Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Much Adoodle-doo.

Hey everyone! Let's get angry about stuff that's really kind of silly! Stuff like:

HOLLYWOOD'S FORCING CANADIAN ACTORS TO SETTLE FOR PLAYING CRAPPY SUPERHEROES
(quick, someone tell Glenn Beck canuck and ozzie actors are stealing all the great superhero roles from hard-working Americans, those lousy immiguhnts)!

MOVIES AFFECTING PEOPLES' VIEWS OF SIGNIFICANT ISSUES (because people are that stupid)!

COMIC STRIPS NOTING THAT THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD WAS KIND OF A DINK AND SNARKING ON BANKERS ARE ANTI-SEMITIC!

Look, bankers are @$$holes.* They just are. That's a comment on a profession, not a religion. It's got everything to do with bankers' actions and absolutely nothing to do with which Old Dude in the sky they happen to worship.

And you know who else was a bit of a @$$hole? The character of god, as presented in the old testament. Frankly, he's no great shakes in the new one, either, but at least there he's not throwing temper tantrums, condemning those he claims to love to suffering and death because because they raided the fridge and ate the special apples he was saving, or killing hundreds of thousands of people because they never come round to visit anymore...

As someone who generally strives towards some level of, if not political correctness, at least politeness, I should probably just shut my mouth when it comes to this stuff. But I believe in anger as a potentially positive force for social change, and it bothers me when people get mad about (what Mr. White Male Privilege here sees as) relatively insignificant, if not entirely imaginary, slights. There's so much stuff in the world that deserves our anger. To me, this sort of thing is akin to expending energy focusing on your stubbed toe when it would be better spent dealing with your slit throat.

Also, OK, history's not really my thing, but am I reading the ADL's statement correctly: Christians forced Jews to commit usury? They put guns (or slings, I guess) to Jews' heads and said, "Lend us money but charge us interest, or we fire?" That seems off to me, but again, I'm no history expert. If anyone reading this could clarify, either in comments or e-mail, I'd appreciate it.

(*In my opinion, based on what I've read and my own personal experience. Much as I want to malign the entire profession, I have to acknowledge that, somewhere out there, there's a chance one or more bankers who aren't @$$holes exist. On a quantum level, anything's possible.)

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