Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Oh. Well, That's OK Then
Illinois state Rep. Monique Davis has apologized to Rob Sherman, who has graciously accepted her apology, for attempting to deny him his civil rights in a public hearing that he was invited to testify before last week.
Apparently it's OK to be a bigoted, unconstitutional, theocratic asshole if you're having a bad day.
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The Very Bad Day
I posted on the whole thing -- with some probably-overlong philosophy about the nature of an apology -- over at my www.HankFox.com blog.
And then I wrote her a letter, basically asking her to do the right thing.
...
Earlier in my life, I was a completely naive boob -- unlike the sophisticated, urbane boob I am today -- and I used to write letters to people. Surprisingly, it very seldom happened that I didn't get something back. Even famous authors -- Alex Haley, Robert Ringer and Piers Anthony, among others -- wrote me back, replies that showed clearly that they actually read the letters I wrote.
My point is that people are reachable. If you reach out, approach them as humans, sometimes you can make a difference. I've seen it happen.
...
More than anything, I was pleased to see evidence, in the public reaction to all this, that atheists are no longer fair game for the religious bobbleheads. We've stopped lying down and taking it.
You wrote Piers Anthony
You wrote Piers Anthony too?!? I wrote him a letter when I was a kid - 10 or 11. Chex was my favoritest character of the Xanth novels and I just had to tell him. :-)
After that I got into lots of trouble at school because I wouldn't put my Xanth novels away. In 6th grade I had to have a special meeting with my mom and my teacher because I was reading Ogre, Ogre and they didn't like naked little Tandy on the cover. Luckily my mom actually sided with me and I got my book back. :-)
Piers
I'm sure I still have the reply from Anthony somewhere. I don't read his stuff much anymore; along about book 12 in the Xanth never-ending-ilogy, I just grew out of them.
I had the same reaction to Louis L'Amour's westerns. Eventually I started to feel I was reading the same story over and over, same characters, just with different names. And they never had sex.
Actually Louis L'Amour was one of the people I wrote to. He wrote back too ... in a way. In his myriad novels, he had these little philosophical tidbits couched as sayings by his characters. Such as "A man in love with learning is never without a bride, for there is always more."
I wrote him and offered to work with him on collecting them all together, creating a new book and calling it something like "The Wisdom of Louis L'Amour." I never heard back from him, but I did see the very book a little over a year later, "A Trail Of Memories: The Quotations Of Louis L'Amour." His daughter Angelique L'Amour was the compiler.
I spent about 5 minutes being miffed that he'd stolen my idea, and the rest of the time since feeling good that it was an idea good enough to be stolen. Or maybe — great minds and all — that he'd just coincidentally had the same idea.
Living as I do now in the east, where there are several living history-type towns and attractions, I'm always sorry he didn't finish his Wild West living history town, Shalako. It would've been a kick to visit.
Fair Blows The Wind
I flat-out love L'Amour's books. I've read pretty much everything he ever published, aside from some of the more obscure unfinished pieces that his estate is putting out here and there.
I love the fact that the westerns all feel the same, and can be re-read comfortably. Weird, I know, but it's great when you're in an airport with 6 minutes to board your plane and you run into the bookstore and grab literally *any* L'Amour book, and you're set for the flight.
Oddly enough the no-sex-thing never really bugged me all that much.
But the stories I loved the best of all were his non-westerns. "Fair Blows The Wind" has got to be my absolute favorite. While other kids were playing "Superman" or "Dukes Of Hazzard" or whatever, I was playing "Tatton Chantry". I took up fencing in college because of that book. The first and second (chronological) Sackett novels, "Sackett's Land" and "To The Far Blue Mountains", "Last Of The Breed", and "The Walking Drum" are others. I also really enjoyed his collection of non-western short stories called "The Adventure Stories".
I always thought that you could lift the entire plot of one of his westerns, re-set it is a science fiction setting - out on the "frontier" in space - and have a best seller. Maybe one day I'll write it. :)
L'Amour on the Silver Screen
Some of the movies made from his books, especially those starring Tom Selleck and whatsisname with the great mustache ..., were darned good too, in my opinion.
As a former cowpoke, I pick up some of the mistakes in western movies -- for instance, a bright galvanized chain linking two wagons together in Silverado -- but those movies were really good. The acting was good, the story was good, and the scenes and props were good enough to fool my authenticity filters.
(Ah: Sam Elliott. I've said more than once that Sam Elliott's mustache should have its own star on Hollywood Boulevard.)
Louis L'Amour was... :'-(
Louis L'Amour was... :'-( .....my grandfather's favorite author. Grandpa died a little over a year ago. There's no way I could pick up one of those books now. Maybe again at some point in the future.
Piers Anthony, on the other hand, I just grew tired of - like you said. I read all the Xanth's up to Geis of the Gargoyle, then all of a sudden I just hated it. I remember I saw Color of Her Panties in the store and didn't even bother picking it up. That's really unlike me. I usually read everything by an author no matter what once I get started on 'em. But PA was such a big part of my childhood. I have fond memories.
Oh, come on - she's a politician!
So she'll say anything she thinks the public needs to hear, especially to stop negative publicity. You think it's worth listening to or trusting her? Hypocrite.
(Her, I mean, of course. Kinda redundant to say that about a politician, though.)
Cut her some slack...
Rep. Davis had just heard that yet another godless communist atheist had perpetrated a school shooting, and then Mr. Sherman took to the podium to decry a million dollar grant for a local church, the last bastion of freedom in this God-forsaken land.
Rep. Davis had no way to know that this communist sympathizer was not involved in the school shooting, and that in fact, he may be one of the few good ones who has simply taken a wrong turn in his faith.
We should all pray for Mr. Sherman's immortal soul.
God bless.
I'll absolutely cut her some slack, and meanwhile...
The next time I feel frustrated because of another senseless murder, I'll assume that it was someone from a group I fear and don't understand. Then when I lash out at someone from that group of people, say hurtful things about them, and basically deny them their right to be human, I can smugly apologize and everything will be forgiven.
I like how this works. I wonder if Michael Richards is looking on.
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
So let me get this straight
Saying something bigoted about black people will get you fired, no matter how many times you apologize, but saying something bigoted about atheists is okay.
Apology not accepted.
Yeah, I saw that . . .
. . . last night at PZ's, dKos, and elsewhere. And was really unimpressed. Also, really appalled at the way a bunch of theists at dKos were going on and on about how gracious this was of her. Gah - made me wanna puke.
Jim Downey
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