Well, it's a new week. Apparently the world ended on Saturday not with a bang, but with a whimper. If you're reading this, you're apparently a hopeless sinner, doomed to five months or so of torment before being sent to the fiery pits of hell, or perhaps (just maybe) Harold Camping was wrong.
Christianity tends to get a pass in our society. The most outrageous ideas popping out of the mouths of the sincerely religious are allowed to stand unchallenged (although other religions don't get the same respect).
But not this time, really. Most of us heard about Camping and his idiotic ideas, and most of us thought he was an idiot. But there were some poor gullible bastards who were taken in. Many of them were taken in completely.
A man in Nairobi killed himself because of Camping's prediction. A man in California tried to euthanize his pets. People have spent their life savings, families were torn apart.
And a woman in Antelope Valley tried to kill herself and her two daughters, by slitting their throats and wrists.
Fortunately, "murder/suicide" now joins "spotting fraud" as just another thing she sucked at.
Some people suggested that Camping had emailed a suicide note to the Family Radio employees and killed himself. Sadly, that didn't prove to be the case. He showed up the next day, confused that he'd proven to be a lying sack of fuck. As I write this, the Family Radio website hasn't changed their "Judgement Day - May 21, 2011" screen:
But I clicked on that microphone in the upper right, and that vicious, unwavering bastard is holding a press conference claiming that God has now judged the world, and it will still end on October 21st.
This evil fucknozzle has earned over a hundred million dollars with this scam, and he is still trying to keep it going.
The saddest part to all this is, Camping's followers will most likely just become more devout because of this. What needs to happen is that his victims need to sue him for his immoral con game. But it won't happen.
Because the one thing that lasts forever is stupidity.
One thing I haven't seen in the press is a discussion of how much hubris has to be involved in making a prediction about the world's end. It's breathtaking, no? Put case that there's a god -- someone who makes predictions of this sort is basically telling God what to do and when to do it. Can't imagine that goes over too well with the management up there.
ReplyDeleteI made a mistake this evening.
ReplyDeleteI listened to that evil sack of shit for almost an hour, claiming that nothing was his fault, that, of course he couldn't return the money, that it was all a simple mistake, except that God spent Saturday judging everybody (just not as dramatically as he claimed it would be) and the world will still end on October 21.
I thought I was done being outraged over the simple pedestrian sins of the common man. This evil piece of shit threw me for a loop.
Why is he allowed to walk the streets as if he was a normal human?
You managed an hour? I can barely get through the sound bytes of that guy. I'm surprised your head didn't explode. Or by his logic, maybe it DID -- only sort of quietly, so quietly that you didn't even notice, and neither did anybody else....
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I get why you're so full of anger, resentment, and apparent hatred for people who simply believe differently from you.
ReplyDeleteIs that not their prerogative? Is it not, should they wish, also their prerogative to send their money to whomever they please?
You're actually disappointed someone didn't kill themselves, because he's religious and you aren't? You don't think he should even have the basic liberties that you have, because you don't share his beliefs?
I'm not sure how that squares with the whole "exchange of ideas" thing, but ok...
Wow. Hey, look, here's the alternate viewpoint.
ReplyDeleteYou know something? I'm drunk. It's a defensive measure, admittedly: this evil fuck hurt me in ways that I didn't think were available to the normal human. I thought I was past this, but apparently, the suffering of normal humans can still cause me pain.
But you know something else? I think I've worked it out. It has nothing to do with "he's religious and you aren't." It's basic human suffering. This cynical con man is hurting other people, not just himself.
Yes, it's his prerogative, until he starts to bring other people along with him.
This is a bit of a revelation to me. I actually thought I was past this. But here it is.
Anon: "You're actually disappointed someone didn't kill themselves, because he's religious and you aren't?"
ReplyDeleteAbusive troll bullshit from one who obviously did not read this post, did not get the point, argues any point to the point of pointlessness, thinks people should not to be held accountable for their words or actions, and in every respect exhibits a callous disregard for human beings. Not even worthy of a response, my advice is to delete troll comments like this because they have only one purpose: To taunt and annoy readers of this forum.
Camping is a clever bastard, he can save a ton of bucks using the same billboards and simply pasting "October" over "May".
ReplyDeleteThese off-beat evangelical nut cases are good for a laugh but they don't scare me. What truly scares me is that insidious Mormon, Inc. cult.
The anonymous troll returned earlier today with this comment:
ReplyDelete“Excuse me - Exactly what about my comment was 'abusive', or 'bullshit'? And how did you make all those conclusions about me, from a totally anodyne question?”
Posted by Anonymous to THE SWASH ZONE at 4:46 PM, May 24, 2011
It is called attributing motives to the author, as in putting words in someone’s mouth that were never spoken or even implied. It is about a deliberate misreading of the author’s words for purposes of being deliberately antagonistic and unjustifiably argumentative. Example:
“You're actually disappointed someone didn't kill themselves …”
No the author did not think that. And it is ABUSIVE to violate personal boundaries in such a manner. Someone actually did kill himself. Someone did try euthanasia on his pets. People did spend their life savings … over what! A fraud! Read the damn post, ASSHOLE!, and next time go to the links.
You’re done here, Anonymous, now get lost.
"...And how did you make all those conclusions about me, from a totally anodyne question?”
ReplyDeleteHmmm... interesting.
an·o·dyne adj.
1. Capable of soothing or eliminating pain.
2. Relaxing
In the words of that great philosopher I. Montoya, "I don' thin' that word means what you thin' that word means."
Now, the rum last night, that was an anodyne. Because I spent an hour, that I'll never get back, listening to that horrific troll explain how nothing was his fault, and he didn't tell anybody to do anything. But by the way, the world is still going to end in 5 months.
He's a disgusting, evil, abusive con man.
And here's the truth, little troll. I have no issue with that man killing himself, after all the harm he's caused to others. Of course, I don't have quite the same respect for the "sanctity of life" that most of my fellow bloggers here have.
Then again, I spent 21 years in the military. And after a time or two spent staring down the sights of a gun, with your finger pulling about 5 of the 7.5 pounds of pressure required to put a round through a complete stranger's head, perhaps you develop a somewhat alien viewpoint to most people.
(I'm just fortunate that I never had to pull that extra few pounds. Unlike my son, currently on his second tour of Afghanistan. He's got a long road to recovery.)
Of course, alternatively, he needs to be locked away in a little room, where he can't preach to the feeble-minded and gullible, and he should only be let out after October 21. To great fanfare and a lot of pointing and laughing.
But you are attributing entirely the wrong motive. I don't give a rat's ass what he believes; the fact that he "believes differently from" me doesn't even enter into the equation, you ignorant turd.
It's a little thing called "justice" - a concept created by men. He has ruined the lives (and even taken the lives, by proxy) of people around the world.
I don't care what twisted version of "god" he believes in. I judge him only by his actions. His weird bronze-age superstitions don't matter in the slightest.
Here's a thought for you: Charles Manson never killed anyone, either. I guess that in your eyes, that makes him innocent, doesn't it?
Footnote: I apologize for the inadvertent sexism in that last comment. It hardly makes it better that it was supposed to read "...a concept created by men, not 'gods'."
ReplyDeleteOn reflection, "humanity" might have been a better way to go. Less poetic, but perhaps more real.