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Posted: April 22nd, 2008 at 8:44pm By: Lynne Bundesen
Where to start? I live in interesting times, indeed. Mrs. Clinton (or is it Senator Clinton or Hillary; no one seems to have consensus on that) promises to make me take health care insurance even if I rely on spiritual healing—a plan that, if it is as she says, violates the First Amendment to the Constitution. That Amendment says; Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. But perhaps that will not happen; perhaps if it does some voice will speak to the Court and rights upheld.
I live in interesting times, indeed. My media heroes are gone, replaced by talking heads and grinning women wearing more lipstick than makes sense who ask inane questions over and over, and over. But, there is hope in C-Span.
Once upon a time, before the worldwide dissemination of images, the devil was portrayed in words or paintings as a tortured figure, red, with horns and often carrying a pitchfork. Now, the devil is not a graphic singular figure but trivialization—making big issues inconsequential, horrors and injustices frivolous.
Wear a flag pin? Asked by someone not wearing a flag pin: the Devil as hypocritical slanderer. Email chains asserting a candidate is a secret Muslim; The Devil going to and for across the earth as in the Book of Job. Voters denied a vote through broken machines or false registrations and nothing to be done: trivial to have thousands denied a voice. Churches involved in politics, healing put on the back burner. Supporting selective wars with thousands and thousands dead rather than raising the dead. We do live in interesting times.
It’s a long way from the Galilean Hills to Yankee Stadium and in those days between much has changed. It’s not just that we have gone from homespun cloth and sandals to intricately woven robes and a crown but from how to become more Godlike to how to make our money last past retirement, from not worrying about what we should eat or what we should put on to whether to go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s or can we get to the Farmer’s Market instead.
I worry about the flood of cable media and my inability to stay away from election coverage while there is a woman in Darfur or Zimbabwe who is fleeing for her life and wondering where her next meal comes from. There is
no more “over there” in this wired world but there are still starving children in Asia and Africa. The devil of trivialization fills the gap between those who have and those who do not. It’s a long way from thinking someone different might be a witch or was infected by Satan to the trivialization of patriotism, a long way from professing spirituality to raising the dead. But we might as well not be shy in exposing the red horned figure, slander, now disguised as a “probing question” or a daily convenience in the midst of others starvation?
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Where to start? I live in interesting times, indeed. Mrs. Clinton (or is it Senator Clinton or Hillary; no one seems to have consensus on that) promises to make me take health care insurance even if I rely on spiritual healing—a plan that, if it is as she says, violates the First Amendment to the Constitution. That Amendment says; Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. But perhaps that will not happen; perhaps if it does some voice will speak to the Court and rights upheld.
I live in interesting times, indeed. My media heroes are gone, replaced by talking heads and grinning women wearing more lipstick than makes sense who ask inane questions over and over, and over. But, there is hope in C-Span.
Once upon a time, before the worldwide dissemination of images, the devil was portrayed in words or paintings as a tortured figure, red, with horns and often carrying a pitchfork. Now, the devil is not a graphic singular figure but trivialization—making big issues inconsequential, horrors and injustices frivolous.
Wear a flag pin? Asked by someone not wearing a flag pin: the Devil as hypocritical slanderer. Email chains asserting a candidate is a secret Muslim; The Devil going to and for across the earth as in the Book of Job. Voters denied a vote through broken machines or false registrations and nothing to be done: trivial to have thousands denied a voice. Churches involved in politics, healing put on the back burner. Supporting selective wars with thousands and thousands dead rather than raising the dead. We do live in interesting times.
It’s a long way from the Galilean Hills to Yankee Stadium and in those days between much has changed. It’s not just that we have gone from homespun cloth and sandals to intricately woven robes and a crown but from how to become more Godlike to how to make our money last past retirement, from not worrying about what we should eat or what we should put on to whether to go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s or can we get to the Farmer’s Market instead.
I worry about the flood of cable media and my inability to stay away from election coverage while there is a woman in Darfur or Zimbabwe who is fleeing for her life and wondering where her next meal comes from. There is
no more “over there” in this wired world but there are still starving children in Asia and Africa. The devil of trivialization fills the gap between those who have and those who do not. It’s a long way from thinking someone different might be a witch or was infected by Satan to the trivialization of patriotism, a long way from professing spirituality to raising the dead. But we might as well not be shy in exposing the red horned figure, slander, now disguised as a “probing question” or a daily convenience in the midst of others starvation?
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