The wrong kind of Christianity
But for us, the only absolute standard of behavior is the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. Repeatedly in the Gospels, we find that the Love Commandment takes precedence when it conflicts with laws… Following a Lord who reached out in compassion to all human beings, we oppose amending the Constitution in a way that would humiliate homosexuals.
Not for one Dave Sloan, though. Unless you are prepared to humiliate people, then you aren’t a real Christian at all. Apparently, that’s “liberal social activism… but will never pass for Christianity.”
Here’s to the boring ones
A bit pompous maybe…
Here’s to the boring ones.
The bland.
The tedious.
The vapid.
The square pegs in the square holes.
The ones who can’t see further than the ends of their noses.
They’re fond of rules.
And they worship Status Quo.
You can yawn at them, agree with them, forget them,
go along with them or be forced to accept them.
About the only thing you can’t do is have an alternative.
Because they keep things the same.
They stagnate. They hold back. They fester.
They decline. They expire.
They hold the human race back.
Maybe they have to be boring.
How else can you stare at Vin Diesel and see art
Or listen to Britney Spears and hear beautiful music?
Or gaze at another country and want to conquer it?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them at the boring ones, we see them as a ticket to a fat back hander.
Because the people who are boring enough to the think they can
hold the world back, are the ones who inherit the earth.
On Remoteness (a.k.a. Intellectuality)
Anonymous said, to Kristina…
You mix the intellectuality of your husband with relatable, down-to-earth views.
An unusually blunt statement. The word ‘intellectual’ has many meanings, not all of them positive. On one hand, I think society has a peculiar opinion that intelligence is somehow a good thing, which is connected to the belief that impressing other people is the same as success. I’ve been accused of being intelligent, but as far as I can tell, that just means I have to take the long way to arrive at the same conclusions as everyone else. But I very rarely measure people relative to myself, since I mostly feel uninvolved with people. I’m very interested in people, but mainly in the social forces that create a personality, which are interesting to me because they are so much more powerful than any one individual. The natural consequence of this interest is that I seem so remote from any individual experience, and that comes across as insulting. Taking an interest in people means asking how work was, not what social forces shaped their choice of career, but that remoteness from most people’s everyday life is my everyday life, and that is what I write about in my blog just like everyone. Its pretty normal for me to feel like I’m talking about cooking around people who have never seen a kitchen before, which I think is fine, because everyone has a different experience. It so happens that I’m off in my own world most of the time, and I don’t really expect other people to want to follow.
And that’s OK. The way I see it, if you don’t really get what I’m talking about, you want to find out or it doesn’t really matter to you, but one way or another, it works out. If its boring to you, you shouldn’t feel obligated to read it just because you found a link to me on someone’s blogroll. I write about things that are relevant to me, and if they seem interesting but unclear, you can leave comments and ask questions, just like any other blog. Or not. The channels of communication are open and that should seem like an implicit invitation to participate, but maybe that’s the issue. Some of the things I talk about may be very abstract and “intellectual”, and if you don’t feel capable of participating in that conversation, it might make you feel stupid. I don’t think it should, but I also don’t think its any of my business how you feel about yourself. I could make my writing more accessible and down-to-earth, but why? You either want to understand or you don’t. The latter is the more popular choice, but both are equally valid.
At least part of the reason why I write in this blog is because I believe there are many things that go on in the interior that people can’t talk about. Some things are nearly impossible to describe in words, but I that’s exactly what I’m trying to do. Its no wonder that it comes across as remote, alien, complicated and unrelatable; I’m trying to make language do something that it usually isn’t used for, to describe what goes on in the tangled mass for neurons that passes for conciousness. It seems like a worthwhile thing to do to me, but I would be surprised if it meant very much to most people.