Intelligent Life Discovered In Georgia!

[filkertom]

Of course, I've known about it since, like, forever -- Exhibits 1 and 2 being bedlamhouse and ladyat (get well soon, dear!) -- but it's nice to see it on display. (They ain't bad at snark, either.)

Thanks to twfarlan for the links.

Comments

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Brilliant. I was driven to drop Mr. Brock a note, applauding his clear thinking.

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

Same here. It was a good column, and probably not an easy one to write in rural Georgia, even if you're about to leave for a new job.

[lanchid.livejournal.com]

I've often wanted to say to people who want to ban the Harry Potter books because of witchcraft: "The minute I see a kid put one of the books down, then pick up a broomstick and start to fly around on it - I'm with you: burn the evil books! But until that day, let's hold off on the banning, eh?"

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, that would require actual thought. I really can see where it comes from, but I'm doing so from a newly-minted atheist perspective: They believe their set of superstitions, and feel empowered by them, and so they apparently assume that other people's superstitions empower them. Or something.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

The minute I see a kid put one of the books down, then pick up a broomstick and start to fly around on it

Hm. If ever I saw that, I'd try as hard as I knew how to find out how s/he managed it -- talk about a good solution to rising gas prices!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Or something. The point is that alternate viewpoints threaten the empowerment of their set of beliefs, in that if alternates are allowed, then their beliefs may be - gasp! - questioned, and by their own property family.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Precisely. I haven't met too many who are freaked out by "The one god, the sun god, Ra Ra Ra", but they're out there. Watching them try to find proof for their faith, when the entire point of faith is lack of proof, would be almost adorable, if not for the fact that they keep trying to shove their faith down everyone's throat.

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

You'll notice the closing note:

Now, as a footnote to this column, I’d like to announce that I am leaving the News Daily for another job starting next week. I’ll have one more column next Tuesday and that’s that, so get your hate mail in soon.

I sort of doubt that this would have been written had the person not been on the way out the door - probably to a venue further north.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I dunno. In this internet-driven media world, it's not like the guy can drop out of sight without... dropping out of site. And, he says all of the right things, pretty much exactly the right way. Formal, searchable record an' everything. (So you can bet some shmuck will use it against him.)

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree. But where your body is actually located (presumably near your employers) still makes a difference.

[bald-ruminant.livejournal.com]

<EGOTRIP>Of course intelligent life has been discovered in Georgia--I just moved here.</EGOTRIP>

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]

As a conservative Christian myself, I'd like to formally apologize for the STUPIDITY and complete lack of critical thinking shown by some of my less....insightful...co-religionists, and remind y'all (geez- even _readin'_ a suthron news papah ahticle is enough to get mah accent stahted...) that it's the loud, obnoxious ones that get the media attention, simply because they're interesting outliers. Think Fred Phelps. Represent me? No way. Pat Robertson? NOT!

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Yours cannot be an easy life, particularly with friends like filkertom! [grin] Thank you for being a good example.

My favorite phrase to turn back on "The Loud, Obnoxious Ones" these days is "What Would Jesus Do?" With all that it implies. Ha!

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Of course there is intelligent life in Georgia. Been to Dragon*Con? Actually, it was D*C that rescued my emotional image of The South from the bad impression I had from my lukewarm-to-hostile ex-in-laws. It was the SF crowd that showed me the warmth and hospitality that The South is supposed to represent.

-=-=-=-

Actually, most "real witches" NeoPagans seem to like the Harry Potter books just fine. At least until the latest one, but that was more because of literary flaws rather than belief systems. My observation only, yours may vary, etc.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

No apology necessary. [mwah]

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

of course, there's another source of intelligence in Georgia -

Alton Brown.

*G*

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]

That's not just intelligence- it's good taste!

[foenix.livejournal.com]

I dunno...do we really wanna trust anything written by Venom? ;)

That said...I never got the whole "Magic is bad! Except when *our* guy does it" mentality. I could ramble away on it, but this isn't the time. I need sleep.

J

[neadods.livejournal.com]

And that shove is always "in the name of the children" - IOW, in keeping control of their children. (Some of Dobson's stuff on maintaining control, and he uses just that word, is downright scary shit.)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Remember how much of this -- how much of religion -- is based on [a] fear, [b] control, and [c] fear. To some people, everything is a threat to some aspect of their lives... their personal safety, their philosophy, whatever. And a few too many of them extrapolate from protecting themselves to eliminating everything they perceive as a threat.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Well, the article from Gwinett County isn't what you call "rural," even back down home where the term is used rather widely. (heh) Gwinett County is one of the counties basically covered by Atlanta. It used to be the "exurbs" and is now firmly in the "suburb" category thanks to urban sprawl and Atlanta's tendancy to claim any land surrounded by a highway loop as part of itself. "We are Atlanta of Georgia. You will be assimilated. Anti-annexation legislation is futile. We will add your strip malls and ZIP code diversity to our own."

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Miz Ann, don't you fear. We don't lump people like you in with them, because they are in fact not co-religionists with you in our view. They, including Phelps and Robertson, are members of a wholly different sect from the followers of Rabbi Yeshua. They are Fundamentalists, not Christians. You can tell that they are Fundamentalists just like the terrorist bombers and the rest who worship the Book and Power rather than the Author, because they use the same language and seek the same goal: temporal power, where their word is law. Their word, not "The Word."

Speaking on behalf of myself, however, we thank you for publically pointing out that you, too, find them to be morons. Every time a Christian speaks out publically and says, "Hey, you all are being idiots, now shut the hell up and quit ruining it for the rest of us!", it does remind the rest of us that you are caught up in their foolishness against your will, as well.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

My favorite response to when someone tries to ban Harry Potter or the like goes like this: "Is your faith so weak that it's threatened by this?" Usually the response is pure angry ranting, which goes a long way to illustrate my point to others within earshot, but a few times it actually got them to thinking.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I dunno...do we really wanna trust anything written by Venom? ;)

The first three times I looked at this, I didn't get it. The fourth time, I almost broke my chair laughing so hard.

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

*snickers* Granted!

(Sentient cyberpunk cities making land grabs!)

[jss]

And not just good taste: Good Eats.