Some Thoughts on Boston

Some Thoughts on Boston

Hello, everyone.

 As everyone knows by now, two bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon this past Monday, April 15. And, as everyone also knows, both bombing suspects have been accounted for, with one choosing to die at the hands of police through a fierce gun battle, and the other apparently being wounded in that battle and then being arrested later and being taken to a hospital due to the severity of his wounds.

 There is a lot of sorting out being done concerning the bombing. But that hasn’t stopped the crazy from coming out. This is from the Daily Kos website from Friday, 4/19/13. And naturally, we have the Evangelical community to thank for the guffaws.

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FRI APR 19, 2013 AT 08:00 PM MDT

Family Research Council blames ‘sexual liberalism’ for Newtown, Boston murders. Really.

 These people aren’t right in the head.

 The far-far-right Family Research Council is out with their own take on the Boston bombing and Newtown. As expected, it’s so insane that you’d be hard pressed to even parody it.

In the aftermath of horrible tragedies like Newtown, the government desperately wants to do something–even if that something is the wrong thing. There seems to be this notion, at least among liberals, that more laws will protect us–but as we all witnessed in Boston, that isn’t necessarily the case. The government can’t make us safer until it recognizes that the problem isn’t the instruments of violence–but the environment of it. […]

“If Congress wants to stop these tragedies, then it has to address the government’s own hostility to the institution of the family and organizations that can address the real problem: the human heart. As I’ve said before, America doesn’t need gun control, it needs self-control. And a Congress that actively discourages it–through abortion, family breakdown, sexual liberalism, or religious hostility–is only compounding the problem.”  [This is the FRC quote.]

Now, I really would like everyone here to just pause for a moment and contemplate how very effed up in the head you would have to be to look at Newtown, and look at Boston, and think “the problem here is sexual liberalism.” Or “abortion.” And we’re not even going to get into “religious hostility,” coming from a crowd that is very aggressively hostile to religion, if that religion is not one very specific one, and a narrow ideological sub-sect of that religion at that. “Family breakdown” is a lovely catch-all, yes, let’s all be on the lookout for “family breakdown.” But sexual liberalism, now that is a hum-effing-dinger. If you really think the manhunt for two or more terrorists is because people are using birth control or not hating gay people enough nowadays, you are, well, deranged.

So the Family Research Council is certain that it’s not access to “the instruments of violence” that’s the problem (a curious phrasing, but at least we’ve gotten an acknowledgement that yes, we are talking about “instruments of violence”)―it’s sex. It’s sex, and the womenfolk, and the government telling you you can’t demand your employees not take birth control.

That’s Alex Jones levels of conspiracy theorizing, right there. That’s being so unhinged from common sense that people want to cross to the other side of the street when they see you coming toward them. Is there any supposedly “respectable” conservative group left that is not just a haven for outright cultists at this point?

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I want to take some time to parse the paragraph from the “Family Research Council.”

First, we have this:

“If Congress wants to stop these tragedies, then it has to address the government’s own hostility to the institution of the family….”

OK, exactly HOW does “the government’s own hostility to the institution of the family” factor into the Boston bombing? We are not told. The “FRC” does not tell us. Indeed neither the FBI nor the Boston police has addressed the question of WHY the bombing occurred. This is one of those things that is being sorted out.

Next, we have this:

“…the government’s own hostility to the institution of the family and organizations that can address the real problem: the human heart.”

So HOW is “the human heart” the seed to the Boston bombing? Again we are not told. Again the “FRC” chooses not to tell us. But the gist of this malarkey is like a rotting fish; you can smell it for miles. This is straight from the blatherings of Blithering Billy Graham. Back when Old Billy was filling the airwaves with his rot, he was repeating endlessly, ad nauseum, that “the human heart” was the seat – and seed – of all evil in this world – simply because the Bible said it was. Now Billy was not the smartest man who ever picked up a Bible and strode to the pulpit, so little wonder that he never gave a legitimate basis for his statements. But the “FRC” insists that the human heart is the real seat of the problem and the real cause of the Boston Bombing. OK. Then by that very logic, the human heart was the cause of the Crusades, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Spanish Inquisition. That old evil human heart will cause it every time.

Next, we have this beauty:

“America doesn’t need gun control, it needs self-control.”

So self-control would have prevented Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, and Newtown? Somehow, I doubt this. This line of crap is nothing more than the bit of sanctimonious bullshit that Conservatives and their media are fond of spewing. Would gun control have mitigated the events I just mentioned? We have no idea because this country does not have gun control, thanks to the conservatives and the Evangelicals. But there is evidence – good evidence – that countries that DO have stringent gun control laws on the books don’t come close to the United States in terms of mass murders.

And finally, wse have this jewel:

“And a Congress that actively discourages it–through abortion, family breakdown, sexual liberalism, or religious hostility–is only compounding the problem.”

Oh wow! The crazy is flowing like a Mississippi River flood! ABORTION is responsible for the bombings and mass shootings? How so? Again we don’t know because the “FRC” chooses not to tell us.

“FAMILY BREAKDOWN” is responsible for the bombings and mass shootings? Again how so? Again we don’t know because the “FRC” again chooses to not explain it to us.

“SEXUAL LIBERALISM”” caused the bombings and shootings? First of all, what in the Hell is THAT? Are they talking about the gay lifestyle and gay marriage? If so, then why not simply be honest and say so? I enjoy kissing females on the lips. Is THAT the “sexual liberalism” that caused the carnage? If so, then again why not simply be honest and come out and say so? I can’t help but wonder if the “Family Research Council” itself even has a clue as to what “sexual liberalism” really is. To those of us who have functioning brains, the Family Research Council not only is NOT making its case, it is making itself look stupid and pathetic in our eyes.

“RELIGIOUS HOSTILITY?” Aahhhhh, NOW we’re getting somewhere. The Boston Bombing occurred because of religious hostility. But did it really?

In two letters, NO! The younger of the two Tsarnaev brothers said that his “World view” is listed as “Islam” and his “Personal priority” is “career and money”. But wait a minute. A “world view” and a “religion” are not necessarily the same thing. My world view is Buddhist, but yet I am not a practitioner of the Buddhist religion. So young Tsarnaev may have a Muslim world view, but that does not mean that he is a practicing Muslim. Indeed, his emphasis on “career and money” is part and parcel of the Christian religion – especially in the way it is practiced by Evangelicals.

So what we all need desperately to do is to demand an explanation from the “Family Research Council” and those of like mind exactly WHY AND HOW the influences they named are connected to the Boston Bombing and various mass shootings. Nothing less will be sufficient. They must either build their case, or else not whimper and whine when those of us with functioning brains cease to listen to their palaverings.

Everyone have a good day today. And thanks to the Great God above that the bombing is now history and that those responsible have been and are being dealt with.

Bill