Reflections From a Murky Pond

By now most of the Civilized World has heard of Jerome Corsi’s new book, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. I’m fairly sure that most of the Civilized World also has an opinion about the work - a strongly held opinion for or against both the author and the book.

For the detractors of Corsi and The Obama Nation the anger and outrage has unsurprisingly spilled over onto the supposed “right wing attack machine.” This is of course a normal reaction for the Left in general and the Obama followers in specific. Anything that is derogatory about Obama must have been dreamed up by McCain and the GOP. Once again their knee-jerk emotional reaction was wrong.

Corsi’s The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality came straight out of the PUMA laden Clinton Campaign bag of dirty tricks. The book was produced by Mary Matalin, wife of long time friend of both Bill and Hillary Clinton and Campaign Consultant to both Clinton’s presidential campaigns.

I suppose that it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Hillary Clinton was involved with such an attack on her arch-enemy Barack Obama. I thought that as a GOP vehicle the book was released too early in the campaign to be properly effective. The release date is not too early though for Clinton since she’s forced her name back onto the DNC nomination and roll-call vote at that DNC Convention. It’s actually perfectly timed.

With a very unexpected H/T to Kayinmaine at White Noise Insanity.

Do the Gods meet and discuss us amongst themselves? If so, what does each have to of His or Her chosen people?

Do the gods of different nations
talk to each other?
Do the gods of Chinese cities
speak to the ancestors of the Japanese?
To the lords of Xibalba?
To Allah? Yahweh? Vishnu?
Is there some annual get-together
where they compare each other’s worshipers?
Mine will bow their faces to the floor
and trace woodgrain lines for me, says one.
Mine will sacrifice animals, says another.
Mine will kill anyone who insults me, says a third.
Here is the question I think of most often:
Are there any who can honestly boast,
My worshipers obey my good laws,
and treat each other kindly,
and live simple generous lives?

– Orson Scott Card
Children of the Mind (Tor 1997)

Not my words, but at times my question. Could any of the Gods stand before His or Her fellows and state truly the his worshipers obey His or Her laws, treat each other kindly, and live simple generous lives? Do we - their purported worshipers - not prefer to aggrandize ourselves by reason of our faiths? Do we not prefer to use our Gods as reason for pride or spite, instead of serving them?

What would the Gods say of us if they met?

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) have been getting a lot of attention. Many Christians are up in arms over the anti-Christian and supposedly atheistic theme of the the trilogy. Now that the first novel, The Golden Compass, is a major motion picture the rancor has increased.

Why are these Christians so upset? It’s simple - they’re right in the thought that Pullman’s His Dark Materials is intended to be both anti-Christian church (anti-Catholic to be more specific) and atheistic. Generally reliable sources confirm that Pullman wrote the works to promote atheism in the same way that C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia promoted Christianity. Pullman’s trilogy is in admitted fact a reworking of Milton’s classic 17th-century poem Paradise Lost into a children’s tale.

I’m Pagan so the anti-Christian church theme doesn’t particularly bother me. I’m not thrilled with the atheistic message contained in the works, but I feel that intelligent readers can see more of the author’s bitterness and disillusionment than of any basis for denying the existence of some form of divinity.

That doesn’t mean I believe that His Dark Materials is suitable reading material for children and many young teens. I firmly believe that the works were egregiously miscategorized. The material is these works is far too complex, dark, and grim for children.

The villains are on par with any of literature’s worst and the books show the actions of those villains with garish details - acts that make the most hideous techniques employed at GITMO pale in comparison. This, combined with the near constant failure, setback and grief that the young heroes experience despite their best efforts, makes the books unsuitable in my opinion for younger readers. I don’t think that children need to read stories that unrelentingly highlight that all plans can fail and that sometimes there are no good choices.

To sum it up - I thought the books were a good read - for adults!