Friday, May 06, 2005

black hats

I've had a problem all my life trying to understand what is going on in the minds of people who are obviously doing something evil but seem to believe they are doing something good. There is more 'revolution' than 'evolution' in my thoughts, because I keep returning to older ideas, abandoning them when they again prove unsatisfying.

I think I respect anyone whose walk and talk are in synch - I may not like them, but I respect them. Unrepentant bad guys are at least consistent. It's bad guys who pretend they are good who disgust me... they're too weak to even own up to their own actions. Like this guy:

East Waynesville Baptist asked nine members to leave. Now 40 more have left the church in protest. Former members say Pastor Chan Chandler gave them the ultimatum, saying if they didn't support George Bush, they should resign or repent. The minister declined an interview with News 13. But he did say "the actions were not politically motivated." There are questions about whether the bi-laws were followed when the members were thrown out.

Truly doing God's work there, aren't you Pastor Fucktard? Anyone who has read Christian doctrine and has more than a third-grade reading ability could find a hundred things wrong with this. But this isn't just anybody - he's a pastor, a word that literally means 'shepherd', someone who has set themselves up as an expert on matters spiritual and doctrinal.

He's also just a symptom of a larger disease. Our country is treading on dangerous ground right now, and it's not even interesting dangerous ground - throughout history all tyrannies have been based on fear and fundamentalism. But like Pastor Fucktard, the US has tried to set itself up as an icon of a higher ideal, and this makes our current state that much more deplorable. We can talk the talk, but when it comes down to crunch time leaders of every organization from the federal government down to the Cub Scouts waste no time in turning their back on their supposed ideals.

The worst part of it is related to the news blurb above - shepherds only find occupation where there are sheep that need tending. But I guess it could be argued that if a credo based on personal choice and responsibility has 'followers', something isn't right in the first place.

[via Daily KOS]