. Something like that.
They had to rewrite what they originally had, which was their cartoon characters commenting on how stupid it was to get bent out of shape over a cartoon. So when their sponsors had them take out the television cartoon the kids were watching that was WITHIN the cartoon itself, they shot back with Jesus and Bush.
It’s like Lily Tomlin in “Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe”…where she’s weighing in on what is art…the Andy Warhol soup painting or the real cans of soup: Which one really nourishes us?
Few people are getting the point of Trey & Matt as well, which is: What is more insulting and ridiculous? That we are afraid of offending one faction to the point that we give up our freedom of speech, or that we’re afraid of standing up for what we already have…the freedom to hate, love, insult, or praise everyone equally?
It’s satire, but it’s too close to home, I guess, for some. But then I’m probably one of few women who also likes Andrew Dice Clay.
I’ll shut up now. *g*
Ah, what a wonderful group of atheists and agnostics I have here. (Except for you, Blue Gal.) I’m partial to the Gnostic interpretation. Hope I’m not messing this up — “Yes, there is a God, but he’s insane.” That would explain a lot, IMO.
As a doctor, I want to believe in God because that lessens my responsibility. God as crutch. I often tell people that pediatric airway emergencies will make anyone believe in God. But I’m with all of you on the paternalism issue. The whole thing is a shame of epic proportions.
Yeah, Lyn, I’ve heard that one, too. It comes up repeatedly (in a more formal and wordy way) in my Chumash (first five books of the OT with an Orthodox Jewish commentary). As you probably know, it’s also the bottom line of the Book of Job. Come to a sticky point in your belief? Have faith, cuz that’s all you’re going to get.
Such pleasant Easter Sunday fare!