Sympathy For The Devil
"There's a dark side to each and every human soul. We wish we were Obi-Wan Kenobi, and for the most part we are, but there's a little Darth Vader in all of us. Thing is, this ain't no either-or proposition. We're talking about dialectics, the good and the bad merging into us. You can run but you can't hide. My experience? Face the darkness. Stare it down. Own it. As brother Nietzsche said, being human is a complicated gig. So give that ol' dark night of the soul a hug. Howl the eternal yes!" Chris Stevens from Northern Exposure
I'm not what I would consider a political person. I tend to believe that people are going to believe what they want to believe regardless of what I think or do. And it doesn't matter how eloquent I argue, or more to the point for me, how funny I joke, because in the end people believe what they believe with politics (and religion.)
But fuck me.
This Osama Bin Laden thing is crazy when viewed through the distorted lens of social media.
It's like even the most moderate of Christians have traded their New Testament God (Hippie God as I so eloquently put it in my 5th Grade Sunday School Class last year) for the Old Testament God (Angry God with the Kung-Fu Grip as I put it last year.)
Beyond all the God talk though, which is heady shit, the thing that baffles me more than anything else is how the death of Osama Bin Laden can be politicized. How each side uses the death of this figurehead of hate, for their own political gain.
It's fucked up.
Driving to school on Monday Monday after learning about the news (we were late in learning about it at Casa Tinsley) the Elder Boy asked me, "Why is everyone celebrating that someone was killed."
Good question. One that I tried to explain by asking (or making sure) he knew all the facts about September 11. Osama Bin Laden. His part in it all.
The Boy did.
So, again, he asked, "Why is everyone celebrating that someone was killed?"
Fuck if I know. And. Regardless of what I believe.
How do you explain this to a kid who goes to Sunday School and is told that God is Love? Explain that those that served him that proverbial Kool-Aid are in some cases, the ones putting shit out there that seems to indicate that they rejoice in the death of this man.
God is love, indeed.
Not knowing what to say I answered, "It's the flip side of the same coin."
"If we see them on TV celebrating someone being killed we say they are crazy, evil, or worse. Yet many Americans are doing the exact same thing today."
He nodded his head.
"I don't know boy. It's a hard thing to understand. Or know. It's...It's...
insert five second internal debate if I should, or should not censor myself
...really fucked up!"
Until I BLOG again...But what's puzzling you, Is the nature of my game.
I'm not what I would consider a political person. I tend to believe that people are going to believe what they want to believe regardless of what I think or do. And it doesn't matter how eloquent I argue, or more to the point for me, how funny I joke, because in the end people believe what they believe with politics (and religion.)
But fuck me.
This Osama Bin Laden thing is crazy when viewed through the distorted lens of social media.
It's like even the most moderate of Christians have traded their New Testament God (Hippie God as I so eloquently put it in my 5th Grade Sunday School Class last year) for the Old Testament God (Angry God with the Kung-Fu Grip as I put it last year.)
Beyond all the God talk though, which is heady shit, the thing that baffles me more than anything else is how the death of Osama Bin Laden can be politicized. How each side uses the death of this figurehead of hate, for their own political gain.
It's fucked up.
Driving to school on Monday Monday after learning about the news (we were late in learning about it at Casa Tinsley) the Elder Boy asked me, "Why is everyone celebrating that someone was killed."
Good question. One that I tried to explain by asking (or making sure) he knew all the facts about September 11. Osama Bin Laden. His part in it all.
The Boy did.
So, again, he asked, "Why is everyone celebrating that someone was killed?"
Fuck if I know. And. Regardless of what I believe.
How do you explain this to a kid who goes to Sunday School and is told that God is Love? Explain that those that served him that proverbial Kool-Aid are in some cases, the ones putting shit out there that seems to indicate that they rejoice in the death of this man.
God is love, indeed.
Not knowing what to say I answered, "It's the flip side of the same coin."
"If we see them on TV celebrating someone being killed we say they are crazy, evil, or worse. Yet many Americans are doing the exact same thing today."
He nodded his head.
"I don't know boy. It's a hard thing to understand. Or know. It's...It's...
insert five second internal debate if I should, or should not censor myself
...really fucked up!"
Until I BLOG again...But what's puzzling you, Is the nature of my game.
Damn. I'm lucky the kiddos haven't noticed all the goings on as I would not have the right thing to say. These are freaky times at all levels of society. Hopefully there is something of a sanity left for said kids to exist in later... -CMM
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