Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Not that it's news anymore

The "kill Hugo Chavez" pronouncement has already been widely reported (even on NPR, where I first heard it) and the maker of that pronouncement is currently the second most popular search on Technorati.

So why am I blogging about it?

Because I was raised up an evangelical, that's why. Or at least I guess that's why. Even if I'm not professing it anymore, it seems to bother the heck out of me to see these people behaving so badly. Especially because of the way in which the Christian right aligns itself with corporate-think and the most repressive politics imaginable.

The good news, I guess, is that the fact that it's being taken up so quickly suggests that it's already being broadly denounced. (It's news not because the reporters agreed with it but because they knew it would get a rise out of people--ie, they knew it would be greeted with outrage.) In other words, most people, even most evangelicals, would be shocked by this news. (And my favorite blog title on this newsbite comes from The Stinkin Desert Post: "Who Would Jesus Assassinate?")

The bad news: it's a big distraction. I mean, look how it's distracting me. Some people (16%, according to an unscientific online survey) will do the Rush/Fox News audience-thing of thinking it's great, funny, yeah. And then all those other outraged people (including me) will blog about it, talk about it, and generally express incredulity. It's an affective moment, but one that only reinforces the affective positions that are already out there.

And that's all I have to say in this big, circular, why-am-I-bothering entry.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Pat Robertson is a lying, manipulative, greedy, self-righteous, pompous windbag. The "ideals" he stands for is one of the many reasons our once great nation has become a paranoid, dillusional and corrupt system. "Let's kill the 'evil-doers' in the name of our 'god', so we can rid the world of evil." Terrorism or Christianity? You be the judge...no, wait...our corporate sponsored, media-centric, "God Fearing" government will be the judge.

Donna said...

Well, Glaven: he apologized. What do you think--should we forgive him?

Anonymous said...

Yes, he apologized. But he wasn't sorry for believing it to be the right course of action. He was sorry he said it in a public forum. Apology or no, forgiveness will not change anything. This elitist/rightwing/corporate/war ideology is a serious problem that mass-media apologies can't change.