Romancing The Golem: The Blood Libel and Sarah Palin

Finally, one comment that may forever define a career of the most intense cluelessness:

"But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible," she said.

WTF?? I suppose she had to cover up her ridiculous "surveyor's symbols" explanation for using cross-hair gunsite graphics against people she wanted us to "take out."

COURAGE

It takes courage to admit that you're wrong about something. I think we all agree on that. We all think that guarded, half-apologies or distracting, sugar-coated sentiments are just as spineless. And defending spineless sentiments with totally inappropriate  terminology is obscenely insulting, unless, of course we take into account that the person perpetrating such an insult did so without having a clue as to what the term meant in the first place. 

"Blood Libel" certainly sounds like something a Palin would imagine on the spur-of-the-moment. It sounds serious ... credible ... intense. Indeed the term is each of those things and more: because it involved a myth full of such enormous hatred that people would rarely say it out loud, let alone ascribe it to anyone today. The "Blood Libel" was the myth of Jews killing gentile children for blood rituals in the Cabala [sp]. It was a myth that kept hatred at its height for hundreds of years. It was one of the reasons for Jewish ghettos. It kept superstition and stupidity alive. It was fulminated by noble and peasant and clergy. Queen Isabella believed it. Martin Luther believed it. And it gave rise to other myths and legends, most notably, the legend of the Golem. 

The Golem. The term is Hebrew for something not yet formed. It was the name for the clump of earth God used to make Adam. So the story goes that Rabbi Loewe of Prague (btw: a real rabbi who lived in the 16th century) formed a man out of mud with prayers from the Caballa and engraved four letters on his forehead: emet - truth. He told the enormous hulk that he would be used to guard the gates of the city's Josefov (Jewish Quarter - at that time, Jews were locked up at night in a section of the city). He was to be a guardian and protector - nothing more. During the day, the hulk of mud delighted in all the things of the earth. He saw such beauty in the simplest of things and he seemed to love life with a delicate passion. 

Then came the fateful night when rumors of the Blood Libel erupted as if from nowhere: was a child killed? Who did it? Must have been Jews! Thousands of Prague's more "noble" citizens marched in anger to the gates of the Josefov and threatened to annihilate everyone whithin its walls. The Golem rose up, up, up even bigger than he was before, frightening the crowd. Then he took the enormous crossbeam of the gates and smashed people left and right, killing many. The people flew in terror. Rabbi Loewe was horrified beyond belief.

The next day, the king of Bohemia summoned Rabbi Loewe and asked him to explain the meaning of the enormous creature. When Rabbi Loewe explained that it was created to protect the Jews from a bloodlust such as had happened the night before, the king told him "I understand. From now on, your people will have my protection. I swear nothing, no one will harm them. But you must destroy the Golem you have created." So Rabbi Loewe told a horrified Golem that he was to go back to being mud and that he was no longer needed. The Golem pleaded with the rabbi not to take his life away, but the rabbi erased one letter from the Golem's forehead: emet became met - death. And so the man turned back into a simple pile of mud. 

As all good legends have, this one has an addendum: that pile of mud is hidden somewhere in the recesses of Prague - perhaps in one of the thousands of old attics that exist. It is covered with pages from the Cabala. The Golem will rise when he is needed again.

Back To Cluelessness

Myths have depths of meaning that can go beyond mere experience: they can touch a person's heart and an entire nation's soul. But if the Divine Sarah (sorry, Ms. Bernhardt) had any inkling of what she had referred to when she said "Blood Libel" I somehow doubt she would have refrained from using it simply because of her total indifference to any meaning other than her own. 

Ironic, isn't it, that a person who so depends upon myths and character assassination ("death panels," "pals around with terrorists") should come up with such an extraordinarily heinous myth to defend herself. And with such extraordinary shallowness and flippancy! Yes, such fools are indeed dangerous, not only to the Gabrielle Giffords of the world, but to the rest of us. 

Sorry to cut this off, but I have to catch a plane - to Prague.

Just The Way The Right Wants It: The Queen of Idiot America Will Be President!

I had no idea that the people of Minneapolis had such a monumental hatred for the rest of the country. I mean, didn't we portray it in a good enough light on the Mary Tyler Moore Show? Sure, we saw lots of snow, overcoats and a woolly caps, but come on, there's no reason for Minneapolis to curse the rest of the country with one of history's most insidiously stupid politicians!

Yeah, yeah we know that Sarah Palin started us down the slippery slope of accepting power-grabbing dimwits, the country was starting to opine for the good 'ole days of W and stand-up comedians are starving for material, but has our hunger to be entertained overshadowed our need to be led by someone with at least half a brain?

Apparently not.

Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel:

From the instant his fruitful eight-year reign ended, Republicans have pined for the next Ronald Reagan... Sarah Palin, you say?  The buzz inside the Beltway is that Mrs. Bachmann may be looking to add a woman's touch to the Oval Office (beyond just sprucing up its temporary occupant's eyesore decor). Her spokesman, Doug Sachtleben, has confirmed to media that the congresswoman is considering a potential presidential run, saying: "Nothing's off the table."

Nothing's off the table, except, maybe, sanity. Or a modicum of intelligence. Barber goes on to describe Bachmann as a "maverick's maverick," the most conservative member of Congress (because only a right wingnut job will do) and "indifferent to what the moonbat media and the larger loony left think about her." Not counting the rather original "moonbat media" jibe, Barber waxes predictable: Bachmann is the perfect uber-Christian for the office of POTUS. So, if elected by all of the other uber-Rightwing Christians, we will be treated to more of these wonderful bits of wisdom:

• ''[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said she has even said she is trying to save the planet. We all know that someone did that 2,000 years ago.''
• "A woman (Terri Schiavo) was healthy. There was brain damage, there was no question. But from a health point of view, she was not terminally ill.''
• ''If we took away the minimum wage -- if conceivably it was gone -- we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.''
• ''I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back."    

Bachmann's "reasoning" runs the gamut from tortured to absolutely clueless.

Are people pining away for George Bush to the extent that they'll take someone with equal (or lesser) value? The Right constantly screams at the Left on how vicious it was towards Bush when the truth is that many of us were laughing too hard to be vicious. Focusing on ineptitude as monumental as Bush's took a vigilance so constant that it wore many of us out, leading the introspective amongst us to surmise that maybe Bush was acting "The Good Soldier Schweik." The fact that half of the country voted for him TWICE was an indication that the dumbing of America had finally taken hold and that we were on the slippery slope to irrelevancy. 

Barber's fawning also stated "her existing widespread Tea Party support" which may or may not be true, because the TP's lack of credible foundation and leadership makes them look as if they'll hold on to anything that says "no more big government, no more taxes." 

Excess of any kind can be comical, so that is why Barber's statement that if coupled with Obama in a debate, Bachmann would "mop the floor with him," now lies as the most laughable statement out the mouth of a rabid Religious Right (oops, - social conservative) Reconstructionist. 

Excessive idiocy aside, the Right wing theocrats (religious or political) of today need to rein Bachmann in and let her make her mark in history through insanely stupid malapropisms. Allowing her a wider audience would be a nail in the coffin of America's intelligence.

God Never Apologizes. ... But Don't You Think It's About Time He Did?

Keith Olbermann gave an insightful special commentary concerning the Rotten Rhetoric that has engulfed politics. I think everyone should view it: he raises some good points and he even apologizes to viewers for using the same kind of militaristic, gun-related rhetoric. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that Olbermann included both Left and Right in his speech and transcended the image of crosshaired gun sights by condemning all violent political rhetoric. It seemed quite inclusive. However, it did not include a vital component of today's American society.

It did not include God.

No, I'm not going all batsh*t-crazy, at least not in a theological sense: with a God who has been the instigator of all things good and bad, apologies are not on the table. Explanations aren't even considered. "He works in mysterious ways" has been the ubiquitous reason why bad things happen to good people. It's lame, but God gets away with doing things simply because He's ...God.

And He's done some pretty horrendous things: drowned innocent animals in the Great Flood, commanded genocide (slaying of the Moabites), condoned slavery, toyed sadistically with Jonah on a bet with Satan, and created the Texas Board of Education. But perhaps the worst thing God has ever done to humanity is to create hypocritical and corrupt apostles, prophets and preachers who will never apologize either: as "representative" "anointed"  even "beloved" shepherds of God, they and their chosen feel they are exempt from guilt, hence, without consciences and are to able to do most anything as long as they rationalize it as "God's will." 

The sins that have been committed against humanity and in the name of God are, like Satan's followers, Legion. History looks a lot like the infinite expanse of dead and dying soldiers in Gone With The Wind: religious strife litters humanity's past and "Peace On Earth, Good Will Towards Men" seems like a bad joke. And it will stay that way as long as there are "men of God" campaigning for the sake of righteousness.

BEYOND WESTBORO

The instance of Jared Lee Laughner's horrendous assassination attempt of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has prompted the MSM to analyze just how much politicians and pundits exacerbate violence with their speech and actions. Notice, however, that not one commentator mentioned anyone within the Religious Right communities: Giffords has weighed in as a pro-choice, pro-ENDA and pro-Health Care Reform. There are over 500 churches in the Tucson metropolitan area, with Baptist (approx. 80), Mormon (90+) and Catholic (100+) churches. What are the chances that none of them campaigned vitriolically against Giffords? Have any of those churches apologized?

Hardly. Not a peep out of any of them. Religious demonizers, like God, never apologize.

And how many of those churches supported Giffords opponent Jesse Kelly who, BTW, sponsored a campaign fundraiser* wherein people could shoot an M-16 for sport? Those churches and the rest of the Religious Right, if called on the carpet, will probably refocus the debate by pointing to entities like Westboro Baptist Church (who have announced that they will picket the funerals of those killed in the shooting). They will use stark contrast to deflect criticism or they will simply take an how-DARE-you stance, like when Tony Perkins ludicrously told the nation that the Religious Right had absolutely no culpability in the suicides of gay teens:

There is an abundance of evidence that homosexuals experience higher rates of mental health problems in general, including depression. However, there is no empirical evidence to link this with society's general disapproval of homosexual conduct.

Perhaps the most insipid lack of remorse for extremely violent message content lies in everything done by a group named Repent Amarillo. I've written about it before, but its last publicity-grabbing escapade deserves to be reiterated: the execution of Santa Claus. "Santa" was really a pinata (to placate critics, of course), but the guns and ammo used were real...in front of a group of children ...who will  probably develop psychoses larger than that of Jared Lee Laughner. No one rushed forward to accuse them of emotional child abuse because they were, of course, acting in the "name of the Lord." 

Rampages like Laughner's help develop a serious time of reflection as to their causes. Violent rhetoric, militaristic terms, virulent attack modes can come from pulpits as well as politicians. We live amidst a slew of God's self-appointed emissaries who have never apologized for their organized religion's crimes and never expect to apologize for their Rotten Rhetoric now or in the future. They may indulge themselves in vicious platitudes of the worst kind while thinking themselves totally unaccountable.

After all, righteous arrogance has its privileges. Just ask God.

 

 * Flier blurb: "Get on Target for Victory in November Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."

Rotten Rhetoric Strikes Again: What We Can Learn From The Giffords Shooting

"They've got to realize there are consequences to that," she said. "The rhetoric is incredibly heated."

 - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' remarks about Palin's mailer after vandals attacked her office in March.

Rotten Rhetoric: it's protected by free speech, it's guilt free, and can bring out the creative evil in anyone. It can also kill people through righteous assassination. And so many people have used it in history: Pope Urban II used it to spur on the Crusades; Hitler used it for political purposes; Father Charles Caughlin used it in this broadcasts. And today: Ahmadinejad uses it; Osama Bin Laden uses it; Glenn Beck uses it; Bill O'Reilly uses it. Repent Amarillo uses it. Lou Engle uses it.

And now we know that Sarah Palin uses it.

Ok, EVERYBODY uses it. So why is America just waking up to its very real consequences? Are we just now looking at the deleterious effects of popularity and position? Or have we become so totally bombarded with the bloviations of power and celebrity that we only skim the barest buzzwords and pay no attention to other meanings? Sarah Palin's little map with target sites says different things to different people, but with her one-track mind, Palin didn't care if anyone drew different conclusions. She probably thought she was being clever (fat chance) or folksy (better). She aimed for a metaphor of political annihilation which could have resulted in actual annihilation. 

Toning It Down

This country's Rotten Rhetoric has got to be toned down. What we say has become second to how we say it: impact has become more dependent on imagery than meaning. The steam-roller effect of the imagery, however, has gotten totally out of control and to rein it in will take a massive effort on our part. It will take a major pushback against people like Palin who will slough off situations like the Giffords shooting.

And the sloughing off and pious distancing has already started: "tragic" - "sickened" - "horrified" are starting to pump out of people like blood from a bullet wound. Get used to them for the next several days, because they'll be coming ad nauseum from people who vilified Giffords in no uncertain terms.

"My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice."

 - Sarah Palin

“I am horrified by the violent attack on Representative Gabrielle Giffords and many other innocent people by a wicked person who has no sense of justice or compassion. I pray for Gabby and the other victims, and for the repose of the souls of the dead and comfort for their families. 

 - John McCain

BFD. Words: they can't heal as much as they can hurt. Politicians know that. 

So what can we do to tone down the rhetoric? Boycott Glenn Beck's sponsors?  Bombard Sarah Palin with vicious tweets of our own? Unfortunately, we're caught in a free speech conundrum: by telling people to tone down their Rotten Rhetoric, we're committing an act of censorship. And waiting for political suicide to set in could be a very long time, since people like Beck and Palin are never truly erased from public discourse. The solution may involve education and creativity: somehow we must make civil discourse look totally cool and Rotten Rhetoric look totally stupid. Ironically, we may have to use the Giffords shooting to shock people with lampoon and laughter, reminding people like Palin that Rotten Rhetoric is a two-edged sword, resulting in political suicide. 

So SNL, what's keeping you?

Sarah Palin's Wish List

Ministry Countdown!

Yes, I'm a minister - in the eyes of the Universal Life Church. And to those of you who know about ULC - don't laugh! This ministry will be surprisingly authentic - in terms of "ministering" to people and dealing with religious and social issues. 

So far, however, I'm only announcing it in this blog. Officially, it will be announced to the MSM, via a new website, a new look to this blog, a new column in the San Francisco Bay Times (The Devil's Advocate) and an article in OpEdNews. Please join me in ushering in this event: I will have a short article every day (if I can - I'm a caregiver and my charge has been declared terminal) until Jan. 6th when I sendf out all the official information and several articles. Join in "the blitz" by checking in every day until then. If you have a favorite website you would like to see on my new blogroll, please send me a link in the comments section below.

Thanks so much, loyal readers. Remember: Jan. 6th is when a hammer comes down on the Christian Right!

Stranger Than Fiction: Tony Perkins' Christmas Card

Note: Please keep in mind that I am writing this as one who has studied sociology, comparative religions, theology and history (almost as much as Glenn Beck) and does not look kindly on people who try to press stupidity on the uneducated for the sake of socio-political ideals.

Christmas cards are not supposed to come with a hidden agenda. These missives are supposed to uplift humanity, not degrade it. But the Grand High Mystic Ruler of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, wants to stuff your holliday greeting with as much politicizing as possble, damn the outcome.

And what a cobbled-together crock it is! I expected Perkins to pull out all the stops when it came to his Christmas message, but this one barely makes sense: Perkins pastes together all the greeting-card images of the Matthew and Luke Gospels while taking vague jabs at Obama, Afghanistan, same-sex marriage and abortion. The buzz words that fly around are certainly more numerous than the Heavenly Hosts. And it all smacks of the dictum "keep 'em stupid." So here it is - in Tony Perkins own self-righteous words (with some commentary to keep things on solid ground).

God with Us

As we retreat into the peace of this Christmas season, it's a relief to feel the distractions of this world fall away.

Retreat: as in military retreat. Let's talk war from the get-go.

For a few quiet days, Christians everywhere can humbly reflect on the greatest miracle in the history of mankind. In no other religion does the Creator of the universe come down to earth and live among us, His own creatures. 

Huh? Perkins ignores a lot of religions here. Of course, he's never been one to quote scholars accurately. In ancient times there were over twenty dying-and-rising gods to which people prayed, several having virgin births! His revisionist historian, David Barton, must have been feverishly hard at work here.

Yet Jesus came -- not as a king or conqueror -- but as a babe. What greater way could God express His approachability than by coming to earth, His earth, in the form of the most vulnerable creature on the planet? 

Vulnerable? Here our beloved but deluded Tony is taking a swipe at the EPA, saying we're not responsible for things like global warming or the extinction of thousands of species of the more powerful creatures. An image comes to mind: back in the 1800s, people shot buffalo from trains for sport, letting the carcasses rot miles away from Native Americans to make use of. Vulnerable? Gimme a break!

He who would be the King of Kings was sent to us -- not in a royal palace or great Temple -- but in a lowly stable, surrounded by animals. 

He's going for the holostic approach to the Nativity scene here. A trip to Bethlehem will reveal the site: a cave. Not as picturesque as a stable, I grant you, but a big hole in a big rock. Of course, he has to stay with the traditional script in keeping 'em stupid or else he'd seem wierd to his readers, so it has to be magi, shepherds, sheep, stable crowded into one tiny card.

He may not have been a child of wealth or privilege, but Jesus possessed something much more important: a family.

Perkins goes for the main point early and then hammers away at it: every child needs a family which consistists of: a mother and a human stepfather. He'sobviously nervous about DOMA being repealed. And after the demise of DADT...

He grew up -- not in brokenness of this world, but in the loving care of his mother and her husband.

According to scripture, poor Joseph almost didn't go through with marriage to a pregnant woman: "When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with the child of the Holy Ghost. Then Jospeph her husband, being just a man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily." (Matthew 1; 18-20) He certainly didn't want to parade Mary around (so obviously pregnant) too soon. In a way, Joseph was bucking the Christian Right of his day.

"Brokenness" sounds vaguely like a new word coined for the situation like Steven Colbert's "Truthiness." What's he's really saying here: "This crappy world we're living in can be changed if we just keep mandating one-man-one-woman marriages. And go back to the Fabulouse50s." He doesn't mention the very high rate of divorce among Fundamentalists (sssshhh! it's a secret!)

On that silent night -- His first in this new world -- the Messiah's arrival was heralded. But this special birth announcement wasn't shared with the country's elite, but with her excluded. 

Yes, the kings did come, but it was the shepherds who first made their way to that primitive throne. They were summoned to Bethlehem by choirs of angels from the hills, where they were tending their flocks by night. To the people of Palestine, these men and boys were the least important of the Roman Empire. 

The three wise men are portrayed as kings, perhaps to hide the fact that they were illegal aliens. And the shepherds were downgraded. Maybe they weren't much in the Roman Empire, but shepherds were important in Israel: shepherds were guardians of a very necessary and valuable property: sheep.  Why did Jesus preach that we should go after the one stray lamb? Simply because it was too f*ckin' expensive to lose!

But it was to these simple peasants that the heavens proclaimed peace on earth, goodwill to men.

Great Caesar Augustus in Rome was not bidden to come to the stable. Even he, who was worshiped as a god, wasn't given the privilege of seeing the holy infant. But three wise men were brought from afar. They followed a star in the sky until it led them to the place where the Christ child lay. 

Caesar Augustus, as with all Caesars after him, was made a god, but few people actually took it seriously and worhipped him as one: regicide was commonplace at the time and Roman senators and Centurions knew that gods couldn't be killed. Perkins is really referring to our own Barack Obama and the adulation he first received when he became President.

When King Herod, whom the Romans had chosen to rule over Judea, heard from the wise men that a child had been born, one who would rule over His people, Herod ordered his soldiers to find that child and take his life. To protect Herod's power, every baby boy less than two-years-old would be slain. In God's providence, even the slaughter of those innocents could not prevail over the Chosen One. Joseph and Mary were warned by the Angel of the Lord and they fled into Egypt, taking the baby with them. 

Why two years old? Did it take the wise men (down-graded from kings) two years to reach Herod? They didn't have a GPS? And after the birth, who's right, Matthew or Luke (who stated that they went instead to Nazareth)? Notice that Perkins in all his wisdom doesn't explain why God sacrificed all those infants. The narrator, of course, wanted to make a correlation to the Passover before The Exodus, but Perkins knows that metaphor would go way over the heads of his readers.

The Lord God might have sent a fiery chariot to spirit Jesus away. He might have provided a great bird or a giant fish. He might have drowned all of Herod's men or visited them with a plague. Instead, our Father in Heaven entrusted the infant to Mary and Joseph, a mother and a father. The baby Jesus was protected- and the Scriptures fulfilled: The Messiah would come out of Egypt . 

Perkins' imagination gets the better of him with giant birds and fishes. The bird I can understand, but a giant fish? Where was it supposed to take them? On a Disney Cruise? The flight to Egypt being an important part of the Nativity, Perkins makes it into a FAMILY outing, getting in a covert dig to gay adoption.

To us, the ancient story has a terribly modern ring. Powerful rulers determined to do anything to preserve their power -- even promoting and funding the shedding of innocent blood. Earthly kings worshiped as gods. Peace proclaimed on high while violence stalks the streets. 

This is Perkins' biggest pitch. "Look how rotten the country has become: Planned Parenthood, a socialist dictator, and liberal pot-smokers have ruined it!"

But out of all of this is the greatest message ever given to man: God is with us. The miracle is that He didn't just come down from His heavenly home thousands of years ago. He comes today -- to live with us, suffer with us, and- praise God -- to save us.

At the end of an overwhelming year, we can take comfort in the fact that this helpless baby, who came in relative obscurity, will soon return as a triumphant Savior that no one will miss! He won't just be a King among kings- He will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! And unlike the men of this world, He will reign forever and ever! I pray that we all embrace the simplicity of the season and rejoice in the Love reborn each day. From everyone at FRC, we wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Perkins has now gone into a triumphal blast of the Allelujah Chorus for the finish: "King of Kings and Lord of Lords...He will reign forever and ever!" And after all that, we're supposed to believe in "simplicity"?  It's about as "simple" as the Gordian Knot!

It's all too silly, really, but buzz word after buzz word entertains and lulls Perkins' readers into thinking that he's written something profound. 

He hasn't. He's written a slightly covert polemic about the evils  of same-sex marriage and the Obama administration.

But he wants you to buy it, hook, line and manger.