Friday, February 13, 2015

FRIDAY 'ROUND-THE-HORN.

  I thought yesterday's First Things article -- about how, thanks to 50 Shades of Grey, BDSM will lead followers to the Church, thereby reversing the usual pattern -- would be an anomaly. But now I see it's becoming a wingnut-Christian trope, executed today by Mollie Hemingway, who I guess is the new The Anchoress. At least Hemingway starts with a perfectly entertaining review of the film; she finds the sex scenes "pretty tame" and names other BDSM-themed stories she prefers, which as a former Catholic I appreciate. But then:
Anyway — if, as a character written by G. K. Chesterton said, “Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God,” let’s ponder what women who are into this awful literature are seeking.
Ugh, that quote again -- and I might have known it was Chesterton, that's how the more high-class God-botherers always announce themselves.
I want to say this before the days when such statements are branded hate-speech worthy of re-education camp...
And the same goes for ridiculous persecution fantasies.
...but a hell of a lot of women would, if forced to choose, prefer to be in a loving committed relationship with a dude than get successively better office jobs on the way to the corner office.
Also, they'd rather go to heaven and lounge on clouds all day than go to your liberal-secular schools. Thereafter Hemingway just spools out the usual bullshit: Girls who try to make something more of themselves than dutiful wifemothers end up bitter hags with frozen eggs; men are boycotting marriage because of bitter hags with frozen eggs; women don't want feminism, they "want to be lost in a relationship, completely submitting to a man who is dangerous enough to need rescue but loving enough to notice what makes them beautiful," etc. Well, one good thing may come of this; in future, Jesus-friendly films like God's Not Dead will have a lot more nudity, and missals may come with bodice-ripping illustrations and Fabio on the cover as Jesus.

•   I don't usually pimp books here, mainly because I'm sub-literate, but I can say this about Dead is Better, by my wife's friend Jo Perry: If you liked my own neo-noir Morgue for Whores (and if you haven't read that, what's stopping you), you'll probably like this. Actually, that's not a pre-condition -- Dead is less grimy and sleazy than my novel, which surprisingly does not make it less interesting. The narrator is a dead guy, murdered, and he's just getting the hang of the afterworld. He figures out how to locomote in his new "frictionless" plane of existence, and even to hitch rides in cars, pretty quickly, but he's slower to make sense of what he's learning about the people he left behind in meat world -- and of the dog, also dead, who appears to have adopted him. Murder, mystery, redemption -- all that. Oh, and very sharp writing. Have a look.

•   It's become de rigueur for conservatives to defend Scott Walker's college performance -- we Charlie Pierce fans call this "the C-plus Augustus maneuver." Jonah Goldberg ups the ante and defends Walker's punt on evolution. Goldberg calls it "Darwinism," a popular schtick among the brethren, and says no fair you're trying to make us look dumb:
To borrow a phrase from the campus left, Darwinism is used to “otherize” certain people of traditional faith — and the politicians who want their vote.
Same thing with those citizens whose Constitutional right to treat epilepsy with leeches is mocked by them there pointy-heads. Then Goldberg gives his own I-din't-come-from-no-monkey speech on grounds of moral grandeur:
Beneath the surface, the salience of evolution as a political football is ultimately about the status of man. Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or divine standard, or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?
A God that works through evolution -- why, it's too fantastic to even contemplate, just like universal health care. How I'd love to see the big courtroom scene in Inherit the Wind re-written for Goldberg -- especially if they replaced Brady's Bible citations with quotes from Animal House and "he who smelt it dealt it."

251 comments:

  1. In lieu of a specific response, here's a Shorter Every Fucker Who Writes About Pop Culture & Politics:

    This recently popular thing confirms everything that I already believed about society.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Neddy Merrill10:07 AM

    "want to be lost in a relationship, completely submitting to a man who
    is dangerous enough to need rescue but loving enough to notice what
    makes them beautiful,"


    I know that's the man of my dreams.

    ReplyDelete
  3. lawguy10:11 AM

    Wait who wrote about the every guy at a whorehouse is looking for god line? Bruce Marshall or G.K. Chesterton?

    ReplyDelete
  4. susanoftexas10:27 AM

    Which is it--worship of the superior rich people or fantasies of endless shopping?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tocqueville.

    ReplyDelete
  6. If women are really seeking submission, there's a religion which has a name that translates to English as submission... Why settle for anything less?

    Cue conservative Christian head explosions!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I hear dubious consent billionaire dinosaur porn is all the rage.

    ReplyDelete
  8. NonyNony10:35 AM

    but a hell of a lot of women would, if forced to choose, prefer to be in
    a loving committed relationship with a dude than get successively
    better office jobs on the way to the corner office.


    So would a lot of men. If forced to choose, I certainly would pick my marriage over the corporate rat race if I had to pick one or the other.

    What has always fascinated me about anti-feminists is how they seem to think that "women shouldn't be shut out of a line of work that they want to work in just because they're women" is the same as "all women must put their soul-crushing jobs before everything else" and then proceed to beat that strawman to death.

    At first I thought it was because it's just easier to argue against a strawman, and that's some of it. But now I also think that they have this weird definition of masculinity that means that all "real men" should be working at soul-destroying jobs and put their jobs before their families if they have to make a choice of one or the other. It would be weird if I really thought that they meant it when they cry about "family values".

    ReplyDelete
  9. susanoftexas10:36 AM

    Gives a new meaning to the word boner.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Feminism seeks to remove that "forced to choose" corollary.

    ReplyDelete
  11. NonyNony10:39 AM

    Wait - is that porn involving a billionaire and a dinosaur or porn involving a dinosaur who is a billionaire?

    I'm not going to Google any of these things for fear of what will turn up.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Reading the police blotters, it's pretty safe to assume that any man starting a church is looking for whores, by which I mean luggage lifters.

    ReplyDelete
  13. All this door knocking and bell ringing. I think I need to rethink Donne's Meditation XVII.

    ReplyDelete
  14. susanoftexas10:41 AM

    I always suspected there was something going on behind the scenes in the Babar books. That elephant was too human.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I want to say this before the days when such statements are branded hate-speech worthy of re-education camp...

    Kinky! I can't wait for the movie, Ilsa, She-Wolf of the PC Police.

    ReplyDelete
  16. susanoftexas10:44 AM

    Grammar Police Woman starring Angie Dickenson.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ted the slacker10:46 AM

    I do like how someone who clearly has a problem with women thinking about sex is compelled to write a lengthy essay on 50 Shades.
    What were you thinking, sister?

    ReplyDelete
  18. If you read only one dubious consent billionaire dinosaur gay porn story this year...

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00MCVVH6G?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1

    ReplyDelete
  19. swkellogg10:47 AM

    Jimmy Swaggart.

    ReplyDelete
  20. It's popular, therefore it must signal that conservatism is popular as well. The movement can never fail.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hemingway is an ass: I want to say this before the days when such statements are branded hate-speech worthy of re-education camp..

    ReplyDelete
  22. Behind the Kale-Green Door

    ReplyDelete
  23. Back to the topic of BDSM, do you fantasize about spanking that ass?

    ReplyDelete
  24. The Story of O . . . m'gawd I can't believe you just said that.

    ReplyDelete
  25. The last time I knocked on the door of a brothel, I was looking for directions to the opium den. To each his own, I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  26. carolannie10:56 AM

    I would agree with the wealth porn. There are tons of romances out there that elaborate on the bedding, clothing (including brand names), and house furnishings, so much so that it seems that sex can only occur if you first take off your brand name coat, brand name clothing, brand name shoes in your brand name architect designed house.

    ReplyDelete
  27. susanoftexas10:59 AM

    Suffering is good for the soul, so they say.

    ReplyDelete
  28. https://02varvara.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/00-grumpy-cat-cartoon-02-09-131.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  29. The Story of Obama... damn, given their fantasies about the guy, this would be a disturbing one, first the masochistic fantasy, then the revenge porn.

    Oh, it's already be written, released under various titles: American Thinker, World Net Daily, Free Republic...

    ReplyDelete
  30. Ted the slacker11:02 AM

    50 Shades is popular. Conservatism is popular. Therefore 50 shades is conservative.
    Science, y'all.

    ReplyDelete
  31. No need, just go to a brothel.

    Heh, get thee to a nunnery.

    ReplyDelete
  32. randomworker11:11 AM

    The Devil in Mrs. Jindal?

    ReplyDelete
  33. susanoftexas11:17 AM

    Oh it's been done. I have to link to my site because the original has been scrubbed. http://agonyin8fits.blogspot.com/2009/01/okay-thats-just-creepy.html

    ReplyDelete
  34. Cato the Censor11:18 AM

    “Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God,”
    So God = paid for sex?

    ReplyDelete
  35. redoubtagain11:18 AM

    Sa'udi America, where women can't drive.

    ReplyDelete
  36. A little inside, but: Geez Roy, you got Smashwords to distribute to Apple? Any time I tried to get that wretched site to distribute anything, all I got was a long list of errors and a message from Mark Coker that if I complain, it must be because I hate poor people.

    ReplyDelete
  37. susanoftexas11:20 AM

    Why does Mollie Hemmingway want American women to convert to Islam???

    ReplyDelete
  38. Marion in Savannah11:24 AM

    I'm almost afraid to ask how you knew that existed...

    ReplyDelete
  39. Thereafter Hemingway just spools out the usual bullshit: Girls who try
    to make something more of themselves than dutiful wifemothers end up
    bitter hagsLongtime published columnist, senior editor at The Federalist ... Jeez, Mollie, maybe you shouldn't be so tough on yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  40. coozledad11:28 AM

    It was Dick Van Patten. "Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel needs to get a phone".

    ReplyDelete
  41. Ted the slacker11:29 AM

    “Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God,”
    No wonder they have so many chapels in Vegas.

    ReplyDelete
  42. susanoftexas11:33 AM

    Throw in some food porn and you'll have a bestseller.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I am aware of all internet traditions.

    ReplyDelete
  44. swkellogg11:57 AM

    I am oddly titillated.

    ReplyDelete
  45. What's all this about boycotts, divestment, sanctions, and masochism?
    ~

    ReplyDelete
  46. I'd like to help you out Cato, but I just read, blink, reread, blink, read again, blink and simply find myself unable to cypher the meaning of those words as they are strung together.

    I can only pray that there is some context unbeknownst to us that adds gravity to this line...

    I mean does "Every man who reaches for the lotion and his favorite sock is looking for God" make anymore sense?
    ...

    ReplyDelete
  47. The only way the 50 Shades movie is going to drive people to church is if they go in to pray for better movies.

    ReplyDelete
  48. edroso12:14 PM

    I didn't do nuffings -- Smashwords handled all that. I am too childish-foolish for this world.

    ReplyDelete
  49. And you thought that was his trunk?

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  50. sharculese12:19 PM

    Right. The correct answer to the bullshit Hemmingway's peddling is, "but a lot of the wouldn't, and you're the one who seems to have a problem with this, so maybe look into getting the fuck over it."

    ReplyDelete
  51. sharculese12:20 PM

    9 times out of 10 quoting Chesterton is like announcing you're terrified people will find out you don't actually read books.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Family Values was never meant to mean anything resembling valuing families.

    It serves as a dogwhistle, a sop to soccer moms, or whatever group of moderates they are attempting to convince today, and a cudgel to beat the great unwashed about the head and shoulders with 'cause they don't have any.

    And for the members of the great unwashed who are foolish enough to believe themselves on a team, it gives them a lift, a pride of place.

    Every phrase out of the conservative playbook can generally taken to mean the exact opposite of what the words used to compose it would seem to indicate.

    ....

    ReplyDelete
  53. DocAmazing12:21 PM

    Leave it to Jonah to find a way to make "dumb" seem like a compliment. Jonah, the reason that those UK journos asked Walker about evolution is because forcing him to spell "cat" on television would have been seen as cruel.

    ReplyDelete
  54. BG, puppet making crank calls12:25 PM

    "Beneath the surface, the salience of evolution as a political football is ultimately about the status of man. Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or divine standard, or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?"



    Dear Jonah,


    You are a single human living on a planet inhabited by billions of humans. This planet revolves around a single star in a galaxy of billions of stars. That galaxy is one of billions in our universe; each of those galaxies is comprised of billions of stars.


    I think the answer to your question is obvious to anyone who doesn't have his head up his ass, but let me answer it by asking you a question: do you think the forces at work in the universe give a shit who wins the Super Bowl?


    Sincerely,
    BG

    ReplyDelete
  55. sharculese12:25 PM

    Was thinking about this just the other night- I grew up with fairly liberal parents on the bleeding edge of Atlanta's white northern wastes, still in civilized country but within throwing distance of the exurban horror show, and yet somehow it was my hippy dippy family who sat down to a hot meal together most nights of the week while my friends whose parents blathered on about family values couldn't say the same.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Gromet12:26 PM

    A clever madame trying to drum up business.

    ReplyDelete
  57. sharculese12:29 PM

    That is some shit-crap writing, I'll tell you what.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Gromet12:30 PM

    Darwinism is used to “otherize” certain people of traditional faith — and the politicians who want their vote.


    All part of our long-range plan to bring back segregated drinking fountains, but this time along moron/non-moron lines.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Gromet12:34 PM

    I want to cheer this comment as it goes for a 2-point conversion just to win the game by 100 instead of only 99.

    ReplyDelete
  60. sharculese12:35 PM

    It's a well known fact among wackjobs the Charles Darwin was a student of Saul Alinksy.

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  61. Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or divine standard, or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?



    well, you are anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  62. M. Krebs12:42 PM

    Rochester? The author must be a Jack Benny fan.

    ReplyDelete
  63. redoubtagain12:43 PM

    Isn't Inherit The Windbag already Goldberg's unauthorized biography?

    ReplyDelete
  64. It will come as a huge shock to no one that the Chesterton quote isn't a Chesterton quote.

    Variously ascribed to Chesterton, St. Francis, and St. Augustine, we have discovered that the only documented source of this quotation is the
    book The World, The Flesh, and Father Smith by Bruce Marshall
    (1945) And the quote is really: “. . .the young man who rings the bell
    at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God.” (p. 108)

    ReplyDelete
  65. Ellis_Weiner12:48 PM

    I don't see why Jonah can't live by the Brady line my wife and I quote to each other all the time: "I don't think about things that I don't think about."

    ReplyDelete
  66. redoubtagain12:48 PM

    (Insert "O[h God]-face joke" here)

    ReplyDelete
  67. Ellis_Weiner12:51 PM

    Thanks for nothing. I already read mine.

    ReplyDelete
  68. ah but chesterson famous conservative so blah dee derp herpa derp

    ReplyDelete
  69. I'd like to make a motion to give Goldberg the nickname "Flounder".

    ReplyDelete
  70. Always glad you're here to give us the female perspective, sharc.

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  71. Ellis_Weiner12:56 PM

    I recently un-published on Smashwords and published anew on Amazon. NOW watch the bucks roll in!

    ReplyDelete
  72. David Vitter12:56 PM

    “Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God,”



    I hope they find her!

    ReplyDelete
  73. Jay B.1:07 PM

    Beneath the surface, the salience of evolution as a political football is ultimately about the status of man. Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or divine standard, or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?


    Flounder is St. Thomas Aquinas in "What the Fuck About Thumbs?"

    ReplyDelete
  74. gocart mozart1:09 PM

    The reason they ask about evolution is because they expect these stupid Republicans to duck the question. They don't ask them whether they believe ancient aliens built the pyramids because they assume all would answer "Don't be ridiculous." Perhaps they assume wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Jay B.1:12 PM

    "The Salience of Evolution as a Political Football" is..I can't even...I mean, it's not quite proof of random genes, just defective ones.

    ReplyDelete
  76. The UK has its own political idiocy, but I'll give them this: They still have journalists prepared to get to the nut of the matter (and I do mean "nut"). I mean, over here, the liberal media have decided it's time to line up and suck Scotty's dick for giving a vicious speech full of lies to a crowd of dumbfuck fundigelical Nazi-wannabes in Iowa without mispronouncing half the words or knocking over the podium. Granted, ABC's Martha Raddatz schooled Scotty good on what a blabbering
    imbecile he is about ISIL, but I expect she's going to be an extreme outlier. Over in Blighty, meanwhile, he basically gets: "Governor, we were wondering if you're (a) stupider than a box of rocks; (b) a reactionary science-hating theocrat; or (c) a shameless pandering liar." With "All of the above" implied, of course.

    Then again, an awful lot of the world wondered how we could pick the last intellectually lazy, morally bankrupt ass boil, too. Though Australia no doubt appreciates the GOP's latest round of attempting to make Tony Abbott look good by comparison.

    ReplyDelete
  77. "Clever girl."

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  78. Professor Fate1:17 PM

    that reminded me of this.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWVshkVF0SY

    ReplyDelete
  79. But the billionaires have to be young and handsome. Isn't Mr. Gray only 27 years old? A mere child. Try to imagine the same situation with one of the Koch Bros. ("Barf! Get it away!")

    ReplyDelete
  80. Professor Fate1:22 PM

    Shorter Goldberg "You say dumb like it's a bad thing."

    ReplyDelete
  81. Actually the theory of evolution makes the transfer of genes a lot less 'random': survival of the most adaptable.


    As my High School science teacher frequently reiterated: "Science is about HOW, not who or why! Who & why are for theologians and philosophers!" From his tone of voice he didn't think much of theos and philos.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Politician answer: "I'm not an archeologist!"

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  83. What if the man rings the brothel's doorbell?

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  84. So God is a prostitute?

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  85. swkellogg1:33 PM

    It must be truly bizarre to live in a world where the fact of evolution is considered impossible and the the likelihood of a Walker presidency probable.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Pet peeve: Creationists (and I include movement cons like Jonah for whom creationism is mostly pretense) really love to throw around the word "random" as sort of a scare word. Leaving aside the cynicism behind that, it's nonsense. Natural selection is only "random" in the sense that it's "random" whether or not a building falls down or stands up, or when the sun rises on any given point on Earth. There are physical laws at play, and the fact that you don't understand those laws doesn't mean that it's all a roll of the dice.

    Ugh. I grew up with these people and I still don't know how to talk to them.

    ReplyDelete
  87. mgmonklewis1:42 PM

    Fortunately for Jonah, his genes weren't the key piece of the puzzle. It was more a matter of "right place at the right time" (and with the right soulless, grasping parent). I don't think there are many Gene Contests where Jonah's would come out a winner. (Side question: Is it possible for genes to be made of dough, rather than peptides?)

    ReplyDelete
  88. "Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or
    divine standard, or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly
    random contest of genes?"

    Perhaps Mr. Goldberg would care to explain what one has to do with the other? They are, after, not mutually exclusive. (And the "judged by some external or divine standard" part just demonstrates that Goldberg still hasn't grown up enough to know for himself whether his actions are moral. It's called "socialization," and most of us manage it just fine by the time we're about four.)

    ReplyDelete
  89. LookWhosInTheFreezer1:58 PM

    If the Old Testament is any indication, she's more of a Dominatrix.

    ReplyDelete
  90. That does have a rather police blotter look to it.


    Man arrested today at local Brothel insists he was looking for god...Madam says "we're good, but we're not that good."

    ReplyDelete
  91. coozledad2:27 PM

    Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or divine standard ?



    Being an apologist for the world's most recent lot of utterly morally depraved shitsticks, you in particular had better fucking hope to hell not, you fucking soulless slab of rancid cooking fat.

    ReplyDelete
  92. No man is an island, but he sometimes sports an isthmus.

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  93. Jaime Oria2:36 PM

    Eh, close enough -

    ReplyDelete
  94. I think Chesterton would be grossed out by most of the wankers who claim to have read anything he's written.

    ReplyDelete
  95. GeniusLemur2:44 PM

    Oh, Krebs, come now.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Bitter Scribe2:56 PM

    Jesus-friendly films...will have a lot more nudity...


    Does anyone really want to see Kirk Cameron nude?


    Didn't think so.

    ReplyDelete
  97. ("Barf! Get it away!")

    You were talking about this part, right?
    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  98. Jimcima3:06 PM

    Further evidence that the sexually repressed have no idea what brothels are for.

    ReplyDelete
  99. smut clyde3:07 PM

    I prefer the "rings the bell" version, with the image it conjures up of a secular Quasimodo up in the appropriately-designed belfrey.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Odder3:10 PM

    Odder seconds Otter's motion..

    ReplyDelete
  101. RogerAiles3:16 PM

    "Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or divine standard, or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?"

    In your case, Pantload: No, and no.

    ReplyDelete
  102. smut clyde3:17 PM

    It is not pretty to watch the process of lazy authors collaborating
    to invent a quotation and attribute it to someone prestigious. It's a
    combination of the Worm Ouroborus and the human centipede.

    one of the mooks regurgitating the tag even provides a citation, refering the reader to Vol 1 of Dooley's "Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton", which is on the intertubes and searchable and conspicuously lacking the sentence.

    ReplyDelete
  103. RogerAiles3:20 PM

    A hell of a lot of men would, if forced to choose, prefer to kiss a rabbit between the ears than slide down a rusty razor blade.

    ReplyDelete
  104. swkellogg3:22 PM

    Is this some sort of David Icke thing?

    ReplyDelete
  105. swkellogg3:26 PM

    The thinking man's Vanderleun with the added bonus of fart jokes!

    ReplyDelete
  106. smut clyde3:27 PM

    Leave it to Jonah to find a way to make "dumb" seem like a compliment.
    That's what he's paid for.

    ReplyDelete
  107. ADHDJ3:28 PM

    “Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God”



    "Jesus! Come out! I know you're in there, dammit!"
    "Go away! I'm tryin' to minister here!"

    ReplyDelete
  108. smut clyde3:30 PM

    When I want to read a novel about dubious consent billionaire dinosaur gay porn, I write one. /Disraeli

    ReplyDelete
  109. ohsopolite3:35 PM

    Well!

    ReplyDelete
  110. smut clyde3:35 PM

    "Genes made of peptides"?
    SMUT ANGRY NOW

    ReplyDelete
  111. It was my brother's reply to anything he didn't like. He said it about sweet potatoes with marshmallows one Thanksgiving. Really offended the Hostess, but then became a Family Joke. Like "Blast my ass!"

    ReplyDelete
  112. Drummond's follow-up question was priceless: "do you ever think about the things you DO think about?"

    ReplyDelete
  113. satch3:41 PM

    "Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or divine standard...

    or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?"

    Actually, we creatures are eminently capable of being moral without being judged by an external or divine standard. Moses was the only one to allegedly hear the voice of God doing the Ten Commandments thing, and religious folks are expected to take his word for it. But if you strip out the first four commandments, where God is saying in effect "Listen up, chumps", the rest of the commandments are basically really useful suggestions to help people get along in a community, and don't in any way rely on divine authority for validation. I have no way of knowing whether Jonah is sincere in his religious beliefs, but he and his fellow Social Cons certainly seem to want and need a "HULK SMASH" kind of divinity to keep the rest of us jumped-up primates in line. Which leads to the answer to the second question, which is... "Yes".

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  114. satch3:42 PM

    Maybe pepperonitides.

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  115. satch3:44 PM

    "...do you think the forces at work in the universe give a shit who wins the Super Bowl?"


    They do if they had the Seahawks and points.

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  116. I'm glad I scrolled down to see this before I posted it myself!

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  117. Pablo3:50 PM

    See even liberals don't know science.

    ReplyDelete
  118. I know science!

    For example: I know that you can tell a boy chromosome from a girl chromosome by pulling down their genes...

    ReplyDelete
  119. satch3:54 PM

    This





    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIjo-dWE1Jg

    ReplyDelete
  120. mgmonklewis4:03 PM

    You mean words have meanings? AARGH! Jonah deceived me!

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  121. And he'd be suing the ones who claim to have written what he wrote.

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  122. Pre-Old Testament she was a holy prostitute dedicated to the goddess so, yes, ringing the doorbell of the brothel put you in line for god.

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  123. StringOnAStick4:24 PM

    Conservatives will adopt 50 Shades as their talisman once they (1) see that it's popular, and (2) realize it's a perfect metaphor for the wealthy fucking over anyone who isn't, one painful slap at a time. They'll look at it as a training manual for the unwashed masses, and love the break they'll get from boner pill costs by just imagining how good and hard we're all going to get it.

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  124. Helmut Monotreme4:30 PM

    I've read some of his stuff, and it makes my day to think I'd gross out that self righteous gasbag.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Jaime Oria4:30 PM

    Indeed-

    ReplyDelete
  126. Helmut Monotreme4:33 PM

    I want to get this comment drunk and ask it stop holding back and tell me how it really feels.

    ReplyDelete
  127. smut clyde4:36 PM

    the salience of evolution as a political football is ultimately about the status of man


    This is desperation in the cause of stupidity apologistics. "Well yes, those morons turned evolution-denial into a shibboleth of party membership, and insisted that their leaders pay lip-service to Bronze-age superstition, but that's actually their primitive way of upholding human dignity!"

    ReplyDelete
  128. Helmut Monotreme4:36 PM

    Flounder was not a smarmy shitstain whose malevolent nastiness was only exceeded by his incompetence.

    ReplyDelete
  129. DN Nation4:37 PM

    "Beneath the surface, the salience of evolution as a political football is ultimately about the status of man. Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or divine standard, or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?"

    http://i.imgur.com/ry124qG.jpg

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  130. DN Nation4:39 PM

    Man, what a tomahawk dunk of a comment this is.

    ReplyDelete
  131. swkellogg4:51 PM

    "but a hell of a lot of women would, if forced to choose, prefer to be in a loving committed relationship with a dude than get successively
    better office jobs on the way to the corner office."

    IOW, if forced to choose between something one wants and something one doesn't want, one will choose what one wants.


    Wow -- deep.

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  132. Megalon4:57 PM

    That ain't wind in that bag!

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  133. I'm not so sure "winner" is the correct term.

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  134. I give this comment a XX rating.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Helmut Monotreme5:14 PM

    What if it's the church from that song by Hozier?

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  136. smut clyde5:32 PM

    Philosophy 101 (prerequisite) in the Boudoir.

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  137. For fossils lasting more than 4 eons, consult your creator immediately.

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  138. I am disappoint: I thought it would be a Barnet book.

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  139. chuckling5:41 PM

    I've never read the book nor seen the movie, but it's sad that Von Trier's Nymphomaniac, which is a genuinely challenging piece of art that apparently traverses some of the same territory, doesn't get anywhere near the amount of discussion and critique as 50 Shades of Gray.

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  140. It is worth noting that the places where "family values" polls most strongly and where candidates for office absolutely MUST declare that they are strong family values candidates . . .

    . . . are the places with the highest divorce rates, the highest spousal abuse and domestic violence rates, and the highest teen pregnancy rates.

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  141. smut clyde5:44 PM

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mv-RJDBpvt0/UmOYR0QGwvI/AAAAAAAANaI/42aXrtwoj5g/s400/wtf.jpg

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  142. Gromet5:49 PM

    But if conservatives encourage people to live by Don't Kill and Don't Covet, there goes half the Republican platform. Throw in Don't Bear False Witness and it's soyonara, GOP campaign strategy.

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  143. satch6:02 PM

    Well, ahh.. I saw the guy in the next seat over on the plane reading it...

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  144. Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or divine standard, or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?

    It remains to be seen if we are winners, our species is very young in geological terms, and our long-term survival is not guaranteed, largely because of policies that Goldberg and his ilk support.

    But, hey, reusable shopping bags and fuel-efficient cars are faggy, knowutimean?

    ReplyDelete
  145. Jonah's success was due to Clinton's genes on Monica's dress.

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  146. Billionaire dinosaur porn...

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  147. Meanie-meanie, tickle a person6:27 PM

    This may partly explain the Xians' desire for a 6000 year old planet. Dinosaurs ruling the Earth for 165 million years gives 'em one hell of an inferiority complex. On that scale, we don't even register.

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  148. Meanie-meanie, tickle a person6:33 PM

    Don't care to see the Jeezers' left behinds, or their right behinds neither...

    ReplyDelete
  149. are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?


    Who says we're "winners?" I'm pretty convinced that, in evolutionary terms, the human species is pretty much a dead end. It's just a matter of an eye blink in the scheme of things.

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  150. Now, give us your liver.

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  151. doh! wish I had.

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  152. whetstone6:40 PM

    In fairness, this is the case with a kind of terrifying number of fairy tales, as I have been reminded when reading to my daughter. (Roxane Gay has a good essay about that.) "Beauty and the Beast" is super fucked up. Like, identifiable relationship themes from my wife's job doing domestic-violence law.

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  153. satch6:44 PM

    Actually, Mollie is right. The End Times really have arrived:

    http://www.vermontteddybear.com/sellgroup/fifty-shades-of-grey-bear.aspx?bhcp=1

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  154. ken_lov6:56 PM

    People like Goldberg can't cope with the concepts of chaos and luck. If they ever studied uncertainty theory, they'd condemn it quicker than they dismissed global warming. For them, the human race is so wonderful it can't have been an accident. The USA is so exceptional, some Being must have made it that way. And in Jonah's personal case, being the smartest, wittiest writer in the 21st century can only be a sign of God's special favor.

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  155. smut clyde7:01 PM

    A God that works through evolution -- why, it's too fantastic to even contemplate
    Getting dangerously close to official catholic doctrine, there!

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  156. Even the humble cockroach has been around for over 350 million years... how is Jonah Goldberg gonna compete with THAT?

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  157. Heaven be praised! I didn't know that!

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  158. He did write my favourite triolet:

    I wish I were a jelly fish
    That cannot fall downstairs;
    Of all the things I wish to wish
    I wish I were a jellyfish
    That hasn't any cares
    And doesn't even have to wish
    'I wish I were a jellyfish
    That cannot fall downstairs.'



    He was a curmudgeon, but like Alexander Wolcott his acerbic wit, contrarianism and capacious mind make him, for me at least, an often true delight to read.

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  159. smut clyde7:25 PM

    I find myself Lyonising this comment.

    ReplyDelete
  160. the most striking thing about the '50 shades' trailer is the male protag standing alongside his personal helicopter.

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  161. jesus, you people...

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  162. YNWA405157:46 PM

    "the rest of the commandments are basically really useful suggestions to
    help people get along in a community, and don't in any way rely on
    divine authority for validation."


    This, times a thousand. It's as if we're expected to believe that societies were incapable of figuring out that the five moral commandments might be useful before Moses came along, despite the rather obvious fact that not having some sort of law against killing other people* or stealing their shit** would be necessary for any society hoping to last for more than a few weeks. In some cases, we're talking about empires-- many of which were founded long before Moses decided to hike up Mt. Sinai for a bit of a chat with Yahweh. Or were founded contemporaneously, or after, but would not have had any contact with any variation of Judaism (at least not right away). There was never a citizen of one of these other civilizations who upon reading/hearing the words "Thou shalt not kill" then declared, "Gosh, why didn't we think of that?" The more common response was almost certainly, "Well, duh. We're not all quite as thick as we look."


    * Unless you happen to be wealthy and powerful enough to get away with it, of course.


    ** See the first footnote.

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  163. Bethany Spencer8:19 PM

    You'd almost have to be. Oddly, that is.

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  164. Giant Monster Gamera8:33 PM

    He's overcompensating, because his relevance is entirely due to a cum stain on a blue dress.

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  165. G.K.Chesterton did not say that a young man ringing the brothel doorbell is looking for God. It was (as I think yesterday's correspondent said) in The World, The Flesh, and Father Smith by Bruce Marshall (1945). I'm kind of glad because for some reason I don't want Chesterton to be a complete asshole. Father Smith (quoted by Pastor Theologians is more of a pervert than the decontextualized quote suggests:

    “[Chastity] is perhaps the easiest part of the religious life,” Father Smith answered. “To begin with, touching daily the hem of his garment, priests do not see these things as other men do; and to end with, women’s bodies are rarely perfect; they soon grow old and sag, and always the contemplation of them at their best is a poor and boring substitute for walking with God in his house as a friend…”

    “What you have said just proves what I have always maintained: that religion is only a substitute for sex, ” Miss Agdala said.

    “I still prefer to believe that sex is a substitute for religion and that the young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God,” Father Smith said.

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  166. There once was a fellow called Jonah
    Who was just a conservative stonah
    But his mama's success
    Over Monica's dress
    Turned him overnight into an ownah

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  167. Pseudonym10:16 PM

    *dons pedant cap* I don't believe it's possible for genes to be made of peptides either, only to encode them; genes are made of nucleotides.

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  168. As I understand it, in some of the better ones you can have a girl screaming "Oh, God!" all night for just $1500.

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  169. Yet another miracle enabled by Obama's Time Machine.

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  170. I thought that was a peninsula?

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  171. I suspect the stench he gives off may well linger until the universe dies its heat death.

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  172. JennOfArk10:27 PM

    But what about the yetis? Won't someone think of the yetis?

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  173. JennOfArk10:43 PM

    Science, y'all? Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcSDAJfs4dw

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  174. AGoodQuestion11:21 PM

    Are humans moral creatures whose actions are judged by some external or divine standard, or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?


    Are we accidental winners of a random contest of genes? Or of our perfidious mother's Rolodex? You know, just to take a completely hypothetical example.

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  175. AGoodQuestion11:27 PM

    So, can we have your liver then?

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  176. AGoodQuestion11:37 PM

    Absolutist views on gender roles are a lot easier to hold and to reinforce if you have simplistic ideas about people in general, and if you lack any kind of reverence for or understanding of other people's inner lives. Let me assert that as a man, there's no way I'd want to be married to a hardcore anti-feminist. It would be a lose-lose proposition.

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  177. AGoodQuestion11:39 PM

    Wow -- deep.
    Yeah. Don't step in it.

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  178. mgmonklewis11:41 PM

    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/df/a8/dc/dfa8dca67c313f95c81e3a4eee07075c.jpg

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  179. AGoodQuestion11:46 PM

    The Man Who Was Thursday and The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond have both brought me a great deal of joy. I wouldn't want to judge him by all the awful people who claim to follow him, anymore than I would with Jesus.

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  180. AGoodQuestion11:49 PM

    "His brand-name penis slowly emerged, monogram emblazoned boldly on the head..."

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  181. AGoodQuestion11:54 PM

    Wrong kind of billionaire dinosaur, I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  182. AGoodQuestion11:55 PM

    Floor wax, dessert topping, etc.

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  183. JennOfArk11:57 PM

    Given that they degrade human dignity in all other ways, the least they can do is provide it with lip service. Like they do with everything else.


    Come to think of it, perhaps that's why the GOP is so popular among the fundagelicals, since they stress the importance of belief over good works.

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  184. Tehanu1:00 AM

    "or are we simply accidental winners of an utterly random contest of genes?"

    Jonah asked this? JONAH??!!! -- although now I come to think of it, "winner" isn't exactly the right word in context. "Utterly random" though -- that works.

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  185. Tehanu1:02 AM

    [Facepalm]! I should have read the whole thread before posting.

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  186. Tehanu1:08 AM

    Completely!

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  187. Bufflars1:20 AM

    It's apparently their best selling Valentine's stuffed animal ever...

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  188. One might assume that Joberg was putting out some bait for the Intelligent Designers.

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  189. A banana's still a banana.

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  190. jcricket3:05 AM

    Also, they'd rather go to heaven and lounge on clouds all day than go to your liberal-secular schools.

    Everyone wants to go to heaven; no one wants to die.

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  191. jcricket3:13 AM

    To borrow a phrase from the campus left, Darwinism is used to “otherize”
    certain people of traditional faith — and the politicians who want
    their vote.

    The "campus left" knows that Darwin only opened the door to what has happened biologically on earth over millions of years. He did not know anything about what has been unearthed since his lifetime, and certainly had no idea about how DNA would be so instrumental in tracing how evolution has occurred over the ages.
    The fact that these rightards focus on Darwin is laughable. What they are doing is conveniently obfuscating everything that has been discovered or learned since the man first suggested that there was an evolutionary process going on in the world.

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  192. PorlockJunior3:25 AM

    And indeed, Y not?

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  193. DocAmazing4:25 AM

    ...to those handing out lays.

    ReplyDelete