This episode of Drunk Ex-Pastors begins with an in-depth breakdown of the New Star Wars film that neither of us had seen yet (turns out it was awesome), after which we debrief a bit about the Cash Peters interview from our last show. Christian then describes how his company does “mission trips,” which is weird since it makes no sense to do nice things for underprivileged people when you hate Jesus. We address a caller’s observation that we are “sarcastic” (wow, you figure that out on your own, genius?), and then address Bernie Sanders’s suggestion that ISIS was caused by styrofoam Big Mac containers and AquaNet. We then turn to the question of how alike Trump and Hitler are on a scale of 6-10, after which we springboard from Princess Leia’s lip implants to Hollywood’s preference for young, thin women. In our “Feeding Friendsy” segment we weigh in on whether Confederate flags and crescent moons are the same, and our “Dick Move, God” segment introduces us to a budding entrepreneur who loses his business and meets financial ruin because he didn’t think to purchase demon insurance. Christian is biebered by elevator etiquette, while Jason’s bieber involves messy nuts.
Also? By choice, man!
Links from this Episode:
Podcast #72: Divine $h!t Happens
Podcast #7: Scary Movies, Dead Americans, and Mark Driscoll’s Penis
Podcast #121: Trump/Jay Z 2016: Make America Vile Again!
Podcast #185: Positive Thinking and Liberal Fundamentalism
• Attack of the Clones IS the worst of the Star Wars movies. Any part of the movie with Anakin and Padme together is unwatchable.
• The Phantom Menace could lose about an hour… hour and twenty minutes and be a halfway decent film, but it would still waste 1/3rd of a trilogy that needed to get us to care about the friendship between Anakin and Obi Wan enough
• The one good thing about the prequels is that they show the Jedi aren’t necessarily the ‘good’ guys.
• That was also one of the fun things about playing The Old Republic game. You could take the path of a light-sided Sith Lord and you’d run into quite a few Jedi that wouldn’t even let you talk, they’d just attack you.
• I think Mr. Peters is a very observant person. Much like the tales of Sherlock Holmes whose methods seemed like magic, but were simply extrapolations from what he could detect with his senses.
• Conservatives will continue to mock Climate Change as a threat right up until the point Miami is underwater.
• Handy guide to gun violence verbiage (by skin color):
o White: “Isolated Incident”, “Lone Wolf”, “Mentally disturbed”
o Black: “Thugish assault”, “Racial violence”, “Gang related”
o Brown with Hispanic name: “Gang related”, “Illegal immigrant crime”
o Brown with Arabic name: “Terrorism”
• Trump simply cannot go too far. He is the Republican Id. He says what they want to hear. They want an abrasive, racist, stupid asshole to lead them. He reflects the parts of the conversation that the party likes to keep quiet so they don’t seem like racist, stupid monsters.
• George Bush may have said that, but then he invaded a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and wasn’t a threat to the United States, instituted a black site system, subverted the law, and normalized torture to the point where the entire GOP establishment embraces it. George Bush further radicalized the GOP.
• Trump isn’t a fascist, but he is supported by fascists and he’s normalizing their views. He is a very dangerous candidate and he could push the way towards empowering an Americanized strain of fascism.
• Practically speaking, do you really think if they somehow banned Muslims from coming to the United States, it would involve anything other than banning people of Middle Eastern ethnicity?
• On the drive up to Mammoth every year, in the middle of the high desert where temperatures were in the 100’s during the summer and were freezing at night, we pass Manzanar, the remnants of one of the internment camps. It wasn’t a camp, so much as a prison. There were guard posts with machine guns. They were housed in barracks with no separation between families, so women would hang bedsheets to divide their spaces from one another and gain a modicum of privacy.
• I don’t recall his name, but I did hear of an actor who said he had an eating disorder because even though he was fit, he kept getting told at auditions that he was great, but they wanted him to lose 5 lbs.
• I think women do get it worse though. With very few exceptions, once a woman passes 40, she’s no longer a lead, she’s a supporting actress at best, and with even rarer exceptions, she’s not held up as attractive. Whereas, you can be a lead actor in your 60’s and they will cast 30 year old actresses to play your love interests.
• A few observations on your Feeding Friendsy section:
o Islam is a religion and thus protected by the Constitution.
o When a large portion of the country decides to turn traitor and kill or maim 600,000 Americans over Islam, I’ll consider it.
o When that same portion of the country uses symbols from that act of treason to murder, terrorize, and subjugate an entire ethnicity, I’ll consider it again.
o Actually, most of the Confederate soldiers and politicians believed in God, Jesus, and the Bible and used the Bible to justify slavery, and the same crowds that gathered to lynch a black man on Saturday night were in church together Sunday morning, so we have an example of people using religion to justify violence and oppression in this country. Yet, we still accept Christianity in this country, so no, I won’t consider banning another religion.
• If the US were Germany, we’d have people putting Swastikas on the bumpers of their cars. We’d have sons of Nazi veterans organizations declaring that their proud heritage was under attack. We’d have monuments to Hitler and Goebbels and Goering in state capitals. We’d have entire revisionist movements telling us that what happened to the Jews wasn’t really that bad in most places and it was never really about the Jews at all, but about the economy and national pride.
• We’re still pretty fucked up when it comes to the Civil War is what I’m saying.
• God hates figs and pigs.
• Building a 33 story building in Seattle? That seems… unwise…
• The sign that you’re in a good BBQ joint? When they serve peanuts in the shell and the floor crunches when you walk in.
1. You know, the preference for the old star wars movies over the prequels might be a generational thing. I was too young for the original star wars and so I hadn’t seen them before the prequels came out. Having no expectations at all, I really enjoyed all three movies. Afterwards, I watched the originals. All I could think was…
“these fight scenes suck ass”
“look how freaking goofy yoda looks…. It’s like a Barney costume”
“Darth Vader doesn’t seem very powerful at all”
“Luke didn’t even get a fraction of his dad’s training and now he is gonna kill the two strongest force masters in the universe….”
I know it’s blasphemy, but I prefer the prequels.
2. Just remember I’ve been calling a Ted Cruz win for months. He will be the next POTUS and he will do a great job. He will win Iowa, blow his campaign money (which he has barely touched) and the establishment will rally around him. We already see the tide turning. Fresh off the press…
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/12/22/ted-cruz-presses-donald-trump-in-new-national-poll/?_r=0
3. Just remember that Hillary Clinton voted to go into Iraq along with W. So next year you won’t be hearing any talk about how this is all due to the war on terror lol that’s not just a republican loss…. It’s also Hillary baggage.
4. Islam is not a religion of peace and anyone who thinks that is as stupid as George Bush. I can take a quick poll of global Catholics and say “Hey guys! Catholicism is not a religion against divorce, contraception, same sex marriage, etc! It’s just a little tiny sliver of a percentage of people who believe that stuff!!!” Ignorance runs rampant in all major religions. Especially when your nation became Muslim at gunpoint, and you’ve never heard your religious text read in your own language. Who gives a shit what that person thinks Islam is all about? They have no clue. I saw a Muslim on Fox news explaining how the only difference between Christians and Muslims is whether or not Mohammed was the son of God or Jesus….. But Islam doesn’t even teach that Mohammed was the son of God! These are the people assuring us that Islam is peaceful. Sorry, but that doesn’t make me feel better.
5. With that in mind, obviously it’s ridiculous to ban all muslims from entering the country.
After point 1, I stopped listening, because you, sir, are just wrong.
Muslim food for thought:
A. How is it that we have been at war against these ideologies for over a decade and no one can name a single Islamic argument against Jihad and Sharia Law? This is the number one failure of both administrations and needs to be addressed ASAP. If you want to stop discrimination and protect the muslim youth from Jihadist recruiters, the public needs this information. Instead all we get are the standard three responses
1. (GASP!) How dare you question a religion?
2. Not all Muslims think that way (no reason or explanation why)
3. Christianity has weird stuff too
Thats it. That is ALL you have ever heard from a presidential candidate, news organization, or newspaper. This must change.
B. Freedom of religion is not absolute. In the same way that there are exceptions to freedom of speech, there can be exceptions to freedom of religion.
C. The west is just gonna have to treat muslims a little differently from now on. Some legislation that I would support….
1. Absolutely no homeschooling for Muslim families. Their children must integrate.
2. A “study Quran” with footnotes explaining why jihad is wrong and why Sharia law no longer applies should be the only text Mosques and Islamic schools of thought can offer in the west. If they truly agree that those things should not be promoted, they shouldnt have any problem with a standardized text
3. Every single Islamic place of worship should be subjected to heavy scrutiny and observation. Just so we can make sure this is going on…. and it IS going on all over the nation. Make no mistake about it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA3xN5ptZXM
Yeah, your preference for the prequels makes me feel even better about everything you’ve ever said that I’ve disagreed with.
1. I don’t even know how I can look you in the keyboard after this.
Seriously though, I think you’re wrong about it being a generational thing. My kids loved the prequels. Loved them more than the originals. I was baffled by it. Couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong. Now that they’ve all grown up a little bit and are going back and revisiting the prequels and originals, they all are starting to see how bad the prequels are. Come on, Kenneth. They’re bad…like really bad.
Another argument about it being a “generational” thing is that pretty much everyone loves The Force Awakens.
Lastly, have you ever seen this: http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-1-the-phantom-menace/? You should give it a watch. It’s immensely entertaining and actually quite deep as to why The Phantom Menace is such complete shite.
2. LOL
3. Another reason why I wouldn’t want Hillary in office, at least not over Sanders. Unfortunately, it’s probably going to be another election of picking the least worst option.
4. You know what happens to religions when they are persecuted? They thrive and grow. That’s not a phenomenon exclusive to Christianity. Attacking Islam is counter-productive. Assisting Muslims who view Islam as a religion of peace is the best thing that can happen in this crappy situation.
5. I still can’t believe you prefer the prequels.
1, 2, and 3 are extremely dangerous precedents you’d be setting that would eventually come back to bite you in the ass.
I think I would be fine with the risk. If Christianity ever had a sizable population that insists upon suicide bombings, abusing women, cutting off the heads of apostates, and violently forcing conversion on every continent on the planet I would HOPE people might take the same measures. It’s just common sense.
And you can’t seriously think watching puppet yoda and those lame horrendous lightsaber duels was better than the prequels. The story line and dialog were solid, but dude…. It’s puppets. I LOVED the never-ending story as a child. But watching it now is painful. I can’t get over the clay characters and sesame street outfits
Aside from which, I’d hazard most of it would be ruled unconstitutional.
For someone worried about the government ‘persecuting’ Christians for refusing to serve gays, you’re rather blasé about granting some pretty major powers over religion and religious content to the government and rather trusting that they would only use them on the ‘right’ people.
As to the prequels, everyone has a different opinion, but here is why the prequels failed to me: It was Anakin’s story, and they never made me care about Anakin and they never established his friendship with Obi Wan, so Anakin’s fall lacked the emotional gut punch it should have had. That moment when Anakin turns on Obi Wan should have been the climax of the movie, the moment where all of us felt pathos and anguish, but it wasn’t there.
Strip away the cool effects, the more acrobatic fighting scenes, and all you’re left with is missed potential.
Contrast that with the final confrontation between Luke and Darth Vader. The emotion in that moment, where Luke is trying desperately to reach his dad, and his father is conflicted, but continues doggedly to be a rat bastard, to the point of promising to corrupt Leia, and Luke just loses control and gives in to his anger, overpowering his conflicted father, as the Emperor watches and gleefully cackles at getting what he wants.
And the final moment when Vader looks back and forth from his master to his dying son and even through a mask, you can see the emotions there.
I can go into more details later on why else they failed for me.
Like the fact that George Lucas turned good actors into terrible actors with his banal dialog, or the fact that everything looked like a cartoon, or the fact that stuff in the prequels directly contradicted the earlier Star Wars movies, or the fact that just none of it made any sense? Besides all that, isn’t Jar Jar Binks enough??
You mean the ones where people do things people can do and they don’t look like video game characters after entering a cheat code? The fights without all the unnecessary flips and pirouettes and impossible sword-play?
As far as the Muslims go, you’re opening a dangerous door, one where government can regulate religion. I’d prefer to just have the government continue to prosecute (and be vigilant against) people who break the law.
But they aren’t just humans. They are humans with magical powers. Humans can’t lift space ships out of swamps with mind control. Why draw the line when it comes to entertainment value? The original star wars is great if your a grandpa. No doubt. But for people raised on transformers, the avengers, and avatar they suck. The storyline of the prequels was only disappointing because your imagination had run for so long on the originals that there is no way you could.be satisfied. If JK Rowling ever writes a prequel to Harry pottering sure I’ll hate it in the same way!
It wasn’t a perfect trilogy. There was some really lame dialog. But for the most part all of the movies were more enjoyable than watching puppet yoda and terrible sword duels. I haven’t watched any of the star wars movies as an adult, so maybe I would change my mind today…. But I doubt it. Really looking forward to the new stuff though. Disney will do great.
The door is already opened though isn’t it? There are exceptions to religious freedom. We are already under enforced servitude when it comes to baking cakes for gay weddings 😉
Why can we make an exception for something as petty as cake baking but not national security and protecting liberal secular western values?
I think you’re way, way, way in the minority on this…but I think that’s how you like it. Look at Rotten Tomatoes. Those prequels are widely considered to be total crap.
Did you watch the video I posted? Even if you don’t agree with it, it will make you laugh.
I don’t really understand the connection you’re trying to make here. It’s already illegal to kill people. If your religion commands you to kill people, and you practice (or attempt to practice) that, you’ll be prosecuted.
Christian,
Im not saying that cool graphics= better movie. For example, I agree with you that the matrix I was fantastic and the Matrix II was garbage! But, all things considered the prequels were better. The plot is not as riveting, but the graphics are SO MUCH better that it makes up for it.
I mean just look at this damn thing! He might as well be tickle-me-elmo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMUKGTkiWik
I’ll take that over this crap anyday…
https://youtu.be/IRd9PGmAQUE?t=111
Interestingly, the reason JJ Abrams went to great lengths to avoid CGI in the new movie is because of most people’s reaction against it in the prequels.
What?!? Seriously? You would take Sesame street over CGI? So would you still think Guardians of the Galaxy is more enjoyable than the Avengers if all the characters were dressed like Big Bird and the Cookie Monster? I am more than willing to agree that CGI doesnt make for a good film. Obviously there are many important factors that go into making a good movie. But whatever hit the plot took in the prequels wasnt NEAR as far a dip as the graphics and overall action in the first few. If Star Wars were to re-release today, just as it was, and no one had ever heard of it before, what do you think would happen? It wouldn’t even make theaters. Why? Because old timey movies like that just dont cut it anymore for entertainment.
I’m not saying they can’t be combined to great effect as they were in The Force Awakens. If I have to choose however, I’ll take better script, acting, and plot over neat CGI. The further away we get from the prequels, the worse the CGI looks. In 30 more years, when the CGI looks to our kids’ kids like some of the effects in the originals look to you, it’ll be more clear to people like you that the originals were actually better at everything else.
For me, good acting, writing, directing, plot, etc. will take me much further in my imagination than neato effects. The video game-ishness of so many CGI effects today take me right out of the movie. I wasn’t a big fan of GotG. The parts that I liked were the witty dialog and not the CGI raccoon. As a matter of fact, I almost didn’t see it because of the raccoon!
Yes, but there is no way to “prosecute” people who blow themselves up afterwards. Even if we take Jihad off the table, the fact is that there are millions of people who want to take democratic, peaceful, equal rights societies, and place them under sharia law. If this happens, it would be a step backwards to match the dark ages after the fall of Rome. They can accomplish this purely by out breeding us and refusing to integrate. The connection im making is this;
1. Islam is a religion that comes with certain baggage.
2. This baggage is unacceptable for the modern world. (it would fall under the “exception” to religious freedom)
3. Therefore this baggage must be thrown off the ship by force.
There is no solution to the problem of Islam that doesnt involve some discomfort. They are forcing our hand. In France there are literally “no go zones” where the police are afraid to enter. I’ll give you a more local example. The largest mosque in Texas was just built 200 yards from my house. There is a Muslim private school right next to it. Three neighborhoods around this mosque are COMPLETELY muslim. I mean literally every single household in these neighborhoods without exception. Women don’t sit with men at the parks. They cover their hair and face. its like walking through a different country.
This is how they roll. They arent integrating into society. Nobody knows what the hell is being said in these mosques. This is enabling their stone age values to be passed on from generation to generation. Meanwhile, they are having seven to eight children per family. What do you think the constitution will look like in democratic Spain if/when they become a majority? Or Germany? Or in the US? These problems will start arising within our lifetime in Europe. In our childrens lifetime in the U.S. It took several hundred years for western society to tame christianity. We need to do the same to Islam in like 50-80. We cant do that by playing nice.
Yeah, maybe you are right. I dont know, I just really enjoyed all three prequels. They definitely wont make AMCs top 100 films, but IMO the original doesnt belong up there either. The acting isnt all that and the storyline is mediocre by todays standards of scifi writing. George Lucas isnt Tolkien. His universe isnt ALL THAT imaginative. Most of the star wars universe was created by third party authors (Disney downgraded these to star wars “legends”) Its like talking about Jerry West VS Chris Paul. The old school guys were good….. for their time. But they just dont belong in the modern world.
Yeah, I don’t totally disagree, especially about George Lucas’s contribution. At the same time, we don’t say that “Citizen Cane” is not one of the greatest movies because it lacked color (which wasn’t available at the time). Star Wars was amazing for its time and I realize that I’m certainly biased towards it because of the effect it had on my childhood, but even my 14 year old daughter loves it right now, so that has to say something about it’s staying power and story.
I think its strength is in the super power. Feel the force all around you. Here is a sword. Dont join the dark side. Its accessible in ways that most fantasy and scifi abilities arent. We can all feel the force. Not many people can wrap their heads around genetic mutations, radioactive spiders, and the all seeing eye of the Lord of the Rings. An 11 year olds imagination can keep up even as they script is for adults. Thats the key.
The Star Wars thing is in no way generational. I’m sure I’m younger than you and I love the originals and absolutely hate the prequels. “Attack of the Clones” is one of the worst movies I’ve ever watched. The only thing I can think of that’s worse is “The Last Airbender” the movie.
I don’t know? Even at 11 I would have taken LOTR over Star Wars.
The Phantom Menace problems:
Qui-Gon: He is unnecessary. We have 7 hours to tell the prequel stories. Why introduce a character that is inconsequential now? He doesn’t matter. Anyone could discover Anakin, including Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan: Age him up a few years. He should be a relatively new Jedi Knight and the lead of the story.
The Trade Federation: The broken Engrish. The cowardly, fawning, and greedy demeanor. They’re like even dumber Ferengi. Their motivation sort of sucks too. We need to find a new one that doesn’t involve Galactic taxation of trade routes.
Jar-Jar: Useless comic relief character. He contributes nothing. Change the voice. Make him useful.
The journey to the Core serves no purpose. Cut it.
The journey from Naboo to Tatooine to Coruscant serves no meaningful purpose. Re-write it and cut it out. There are other ways to write Anakin into the movie and other ways to show the corruption of the Republic.
Kid Anakin: Again, we’ve got 7 hours to tell this story. Anakin needs to be good friends with Obi Wan so we feel the emotions when that friendship breaks. We don’t have time for pod racing and “Yippee”. Make Anakin 18-20. It will also make his eventual romance with Padme a lot less skeevy.
C-3P0: The galaxy isn’t that small. 3P0 could have been the protocol droid from the ship opening that the Jedi end up ‘droidnapping’. Then he could serve as the annoying comic relief character instead of Jar Jar.
Darth Maul: We never really get to see the Sith unleashed. Let’s show the contrast between how the Jedi fight a war and how the Sith do. Also, he doesn’t die at the end. His fate is left a mystery so he can come back in the sequels, because once again, we have 7 hours to tell this story, we don’t need a different right-hand villain in every movie. We stick with Maul. Let him build up a history with Anakin and Obi Wan, so Anakin is pissed enough to kill him mercilessly in Episode III.
I would take Han Solo and Princess Leia over Anakin and Padme any day of the week, Mate.
While I feel pretty ignorant on the subject, I don’t totally disagree with you, Kenneth. I do see Muslims’ peculiar culture and refusal to integrate differently than I see Judaism’s, especially since no one blows shit up in the name of YHWH. I just have no clue what should be done about it.
So, in German, you can’t have anything with a swastika on it? How fascist of them.
Well, from a selfish perspective, we will get to watch it happen in France, Germany, and Spain first. So it’s not like America is on the hot seat. It’s been said that Paris, once the eldest daughter of the Church, is now the youngest daughter of Mohammed. The mosque of Notre Dame is very real possibility. It’s a grave mistake to treat Islam as if it were in the same state as Christianity. There has been no Islamic enlightenment/V2. They despise post modern thought. Integration is our best bet for now, until the religion can go through some kind of radical reformation. We have to find some way to infect the Muslim world with the same modern virus that has made christianity so weak and feeble. Rooting for Sam Harris and the secularists to break in there somehow.
He’s trying by teaming up with liberal progressive Muslims like Maajid Nawaz. Their new book “Islam and the Future of Tolerance” is on my short list to read.
I do think it’s funny how you term intellectual progress and advancement as a “virus” as if the evolution of human thought is some kind of bad thing. 🙂
I recently read an interesting article (can’t remember where I saw it, maybe on here from one of youse?) about how ISIS cannot be defeated with the current political positions of both the left and right. The left, by failing to address the the fact that jihadist violence stems from religious Islamic ideology (Islamism) and is not just a reaction to the destabilization of the region, causes the right to take the extreme position that ALL Muslims are Islamist. Both the left and the right fail to make the proper distinction, for very different reasons, between Islamism and Islam, and it’s helping ISIS.
I like the term “Islamism.” I started hearing it on Sam Harris’s podcast.
I’ve had a man crush on Majid Nawaz for a while now. He is one brave scrappy SOB. I don’t view modernism to be “progress”. Human thought evolves, but it doesn’t necessarily get “better” over time. I’m not knocking the science. Just the icky philosophy that permeates the western world known as modernism. I termed it a virus because it has left Christendom in shambles. Christianity has outlived every major empire and philosophical fad. But modernism has weakened us in a way that perhaps has never been done before. We are on the ropes. We need to pass it on nad hope Islam can be similarly weakened.I agree that both the right and the left need to rethink our role in dealing with these issues. The war of bullets is not working. We need to really fight the war of ideas. That won’t be comfortable, but it’s our best hope for peace
Majid Nawaz coined it. It’s a helpful distinction and encompasses the true scope of the problem. It’s not just terrorists we need to worry over.
I person should not believe in an ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon: “I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.” A good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus, I’d still have to bum rides off people.
I asked for a car. I got a computer. How’s that for being born under a bad sign?
Yeah he is.
I cannot pretend to know enough about the history of modernism to even be remotely dangerous. The way I see it though is if people didn’t question what they were told to believe about the way things are, then we would all be worse off. If progress that truly advances the well being of the human race and the world we live in comes at the expense of the credibility of a certain theology, so be it.
Agreed. I don’t know how you get the left to agree that all jihadists are not simply the product of their geopolitical situation, and the right to agree that all muslims are not jihadists.
Must admit, I had to google this and Christian’s post below. It led me down an internet rabbit hole where I found a blog written by Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago.
Abe Froman was my very first pseudonym!
I’m not sure if the right is failing us in the way you describe. I I’ve in Texas. Trust me, if we thought EVERY Muslim was a jihadist the good old boy crowd would lock, load, and take care of business. The GOP is more willing to recognize the ideology, BUT everyone on both sides seem to think “if we could just kill the bad ones this will all go away”. That’s not the case. The war needs to take place in the market place of ideas. We haven’t even begun that battle at all. And we WONT so long as questioning Islam is off limits. What do you think of the legislation I mentioned to Christian? About the homeschooling and religious texts? It’s ballsy, and definitely would piss people off, but I think it would be effective
Am I the only one who liked Revenge of the Sith?
Michael B Dougherty wrote a great article about Islam, that obviously we can’t make blanket statements Islam being a violent religion, but that we need to understand that Muhammad was granted by God miraculous military victories, which is more than a little different on how Christians view Christ’s relationship with God. This belief by Islamofascists is challenged by the Reconquista in Spain, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and more recently the 6 Days War.
http://theweek.com/articles/589175/intractable-insidious-conflict-between-islamism-west
I don’t really want to get into a long argument about this, but your ideas regarding muslims hoeschooling and religous texts really bothered me. Having the government straight up tell how they’re allowed to read and teach their religous texts seems to me like exactly what the 1st amendment was condemning. I’m a christian who doesn’t believe that there’s anything wrong with homosexuality, but I would be really pissed off the government said that all churches had to use a study bible with a gay affirming commentary. You said that Islam has “certain bagadge” that does not have a place in the modern world. Well I believe that the belief that homosexuallity is a sin has no place in a modern world, but I don’t think that people should be told they have to believe the same thing I do. I believe that everyone should be forced to treat LGBT folks equally just like I believe that jihad should be illegal, but I also believe that muslims should be able to preach what they believe(even the violent ones) just like I believe that conservative christians should be able to preach what they believe (even if they’re bigoted).
Evan,
I understand that my comments on those topics are pretty radical, but then, so are the beliefs that they repress. That’s the point. We need to maintain society. You raise some concerns that are valid. There are some Christian beliefs that likewise don’t square with the liberal agenda and I’m not eager to see the government squash our freedom of expression. Nevertheless, there is a rather large difference between “same sex marriage should be illegal” and “we should slaughter our way to a theocratic government and enforce the most barbaric, bronze aged, and immoral laws on all civilization.” When is say the baggage is “incompatible” with the modern world, what I mean is that it is uncompromising and seeks to destroy everything we have built over the last thousand years or so. Freedom of speech isn’t absolute. Neither should freedom of religion be so. All I hear is how jihadists are “radicals” who have perverted Islam. If this is the case, why would anyone be upset at having standard texts arguing against this alleged perversion? I wouldn’t be against standard bibles condemning abortion bombings, the kkk, the Spanish inquisition, and Westborough babysit church. Especially if those ideas were still RAMPANT all over the globe. Why would muslims have a problem with study Qurans explaining why Jihad is bad, sharia law is outdated, and women should be treated as equals?
First off, I do understand that my comparison of homophobia and jihad was a bit extreme. However, I thought it illustrated my point which is basically just that I think there’s is a big difference between the government forbiding certain practices that are out of place in our world and them forbiding the teaching of beliefs that are out of place.
Yes, there certainly is! It’s a tough call man. What’s the solution? We can’t force them to integrate, we can’t force them to stop having eight children, we can’t bar them from entering the country, we can’t kill them all, we can’t discriminate and watch their every move, so what’s left? Do nothing and give away the west? Step one is determining is Islam is a clear and present danger to the world. If the answer is yes, it seems to me that we are just being forced to take the gloves off.
I get what you’re saying and I agree that this is a war of ideas. However, I don’t believe that it’s a good idea to present it as a war between Islam and the modern world. Instead, it needs to be a war within Islam over whether it is a violent or peacefull religion. I feel like persacuting Islam is just going to make muslims feel marginalized. This seems to me like it would make them much more likely to be radicalized, which, I believe, is exactly what we are trying to prevent. We need to accept muslims and show them that there is a place for a peacefull and egilitarian version of Islam in the modern world and that the west doesn’t have to be their enemy.
Just got out of the new star wars movie. It’s cool that I had our convo before the film because it’s strengths are everything you seemed to find lacking in the prequels. I was entertained by Tue story telling…… The only problem? It’s the exact same story as the originals!!!! There is not one original idea in the entire film. It’s not a revival of star wars…. It’s a simple remake. Abrams should have let’s the death star…. err…. death planet go off and blow up the resistance. That would have made for an absolutely epic and tantalizing ending. But no. It went exactly like it did thirty years ago. To the T.
I’ve never felt so excited and let down at the same time lol
Sorry for the late response. Christmas stuff, ya know. I’m in Texas as well. I think the lock, load and TCB mentality is here and folks of that kind of thinking are not merely a vocal minority but a quiet majority, for now. Trump is perpetuating that mentality as well.
I don’t think the legislation you mentioned would be helpful in promoting the open “market place of ideas”. It would set a bad tone and put everyone immediately on the defensive. Plus, slippery slope, blah blah.
I do like the idea of an annotated Kuran published by progressive Muslims, not mandated by legislation though. In fact, I would like that for the Bible. I guess Jefferson did that back in the day.
Yeah, it didn’t bother me. Everything else about it was so good. Entertain me that much and I’ll watch the same story over and over again. Besides, it’s all the same story with variations anyway…pretty much every movie. Give me some good music, characters, dialog, suspense, and emotional impact and I can forgive the other stuff. I don’t agree that it was more of a remake though. History has always tended to repeat itself. I have no problem with similar events happening 30 years later.
Would have been more bad ass though if the star had gone off before being destroyed! Am I right?
Came across this article and thought of you, Kenneth:
http://mashable.com/2015/12/23/force-awakens-is-no-remake/#k8h3Ns02usq7
That’s just a fanboy post. Guarantee the person who wrote that is 40 to 50 years old. Generational thing. You didn’t like the prequels because they were new and different. You live the remake because it’s a remake. No shame in that. I would love to see a remake of Harry Potter. Just pretend like it’s new but run the same story all over again. 🙂
My kids have mostly turned on the prequels and think the originals are better. They’re 14, 18, and 19. They think Jar Jar Binks is ridiculous and the story and script are banal and the acting is bad, etc. Even though I was about the same age as my kids when I saw Star Wars as they were when the prequels came out, I’ve never had similar thoughts about the originals. I think George Lucas definitely made something appealing to kids with the prequels (rarely beyond childhood), but Pee Wee’s Playhouse is also appealing to kids.
Your kids just think that way because you planted it in their heads. My kids happen to love baseball and soccer. Why? Because I do! That’s the way it goes yo!