Genesis, illustrated by R Crumb

An interesting review of the R. Crumb depicition of Genesis:
http://www.knoxville.com/news/2009/oct/13/review-r-crumbs-genesis-illustrated-electrifying-a/

Inevitably, the book will be controversial, but since it's based on a literal, straight rendering of the text, it will be very hard for conservative Christians to explain just why it offends. It would be great to see an illustrated version of Revelation done the same way.

A lot of people are talking about the false information being used on the Right (I've heard some of the elderly people in our neighborhood repeat them, discouragingly). Some additional casualties of recent misinformation campaigns:

First, the important issue of deficits and spending is not given serious treatment, and any positive impact a fiscal conservative view might have on the final bill may be weakened. Money does matter, and we shouldn't become financially stupid just because the people arguing on the side of money are insane.

Second, Republicans lose their "brand identity" by acting in ways that Jesus would never approve. Lying to win a debate is not Christian, and it doesn't always win. Misrepresenting your opponents, bearing false witness, these are not things one can do and retain any association with the Prince of Peace, who argued for loving one's enemies, abandoning wealth, and forgiving debts. Those are not right wing positions. As for gay marriage, Jesus never mentioned it, although he did say that second marriages for women were adulterous and invalid (it's in the Gospels).

Many of today's Christian Conservatives do not adhere to any of those values, and are falsifying their own religious credentials (religion is one area where it's risky to blow your own horn). They might want to do some inward searching and see how their own actions have undermined their success. We could use a dose of authentic Christianity, or just a little human decency, and the real peace it might bring if we were to learn to understand each other for a change, no longer flinging stones across a growing but mostly artificial artificial political, religious and economic chasm.

Poem for Neda

Poem for Neda

The collective body, bound and severed by our scalpeling minds,
whispering through the blood, the voice of our true mother
what gravity holds us down, what pours us down the drain
Who will bring this body back to life and make it sane?

I fall into my sorry self, descending through the shame
To find a point of silence far from all the shouts of blame
returning to the fertile ground from which I drew my blood
I fall into a pit and find a key beneath the mud

Her nations always falling, together and apart
the exponential replicating clones perfect their art
They tie their children's tongues and mummy-wrap their souls
But deep inside the children color past the lines of old

We'll fall as one into the pit, forever if need be
To finally reach the bottom, and recover the missing key.
We die within ourselves, and resurrect into the world
And soon, by God or no God, we'll be free.

Michael Lockhart

Like mercy itself

There are such helpers in the world,
who rush to saveanyone who cries out.
Like Mercy itself, they run towards the screaming.

And they can't be bought off.

If you were to ask one of those, "Why did you come
so quickly?" he or she would say, "Because I heard
your helplessness.

-Written in the 13th century
by the great Persian poet, Rumi-

Psychological dangers of foreclosure

I think it's worth talking about the emotional consequences of people being squeezed out of their homes. Psychologically, it's an assault on a person's foundation for living, i.e. a metaphor for death. The problem here is that real estate is both a commodity and a basis for a secure life (except for a small number of natural nomads who don't mind being "in between" dwellings). As long as one has some control over one's living space, it's possible to be calm, capable and ambitious without being greedy or manipulative. What happens when a large number of people are squeezed out of "their" homes, suddenly realizing they don't own the basis for their own security?

Being in debt is also a huge psychological stressor, triggering violence in some cases and anxiety in most. A lot of people have ADD or other issues affecting the prefrontal lobes, and they are easily lured into debt because of their natural present-tense focus. This plays on mental illness (or natural variations in neural configuration that are maladapted to modern systems), and perhaps qualifies morally as abuse -- but is not legally deemed abusive. No recourse for emotional suffering, only acknowledgement of the contract. Some people shouldn't get into contracts in the first place -- but they have no ability to know when they shouldn't, and no objective understanding (if not diagnosed) that neurological traits are subverting "responsibility". Self-blame, shame and family rifts are all part of the fallout. The fault lines deepen, and all we can do is ask whose fault it is. How about repairing the fault lines instead, reducing the psychological stress and the likelihood of random violence and family abuse?

I believe there are many people who are genetically incompatible with our economic system, who need alternatives to the standardized "go to college, get into debt, buy a house with more debt, and work it off until you die" paradigm. Perhaps some form of network marketing, which provides a mentor and low barriers to entry -- perfect for ADD and young people who instinctively reject the compulsive and compulsory aspects of the system. Network marketing is egalitarian, not so much a hierarchy as an organically branching tree. Is it possible to create a globally-networked economy of individuals, subverting mega-corporations and producing a genuinely diverse economy? It may be a matter of reaching near-zero entry costs, with products designed to educate and enable people to adapt to a changing world.

Paranoia and violence

Is violence a reaction to the anticipated loss of acceptance by a social group? If so, does there need to be a group ready to accept people on the verge of violence?

A lot of people believe they aren't loved, and there is a tremendous cloud of judgment that threatens to turn people against each other. I think that would create violence. It would also explain the escalating effect, the irrational driven quality of violence. The more one goes beyond the normal boundaries of social behavior, the more one reacts to being unable to cross back in.

Genes and gangs

Study: A certain gene helps determine gang membership.

Is Iran about to unleash a selected pool of genetic sociopaths on a resistance movement made up mostly of women?

That is a frightening thought.