Bears, Beets, and Baha’i

In which I question the AP’s reporting methods, and offer somewhat of a rebuttal to Amy Sullivan’s post today regarding an “Information Tax”.
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Be prepared for a very Zech-like volume of commentary…

Thanks Senator Ron Wyden, yeah religious persecution is horrible, but why waste Congress’ time and more importantly the taxpayer’s money on something that will change nothing? Do you not remember the US doesn’t talk to Iran? Iran wont care, it’ll probably piss them off like apparently the “Wrestler” did. How is this religious persecution any worse from the millions of other people being persecuted in other countries? So yeah, thanks Ron, I’ll be sure remember to give you a gold star for this next time you’re up for re-election.

To be followed by the post, Does Rainn Wilson matter anymore?

A post that frankly is way too obscure for most of America to care about or spend time reflecting on his significance. See, I already wasted far too much valuable time commenting on this post.

Hey, at least she posted on something besides Christianity.

AS — What is it about we want you to succeed at this don’t you get?
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It seems to me that in addition to not engaging with commenters, it is becoming increasingly clear that you are not even bothering to read the commentary. How do I know this you ask?
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Because unless you are an idiot you are aware that print media is on the decline. To survive over the long term magazines like Time will have to depend on creating a solid revenue stream generated from its online product.
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It would seem to me that consistently demonstrating that you cannot create or maintain an online following would subtract from your overall value. In this perilous time, with so many people in the industry losing their jobs or afraid they are about to, I find it impossible to believe that you could be aware of how badly you are doing and not want to do everything in your power to do better.
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So I’m left with two options: 1) You don’t read the commentary and are completely unaware of how poorly you are doing. What other reason could you have for ignoring every piece of constructive criticism (feel free to ignore any gratuitous personal attacks) or, 2) You’ve got a rock solid personal relationship with the powers that be and you know your job is protected no matter what drivel you post.
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Of course, regardless of which scenario is closest to the truth, the bottom line is that you don’t value this forum and it shows.

SZ – that is perhaps the best take-down of spob I’ve seen yet, combined with a fantastic takedown of the AP.

Scherer on ed, KT on the Coleman-Franken war (am I the only who can’t summon “the care”?), and two posts from God-smack. Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!
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Before I head off, in lieu of Amy’s typically banal post, I offer you this matching exercise (who said what?):
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1. “Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
2. “If there is a God, he is a malign thug.”
3. “All religions bear traces of the fact that they arose during the intellectual immaturity of the human race – before it had learned the obligations to speak the truth. Not one of them makes it the duty of its God to be truthful and understandable in his communications.”
4. “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.”
5. “The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.”
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A. Nietzsche
B. Mencken
C. Bonaparte
D. Adams (John)
E. Twain

I might add that Amy has warmly offered to hear the confession of our first winner!

Let me take a crack at it:
1. C
2. B
3. A
4. D
5. E

Amy-Link to Rain’s blog. WTF? You link to CNN and Brownback? Here is not that friggin hard.
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http://www.soulpancake.com/

Thanks, Gunny.
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AS manages to be uninformative about more than one religion. I assume we’re supposed to applaud?
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She’s assuming either (a) we’re all experts about the Baha’i or (b) it’s not a real religion so it’s not up to her to say anything about it. Either way, she’s being lazy, lazy, LAZY.
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For those who are interested in learning how to differentiate the Bab from Baha’u'llah:
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http://www.bahai.org/

1. “Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
Bonaparte
2. “If there is a God, he is a malign thug.”
Nietchze
3. “All religions bear traces of the fact that they arose during the intellectual immaturity of the human race – before it had learned the obligations to speak the truth. Not one of them makes it the duty of its God to be truthful and understandable in his communications.”
Adams
4. “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.”
Mencken
5. “The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.”
Twain
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A. Nietzsche
B. Mencken
C. Bonaparte
D. Adams (John)
E. Twain

Friar, I’m a Baha’i and I don’t claim to be an expert! Baha’u'llah was a profligate writer on spiritual matters, his various tomes consume many books (the exact number escapes my brain right now but it’s in the high teens) and one could spend a lifetime sorting and sifting through his texts alone. Then we get to the writings of his son and grandson. Also note that anyone who claims to be an “expert” in the Baha’i faith will get a funny look from the followers of the faith, because we believe that we can never understand all of the mystery of Allah.
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Also thanks for that link Gunny. It might get me through the rest of my shift perusing through that site. I am going to join in and say BAD AMY! WHY NO LINK???

I want to de-lameify talking about God and religion.
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This kind of thing never ends well. Because if you discuss this stuff honestly, forthrightly, in a reality based frame, people get really tetchy.

Fools! True enlightenment can only be obtained through the flying spaghetti monster. Amy, can we get an obscure post on the one true religion?

Brownback’s just so…
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oh, I don’t know – what’s the word for someone who’s an entire order of magnitude beyond sanctimonious? I’m only surprised he hasn’t spoken out… yet… against military families’ intolerant treatment of Phred Phelps and his Church of the Perpetual Outpatient Field Trip.

Looks like Cliff, for lack of competition, is our winner at 60%.
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1. c
2. e
3. a
4. d
5. b

I don’t have a problem with AS doing a post about Iran’s persecution of Bahai. And while using Rainn Wilson to approach the story demonstrates how deeply entrenched in the mainstream media mindset AS is (the assumption being that no one would pay attention if the focus was on the persecution, rather than on Wilson) is disturbing, its not the biggest problem.
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No, what’s really wrong with this post is AS’s insistence on presenting Wyden and Brownback as ‘defenders of religious freedom’ — their motivation has nothing to do with religious freedom, its merely another convenient stick for them to beat Iran with.

pluk: You mean Wyden and Brownback don’t have deeply held convictions about the Baha’i faith? /snark
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You’re right of course. If it were happening in some other country, we wouldn’t be hearing from them.

Let me know when you all get done with the gratuitous bashing of Amy Sullivan.

jcapan:
Good stuff.

A while back someone at the swamp had a link to an interview of BHO on religion. It was a refreshingly scholarly take (along the line taken by Joseph Campbell) and somewhat puzzling – when I read it during that Rev Wright saga.
I lost the link.

yogi,

Don’t be mean, it’s not about a gold star, but actually there is a large Baha’i population here in Oregon and there are lots of direct connections between Oregonians of the Baha’i faith, and the people being persecuted in Iran. It’s one of the more cosmopolitan faiths, and adherents move around alot and are very international. I’m sure many here in Oregon appreciate their Senator paying attention to their problems, even if it is only a symbolic response.