J.D. Rhoades's Blog, page 37
December 25, 2011
Jesus Probably Wasn't Born Today, But So What?
Latest newspaper column:
Well, here it is, December the 25th. Christmas Day. Since I can assume the first thing most of you did was NOT run out to the driveway, get your copy of The Pilot, and run inside to read this column, I figure the stockings are empty, the presents all opened, the turkey or ham or whatever your choice of holiday meat is either in the midst of cooking or resting comfortably in your tummy. Unless you're Jewish, of course, in which case I hope you have a good day and are enjoying your Hanukkah and the Chinese food.
Some pedantic souls are fond of pointing out that it's highly unlikely, based upon the account in the Gospels, that the actual birth date of Yeshua bar-Yosef, aka Jesus, was December 25th. For instance, shepherds in first century Israel did not "abide in the fields and watch their flocks by night" in the wintertime; that happened in the spring, when the lambs were born. In the winter, the sheep were kept corralled, and the shepherds stayed home. The angels would have had to come to the door and knock to announce the birth of the Savior in the City of David, like some sort of divine Western Union. It's a much less compelling image, to be sure, than the one of the Heavenly Host filling the sky with praises.
No, we're told, the December date was much more likely picked to coincide with (and hopefully take the place of) already existing pagan festivals. They'll point to the fact that sometime in the fourth century A.D. the Roman Emperor Aurelian announced the feast of Sol Invictus (The Unconquered Sun) which took place on December 25th.
Or perhaps the celebration of Christ's birth was meant to occur at the same time as an older Roman holiday, that of Saturnalia, a week-long debauch beginning December 17th. During Saturnalia, people exchanged presents and partied in a fashion that makes even the rowdiest office Christmas party look like an ice-cream social.
In addition, the normal social order was turned upside down; masters served their slaves at the dinner table, and the slaves could boss them around for a change--carefully, one would imagine, since they'd be back on the bottom of the pile next week.
Others suggest that our Christmas was meant to overlap Yule or other Northern European holidays celebrating the Winter Solstice. Those are the holidays from which we get our traditions of bringing evergreen plants indoors, of mistletoe, and of the blazing Yule log (fa-la-lalala, and all that).
I think, however, that the argument that late December isn't the "real" date of Jesus' birth and that it's really just a date co-opted from paganism kind of misses the point. All of those seasonal pagan celebrations have one thing in common: they take place during the coldest and darkest time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the time when the night seems endless, the cold seems eternal, and it seems as if nothing will ever grow again. But they don't curse or bemoan the darkness; they look forward to the return of the light. They're celebrated with candles and firelight and evergreens. They remind us that however long the winter may seem, spring always comes back. They're holidays dedicated to hope when everything looks hopeless.
And that's why it's the perfect time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, no matter if it's more likely that He was born sometime in the spring. Whatever your belief as to the divinity of the person known as Jesus, it's undeniable that He was born at a time of great darkness and cruelty, in a country beneath the boot of an empire so brutal that they routinely nailed people to pieces of rough wood then hung them up to die slowly as punishment. And yet, His message was one of peace, of healing, of love, and of hope. It was a message of light in the darkness.
So, no matter what your beliefs, or lack of same, I wish all those things for you today.
Well, here it is, December the 25th. Christmas Day. Since I can assume the first thing most of you did was NOT run out to the driveway, get your copy of The Pilot, and run inside to read this column, I figure the stockings are empty, the presents all opened, the turkey or ham or whatever your choice of holiday meat is either in the midst of cooking or resting comfortably in your tummy. Unless you're Jewish, of course, in which case I hope you have a good day and are enjoying your Hanukkah and the Chinese food.
Some pedantic souls are fond of pointing out that it's highly unlikely, based upon the account in the Gospels, that the actual birth date of Yeshua bar-Yosef, aka Jesus, was December 25th. For instance, shepherds in first century Israel did not "abide in the fields and watch their flocks by night" in the wintertime; that happened in the spring, when the lambs were born. In the winter, the sheep were kept corralled, and the shepherds stayed home. The angels would have had to come to the door and knock to announce the birth of the Savior in the City of David, like some sort of divine Western Union. It's a much less compelling image, to be sure, than the one of the Heavenly Host filling the sky with praises.
No, we're told, the December date was much more likely picked to coincide with (and hopefully take the place of) already existing pagan festivals. They'll point to the fact that sometime in the fourth century A.D. the Roman Emperor Aurelian announced the feast of Sol Invictus (The Unconquered Sun) which took place on December 25th.
Or perhaps the celebration of Christ's birth was meant to occur at the same time as an older Roman holiday, that of Saturnalia, a week-long debauch beginning December 17th. During Saturnalia, people exchanged presents and partied in a fashion that makes even the rowdiest office Christmas party look like an ice-cream social.
In addition, the normal social order was turned upside down; masters served their slaves at the dinner table, and the slaves could boss them around for a change--carefully, one would imagine, since they'd be back on the bottom of the pile next week.
Others suggest that our Christmas was meant to overlap Yule or other Northern European holidays celebrating the Winter Solstice. Those are the holidays from which we get our traditions of bringing evergreen plants indoors, of mistletoe, and of the blazing Yule log (fa-la-lalala, and all that).
I think, however, that the argument that late December isn't the "real" date of Jesus' birth and that it's really just a date co-opted from paganism kind of misses the point. All of those seasonal pagan celebrations have one thing in common: they take place during the coldest and darkest time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the time when the night seems endless, the cold seems eternal, and it seems as if nothing will ever grow again. But they don't curse or bemoan the darkness; they look forward to the return of the light. They're celebrated with candles and firelight and evergreens. They remind us that however long the winter may seem, spring always comes back. They're holidays dedicated to hope when everything looks hopeless.
And that's why it's the perfect time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, no matter if it's more likely that He was born sometime in the spring. Whatever your belief as to the divinity of the person known as Jesus, it's undeniable that He was born at a time of great darkness and cruelty, in a country beneath the boot of an empire so brutal that they routinely nailed people to pieces of rough wood then hung them up to die slowly as punishment. And yet, His message was one of peace, of healing, of love, and of hope. It was a message of light in the darkness.
So, no matter what your beliefs, or lack of same, I wish all those things for you today.
December 22, 2011
December 18, 2011
Some Special Letters to Santa
Latest Newspaper Column:
Dear Santa:
I have plenty of gifts, because I have the most towering intellect and the farthest-reaching vision in America right now. Possibly in the entire universe. Tell you what, since I'm a guy with a lot of ideas, let me give back by sharing a few with you.
First off, you need to ditch the elves and replace them with poor inner-city kids to teach them what it's like to earn a paycheck. And we need big mirrors in space. And geo-engineering to fight global warming ....
Oh, wait, I don't believe in that anymore. Any video you've seen of me saying I did is a falsehood, because I say it is. You need to listen to me, Santa. I'm a transformational figure. I'm all that stands between us and Auschwitz.
— Love, Newt
Note to staff from S. Claus: We need to make sure Newtie gets his meds adjusted.
Dear Santa:
We're willing to give up Christmas presents this year if we can just borrow the elves to pick our crops. Since this crazy immigration law came in, all the Latinos left. The locals can't stand a day of this kind of work. Plus, I figure the elves are built low to the ground so they don't have to stoop over.
Help us, Santa. You're our only hope.
—Love, John McMillan, agriculture commissioner, state of Alabama
Dear Commissioner: Sorry, but elves don't have identity papers. I don't have time to keep going down there and bailing them out of jail. You're on your own. Signed, S. Claus.
Dear Santa:
I want three things for Christmas. One, I want to be the front-runner again. Two, I want people to realize I'm not brain-damaged. Three, I ... dang! I can't remember. Oops.
— Love, um ... Rick. Yeah, that's it. Rick.
Note to staff from S. Claus: Maybe this is why Mitt Romney made that $10,000 bet with Rick. He assumed Rick wouldn't remember it.
Dear Santa:
In 2007, we controlled 34.6 percent of the wealth in this country. Since the recession began, that percentage has grown to 37.1 percent. We'd like the rest of it. And we demand that people stop saying mean things about us.
— Sincerely, the 1 percent
Note to staff from S. Claus: They get coal in their stockings this year.
Note from staff: OK, but they already own most of it.
Dear Santa:
Can you bring me some more pepper spray? I'm all out, and I keep seeing people sitting down. They're all over the place. There's just something about people peacefully sitting down that really makes me want to give them a face full of the old pepper.
— Love, Lt. John Pike, UC-Davis campus police.
Note to staff from S. Claus: Coal.
Note from staff: Already on it, boss.
Dear Santa:
Both Newt Gingrich and I once supported an individual health insurance mandate and cap-and-trade legislation. Now, I have to convince Republican voters that those things are dangerous socialism. What I need for you is to give everyone in the country amnesia.
Oh, and while we're at it, the next time I sit down next to some old white guy at a diner for what looks like a surefire photo op, can you make sure he's not a gay war veteran who proceeds to hand me my head on a platter in front of everyone? Thanks.
— Love, Mitt
Note from staff: We should probably hold off on gifts for Mitt, boss. He keeps changing the list.
Dear Santa:
We want the influence of money out of politics. We want regulations to reform the banking system, like restoring the law separating investment banks from commercial and savings banks, so that crazy investments don't take your savings with them when they fail.
We want investigation and prosecution of Wall Street financial fraud. We want to do away with the law that regards corporations as "people." We want lobbyists to stop being the ones to draft legislation that benefits the industry they're lobbying for. Thanks.
— Sincerely, the Occupy movement
Note to staff from S. Claus: Wait, what? All I keep hearing is that these people don't know what they want.
Note from staff: That's what the media want you to think. They're owned by big corporations, remember?
Note to staff from S. Claus: Glad I'm not.
Note from staff: Us too, boss. Us too. Merry Christmas.
Dear Santa:
I have plenty of gifts, because I have the most towering intellect and the farthest-reaching vision in America right now. Possibly in the entire universe. Tell you what, since I'm a guy with a lot of ideas, let me give back by sharing a few with you.
First off, you need to ditch the elves and replace them with poor inner-city kids to teach them what it's like to earn a paycheck. And we need big mirrors in space. And geo-engineering to fight global warming ....
Oh, wait, I don't believe in that anymore. Any video you've seen of me saying I did is a falsehood, because I say it is. You need to listen to me, Santa. I'm a transformational figure. I'm all that stands between us and Auschwitz.
— Love, Newt
Note to staff from S. Claus: We need to make sure Newtie gets his meds adjusted.
Dear Santa:
We're willing to give up Christmas presents this year if we can just borrow the elves to pick our crops. Since this crazy immigration law came in, all the Latinos left. The locals can't stand a day of this kind of work. Plus, I figure the elves are built low to the ground so they don't have to stoop over.
Help us, Santa. You're our only hope.
—Love, John McMillan, agriculture commissioner, state of Alabama
Dear Commissioner: Sorry, but elves don't have identity papers. I don't have time to keep going down there and bailing them out of jail. You're on your own. Signed, S. Claus.
Dear Santa:
I want three things for Christmas. One, I want to be the front-runner again. Two, I want people to realize I'm not brain-damaged. Three, I ... dang! I can't remember. Oops.
— Love, um ... Rick. Yeah, that's it. Rick.
Note to staff from S. Claus: Maybe this is why Mitt Romney made that $10,000 bet with Rick. He assumed Rick wouldn't remember it.
Dear Santa:
In 2007, we controlled 34.6 percent of the wealth in this country. Since the recession began, that percentage has grown to 37.1 percent. We'd like the rest of it. And we demand that people stop saying mean things about us.
— Sincerely, the 1 percent
Note to staff from S. Claus: They get coal in their stockings this year.
Note from staff: OK, but they already own most of it.
Dear Santa:
Can you bring me some more pepper spray? I'm all out, and I keep seeing people sitting down. They're all over the place. There's just something about people peacefully sitting down that really makes me want to give them a face full of the old pepper.
— Love, Lt. John Pike, UC-Davis campus police.
Note to staff from S. Claus: Coal.
Note from staff: Already on it, boss.
Dear Santa:
Both Newt Gingrich and I once supported an individual health insurance mandate and cap-and-trade legislation. Now, I have to convince Republican voters that those things are dangerous socialism. What I need for you is to give everyone in the country amnesia.
Oh, and while we're at it, the next time I sit down next to some old white guy at a diner for what looks like a surefire photo op, can you make sure he's not a gay war veteran who proceeds to hand me my head on a platter in front of everyone? Thanks.
— Love, Mitt
Note from staff: We should probably hold off on gifts for Mitt, boss. He keeps changing the list.
Dear Santa:
We want the influence of money out of politics. We want regulations to reform the banking system, like restoring the law separating investment banks from commercial and savings banks, so that crazy investments don't take your savings with them when they fail.
We want investigation and prosecution of Wall Street financial fraud. We want to do away with the law that regards corporations as "people." We want lobbyists to stop being the ones to draft legislation that benefits the industry they're lobbying for. Thanks.
— Sincerely, the Occupy movement
Note to staff from S. Claus: Wait, what? All I keep hearing is that these people don't know what they want.
Note from staff: That's what the media want you to think. They're owned by big corporations, remember?
Note to staff from S. Claus: Glad I'm not.
Note from staff: Us too, boss. Us too. Merry Christmas.
December 14, 2011
Interview at WritersBreak.com
I'm interviewed by the very talented Jennifer Minar Jaynes today over at WritersBreak.com. We talk about Gallows Pole, places to write, and why I went indie. Check it out! 
December 13, 2011
How to Take Christ Out of Christmas
This was too good not to share:
"How do you take Christ out of Christmas? You take Christ out of Christmas every time you:
Don't take the high road.
Are less than loving, and patient, and kind.
Gossip, complain about, and judge others.
Are slow to listen and quick to anger.
And yes…. grump and moan and cry about everyone taking Christ out of Christmas, instead of simply showing the people kindness and goodwill and grace, and letting them see through your actions that Christ cannot be taken out of your Christmas because Christ is living in you. No one can take that away from you, no matter what they believe or what they celebrate or WHY they celebrate."
Thanks to Jennifer McGrail at The Path Less Taken and to M'Lou Green, who posted this on Facebook.
"How do you take Christ out of Christmas? You take Christ out of Christmas every time you:
Don't take the high road.
Are less than loving, and patient, and kind.
Gossip, complain about, and judge others.
Are slow to listen and quick to anger.
And yes…. grump and moan and cry about everyone taking Christ out of Christmas, instead of simply showing the people kindness and goodwill and grace, and letting them see through your actions that Christ cannot be taken out of your Christmas because Christ is living in you. No one can take that away from you, no matter what they believe or what they celebrate or WHY they celebrate."
Thanks to Jennifer McGrail at The Path Less Taken and to M'Lou Green, who posted this on Facebook.
December 12, 2011
Review: THE DEPUTY, by Victor Gischler
The Deputy by Victor GischlerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Part-time sheriff's Deputy Toby Sawyer gives new meaning to the word "hapless." He's given the simple task of keeping his eye on the body of a local tough who turns up murdered. Somehow, he manages to botch even that. His efforts to set his mistake right send him lurching from one life-threatening situation to another, uncovering more and more secrets and corruption with every lurch.
Let's face it, Jack Reacher this guy ain't. But Victor Gischler keeps the action moving so fast, and makes the bad guys so bad, that you end up pulling for the poor schmuck with the tin badge pinned to his Weezer t-shirt.
Fast-paced, tightly plotted, and darkly funny, this is Gischler's best book since his debut, GUN MONKEYS.
View all my reviews
December 11, 2011
A Little People, A Silly People (And I Don't Mean the Muppets)
Latest Newspaper column:
In a world where the rich and powerful, especially giant corporations, are the truly oppressed members of society, it's a good thing that Eric Bolling and his cohorts at Fox Business News are vigilant and ready to warn us of threats to capitalism. If they hadn't been on the job, we might never have known about the imminent Marxist peril posed by the Muppets.
As you might have heard, there's a new Muppet movie out from Disney, starring Kermit, Piggy, and the gang, as well as that guy from "How I Met Your Mother" whose name I can never remember. Bolling, the host of FBN's "Follow the Money," was offended by the portrayal of the movies' villain, an oil baron named Tex Richman (played by the multi-award-winning actor Chris Cooper). Richman, the story goes, wants to drill for "sweet, sweet oil" under the Muppet's home/studio, and the Muppets and their human friends have to save it.
Well, Eric Bolling and the cracked--sorry, crack-- team at FBN weren't going to take that kind of socialist slander lying down. "Liberal Hollywood depicting a successful businessman as evil? That's not new," Bolling sneered.
Actually, that much is true, as we are reminded this season by multiple portrayals of characters like Ebenezer Scrooge and "It's a Wonderful Life"'s Henry F. Potter. Ranging farther afield, you can find a lot of fictional villains distinguished by great wealth: Lex Luthor. Goldfinger. Montgomery Burns. Donald Trump. Wait, Trump's real. I still have trouble believing that.
A few moment's consideration would probably lead a reasonable person to theorize that rich and powerful characters make effective villains because their power makes them a credible threat to the aims of the scrappy underdog hero(es). Without a credible threat, there's no suspense, and no story. A homeless guy isn't going to do much to stand in the hero's way, unless you give him a rocket launcher, and that would just be silly.
But not as silly as Bolling and Company when they're convinced that leftism is afoot. "It's amazing how far the left will go to manipulate your kids," fussed one of Bolling's guests, Dan Gainor of something called the "Media Research Center". Andrea Tantoros, one of the co-hosts of the talk show "The Five," chimed in. "I wish they could just leave little kids alone," she said, her voice quivering with indignation. "We're teaching our kids class warfare," Bolling agreed, adding, "Where are we, Communist China?"
Yes, according to the genuises at Fox Business News, the Muppets and the DIsney Company are agents of the International Chinese Communist Conspiracy.
You cannot make this stuff up, folks.
Perhaps the most amusing thing about the whole segment was that all the time Bolling, Gainor et. al, were warning us all of the Hollywood conspiracy to defame those poor oil company execs, and thus the very concept of capitalism itself, clips from the movie were playing on an inset in the screen--Muppets and humans dancing, singing, and generally being a heck of a lot more fun than these over-privileged whiners sitting in a New York Studio and complaining about how mean Hollywood was to the people who brought you price gouging and the Gulf oil spill. Apparently, it's not enough that oil companies enjoy astronomical profits every year and that their executives enjoy compensation that would shock a Medici prince, now everyone, including the Muppets, has to be extra-special-nice to them to avoid hurting their (or Eric Bolling's) feelings.
After other pundits began mocking Bolling for taking on the puppets in a children's movie, he eventually apologized--sort of. Being a true product of Fox, even his apology made him sound like a passive-aggressive dick. "Apparently," he said, "I said some things that offended little Kermit and Miss Piggy the last few days. And listen, I apologize." Then he went on to step in it again, adding: "I just wanted to say, listen, froggy--what's his name? Kermit, Miss Piggy, if you want to debate this any time, I'm all for it. So let's bring it."
I guess offering to debate creatures made of felt is moderately less crazy than demonizing them as Communist agents. But only slightly.
You have to wonder: was there no one in the entire studio willing to take Bolling aside and go, "Dude. Muppets? Really?" Thanks to the 24 hours news cycle and the Murdoch media empire's unceasing hunger to find new and fresh outrages to satisfy right-wingers' need to feel oppressed and put-upon, the answer appears to be no.
In a world where the rich and powerful, especially giant corporations, are the truly oppressed members of society, it's a good thing that Eric Bolling and his cohorts at Fox Business News are vigilant and ready to warn us of threats to capitalism. If they hadn't been on the job, we might never have known about the imminent Marxist peril posed by the Muppets.
As you might have heard, there's a new Muppet movie out from Disney, starring Kermit, Piggy, and the gang, as well as that guy from "How I Met Your Mother" whose name I can never remember. Bolling, the host of FBN's "Follow the Money," was offended by the portrayal of the movies' villain, an oil baron named Tex Richman (played by the multi-award-winning actor Chris Cooper). Richman, the story goes, wants to drill for "sweet, sweet oil" under the Muppet's home/studio, and the Muppets and their human friends have to save it.
Well, Eric Bolling and the cracked--sorry, crack-- team at FBN weren't going to take that kind of socialist slander lying down. "Liberal Hollywood depicting a successful businessman as evil? That's not new," Bolling sneered.
Actually, that much is true, as we are reminded this season by multiple portrayals of characters like Ebenezer Scrooge and "It's a Wonderful Life"'s Henry F. Potter. Ranging farther afield, you can find a lot of fictional villains distinguished by great wealth: Lex Luthor. Goldfinger. Montgomery Burns. Donald Trump. Wait, Trump's real. I still have trouble believing that.
A few moment's consideration would probably lead a reasonable person to theorize that rich and powerful characters make effective villains because their power makes them a credible threat to the aims of the scrappy underdog hero(es). Without a credible threat, there's no suspense, and no story. A homeless guy isn't going to do much to stand in the hero's way, unless you give him a rocket launcher, and that would just be silly.
But not as silly as Bolling and Company when they're convinced that leftism is afoot. "It's amazing how far the left will go to manipulate your kids," fussed one of Bolling's guests, Dan Gainor of something called the "Media Research Center". Andrea Tantoros, one of the co-hosts of the talk show "The Five," chimed in. "I wish they could just leave little kids alone," she said, her voice quivering with indignation. "We're teaching our kids class warfare," Bolling agreed, adding, "Where are we, Communist China?"
Yes, according to the genuises at Fox Business News, the Muppets and the DIsney Company are agents of the International Chinese Communist Conspiracy.
You cannot make this stuff up, folks.
Perhaps the most amusing thing about the whole segment was that all the time Bolling, Gainor et. al, were warning us all of the Hollywood conspiracy to defame those poor oil company execs, and thus the very concept of capitalism itself, clips from the movie were playing on an inset in the screen--Muppets and humans dancing, singing, and generally being a heck of a lot more fun than these over-privileged whiners sitting in a New York Studio and complaining about how mean Hollywood was to the people who brought you price gouging and the Gulf oil spill. Apparently, it's not enough that oil companies enjoy astronomical profits every year and that their executives enjoy compensation that would shock a Medici prince, now everyone, including the Muppets, has to be extra-special-nice to them to avoid hurting their (or Eric Bolling's) feelings.
After other pundits began mocking Bolling for taking on the puppets in a children's movie, he eventually apologized--sort of. Being a true product of Fox, even his apology made him sound like a passive-aggressive dick. "Apparently," he said, "I said some things that offended little Kermit and Miss Piggy the last few days. And listen, I apologize." Then he went on to step in it again, adding: "I just wanted to say, listen, froggy--what's his name? Kermit, Miss Piggy, if you want to debate this any time, I'm all for it. So let's bring it."
I guess offering to debate creatures made of felt is moderately less crazy than demonizing them as Communist agents. But only slightly.
You have to wonder: was there no one in the entire studio willing to take Bolling aside and go, "Dude. Muppets? Really?" Thanks to the 24 hours news cycle and the Murdoch media empire's unceasing hunger to find new and fresh outrages to satisfy right-wingers' need to feel oppressed and put-upon, the answer appears to be no.
December 5, 2011
Review: THE COLD COLD GROUND, Adrian McKinty
The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKintyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
In Northern Ireland in 1981, Detective Sean Duffy wryly observes, there aren't a lot of what you'd traditionally think of as "serial killers"; any psychopath who wants to kill a lot of people has only to seek out and join the paramilitary group of his choice, and he'll have all the killing his twisted heart may desire. But when a pair of bizarre murders points to the existence of an honest to goodness serial murderer, Duffy, a Catholic "peeler" in a heavily Protestant area, gets the case.
I've been an Adrian McKinty fan since 2003's Dead I Well May Be, and this one did not disappoint. Duffy's a classic McKinty character: complicated and conflicted, driven by internal forces he himself understands only imperfectly. The book takes place during a time when IRA hunger strikers were dying in the notorious Maze prison and the entire country seemed on the verge of civil war as the paramilitaries responded with bombings and riots. The ever-present threat of an explosion (both literal and metaphorical) adds an extra layer of almost unbearable tension to the main story.
This one comes out in the US in early 2012. Get it.
View all my reviews
December 4, 2011
18-Year-Old Girl 1,Governor Brownback 0
Latest Newspaper Column:
Recently, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's office took on an 18-year-old high school girl - and lost.It all started when Emma Sullivan, a senior at Shawnee Mission East High School, went to the Capitol and heard Brownback, a right-wing hero and failed presidential candidate, speak."I don't agree with a majority of the things that he is trying to pass," Sullivan said, citing in particular Brownback's doing away with all state support for the arts. So, like many a bored and/or disgusted young person, she pulled out her smartphone and got on the online service Twitter."Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person," she sent, followed by a "hashtag," or topic identifier, reiterating in somewhat saltier terms her opinion that the governor was fond of performing a certain sexual act.Now, here's something you need to remember: Twitter messages, or "tweets," go only to people who "follow" you. You have to choose to follow someone. Sullivan had only 60 followers at the time the message was sent. She did not actually say to the governor that he "sucked."Unfortunately, Sullivan hadn't yet learned just how thin-skinned and belligerent right-wingers can get. Somehow, the word got out that she had dissed the governor to her online buddies, and Brownback's office decided that this expression of opinion could not go unpunished, even if it had not been conveyed directly to them, to the governor himself, or to anyone save the 60 or so friends, acquaintances, and admirers who'd chosen to "follow" Sullivan.They called the principal's office and complained that Sullivan was being mean to them. She was called on the carpet by the principal, who demanded that she write a letter of apology. She considered it, but later decided that such an apology would be insincere and refused.The situation blew up into a major national story after Sullivan's sister contacted the media. Her Twitter "following" grew from 65 to more than 15,000 people. Finally, an embarrassed governor's office realized that trying to intimidate an 18-year-old girl who'd insulted them on Twitter made them look stupid. Brownback issued a statement apologizing for his staff, who he said had "overreacted" to the tweet.Despite Brownback's red-faced admission, the usual pearl-clutching and hand-wringing about how "uncivil" discourse has gotten (but only if it's done by liberals) followed. For example, columnist Ruth Marcus in the allegedly liberal Washington Post wrote that Sullivan should be glad she's not her daughter, because Marcus would make her apologize, then take her phone away.I'll agree that Sullivan's tweet to her friends was rude. But it was, after all, to her circle, and not to the governor.And you know what? After years of things like: Willie Horton ads; calling 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton "the White House dog"; Swiftboating; GOP convention-goers waving purple Band-Aids to mock a veteran's war wounds; Ann Coulter saying the "only choice was whether to impeach or assassinate" President Clinton and later claiming 9/11 widows were "enjoying their husbands' deaths"; Rush Limbaugh mocking Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease; posters and T-shirts with nooses on them saying "Rope. Tree. Journalist. Assembly Required"; "Liberal Hunting Permits"; birtherism; posters of Barack Obama dressed as Hitler, Stalin, and an African witch doctor with a bone through his nose; Rand Paul supporters trying to stomp the head of a protester; ads claiming Kay Hagan was "godless"; "If ballots don't work, maybe bullets will"; "Obama hates white people"; "GET OFF MY PHONE YOU LITTLE PINHEAD!"; "YOU LIE!"; wingnuts at FreeRepublic calling 11-year old Sasha Obama a "street whore" for wearing a peace sign on her T-shirt; Sarah Palin committing outright slander about "death panels"; "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy"; cheering for executions; booing soldiers for being gay; comparing poor people to stray animals you shouldn't feed; "We've got one raghead in the White House, we don't need a raghead in the governor's mansion"; supposed "Christians" suggesting that people pray for the president using Psalm 109:8 ("May his days be few, may another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow") as a text; Limbaugh calling the first lady "uppity"; and on and on and on, all without a mumblin' word from so-called "conservatives," it's kind of hard to take them seriously when they start scolding anyone about manners.When I start hearing the same disapproval from the right for things like that, maybe I'll reconsider. Until then, peddle that Twitrage somewhere else. I'm not buying it.
Recently, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's office took on an 18-year-old high school girl - and lost.It all started when Emma Sullivan, a senior at Shawnee Mission East High School, went to the Capitol and heard Brownback, a right-wing hero and failed presidential candidate, speak."I don't agree with a majority of the things that he is trying to pass," Sullivan said, citing in particular Brownback's doing away with all state support for the arts. So, like many a bored and/or disgusted young person, she pulled out her smartphone and got on the online service Twitter."Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person," she sent, followed by a "hashtag," or topic identifier, reiterating in somewhat saltier terms her opinion that the governor was fond of performing a certain sexual act.Now, here's something you need to remember: Twitter messages, or "tweets," go only to people who "follow" you. You have to choose to follow someone. Sullivan had only 60 followers at the time the message was sent. She did not actually say to the governor that he "sucked."Unfortunately, Sullivan hadn't yet learned just how thin-skinned and belligerent right-wingers can get. Somehow, the word got out that she had dissed the governor to her online buddies, and Brownback's office decided that this expression of opinion could not go unpunished, even if it had not been conveyed directly to them, to the governor himself, or to anyone save the 60 or so friends, acquaintances, and admirers who'd chosen to "follow" Sullivan.They called the principal's office and complained that Sullivan was being mean to them. She was called on the carpet by the principal, who demanded that she write a letter of apology. She considered it, but later decided that such an apology would be insincere and refused.The situation blew up into a major national story after Sullivan's sister contacted the media. Her Twitter "following" grew from 65 to more than 15,000 people. Finally, an embarrassed governor's office realized that trying to intimidate an 18-year-old girl who'd insulted them on Twitter made them look stupid. Brownback issued a statement apologizing for his staff, who he said had "overreacted" to the tweet.Despite Brownback's red-faced admission, the usual pearl-clutching and hand-wringing about how "uncivil" discourse has gotten (but only if it's done by liberals) followed. For example, columnist Ruth Marcus in the allegedly liberal Washington Post wrote that Sullivan should be glad she's not her daughter, because Marcus would make her apologize, then take her phone away.I'll agree that Sullivan's tweet to her friends was rude. But it was, after all, to her circle, and not to the governor.And you know what? After years of things like: Willie Horton ads; calling 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton "the White House dog"; Swiftboating; GOP convention-goers waving purple Band-Aids to mock a veteran's war wounds; Ann Coulter saying the "only choice was whether to impeach or assassinate" President Clinton and later claiming 9/11 widows were "enjoying their husbands' deaths"; Rush Limbaugh mocking Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease; posters and T-shirts with nooses on them saying "Rope. Tree. Journalist. Assembly Required"; "Liberal Hunting Permits"; birtherism; posters of Barack Obama dressed as Hitler, Stalin, and an African witch doctor with a bone through his nose; Rand Paul supporters trying to stomp the head of a protester; ads claiming Kay Hagan was "godless"; "If ballots don't work, maybe bullets will"; "Obama hates white people"; "GET OFF MY PHONE YOU LITTLE PINHEAD!"; "YOU LIE!"; wingnuts at FreeRepublic calling 11-year old Sasha Obama a "street whore" for wearing a peace sign on her T-shirt; Sarah Palin committing outright slander about "death panels"; "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy"; cheering for executions; booing soldiers for being gay; comparing poor people to stray animals you shouldn't feed; "We've got one raghead in the White House, we don't need a raghead in the governor's mansion"; supposed "Christians" suggesting that people pray for the president using Psalm 109:8 ("May his days be few, may another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow") as a text; Limbaugh calling the first lady "uppity"; and on and on and on, all without a mumblin' word from so-called "conservatives," it's kind of hard to take them seriously when they start scolding anyone about manners.When I start hearing the same disapproval from the right for things like that, maybe I'll reconsider. Until then, peddle that Twitrage somewhere else. I'm not buying it.
November 28, 2011
Praise for GALLOWS POLE From Robert Gregory Browne
"J.D. Rhoades's Gallows Pole gets the adrenalin pumping from the very first page. Rhoades not only gives us a tight, suspenseful plot, his prose style is economic and full of quiet confidence, and you know you're in good hands the moment you start reading."
-Robert Gregory Browne, author of THE PARADISE PROPHECY , which was one of my own favorite books from this year.
Thanks, Rob!
-Robert Gregory Browne, author of THE PARADISE PROPHECY , which was one of my own favorite books from this year.
Thanks, Rob!
