You know that old saying, “The south shall rise again”? Well, despite earlier reports, I think it’s already risen. And its grand wizard is leading our country. And there’s something funny about it, too, because a lot of the people I know who support him do so not so much because of his politics but (more importantly) because of his religion. He’s a good Christian, they say. He’s for sure a better Christian than that liar Clinton, they say without the slightest hint of irony.
The other day, I got into a discussion about The Pianist with a person who supports Bush primarily on the basis that he’s a good Christian. This person, a Catholic, has neither seen the movie nor read the book but heard on a Christian radio show how extraordianary it was that a German soldier, a Christian German soldier, helped Szpilman in the end. The person I was talking to was very proud of the fact that it was a Christian who helped save this Polish Jew. And while I believe that Capt. Hosenfeld may have been a saint among sinners, it’s not as if he was the only Christian in the whole German army. What I didn’t say because I was tired and didn’t want to have that discussion in the first place was that Adolf Hitler was raised a Catholic. And although he was only loosely identified as a Christian by the time he took over Germany, the majority of the people running his killing machine were Christian.
Which just goes to show that you can call yourself whatever you want, but your actions are what truly define you.
9 responses so far ↓
1 ari // Jul 17, 2003 at 1:50 pm
amen.
2 linzey // Jul 17, 2003 at 3:10 pm
ugh, the irony of it all is what pisses me off so much. among all the wars and fighting bullshit, we (americans) are the ones that are right because we are called by a higher power…
i read that he was called by a higher power to be in office. i guess that is his justifications for his illegal actions in Florida.
i thought this was america because religion and politics weren’t mixed. apparently, i was wrong.
3 karen // Jul 18, 2003 at 2:41 pm
ari took the words right out of my mouth.
4 ari // Jul 18, 2003 at 2:55 pm
weird. I just stumbled across this comment in this interview of author Sherman Alexie:
You’re Catholic, right?
Yeah.
Does it bug you that Dubya touts his Christianity so obnoxiously?
It’s just to win votes. He doesn’t operate by any sort of Christian morals or standards.
It’s all PR?
Yeah, his religion is PR, exactly.
5 michaelbrown // Jul 18, 2003 at 3:26 pm
Now that’s just an all-around great interview. Thanks for the link, Ari.
6 Andrew // Jul 18, 2003 at 8:57 pm
You’re exactly right…your actions define who and what you are. And I would say that the President’s actions have been above board. Don’t get petty over these things just because you’re upset over the “Florida Fiasco”. Please remember, that in an independent counting of the votes done by ABC (a “liberal” corporation) that President Bush came out the undisputed winner. Thank you…now shut up.
7 michaelbrown // Jul 19, 2003 at 4:13 pm
Why is it that so few Bush supporters are able to have a civilized argument without resorting to rudeness or name-calling (or war)? And who’s still upset about Florida? That was years ago. Bush has done far more damage since then and promises to do a whole lot more during his re-election campaign. But for what it’s worth, you’re right that Bush won Florida by an “undisputed” 537 votes. What bothered me was that the system elected him, not the majority of voters. But this is such a tired debate now anyway so who cares?
8 ari // Jul 19, 2003 at 8:39 pm
It must be neat to say “Don’t get petty” and “Thank you…now shut up” in the same breath without realizing the contradiction. How convenient! No e-mail or url are posted either, so maybe Andrew should have included a stern lecture about accountability, to flesh out his idiom.
9 andy // Jul 20, 2003 at 12:16 am
Michael Brown petty? That’s about as much of a laugh as George Bush having “undisputedly” won the election.
Because Michael Brown is about as far from petty as I can imagine, I’ll be petty instead. I’m so f*cking tired of conservatives who tell people to get over the 2000 election. I’d disagree with Michael that it’s too old a debate to bring up. I’m still very pissed about it. There was a coup d’etat. You don’t “get over” the ruin of a functioning (imperfectly though it may be) democracy. There is a time to forgive and forget. And it isn’t yet. Jeb Bush took 91,000 voters off the Florida ballots, claiming they were felons. Most of them black, most of them democrats, and fewer than 10% of them really criminal.
I hope someday I’m able to give my brother a present as nice as the Presidency.
So, Andrew, pull your head out of your butt. If you think everything Dubya has done in his presidency has been above board, you clearly have absolutely no clue what is going on in the world.
Sorry for the rant, Michael.
Leave a Comment