Sieg heil!

I caught this on a perusal of Dispatches from the Culture Wars:

Regional revival tackles community standards Pornography, Harry Potter books burned at monthly meeting

About 30 people gathered for a regional revival Friday night that included a book burning as a statement to reach out to local residents.

"It is allowed for Harry Potter to be taught in our schools, but not the Bible," International House of Prayer pastor James Crawford said during the Shreveport Regional Unity of Faith Revival.

There's probably a good reason for that, Mr. IHOP. Kids will actually read Harry Potter.

That is one reason pastors from several denominations and races ripped pages from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Those and pages from a pornographic magazine were put into a burn pit and set afire as praises bellowed from the congregation.

"As I tore the pages, I felt a generational curse of immorality and perversion breaking off my family," Adriane Banks said. "I felt it."

The book burning was a statement to reach out to people in Shreveport-Bossier City against sin, Crawford said.

"This is powerful. God looks down and sees humble hearts. That is the reality of what we're doing."

Crawford said recent natural disasters are a wake-up call.

It blows my mind that they actually think that natural disasters are Harry Potter's fault. He never actually graduated from Hogwart's for chrissake! He dropped out in the last year to look for Voldemort. If he could influence weather, I'm sure it'd be a senior level course. Or require some post-grad work.


that's enough of the cheap shots. There are many. IHOP, for instance. Harry Potter. Biblical inerrancy. Whatever.

I want to talk about book burning. It doesn't fucking work.

Some of my favourite books have been burned. A few I own simply because they were banned. For instance, I've never been actually able to finish Mien Kampf (not only is it crazy, it's pretty badly written), but I own it. Just because some people say I shouldn't be able to. I finished The Communist Manifesto, and while I agree with some of it, its main appeal is the fact that it's been burned. Same with Das Kapital. Book of Mormon. I already had the His Dark Materials books, but I reread them when I found out that they pissed people off.

I vehemently disagree with people who tell me what I can and can't read, can or can't listen to, and can or can't watch. I'll go out and arm myself with these texts, simply out of spite. And there are a lot of people like me, people who value their right to self-censor, or to not, but who abhor the idea of censoring someone else. And as a father, that's a bold fucking statement.

I expect to have some heated discussions with my wife, and some difficult discussions with my daughter (and any other kids that might come along), about what they see, read or listen to. Granted, there'll be few horror movies (and I don't think she'll be watching porn for a while, either) for Mickie until she's older, and no snuff films, and absolutely no Billy Idol, but other than that, I can't imagine why I'd want to shield her from stuff that's difficult, but often beautiful.

Here's a short list of some of my favourite books, bands and movies that have been challenged:

• The Catcher in the Rye
• Johnny Got His Gun
• Roots
• The Gulag Archipelago
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
• The Adventures of Huck Finn
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Of Mice and Men
• Howl
• On The Road Again
• Vernon God Little
• A Clockwork Orange
• The Giver
• The Bluest Eye
• The Color Purple
• The Wars
• Dance Me Outside
• His Dark Materials
• The Merchant of Venice
• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• The Beatles
• N.W.A
• Public Enemy
• Beastie Boys
• KISS
• Guns N' Roses
• Sublime
• Elvis Presley
• Prince
• Marilyn Manson
• American Psycho
• Friday the 13th
• House of 1000 Corpses
• The Notorious Bettie Page
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
• Pulp Fiction
• Reservoir Dogs
• Bowling for Columbine

There are longer lists on the tubes. My list is hardly comprehensive, and I own more that have been challenged. Some of the reasons are dumb, others are interesting. They're all well-intentioned, and they're all wrong.

The cool thing about transmittable culture in text, image or sound, is that people will exchange ideas, and many of the ideas will challenge preconceived notions.

That's good.

There is no growth as a society or as a person unless our ideas, assumptions, faith, or basis of comparison is challenged. Why change, if there's no outside pressure?

And that's the problem here. These idiots don't fear Harry Potter. They are afraid that their kids might read the stupid books and figure out that, first of all, witches aren't real, and second, that they're not always evil. And if they figure out that their parents lied to them about that, then what's next?

God?

Favourite Cover Tunes, ep. 1

First, if you're an American, I didn't spell favourite wrong. You do.

Second, I know I promised this a while ago and never delivered, but this is my gig and I get to do what I want. I have dial-up at work, so this would be interminable.

Anyway, I know you've all been waiting with bated breath (spelled that right, too), so here it is...

Cover Tunes That Are Superior To The Original Recordings

Let's begin with a classic. Elvis. "Suspicious Minds", covered by the Fine Young Cannibals:



I don't know what it is about this version, but FYC is in fine form in this one. The video's kinda neat, too, with the guitar player writhing around like they're on e. And Roland Gift looks crazy, and I really dig his voice.


Second, we get a little CanCon. The Philosopher Kings covering Godley & Creme's "Cry". This is a live version, because they released no video for this. Which is too bad, because they did a couple of sweet videos (I've included "You Stepped On My Life" as evidence).



...and part two...



In addition to having a really smart name, they're a fine R&B/jazz band, and they have composed some of the best sex music ever written. Before I show you "You Stepped On My Life", here's some unbridled horniness which is hot and a bit gross at the same time, much like sex itself.



Who knew snails could be sexy, except to other snails. I also have a bit of man-crush on Gerald Eaton. If I were gay...



Bonus points for having a cool figure skating video.

That's probably enough for now. I owe you eight more. Hopefully, I'll be able to stay more focused in the future. Coming up, Leonard Cohen!

Michael Coren and the Nature of Belief

This is from Michael Coren:"To paraphrase the great British writer G.K. Chesterton, when people stop believing in God they don't believe in nothing, they believe in everything. Quite so.

The credulous and the gullible are having their day. They are deviants, moral worms, intellectual midgets, practitioners of political self-abuse, with the wit of a circus clown, the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the credibility of a gangster."

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Coren_Michael/2007/09/15/4498086-sun.php

Putting aside the fact that Michael Coren is at best a jerk, and more likely an asshole, and the logical fallacy that not believing in God makes you believe in all kinds of crazy things (http://www.secweb.org/index.aspx?action=viewAsset&id=770), I believe in a few things, but not everything.

I don't believe in God. Or Odin. Or Allah. Or Zeus. Or Ra. Or faeries. Or unicorns. Or Hogwarts. Or Gaia. Or any of the other Titans, for that matter. Or Satan. I don't believe that Jesus was god, or the son of god, or the fulfillment of prophesy. I don't believe that if god existed, killing himself would get him to calm down enough so that he could tolerate us and let us into heaven. I don't believe in heaven, either.

I don't believe that the US or Israel brought down the WTC, but they sure as hell made hay while the sun was shining, if you get my drift.

I don't believe that Elvis is still alive, nor is he in Belgium. If he is alive, he's probably in Memphis, because you wouldn't notice another Elvis there. But of course, he's probably not.

I believe that there probably are aliens out there, but they think we're idiots, and probably leave us alone. If they do visit, they're probably more interested in our crazy superstitions than our assholes. Unless we're talking about metaphical assholes, like Coren, and then they might be interested in him. I think he's interesting. Chiefly because he's an asshole.

I believe my senses, and despite what Kant said, I don't think that their limitations prove a world beyond this one. They only prove their limitations, and therefore my own.

I believe that most people are good.I believe that I don't need religion to behave myself.I believe that doing good for its own sake is better than doing it because I'm afraid of burning for eternity.

I believe that all good things in the world come from the world. I believe that all bad things in the world come from the world.I believe that ultimate evil and ultimate good are human constructions, and therefore we are responsible for not only the concept of evil (and good) but also the comission of evil (and good).

I believe that almost all the guilt and shame I carry are leftovers from my god-fearing days.I believe that religion did NOT make me a better person. It made me scared.

I believe that other people find comfort, purpose, solace and joy in faith. I wish them well, but I no longer envy them.

I believe that religion can teach tolerance, love and understanding, and that it can teach hate and prejudice.

believe that Michael Coren is a bigot, and asshole, and an arrogant prick. I believe that if Jesus really were the son of god, then He wouldn't like Michael Coren. Though He would love him, because Christ is supposed to love everybody. Even assholes.