| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
" \- Prof. Jonez©" |
| Date: |
13 Sep 2005 01:34:30 PM |
| Object: |
Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
SEPTEMBER 9 - 15, 2005
After the Deluge
A God With Whom I Am Not Familiar
by TIM WISE
This is an open letter to the man sitting behind me at La Paz today, in
Nashville, at lunchtime, in the Brooks Brothers shirt:
You don’t know me. But I know you.
I watched you as you held hands with your tablemates at the restaurant where we
both ate this afternoon. I listened as you prayed, and thanked God for the food
you were about to eat, and for your own safety, several hundred miles away from
the unfolding catastrophe in New Orleans.
You blessed your chimichanga in the name of Jesus Christ, and then proceeded to
spend the better part of your meal — and mine, since I was too near your table
to avoid hearing every word — moralistically scolding the people of that
devastated city, heaping scorn on them for not heeding the warnings to leave
before disaster struck. Then you attacked them — all of them, without
distinction, it seemed — for the behavior of a relative handful: those who have
looted items like guns, or big-screen TVs.
I heard you ask, amid the din of your colleagues’ “Amens,” why it was that
instead of pitching in to help their fellow Americans, the people of New Orleans
instead — again, all of them, in your mind — chose to steal and shoot at relief
helicopters.
I watched you wipe salsa from the corners of your mouth, as you nodded agreement
to the statement of one of your friends, her hair neatly coifed, her makeup
flawless, her jewelry sparkling. When you asked, rhetorically, why it was that
people were so much more decent amid the tragedy of 9/11, as compared to the
aftermath of Katrina, she had offered her response, but only after apologizing
for what she admitted was going to sound harsh.
“Well,” Buffy explained. “It’s probably because in New Orleans, it seems to be
mostly poor people, and, you know, they just don’t have the same regard.”
She then added that police should shoot the looters, and should have done so
from the beginning, so as to send a message to the rest that theft would not be
tolerated. You, who had just thanked Jesus for your chips and guacamole, said
you agreed. They should be shot. Praise the Lord.
Your God is one with whom I am not familiar.
Two thoughts: First, it is a very fortunate thing for you, and likely for me,
that my two young children were with me as I sat there, choking back fish tacos
and my own seething rage, listening to you pontificate about ***** you know
nothing about. Have you ever even been to New Orleans? And no, by that I don’t
mean the New Orleans of your company’s sales conference. I don’t mean Emeril’s
New Orleans, or the New Orleans of Uptown Mardi Gras parties.
I mean the New Orleans that is buried as if it were Atlantis, in places like the
lower 9th Ward: 98 percent black, 40 percent poor, where bodies are floating
down the street, flowing with the water as it seeks its own level. Have you met
the people from that New Orleans? The New Orleans that is dying as I write this,
and as you order another sweet tea?
I didn’t think so.
Your God — the one to whom you prayed today, and likely do before every meal,
because this gesture proves what a good Christian you are — is one who you
sincerely believe gives a flying ***** about your lunch. Your God is one who you
seem to believe watches over you and blesses you, and brings good tidings your
way, while simultaneously letting thousands of people watch their homes be
destroyed, and perhaps 10,000 or more die, many of them in the streets for lack
of water or food.
Did you ever stop to think just what a rancid ***** such a God would have to
be, such that he would take care of the likes of you, while letting babies die
in their mothers’ arms, and letting old people die in wheelchairs, at the foot
of Canal Street? But no, it isn’t God who’s the ***** here, Skip (or Brad, or
Braxton, or whatever your name is).
God doesn’t feed you, and it isn’t God that kept me from turning around and
beating your lily-white privileged ***** today either. God has nothing to do with
it. God doesn’t care who wins the Super Bowl. God doesn’t help anyone win an
Academy Award. God didn’t get you your last raise, or your SUV. And if God is
even half as tired as I am of having to listen to self-righteous bastards like
you blame the victims of this nightmare for their fate, then you had best eat
slowly from this point forward.
Why didn’t they evacuate like they were told? Are you serious? There are 100,000
people in that city without cars. Folks who are too poor to own their own
vehicle, and who rely on public transportation every day. I know this might
shock you. They don’t have a Hummer2, or whatever gas-guzzling piece of crap you
probably own.
And no, they didn’t just choose not to own a car because the buses are so
gosh-darned efficient and great, as Rush Limbaugh implied yesterday, and as you
likely heard, since you’re the kind of person who hangs on the every word of
such bloviating hacks as these.
Why did they loot? Are you serious? People are dying, in the streets, on live
television. Fathers and mothers are watching their babies’ eyes bulge in their
skulls from dehydration, and you are begrudging them some goddamned candy bars,
diapers and water? If anything, the poor of New Orleans have exercised
restraint.
Maybe you didn't know it, but the people of that city with whom you likely
identify — the wealthy white folks of Uptown — were barely touched by this
storm. Yeah, I guess God was watching over them: protecting them, and rewarding
them for their faith and superior morality. If the folks downtown who are
waiting desperately for their government to send help — a government whose
resources have been stretched thin by a war that I’m sure you support, because
you love freedom and democracy — were half as crazed as you think, they’d march
down St. Charles Avenue right now and burn every mansion in sight. That they
aren’t doing so suggests a decency and compassion for their fellow man and woman
that, sadly, people like you lack.
Can you even imagine what you would do in their place? Can you imagine what
would happen if it were well-off white folks stranded like this without buses to
get them out, without nourishment, without hope? Putting aside the absurdity of
the imagery — after all, such folks always have the means to seek safety, or the
money to rebuild, or the political significance to ensure a much speedier
response for their concerns — can you just imagine?
Can you imagine what would happen if the pampered, overfed corporate class,
which complains about taxes taking a third of their bloated incomes, had to sit
in the hot sun for four, going on five, days? Without a margarita or hotel
swimming pool to comfort them, I mean?
Oh, and please, I know. I’m stereotyping you. Imagine that. I’ve assumed, based
only on your words, what kind of person you are, even though I suppose I could
be wrong. How does that feel, Biff? Hurt your feelings? So sorry. But, hey, at
least my stereotypes of you aren’t deadly. They won’t affect your life one bit,
unlike the ones you carry around with you and display within earshot of people
like me, supposing that no one could possibly disagree.
But I’m not wrong, am I, Chip? I know you. I see people like you all the time,
in airports, in business suits, on their lunch breaks. People who will take
advantage of any opportunity to ratify and reify their pre-existing prejudices
toward the poor, toward black folks. You see the same three video loops of the
same dozen or so looters on Fox News and you conclude that poor black people are
crazy, immoral, criminal.
You, or others quite a bit like you, are the ones posting messages on chat-room
boards, calling looters subhuman “vermin,” “scum” or “cockroaches.” I heard you
use the word “animals” three times today: you and that woman across from you.
What was it you said as you scooped the last bite of black beans and rice into
your eager mouth? Like zoo animals? Yes, I think that was it.
Well, Chuck, it’s a free country, and so you certainly have the right, I
suppose, to continue lecturing the poor, in between checking your Blackberry and
dropping the kids off at soccer practice. If you want to believe that the poor
of New Orleans are immoral and greedy, and unworthy of support at a time like
this — or somehow more in need of your scolding than whatever donation you might
make to a relief fund — so be it. But let’s leave God out of it, shall we? All
of it.
Your God is one with whom I am not familiar, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.
Tim Wise lived in New Orleans from 1986 to 1996. He is the author of White Like
Me: Reflections on Race From a Privileged Son
.
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| User: "Theodore A. Kaldis" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
13 Sep 2005 07:43:03 PM |
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"Prof. Jonez" wrote:
SEPTEMBER 9 - 15, 2005
After the Deluge
A God With Whom I Am Not Familiar
That's obvious.
by TIM WISE
[Blah, blah, blah ...]
This man is an idiot. There is nothing noble about those looters, nor is
there any shame in affluence. It wasn't their poverty that led those looters
to loot, but rather their low moral character.
--
Theodore A. Kaldis
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| User: " \- Prof. Jonez©" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
14 Sep 2005 10:29:15 AM |
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Theodore A. Kaldis wrote:
"Prof. Jonez" wrote:
SEPTEMBER 9 - 15, 2005
After the Deluge
A God With Whom I Am Not Familiar
That's obvious.
by TIM WISE
[Blah, blah, blah ...]
This man is an idiot. There is nothing noble about those looters,
nor is there any shame in affluence. It wasn't their poverty that
led those looters to loot, but rather their low moral character.
So what led you to bash homosexuals with a tyre iron ...?
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| User: "Theodore A. Kaldis" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
14 Sep 2005 11:37:22 AM |
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"Prof. Jonez" wrote:
Theodore A. Kaldis wrote:
"Prof. Jonez" wrote:
SEPTEMBER 9 - 15, 2005
After the Deluge
A God With Whom I Am Not Familiar
That's obvious.
by TIM WISE
[Blah, blah, blah ...]
This man is an idiot. There is nothing noble about those looters, nor is
there any shame in affluence. It wasn't their poverty that led those
looters to loot, but rather their low moral character.
So what led you to bash homosexuals with a tyre iron ...?
Nothing. I have never done any such thing.
--
Theodore A. Kaldis
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
13 Sep 2005 02:03:42 PM |
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If "God" exists, I don't know if (he|she|it) is racist or not, nor do I
really care. I doubt if there is such a thing, but even if there is,
little I can do about it.
On the other hand, the type of person you describe here is all too
frighteningly real. I'd advocate something I've done myself (and gotten
in a bit of trouble for)- the next time you see someone behaving this
way, call them out on it! No one is entitled to be this stupid in
public without being challenged.
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| User: "rightwinghank" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
13 Sep 2005 02:47:05 PM |
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New Orleans.....who cares? We don't.
The city is populated by amoral lazy poor black.....the city is visited
by homosexuals....who have sex in the streets...and by parades and
celebrations of amoral behavior........
These people died because they are sinful lazy and amoral....and had
they listed to the govt.. they would have
been OK....but being lawless and shiftless...they did not and died for
it.
God destroyed this sin city..no two ways about it.
You sir...sound like and angry black man...who still did not get
over his slavery past....and
wants to use it for and excuse not to work hard or obey the laws.
You would hurt or kill a man who was only speaking freely....as
granted by his first amendment rights.....
which is a typical liberal understanding of American freedoms.
I suggest that you go back to Africa or go to Canada.....since you hate
America so very much...
love
hank
.....................................................
.
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| User: "LC" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
13 Sep 2005 04:23:34 PM |
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"rightwinghank" <rightwinghank@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1126640825.525920.249090@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
New Orleans.....who cares? We don't.
The city is populated by amoral lazy poor black.....the city is visited
by homosexuals....who have sex in the streets...and by parades and
celebrations of amoral behavior........
These people died because they are sinful lazy and amoral....and had
they listed to the govt.. they would have
been OK....but being lawless and shiftless...they did not and died for
it.
God destroyed this sin city..no two ways about it.
Gotta love loons like "rightardhank".
They've got one of theirs in charge, a friendly Congress, and the
opportunity to stack the SCOTUS...yet, they're still pissed at the world.
Too funny.
LC~ Loves when crazies like 'hank' spread their idiocy around. As they say:
No one's totally useless. They can always serve as a bad example.
"Swinehood hath no remedy." ~ Sidney Lanier
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| User: "The other Donald" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
13 Sep 2005 05:08:29 PM |
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"LC" <LCain't@this.com> wrote in message
news:qrHVe.793$Gy3.323@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
"rightwinghank" <rightwinghank@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1126640825.525920.249090@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
New Orleans.....who cares? We don't.
The city is populated by amoral lazy poor black.....the city is visited
by homosexuals....who have sex in the streets...and by parades and
celebrations of amoral behavior........
These people died because they are sinful lazy and amoral....and had
they listed to the govt.. they would have
been OK....but being lawless and shiftless...they did not and died for
it.
God destroyed this sin city..no two ways about it.
Gotta love loons like "rightardhank".
They've got one of theirs in charge, a friendly Congress, and the
opportunity to stack the SCOTUS...yet, they're still pissed at the world.
Too funny.
LC~ Loves when crazies like 'hank' spread their idiocy around. As they
say:
No one's totally useless. They can always serve as a bad example.
I was just trying to figure out if the 'Subject' line was a misspelling of
"racist" or "rancid."
Everyone knows that rightardhank is an idiot.
--
-Donald in Austin
AA #2104
Apatriot #22
Atheist FF/EMT
.....and ordained minister
Stork pin recipient: May 1, 2003 -Madelyn
-Mr. Worf, set phasers on "***** You" and fire at will. -Doc Smartass
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| User: "Misleart Chuff" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
14 Sep 2005 01:23:25 PM |
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"The other Donald" <the_donald_13@yahooY.com> wrote in message
news:x5IVe.7761$h02.396@tornado.texas.rr.com...
[snip]
: I was just trying to figure out if the 'Subject' line was a
misspelling of
: "racist" or "rancid."
Both, I'd say...like stupility (friend accidentally coined it).
: Everyone knows that rightardhank is an idiot.
Who is this Everyone character? I don't recall seeing any posts from
them. I hope more than just Everyone knows that rightardhank is an
idiot.......
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| User: "Bill Aimes" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
13 Sep 2005 03:14:02 PM |
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With your history of virulent racist screeds, one might want to question
your relationship with "God".
"rightwinghank" <rightwinghank@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1126640825.525920.249090@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
New Orleans.....who cares? We don't.
The city is populated by amoral lazy poor black.....the city is visited
by homosexuals....who have sex in the streets...and by parades and
celebrations of amoral behavior........
These people died because they are sinful lazy and amoral....and had
they listed to the govt.. they would have
been OK....but being lawless and shiftless...they did not and died for
it.
God destroyed this sin city..no two ways about it.
You sir...sound like and angry black man...who still did not get
over his slavery past....and
wants to use it for and excuse not to work hard or obey the laws.
You would hurt or kill a man who was only speaking freely....as
granted by his first amendment rights.....
which is a typical liberal understanding of American freedoms.
I suggest that you go back to Africa or go to Canada.....since you hate
America so very much...
love
hank
....................................................
.
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| User: "Misleart Chuff" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
13 Sep 2005 03:36:28 PM |
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Oh, come now, he's the spitting image...drool and all.
"Bill Aimes" <baimes@i-s-e.com> wrote in message
news:eqGVe.372$Ob2.326@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
: With your history of virulent racist screeds, one might want to
question
: your relationship with "God".
:
:
:
:
: "rightwinghank" <rightwinghank@hotmail.com> wrote in message
: news:1126640825.525920.249090@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
: > New Orleans.....who cares? We don't.
: > The city is populated by amoral lazy poor black.....the city is
visited
: > by homosexuals....who have sex in the streets...and by parades and
: > celebrations of amoral behavior........
: > These people died because they are sinful lazy and amoral....and
had
: > they listed to the govt.. they would have
: > been OK....but being lawless and shiftless...they did not and died
for
: > it.
: > God destroyed this sin city..no two ways about it.
: > You sir...sound like and angry black man...who still did not
get
: > over his slavery past....and
: > wants to use it for and excuse not to work hard or obey the laws.
: > You would hurt or kill a man who was only speaking
freely....as
: > granted by his first amendment rights.....
: > which is a typical liberal understanding of American freedoms.
: >
: > I suggest that you go back to Africa or go to Canada.....since you
hate
: > America so very much...
: >
: >
: > love
: > hank
: > ....................................................
: >
:
:
.
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| User: "hiyahumans" |
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| Title: Re: Is God a racid ***** ? <= must read |
13 Sep 2005 02:04:09 PM |
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Prof.Jonez
very true.if this cant say it all nothing else can
luk
a concerned earthling
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