“We Have The Truth”

Posted by admin on July 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

I saw a very scary movie a couple weeks ago called “Jesus Camp.”  The movie is about an evangelical right wing Christian “bible” camp run by pastor Becky Fischer and her ministry.

Although the movie was scary from a sociological point of view on religious fanaticism, I was more sad than scared after watching it.

A couple of things about the movie….

The film starts off with Pastor Becky Fischer talking passionately to the camera about how terrorist families  teach their children such passion for their religion that kids are wiling to take up arms against non believers.  Fischer proceeds to praise the dedication and passion of these children and talks about her desire for Christian children in America to be equally as passionate and willing to take up arms because “they” have the ” real truth.”

How do you know when somebody has lost their mind?  When they tell you their religion is the only “truth” and has the only right way of understanding or reaching God.  Seriously.  Despite my anger for how this woman was trying to scare the crap out of innocent children, I eventually felt more sorry for her than I did angry.  She comes off as a closeted lesbian who is so scared of going to her idea of “hell,” totally unaware that God loves her regardless of her sexual preferences that she has “taken up arms” for the “army of God” and dedicated her life to being an extremist bible literalist.

To be honest I felt more anger towards the parents of the children in this movie than I did Becky Fischer.  Becky Fischer is clearly a crazy person, and what makes me angry is that these parents themselves are equally as crazy for not protecting their kids from her hellfire and brimstone message. In the beginning of the film we see a family of two kids being home schooled by a mother telling her children that Creationism is the ONLY way the earth came into existence and seemingly suggesting in her undertones that anybody who thinks otherwise is some kind of heathen.  Personally I don’t really care either way if somebody believes one or the other…what made the movie so sad/scary is the sheer amount of underlying hatred these people had for non-fanatics like themselves.  Later on in the film one of these boys is interviewed and expresses his dislike of being around non-christian people, that there is something very “off” about them.  The poor kid is around 12 years old and is a walking robot of his parents influence. They then go on to pledge the allegiance of the “christian” flag of the United States of America…

What is so sad about this movie are these deeply misunderstood children.  All of these crazy parents should hip themselves to a Child Psychology book and discover that children, despite their parents morality, will naturally copy their parents behavior and try to please their parents in whatever way they can.  Some children will continue this pattern throughout life and others will rebel in some form or another in search of their own voice.  I pray that these kids find within themselves some good old fashioned teenage rebellion!

However, these kids are nowhere near a developmental point in their lives where this is possible and truly are regurgitating the messages of their parents.  They are robots driven by the energy of an incredible amount of fear and are mistakenly believed to be authentically expressing their true selves. Their tears are the tears of scared children, and if they had been conditioned to cry and praise a Koallah bear to avoid the punishment of “hell” their whole upbringing…they would be doing just that as well.

This is the fundamental error of all religious fanatisicm:  foundations built upon mountains of fear, hatred and ruthless dogmatism all masked under the veil of love and knowing “the way.”   This fear is caused by a fear of dying and trying to be in control of life/the after life, as well as fear of expressing and honoring the full spectrum of what makes us human: sex, anger, deep passionate love, self-expression, rebellion, individuality, both darkness and light…all and everything in between.  These childrens brains are being pummeled with hellfire, hatred and brimstone and led to believe that their way of life is the ONLY acceptable way.  It’s very sad and not what God is about.  The closer you get to God…whatever God is…the more that fear disappears.  We will go in and out of conection with source, wtih God, with our “higher self,” with the “one,” with “christ consciousness” whatever it’s called…and the more deeply we connect the more love replaces fear.  Love for all humanity and love for the entirety of our own humanity as well.

This One’s For The Ladies… (Stay Away From Cosmo Ladies…)

Posted by admin on June 16th, 2009 | No Comments »

At some point during their four years at Middlebury College, statistically, 1 in every 2 women that I went to college with battled with anorexia, bulimia or some other form of eating disorder.  1 in every 2.  ONE in every TWO woman…50% of woman who I went to college with at some point, battled with eating disorders.

Who is to blame for this astoundingly depressing statistic?

Cosmo fucking magazine.  We are all so quick to blame a girls upbringing, her parents, institutions etc for the reasons why somebody might have body issues, but let us also point our fingers also at organizations like Cosmopolitan Magazine:  a magazine that condones self-expression and self-empowerment and instead promotes the efficacy of masking ones true self, true feelings, true emotions and true desires based upon some bastardized and distorted concept of how to be a woman in the world.   The sad thing is that this bastardized Cosmo-concept of womanhood is largely based upon  an equally distorted and ephemeral view of men.  Ladies…, just for the record, Cosmopolitan magazine does NOT know ANYTHING about men.  PLEASE believe me.  Cosmo magazine is the silent perpetrator, the true killer of woman, the devil in disguise…and the scary thing is that 78% of woman in America read their trashy dissertations.

Now, before I delve into some details, don’t get me wrong…everybody has a right to indulge in some trashy entertainment.  Soap operas, sports illustrated, the Bachelor, Playboy, even American idol etc. etc. are all forms of male and female oriented “trashy” entertainment.  However, when a magazine positions itself as an authority on issues of body, sex and relationships…and in turn promotes extremely unhealthy and harmful ways of taking on these areas of life…the organization should be burnt to the ground with all of it’s members safely outside of the building (so nobody gets hurt) but still, forced to watch it burn in flames.

After spending some time perusing their website and reading an issue or two, the general Cosmo-view of how to be a woman in the world is to largely hide your “imperfections” and present yourself in a sellable, pretty package (stick thin and blemish-less) so that you will be able to attract a man.  Men, according to Cosmo are for the most part all liars, only interested in sex, are turned off by your vulnerability and insecurities, aloof, unemotional and have no integrity.  Now, a lot of men ARE indeed like this and these kinds of men, as any self respecting woman knows are not worth anybodies time.  However, not only does Cosmo promote and direct woman in how to “catch” a man like this, but they also promote hiding ones personality in order to appeal to some cosmo-idea of what men actually want.  In addition to this, they don’t seem to understand that there are men out there in the world that have all the qualities of a “mans man” but who can still talk about emotional things and dare I say…welcome your vulnerability and yes, fall more in love with you as you reveal the beauty that you really are…both inside, and outside.

Here is an example…taken from their “advice archives on their website”

My boyfriend has one female friend. They’re really close, they hang out by themselves, he never asks me to join them, and oh, yeah — she’s gorgeous. Is he going to cheat on me with her?

Ah, the age-old question: Can a man be friends with a woman he finds attractive? As a guy with a few hot friends myself, I’ll admit, I’ve definitely thought about fooling around with them. And the hotter the friend, the greater the temptation.

Still, you shouldn’t assume your guy is going to cheat just because he spends time alone with this girl. The fact that he never asks you to join them could just mean that he likes to talk to her about things he couldn’t talk about in front of you — namely, you and your relationship. And assuming the friend isn’t an evil skank, chances are, she has your back in those conversations and advises him on how to make you happy.

But sure, there’s a chance he will be or already has been unfaithful. You just need to trust that he’s not, and in order to do that, you need to get to know the girl. Since your guy isn’t making that happen — that’s an insensitive mistake on his part — suggest that he invite her along next time you’re hanging out in a group setting. Say something like “A bunch of us are going to this bar later on, and you should bring so-and-so — I’d love to meet her.” Don’t put any pressure on him or come across as suspicious. Then, when you see them together, let your woman’s intuition guide you. You’ll know if something’s fishy.”

Anybody see something wrong with this piece of “advice.”

How about instead of planning a big dramatic scenario of secretly spying on how your boyfriend behaves with some female friend of his while you guys all drink together at a bar…you just ASK HIM?  I know it’s a novel concept–open and honest communication, but it is one of the secrets to a happy and healthy relationship…DUH.  However, according to Cosmo, men don’t like it when woman communicate about their feelings.  It’s not “sexy.”  You come off as “pathetic.”  But for some strange reason, you aren’t pathetic when you strategically set up a drama as suggested above????  You aren’t pathetic when you are too much of a coward to simply open your mouth and “ASK.”

Another thing they also forgot to mention… If your boyfriend is spending a ton of time with another woman, talks about your relationship with her and doesn’t want you around the two of them…THAT’S WEIRD and you should ask him about it.  You guys should talk about your relationship, TOGETHER and if he thinks it’s weird, if he can’t handle your honesty, or your insecurities or jealousy…then he is a fucking pussy and you should dump his ass and go find yourself a real man.

To be honest, I could go on and on about the rage I feel towards a magazine like Cosmo.  Sadly, the advice and lifestyle that this magazine promotes turns woman pathetic.  Disembodied.  Unaware of their power within.  Unaware of the existence of great men and refusing to settle for less.  Living from lack as apposed to inner abundance.  This kind of lifestyle is the birth of deep fear, the kind of fear that breeds eating disorders, body image problems, lack of self love and confidence…lack of seeing who you really are.  In short…stay away from Cosmo ladies.