JHUS Staging

Tag: religion

  • God, Glue-Guns, and Glory

    This curated-and-updated post was originally published Oct. 29, 2009, and centers around a situation in which Home Depot terminated an employee named Trevor Keezer for refusing to remove a pin from his work uniform, while working, that read “One Nation, Under God, INDIVISIBLE.” You may recognize this as one of the many Islamophobic slogans that was flying around during the decade or so after 9-11 (and to some extent still are). The company’s policy was that employees may not wear anything on their uniform that wasn’t provided by the company. While a great deal of noise was made in right-wing media over the whole thing and indeed a lawsuit was filed, there’s no indication it ever went to court, and indeed it seems to have just been quietly dropped after a year of right-wing media outlets trying to drum out outrage over the “discrimination” against Christianity.

    This essay is presented as originally written in the immediate aftermath of the event, with minor editorial corrections and edits. -jh

    I’m definitely missing my camcorder today as this pointless, divisive kerfluffle over some redneck getting fired for pushing his religion on people on the workplace.  What a great topic for a video rant…

    I find it hilarious that so many people get all het up and whiny about BOYCOTT HOME DEPOT THOSE ATHEIST EVUL COMMIES, but boy wouldn’t they feel differently if the guy expressing his religious views on his work uniform was a Muslim, druid, or follower of Cthulhu?  But no, it’s shove those noses in the air, start wringing your hands, and quick everybody get wrapped up in a my-god-is-better-than-your-god argument that solves nothing and distracts us from dealing with the very REAL and PRESENT and OBSERVABLE problems that we are wrapped up in.

    A friend on Facebook linked to the Today show’s little fan page there, where one such conversation is taking place.  it’s hilarious.  “It’s not freedom FROM religion it’s freedom OF religion!”  Uh…same thing, Captain Logic  Freedom of religion by necessity includes the freedom to not participate in any religion at all without fear of persecution or discrimination.  And then it’s the same tired old arguments that have been shot down time and time and time again over how this is a ‘Christian nation’ (it isn’t and it never was) or how anyone who doesn’t believe in Jethro Bodine’s particular concept of “God” is unpatriotic and evil and should LUV IT ER LEEV IT.

    Now there’s a proud American sentiment, eh?  You must worship according to our rules or be rejected from society.  Oh, hey, waitaminnit, that’s the whole reason we (well, YOU.  My people are native american, dutch, and black) left England in the first place, isn’t it?

    What I can’t figure out is where all of these ‘good Christians’ get the fancy bibles that are missing the first part of Matthew 6.  Especially verse five:

    And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

    This is one of the most important verses in the Christian canon, and one of the most overlooked.  In short, it says “you keep your religion between you and your god, rather than displaying it openly so that you can make money or impress people with your piety.  ‘God’ does not care if your friends are impressed with how holy you are, so STFU and keep it to yourself.  Anything else is stagecraft and hypocrisy.  I AM, that which I AM, and I do not need to pursue or convince my creatures of my power, nor need I for you to pursue or convince them on My behalf; they will choose to come to me.”

    I’ve seen this behavior at many large companies I’ve been employed by over the years, people decorating their cubes with their little holier-than-thou displays of bible verse and self-aggrandizing piety.  It made me terribly uncomfortable, afraid to express myself openly.  I even had colleagues ask me what church I attended – love that assumption that I attend ANY church, let alone that it’s anyone else’s damn business which one.

    (Sidebar:  One of the precious, self-righteous jerks I observed made the remark that one of HD’s competitors offers a standard military discount, so they were a better store anyway.  My first thought:  WTF lady you sent your husband off to die so you could get a good price on f’n gutters?!  How callous.)

    I don’t have anything against believers, personally.  I just don’t believe that your beliefs give you the right to force those beliefs on anyone else, particularly when you’re in a public-facing customer service role; it’s obnoxious, unwelcoming, and exclusionary to anyone who doesn’t share your beliefs – which, frankly, is the entire point of doing it so let’s not kid ourselves. 

    You want to blog about Jesus and pray in your facebook status, that’s no skin off my nose in the least. I don’t want to be prayed over at Home Depot or have my soul saved at McDonalds or get into a long discussion about my religious beliefs when I try to buy a slurpee.

    I still can find no Christian principle is supported by wearing buttons and slogans on my clothing to push my views on other people when I’m at work.  That guy wasn’t being paid to proselytize, he was being paid to stock shelves or run a cash register.  When I’ve had corporate jobs I haven’t decorated my workspace with political or social or religious messages.  Of course I have opinions, that much should be no secret by now, but I also have enough grace and respect for others to not make their work day uncomfortable by broadcasting them in that forum.  That’s not where they belong. 

    Believe what you want.  I won’t hold it against you, in and of itself. Do I have things to say about these issues?  Of course…but not when I’m working for someone else.  If I’m stocking shelves or building databases or whatever, I’m being paid to do that, and all of my time save that which is necessary to attend to the necessities of human body function – i.e. eating, drinking, restroom, and a short step-away every few hours to ‘cleanse the palate’ and clear the head for more effective work function – should be spent doing that.

    But more than anything else, what really chaps my ass about this whole thing is the smug tyranny of the majority, that obnoxious and distinctly un-Christian attitude that so many self-proclaimed followers of Jesus display to the rest of the world.  You know, that condescending crap they wrap around themselves that screams to the world, “I am a member of a special club, and if you don’t do things my way you can’t join my special club, and then I and all of my special friends will make fun of you and not rent apartments to you and not let you eat at our restaurants or date our daughters or work for us, because YOU are not one of US, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it because GAWD is on MY SIDE.”

    This root and its derivatives are, and have always been, among the fundamental causes of human misery.

    Isn’t it ironic that so many followers of the “Prince of Peace” will cheerfully do violence and wage war in his name?  Isn’t it ironic, that so many followers of the man who said “Be ye kind one unto another, tenderhearted, forgiving…” (Ephesians 4:32) are so cruel and heartless in their dealings with one another.  That the religion which gave us the concept of pride as sin should give rise to such pride-filled followers; that the religion which purports to teach us that judgment lies solely in the hands of the Almighty should generate so many adherents who incessantly judge others on their mode of worship, their sexual habits, or whatever else, rarely if ever exercising such strict judgment on themselves.

    Every one of us – every one of us – has skeletons in our closet.  We are all human, we are all fallible, and we are all in this together.  Anything that separates us one from another in the greater sense, as religion unquestionably does, is by definition genocidal…if slowly.

    The guy shouldn’t have had the pin on his uniform.  When the whole story’s out, it’s likely that he was asked/told/warned about this several times, and further that his decision to start publicly practicing his religion at work was intended to get him fired and provoke just this kind of self-righteous indignance, once again warming the fires that keep us from coming together as one people to solve our common problems, face our common threats, and improve our common state of being. [Ed. note 2023 – the eventual playing out of this case in one brief announcement of a lawsuit a year later followed by dead silence from all sides bears this analysis out entirely. He was in fact asked, told, warned, and even offered a company approved pin reading “United We Stand,” which is the same sentiment minute the Islamophobia/Christian proseltyzing. -jh]

    tl;dr:  deer xtians more cheekturning plz

  • Obama a Muslim? So What? (2008)

    Curated post, originally written Oct 10, 2008

    From Time Magazine, via http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080918/us_time/maxedoutmoms

    That sentiment is echoed by Beth S, a factory worker in Cleveland who works the third shift so she can take her son to school and then to practices for the four sports he plays. Pausing recently at a Wal-Mart, she said: “Honestly, I don’t know what to do. I really don’t want to vote for McCain. You can tell he only cares about rich people. Sarah Palin wears glasses that cost $300. McCain’s wife wears Gucci clothes. Which means they don’t know anything about people like me.” Into that stew of assumptions, she adds: “I hear that Obama’s a Muslim. If he is a Muslim, that would be a problem, because the terrorists already attacked us.” (He’s not.)


    Dear Beth S and the rest of the “Obama’s A Muslim” crowd:

    I have a question to ask of you all.

    Let’s assume for a moment that Barack Obama really *is* a Muslim.  He prays toward Mecca five times a day and believes that Mohammed was the pen with which the Word of God was written.  It’s not true, never has been, there’s not the slightest shred of evidence that Obama ever so much as considered *being* a Muslim…but let’s assume for a moment that he is.

    This leaves us with a very important question.

    So what?  Why is this important?  Why is it relevant to the man’s leadership skills or vision for this country?

    And furthermore, why is it such a problem for one person to be a member of a religion with fundamentalist elements that are far removed from sanity, but perfectly okay for another? 

    I’ve been to Pentacostal churches.  Some of my people are Pentacostal.  Have you ever seen human beings “speaking in tongues?”  This is a sect that believes in taking the Bible literally – that every single word is the manifest Word of God, that contradictions are explained only by the reader’s inability to understand what is written – and in the gift of prophecy, that He (and of course God is ALWAYS a “He” with these folks) will choose YOU as the Most Speshul Snowflake to use as his conduit for communicating with the world, if only you believe hard enough and have enough gibberish pouring forth from your tongue.  These are the people who believe that medical problems not just can, but *should* be resolved by the laying on of hands and the channeling of the Holy Spirit rather than a medical professional, apparently neglecting to consider that perhaps medical science is *also* a ‘gift from God.’

    This is the religion of Pat Robertson, who blamed 9-11 on America’s tolerance for homosexuality and abortion.

    While I recognize that as with any large sect, there is a spectrum, rather than a point, that defines beliefs and doctrine, at the same time it must be considered that even the least radical of the Pentacostal movement is quite some distance from the mainstream of modern thought.  I further recognize that in this great land of ours, each of us has the freedom to choose what we want to believe, and how, and it’s not my intent or desire to suggest that anyone should be prevented from seeking elective office solely on the basis of their beliefs.  (Whether they intend to use their position to force others to adhere to those beliefs through the manipulation of public policy is another matter entirely.)

    While it seems extreme to the point of absurdity that Pentacostal fundamentalism and radical Islamic fundamentalism share the same core beliefs…it’s actually quite true, apart from the nature of the dieties they worship.  Both sects believe that they are the ordained and obedient servants of God; that nonbelievers should be punished and excised; that they alone are enlightened to the One True Path; that God bestows gifts upon them for their faith and devotion; that those who believe differently are hellbound sinners; and that they have a sort of charter from God to go into the world and convert as many people as possible to their way of thought. 

    It may seem outrageous to suggest that Pentecostalists are as willing to kill or die for their religion as radical Islamists have proven to be…but then again, perhaps not so crazy, if one considers the war in Iraq a ‘mission from God.’  Perhaps not so crazy, when the leading voice of the Pentecostal movement is so willing to ascribe the attacks of 9-11 as a judgement upon us from God in retribution for “the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America.”  Perhaps not so outrageous when another leading light of the Pentecostal movement, Jimmy Swaggart, once said in an interview that if a gay man “looked at me like that, I’d kill him and tell God he died.”

    And I’m sure some of you are reading this and preparing to fire off vitriolic responses filled with righteous indignance…but when you throw away your local prejudice, there’s not a whole lot of space in the gap between the kind of hate espoused by Robertson and the Pentecostal movement, and that espoused by the Mullahs of radical Islam.  Robertson is no more representative of Christianity than Osama bin Laden is of Islam, yet some of us have no problem tarring all Muslims with that brush, even as we object to any suggestion that the knife cuts with both edges.

    So we come back to the question, so WHAT if Barack Obama were a Muslim?  He’s not, and I’d like to say that nobody with half a brain believes he is, but apparently it’s still a pretty common belief.  So What?  Why are we still being so stubborn, blind, and ignorant as to associate an entire religion with 1.5 BILLION adherents with the actions of a small, radical, hate-filled handful of them?  This is no more ridiculous than to assert that every Christian believes the same way Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church does, or that every Christian acts the same way a few Catholic priests have. 

    There’s no law preventing a Muslim – or an Atheist, or a Jainist, or a Taoist, or a Buddhist – from running for and being elected president.  Furthermore, there is no ethical or moral reason why anyone, of any religion, should be prevented from doing so, as long as they meet the constitutional requirements for the Presidency.

    I find it disturbing and frightening that even now, more than seven years after 9-11, when we’ve all had plenty of opportunity to do our own research and gain our own understanding of Islam, to realize that not all Muslims are hate-mongers and terrorists any more than all Christians are bigots and murderers and pedophiles.  I would ask anyone who reads this to confront the next person who throws out the “Obama is a Muslim” tripe to resist the urge to simply deny it – these people obviously don’t care about the facts anyway – but make them explain why it’s a bad thing.  Make them confront their inner bigot and drag it out into the light of day, make them justify it.  See how long they can hold on to their irrational prejudices when they’re forced to verbalize them.

    I’ll bet the majority don’t last long.

  • Fear, Part 2

    (This article originally appeared on my site in September 2013.  It has been slightly updated for re-publication.)

    Scared_Child_at_Nighttime_800h by Pink Sherbet Photography via Wikimedia Commons. Resized from originalDon’t be afraid.

    Don’t be afraid to see where this is going.

    Don’t be afraid to follow the trail to the end.  It’ll be worth it.

    As long as I have memories, I’ve had a “problem” with wearing my heart on my sleeve.  I think that’s a universal metaphor, but in case anyone’s not familiar with it:  that is to say I don’t hide what I think and feel.  I’m very straightforward, blunt.

    You might notice that I put that word problem in quotes, in the first paragraph above.  Not because it’s a euphemism, but because I have never, ever understood – and never will – why so very many people are so embarrassed to be human in public.  Why is “this is how I feel” ever a “problem?”

    One of the reasons I think I developed this behavior – and if you think it’s something that only exists on Facebook you definitely haven’t been paying attention – is a simple matter of social self-defense:  Why would I want to hang out with or be friends with or really want anything to do with someone who doesn’t care what I think or how I feel?

    Part of it is also this:  the most effective solution to evil and ignorance is to drag it out into the light and call it what it is.  I “put myself out there.”  And when someone turns their back, I know they weren’t really my kind of people in the first place.

    When someone decides it’s “entertaining” that I’m angry or hurt or feeling in need of external validation or broke?  To ridicule someone else’s difficulty or pain?  That’s a giant red flag, to anyone:  this person sucks.  This person, the way this person thinks and acts, how this person treats other people when they believe there are no consequences…it is a Bad Thing.

    But it’s not just a bad thing, It is the Bad Thing.  Absolutely everything that is twisted up and broken in this world can be described by the same words, phrases, and concepts.  From the schoolyard bully to the world’s most brutal dictators, there are unifying elements:

    • lack of empathy
    • lack of reason
    • high degree of self-absorption; not “I think about myself a lot,” but “I think the world around me is mine, and if what I do has consequences in anybody else’s life, too bad for them.”
    • low self-esteem expressed as a driving need to control every aspect of the world around them.
    • absolute intolerance of criticism.

    I’m sure there are others, but I’m writing off the top of my head.  Whether it’s the neighborhood frotteur or the guy pushing the big red buttons, they all share those real  “problems.”

    So the problem is, right now the world is defined on those people’s terms – and make no mistake, those people are just as many “liberals” as “conservatives” as “independents” as “libertarians” as whatever.  Your favorite social group is not exempt.

    When you allow yourself to absorb the output of those people, you start to become like them.  It spreads.

    And it’s killing us.

    In a trillion tiny cuts and a billion gaping wounds, it’s killing us off.

    They have defined the rules of the game, those rules are designed to give them an exponentially increasing advantage in the game, and they have taught you that the only way to be happy and fulfilled in life is to play the game their way…knowing that you can never possibly win.

    People wonder why I’m so adamant about not doing things like swiping other people’s original content, pretending to be a news site when you’re really a glorified RSS feed, being certain that when you present yourself as an information source you are an information source.  Not a PR campaign for a political ideology or a ring toss on the back fairway of the political carnival for your own amusement and profit.

    Because you see, it’s all the same thing.  It’s all the same lack of empathy, the same lack of reason, the same self-centeredness, the same low core self-image, the same refusal to ever admit outwardly that they might be wrong about something; they might even be jerks.

    They might be exactly the kind of jerks a lot of people reading them think they’re fighting against.

    And they don’t care, and they make the rules.

    And they’re wrong.

    Those of you who read my Facebook page or blog regularly, or have for a while, know that I’ve had intermittent problems with various kinds of harassment from these sorts of people.  My regular FB page readers will know what I mean – the “get a job,” “get a haircut,” post multi-terabyte screed examining my life crowd, the little group of trolls and the folks who run the BS “news” sites.

    Those people control a big chunk of left-wing, progressive, and liberal conversation on Facebook, and by extension throughout the world.  Millions of readers, millions of shares.

    And they are no different from [insert your favorite “bad news” source here], no different from [pick a conspiracy theory about world domination you really like], no different from [your go-to example of an obviously bought and paid for politician].

    They’re all the same, you see.  Because it’s all the same behavior.  Consistently.  Every time.

    They tell you what to think, they tell you why you should be angry or happy or sad.  They tell you what constitutes success in life, and they ridicule you for failing to achieve it even as they do everything in their power to stop you.  If you have something they want, they will take it.  If they cannot take it they will destroy it.  And if you don’t like it?  Too bad.

    They are in control of not just the US, but increasingly the rest of the world as well.  To the point that many of the world’s most developed nations have taken undeniable, unquestionable turns back toward the tyranny and oppression that their very existence was dedicated to wiping off the face of this planet.

    It’s all the same, you see.

    And those of us whose eyes are open, those of us who have been those things and realized how wrong they were, understand the key method by which they hold their power:

    They prevent you from communicating effectively.

    To the very point of redefining truth so that only their version of reality is allowed.  See, for instance, the Texas Board of Education attempting to teach mythology as science.  See, for instance, the entire mentality that has led us to the point where facts themselves are no longer accepted as facts because we can no longer agree on what a fact is due to the deliberate erosion of our critical thinking skills over a period of generations.

    To the extent that they not only teach us to be afraid to speak, but they teach us to make others afraid to speak.

    Used to be politicians would blow smoke up our collective asses as a matter of routine, and we knew they didn’t believe their own lies and they knew they didn’t believe their own lies and the one that had enough things we liked (often lies, sometimes not) got to play Big Man In Charge.  Sometimes, a politician could convince a lot of people to believe his or her lies, and they would gather more power and increasing ability to convince more people of their lies.

    But now…they believe their own lies.  There are really people on this planet, people who consider themselves intelligent and well-informed, people in leadership and decision-making roles that affect all our lives every minute of every day, who believe that deregulating business will empower individual liberty.  There are people who believe a magical all-knowing and eternal creature imbues the zygote of human beings with a special quality that makes them separate and distinct from all other creatures the moment sperm meets egg.  There are people who don’t believe global climate change is happening.  There are people who believe the cure for diseases is to not be tested for them.  One of those people is currently the President of the United States.  There are people who believe that religious freedom means the freedom to force everyone else to respect and be indoctrinated by their religion.  And these people will brook no dissent.

    They’re all the same, where it counts.

    The only way to stop them is to speak.  Don’t be afraid to be wrong, and don’t be afraid to admit it.  Don’t be afraid to admit you’ve made mistakes, to yourself or anyone else.  Don’t be afraid to correct them.  Don’t be afraid to let anyone else know you’ve been wrong or made a mistake.  Don’t be afraid to need help, and don’t be afraid to ask for it.  Don’t be afraid to not be good at everything or know everything, and don’t be afraid to seek knowledge and expertise wherever and whenever you can in whatever subject matter or pursuit interests you.  Stop letting them make you afraid to be who you are.

    But Speak.

    Stand up and speak.

    Get informed, but most importantly get real.

    Get real.

    Be who you are.

    Stand up to those who tell you that because who you are isn’t a big money-maker, you’re a failure as a person and what you have to say or do in this world is unimportant.  Stop thinking that because your job isn’t glamorous or cool, it’s not worth having even if you enjoy it.

    Stop being a “what” and start being a “who.”

    Don’t be a Democrat or Republican or liberal or conservative or libertarian.  Stop worrying about whether you’re a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim or a Taoist or a Buddhist or an atheist or agnostic or Jainist or Satanist or any other kind of –ist.  Stop worrying about which direction you lean in, and which direction other people lean in.

    Just be a decent human being.

    There’s no excuse for looking at hungry people and going “well, do they deserve to eat?  Did they earn their food according to the rules we set forth?”

    There’s no excuse for a nation with 18 million empty homes to have three million homeless people. (And say, how’s the math work on that anyway?  How do they figure those homes are going to be filled?)

    There’s no excuse to ridicule people for having self-doubt or being misinformed (although one might fairly poke those who choose to be misinformed, one must also consider that most of us live every day of our lives being filled with misinformation).

    Those aren’t decent things to do and every single person on this planet knows that in their heart.  It’s not something I need to prove or support with argumentation and reason; you know it and I know it, and that’s just the truth.  You might pretend you don’t know it.  You might even have yourself allllllmost completely convinced.  It’s not only self-evident, it’s reinforced consistently by every single important work of philosophy and religion in human history.  It’s not just a nice thing to do; it is fundamental to the survival of our race.  And we just love to tell ourselves that we are already doing everything right, it’s just the other people.  The people who aren’t my -ism and don’t lean my direction.

    But deep down, you know the way we treat each other sucks ass from top to bottom about 95% of the time, and you know that to some degree, that almost certainly includes you.  It has certainly included me, although I like to think I’ve managed to get it down to maybe 60%.  I’ve met people who got it down to maybe 20% or even 10.

    But it’s always there, and it’s taking us over and dragging us back to the middle ages.  If it continues, it’s a near-certainty that it will drag some parts of this planet back to pre-humanity while leaving the rest in prehistoric conditions supplemented by the junk our current attempt at evolution leaves behind.

    The only way to change that is to stand up and speak out, and that includes within our own minds, to the bully inside ourselves.  For many of us, from what I see when I look around this world, that’s got to be where it starts.  That’s certainly where it had to start with me, and as the aphorism goes “we all fall short of the glory…”  Pobody’s nerfect; not me, not you, not this religious figure or that deity or the other world leader.  We must all, individually, cultivate the ability to accept that and not let it stop us from always seeking to improve our own treatment of others in thought and deed…but by no means can that be where it stops.

    You must stand up, and you must speak.

    Speak against the bullies, the liars, the tyrants.

    Correct the misinformation and demand that those who propagate it stop doing so.

    Admit your mistakes and share the lessons you’ve learned from them.

    Stand up and speak out.

    Don’t be afraid of being “infiltrated.”

    Listen to your heart.  I don’t care what religions you do or don’t belong to; I simply believe that each and every human being alive on this planet has a heart, and I believe those hearts tell us the same things.  Call it instinct, call it learned behavior, call it whatever you want to call it; I’m a creative artsy-fartsy mofo and I choose to call it having a heart.

    Listen to your heart and speak.

    Stand up and refuse to be misled.

    Stop hating, you know it’s a waste of time.

    Stop getting wrapped up in ego-feeding internet arguments, you know it doesn’t solve anything.

    Reject those who refuse to stop hating and stop fighting, and focus on how to retrain ourselves and, over time, make these things just as instinctive as procreation, and eventually those who refuse to stop hating and stop fighting will die off and we can get on with the business of evolving.

    Focus on how to deprogram ourselves from the big lies we’ve been told throughout our recorded history.

    That is how to “beat the one percent.”  That is how to break the monopolies that exist on our information.  That is how to turn back the rising tide of stupidity and distraction and misinformation.  Start inside yourself.  Get real.  Stand up.  Speak out.  Be who you are.  Do not submit to fear.  That is the only freedom.

    That’s the only way to bring humanity to a sane, sustainable condition.

    If those of us who reject the tactics and confused mentality of the bullies and tyrants of the world just do that…they can’t win.  It’s the only way they can’t win, because when it’s all said and done?

    Well, when it’s all said and done…

    You cannot be controlled if your mind is free.

    Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything—you cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.” – Robert Heinlein, “If This Goes On –“

  • Land Of The Lost (2009/2011)

    This is where a lot of things started for me. In 2009 I was invited by some “friends” to move to California. Turned out they were expecting me to service the lady of the house, which I was not really up for. When said lady carved my name into her chest, it was time to go. I’ve never told that part of the story until now.

    This video was recorded while I was on the streets in Woodland, CA in 2009, and originally published in 2011. It’s fair to say I’ve never really recovered, and as I write this in 2023 find myself again on the streets. It’s not easy to watch, but the folks who care about that sort of thing aren’t reading this site anyway.

  • God Dam

    This is more of a broad-topic philosophical essay than the more pointed work addressing environmental and other issues that I was producing during this period. Also a bit lighter-hearted, maybe, at least not quite so intense. And the analogy stands.

    Original description: Did that guy just compare religion to playing with yourself? Yeah, I think he did. JH takes on religion, hypocrisy, responsibility, and asks why we’re waiting for the invisible man to solve our problems for us.