I’m working on a longer post on the question of causation, madness and murder, but I have to stop that for a moment of sheer rage.
Y’all know that I’m a bit squeamish in my language here — the way I write f**k and all that — but let me drop that reticence for just this once and say that I hope that notorious goatbuggering cretin, Erick Erickson, suffers every possible anguish reserved for those who see the suffering of others as evidence of their god’s love for them. Fuck him. Fuck him with a rusty hatchet pitchfork.
Why say I so?
Because he had the wretched cruelty to write:
Through it all though, well meaning people on both sides of the ideological and partisan divide are not talking about the one thing that should be talked about — a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
(h/t Media Matters)
__
Just marvel first at the gutshredding stupidity of this — I mean, I know that Erickson is an imbecile, but surely even a man of his grotesquely limited capacities could recognize the problem of evil when, as in his own words, it steps up and whomps him upside the head?
Yup, sure, that’s my first thought: kill a nine year old girl; shoot some nice lady through the left hemisphere, murder a judge, and the proper response is to reflect on just how much that Jewish love child Jesus has done for me lately.
__
In Jewish ritual, Shiva, the seven days after a funeral, is woven through with practices that center on leading those who have just lost someone through the most wrenching experiences of sorrow. Among the traditions: those who would offer comfort are enjoined to let the bereaved speak first — or not — and only when the mourner does should they respond, following the lead those who have suffered the lost give them. There’s a reason for that: it’s so that gutless, self-absorbed, miserable excuses for humanity like Erickson don’t drop their trousers and beshit a house of bereavement.
__
In that light, what kind of shitheel tells those who have just lost all-in-all in this world that they should make (or should have made) nice with jeezus and all would have been/will be well. Especially when the best known victim, Gabrielle Giffords, is in fact Jewish.
SATSQ: Shitheels like Erick Erickson.
Worse yet — he doubled down.
I mean, I don’t think it takes a huge dollop of cultural sensitivity to realize that Jews — even or especially those, like me, drifting into committedly Jewish atheism, would find it both risible and hateful to be told to bow down to Jesus or go to hell.
Seriously. He goes there:
…here is the reality: beyond us is a world we cannot see with our eyes. It impacts us on a daily basis. It is a world of very real angels and very real demons. It is a world of a very real God and a very real Satan, a very real Heaven and a very real Hell.
…And, frankly, at times like this I am more and more mindful of the great chasm in this world between the saved and damned.
To which I say that were there an Inferno, it would reserve a special place for one who says to those who have suffered and those who have lost all in all in this world that if they don’t make nice to his plastic jeezus they must suffer eternal torment.
As those struck by the Arizona tragedy already know, there is indeed a hell. It exists in this world, and we sorrow for those cast into it through no ill-deed of their own. Those who have true kindness in them — the saving grace of human mercy — will do what they can to ease the misery of those who have suffered so. That worthless waste of sperm that is Erick Erickson would rather rub salt in the wounds.
Civilized people would shun the Ericksons of the world. CNN has a choice. For now, I make mine. Til he goes, I withhold my eyes — from the channel, the website, the whole shooting match.
*Details here. I personally favor numbers 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9, but YMMV. Note the key point though: I do not wish that Erick Erickson should die. I do not seek to wreak violence upon his person. Divine judgment, baby. That’s all.
Images: Peter Paul Rubens, The Massacre of the Innocents, c. 1612
Hans Memling, The Last Judgment, triptych, right wing (inner): Casting the Damned into Hell, 1467-1471
Just Some Fuckhead
Erick realizes they killed Jesus too, right?
Mark K
I’m with you. No CNN (big loss? nah) until Erickson is no longer employed there.
Bill ORLY
I don’t care if it rains or freezes.
Parmenides
It just doesn’t end. The problem is that anyone who can get eyeballs has value. We’ve completely lost any system that can and will cast these people from polite society. In part that is a good thing because of who was and wasn’t let into polite society back when and even now. The problem is when conservatives take advantage of their easy path to polite society to shit on everything.
West of the Cascades
Good that you avoided wishing on him any plague that involved death, or the “Second Amendment Plague.”
Mike Kay
Wasn’t Jesus beaten to a bloody pulp.
*
Tom Levenson
@West of the Cascades: I was trying for that.
Boils and blood are good start, IMHO.
Angry Black Lady
i do so love your way with words, tom.
burnspbesq
It’s hardly news that Erickson is a fool. I do wish he’d keep his pie-hole shut on matters of faith. He makes all of us Christians look bad.
That’s such a bullshit excuse: “Satan made Jared do it.” It absolves all of the purveyors of hate of all responsibility for their handiwork.
One is responsible for the reasonably foreseeable consequences of one’s behavior. If you want to say that Satan made Jared do it, I would say to you, Mr. Erik son of Erik, that you can find Satan by looking in the nearest mirror.
scav
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 for me. I think he’s a self-starter with darkness/blindness issue. gnats though. mosquitoes in the ear. black flies. Those little noseeums. yes.
Wile E. Quixote
It’s only a matter of time before Erickson loses his shit, well what little shit he has, and goes on a killing spree. He’s got lots of guns, no ability whatsoever to modulate his anger (this is a man who wanted to beat county commissioners who lived 2,500 miles away from him for the crime of banning phosphate dishwashing detergent and who talked about threatening census workers with his shotgun) and now he’s talking about the voices in his head and angels and demons. What a crazy fucker.
Sko Hayes
@Mike Kay:
Ouch. I may have to send him a link to that comment via Twitter.
MattF
Didn’t realize that Erickson was entirely batshit, though I was taken aback earlier in the day by this post from Steve Benen. I thought at the time that Erickson was merely (but weirdly) illogical. But I can see now that there is, unfortunately, an explanation for what he was saying.
Tom Levenson
@Angry Black Lady: Thanks!
Lots of assonance — that’s my secret ; )
(Or so I say.)
MattR
@Angry Black Lady: My resolution of the week is to use “beshit” in a sentence.
Redshift
Just disgusting, though I do think I detect a desperate note of “my side is losing ground the longer talk goes on about violence and incitement, so I’ll try to change the subject.”
Alex S.
Ah well, I just wish that Erick is right about Hell.
trollhattan
Ugh. Ewe Rickson simply can’t dig a hole so deep that it cannot be deepened further. I question, in any case, whether he worships Jesus or magic-issuing guns more. I’m betting on the second.
Steve Benin found this nugget from Saturday, in which a brave, armed citizen nearly killed a Tucson hero:
[punchline added for clarity} The man Zamudio saw, however, wasn’t Jared Lee Loughner; it was the man who’d wrestled the gun away from Jared Lee Loughner.
But hey, it all worked out okay, okay?
cyntax
Well, thank Jeebus he isn’t trying to score poltical points from this tragedy. But if he wants to go for religious lay-ups all day–that’s obviously OK.
Ash Can
Erickson’s just enough of an asshole to make me believe that he wrote this crap with the full intention of it being hurtful and degrading (not to mention blasphemous).
Villago Delenda Est
Not to worry.
FSM will, I’m certain and I have absolute faith in this, smite Erickson with a noodly appendage and the problem will be solved.
John Cole
Embrace Jesus or the shootings continue.
Catchy slogan, but not very internally consistent.
Felonious Wench
As a Christian myself, Erick Erikson can go fuck himself.
elia
I’ve actually surprised myself these past two days in being repeatedly horrified by a lot of what I’ve read coming from the far-right. I thought I had reached my capacity for outrage long ago, but Limbaugh, Reynolds, Erickson and the like seem to have a boundless capacity to tip-toe over to the very outermost boundaries of human decency and hock a loogie.
Sko Hayes
Take heart, Tom, this guy is full of stupid. Here is one of his tweets from earlier today:
Time out for a facepalm moment, please.
WereBear
That is all we are supposed to seek. And… for a good reason.
Mnemosyne
I’m guessing that Erickson has no idea that Gabrielle Giffords is Jewish, because the right wing usually tries to pretend they think that the “Judeo” part of those “Judeo-Christian values” they keep spouting is equally as important as the “Christian” part. (But we know it isn’t, amirite?)
But this is pretty much the most offensive thing you can possibly say to someone regardless of their religion. It’s like handing out your business card at a funeral — “Yes, I’m terribly sorry your nine-year-old was murdered, but you know, this wouldn’t have happened if only you’d believed in Jesus enough.”
How he gets through life without being punched in the face 10 times a day, I’ll never know.
cyntax
@trollhattan:
The only time he stops digging is to break out the blasting charges.
SFAW
Those clips from Ericksdottir make me thankful that I never dropped any bad Owsley. Whereas Ericksdottir apparently mixed some of that stuff with Drano, and we are all of us reaping the “benefits” of his experience.
If it ain’t the comprehension-challenged, “I don’t have time to write these 172 comments”, clueless, brainless, projecting, lying Shit-For-Brains trying to make the case for False Equivalence, it’s the vile, goat-fucking, jerking-off-to-bizarre-revenge-fantasy, anti-semitic, delusional nutcase(s) talking about Jeebus.
I wish all of the right-wingers would just secede and form Dumbfuckistan already, as they have been threatening to do. The real Americans will be better off for it.
The Dangerman
Wonder if the dumbfuck knows (or cares) that Giffords is Jewish.
Now, to work on a sentence with beshit in it.
PurpleGirl
Not a rusty hatchet, make that the traditional BJ rusty pitchfork.
BGinCHI
@John Cole: Embrace Jesus or the hostages get it.
Or, why do they hate the NT?
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne:
The “Judeao” part of “Judeao-Christian” was added in a rush of guilt after WWII. Gotta include the six million slaughtered by nominal Christians in the meme now, you know…
Before that minor event, it was just “Christian”, and the “Judeaos” were, well, Christ killers.
S. cerevisiae
Ghost of Rod Serling, please make this happen.
Jo
They say it’s no sin to wish horrible things on horrible people. Erickson fits that bill for sure. I have to turn CNN if him or Dana Loesch are on, they both make my stomach churn. No wonder CNN is losing viewers.
Ursula
Embrace Jesus? Is he suggesting holding Jesus hostage? Like, stop shooting or the Jew gets it?
Dave
Erickson can go fuck himself with a broom handle. Sideways. Vigorously.
dmsilev
It’s actually worse than that. Hard to believe, I know. But the *reason* that Erick Erickovich went all Jesusy on us is that President Obama had the temerity to call for “prayer and reflection” in reaction to this tragedy, and Erickovich thought that this was pandering to the forces of atheism and represented a coded message from Obama to his Liberal Atheistic Base (cf http://mediamatters.org/blog/201101100022 ).
So, not only is he an incredibly offensive jackass, he’s an incredibly offensive jackass acting in the name of purely partisan politics.
dms
Jane2
This post goes to show that no matter what happens, it can all be reduced to blogsopheric naval-gazing “rage” about other bloggers or obscure columnists.
Maude
@Sko Hayes:
It is that hilly in Atlanta? I know what he means, but couldn’t he find a more pleasant way to describe snow?
Eric sounds like he is scared of reality and has a magical world in which everything is okay. He has a lot of company.
The Dangerman
If Erickson DID encounter the Donner Party, he would soon beshit all over the streets of Atlanta (over several days; he’s more than an afternoon snack).
Xantar
I’d love to join you in boycotting CNN, but I haven’t actually watched any CNN since 2003.
JWL
“Among the traditions: those who would offer comfort a loss are enjoined to let the bereaved speak first—or not—and only when the mourner does should they respond, following the lead those who have suffered the lost give them”.
I was unaware of that practice, but think it wise. It will certainly occur to me when next confronted with another’s grief.
icecreammang
A few days ago I bemoaned the presence of ABL’s style here at BJ, saying impudently that more TL and less ABL would suit me fine.
I got reamed, but more importantly got my eyes opened by a smart commenter, had a come-to-Jesus moment, and came to appreciate the mix of styles and what it can bring to this blog.
Now I get rewarded for my faith with an ABL-influenced post from TL, and I fucking love it.
Praise the Lord and may he fuck Erik Erickson with a termite-infested, splintered two by four before casting him into hell.
trollhattan
@The Dangerman:
I bepplaud what you did there.
Omnes Omnibus
Tom, I note an unfortunate lack of 3 and 4 in your choices. Of course, I understand these choices are yours and all that. but. come on, eschewing lice and flies?
Mark-NC
I don’t actually believe in Hell. HOWEVER, if there is a Hell, I believe there is a special, extra hot oven for Christian Republicans – the nastiest people on the planet.
I may burn one day, and I’ll see them there!
Silver
Jesus must be spinning in his grave right now…
Omnes Omnibus
@JWL: I was unaware of that as well and have probably messed up at a funerals I have been to. Great idea though as I never know what to say, being given a lead or just sitting with the person if that is what they need is good system.
Mike Kay
if you don’t embrace Jesus, we kill the dog
elle
@cyntax:
It would also help to point out that one of the people who was killed by Jared was a devout Christian…he lay over his wife to protect her, they were both shot but the husband died. The wife is in recovery.
It was on CNN…I would link it but I have no clue how to do that. my bad.
Anyway, I don’t mean to validate Erik’s point, because it is not even logical. Nowhere in the bible does it say (or in any other religion, as far as I know) that belief in God (or any other deity) guarantees a perfect life. Believing in God doesn’t even guarantee heaven..its only by grace.
Warren Terra
@dmsilev:
As a Jewish Atheist myself, from a family of Jewish Atheists, one thing I really like about Obama is that he fairly regularly manages to be inclusive of Atheists in a way I don’t remember of previous Presidents. When he talks about the need for goodwill across faiths, he usually remembers to include those of no faith, and (as here) when he asks for prayers he asks for reflection as well. Though the latter may be less unusual – frankly, I’d be surprised if George W Bush didn’t also ask for reflection at some point (ironic as that would have been). It’s just that tolerance for Atheism – indeed, the existence of people who reject not only their deity but all deities – seems to scare the American Taliban somehow.
SFAW
I’m shocked, SHOCKED that all you commenters are wishing harm to an innocent conservative! This makes you JUST AS BAD as Jared Loughner, Scott Roeder, and J.D. Adkisson.
For shame!
You people should be more careful utilizing the awesome power which Balloon Juice wields over the political area.
And besides, Michael Moore is FAT!
Just Some Fuckhead
@icecreammang:
Hallelujah, one of you libtards understands the saving faith of Jesus Christ.
pablo
All Glock donations will be appreciated!
SFAW
Win
David
It’s classic, cowardly Bible thumping and it used to be frowned upon by Conservatives.
SiubhanDuinne
I wish him shingles. Herpes Zoster. On his face, in his ears, his eyes, on his scalp, down his neck and along his torso. I wish his pharmacy to be completely out of the antibiotics and antiviral meds. I wish him years of post-herpetic neuralgia.
(Yes, I had shingles, whyever do you ask?)
And Tom, O/T but ::pauses to done spelling nazi hat:: you have more Us in Plagues than U need.
Allan
It’s not too late for Ann Coulter to rush to Giffords’ bedside so that Gabby can be perfected into Christianity before it’s too late.
sc kitty
is this the same Erik Erikson who vowed to threaten a census worker with his wife’s shotgun? how Christ-like!
PurpleGirl
@SFAW: Ericksdottir.
Very good, sfaw., very good.
suzanne
Erick Son of Erick can suck my left nut. I realize that isn’t a very Christian sentiment. Oopz.
In all seriousness, an evangelical, libertarian friend of mine shared this article from HuffPo on her Facebook page. I was pleasantly surprised, both by her and HuffPo.
Mnemosyne
Also, too, to slightly snark on some happy news, would Erickson be able to explain to us why the nice Jewish lady seems to have gotten a miracle even though she didn’t have the saving power of Jesus Christ on her side?
My perspective is that Lachesis and Atropos disagreed over where to cut Giffords’ thread, but YMMV, of course.
Benjamin Cisco
I’m good with that, especially after Anderson Cooper’s pitiful performance last night.
SiubhanDuinne
Don’t know why I’m in moderation (hur-peez?) but gives me an opportunity to say FYWP. I made a comment correcting Tom’s spelling and of *COURSE* I made a spelling error/typo in that correction which I’m unable to edit.
For the record, I was trying to *don* my cap. Not *done* my cap.
Mayken
@West of the Cascades: Um… except for that nasty 10th “plague.”
Ummm… Tom, love ya, man and loooooove your writing but yeah, did I miss the part about you excepting No. 10? ‘Cause that is not something I would wish on my worst enemy….
Don’t know if Erik son of Erik has a kid but… sorry, just saying…
Benjamin Cisco
@Sko Hayes:
If “The Walking Dead” should ever become reality, would that Erick son of P’Tagh fancy said stroll.
icecreammang
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Everytime a wingnut says “libtard,” they think an angel gets its wings.
Benjamin Cisco
@PurpleGirl: I had to look it up. Most impressive.
Svensker
The thing that strikes me about the Erik types is that one of the central tenets of Christianity, which they seem to have not heard of, is humility — God knows, humans don’t; God can judge, humans can’t; and no one, no matter how righteous, is free of sin. These guys all seem full of ill-gotten pride and a sureness about the spiritual world and everyone’s place in it that just boggles the mind. And the heart.
It is really hard not to hate these people. I am struggling with it.
Mayken
@Mayken: Still, also, too, Erik son of Erik is an asshole. That is all.
Bondo
What do you expect from a guy who spells both of his names wrong?
cyntax
@elle:
That concept is prone to all sorts of manipulations by people like Eric son of Eric and W, allowing them to not give a rat’s ass for those around them since either someone’s saved or they’re not, and what one does here and now (for some reason) doesn’t influence that. Bleh.
Do unto others (be nice), and just leave it at that.
asiangrrlMN
“Beshit”. I love it. I am going to steal it and use it.
I am glad to see you take on this nonsense, Tom, and that other people are linking Erick, son of Erick’s other bit of nonsense–the fact that the president said ‘reflect’ after ‘prayer’ is a marking of his secret Muslim atheist leanings or some such.
One thing I have appreciated about Obama is how he includes people of no religion in his comments as well as people of religion. Now, apparently, this is a Bad Thing, according to Erick, son of Erick. I can’t wrap my mind around the sheer effrontery it takes to bleat, “If you only believe in Jeebuz, all will be good!”
@PurpleGirl: I will donate one because it’s for a good cause.
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: Ow. You be harsh.
Not that it’s not deserved, mind you.
Ian Preston
Sowers of discord, ninth bolgia, eighth circle.
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
@suzanne: “…evangelical, libertarian…” Okay my brain just exploded.
suzanne
@Svensker:
Me too. This week has been exceptionally difficult in that regard. I have said/written some things that I regret.
I remember something that Slacktivist wrote (can’t find the link right now, sorry) about love, sometimes, being something that you do rather than something that you feel. I figure that’s the best I have to give.
suzanne
@Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people): I know, mine, too.
Calouste
@asiangrrlMN:
“Prayer and reflection” is actually not an uncommon phrasing in the Catholic church. But I guess in Erickson’s believe system actually thinking about what you do or the world around you in general is considered a bad thing.
Joseph Nobles
Pay no attention to Scott Roeder behind that curtain.
Mnemosyne
Did somebody request some cuteness?
JCT
@Mnemosyne:
FTW. Nothing snarky about this.
Mnemosyne
@Mnemosyne:
D’oh! Wrong thread. Well, I guess a little cuteness won’t go amiss here.
EnfantTerrible
My wish for Erick Erickson is God’s Wonderful Plan…
for Job’s life.
SFAW
PurpleGirl –
Thanks. I’ve been calling him that for awhile.
Of course, there was the commenter at edroso’s place who called me a misogynist for using the term, but she was just being a bi…. uh, never mind.
When someone such as Ericksdottir is so intent on proving what a manly he-man he is, I interpret that as an unofficial invitation to make fun of his … um … “masculinity”, etc. etc.
asiangrrlMN
@Calouste: Huh. I did not know that. Thanks. I took it to mean what Erick, son of Erick to mean, but, obviously, I didn’t find it contemptuous or suspect.
@Mnemosyne: If I’m ever in your neck of the wood, you better be careful. That cat is wicked-cute.
SFAW
“And hast thou considered My servant Ericksdottir, that he is … that he is … that he is … ah, screweth it – watch Me smite him, over the shoulder, bounce off Mt. Ararat, bounce on the shores of the Dead Sea, nothin’ but net”
RalfW
I tell ya, as a Universalist, it’s days like these that make me wonder about universal salvation. Maybe not the best idea. Though hell seems like a not-great invention, too. Coercion based on fear of a crappy afterlife really hasn’t worked all that well as behavior modification in, ohh, the past few millenia, IMO.
stickler
And yet … Erickson is still on CNN’s payroll. He is today, he will be tomorrow, and there is nothing he can write — nothing — that will cause them to fire him.
Weep for this Republic.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
I’m always fascinated by what enrages people. I personally can’t get particularly enraged by Erickson’s remarks because I know that tens of millions of my fellow citizens are thinking exactly what he wrote, talking heads on several of my cable channels are saying similar things every minute of every day, and thousands of clergyman just got done saying substantially similar things two days ago. I don’t know what your personal interactions with Christians entail, but Erickson’s quoted comments are entirely banal within the context of many Christian denominations, which you may have noticed are numerous in the USA. For me, getting enraged at that would be like getting enraged at the weather.
That’s not to say that in his capacity as a commentator on current events Erickson was being an insensitive prick (the sky is blue, by the way), but I’d prefer that his kind say what they really think. I like to know what we’re up against.
And to be clear, everybody is entitled to be offended by whatever offends them. I just find it interesting.
Mnemosyne
@asiangrrlMN:
We had a cat-sitter come in over Christmas to keep them fed and their boxes clean. They leave a little note for you every day and the sitter’s very first comment was about how pretty and friendly Keaton and Charlotte are. (Annie did not appear. She does not like strangers.)
West of the Cascades
@Mayken: Tom dropped a footnote exempting plagues 10, 3, 4 and 5.
“*Details here. I personally favor numbers 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9, but YMMV. Note the key point though: I do not wish that Erick Erickson should die. I do not seek to wreak violence upon his person. Divine judgment, baby. That’s all.”
Frankly, I think that plague 3 (gnats) is something I’d be delighted to see Erickson suffer. But that just makes me as bad as a vice-presidential candidate who draws rifle sights on maps with candidates’ names on it.
Citizen_X
@John Cole:
Internally consistent, no, but historically consistent? From the church that brought us “Kill them all. God will know His own”? A-men, baby!
Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey))))
As a Christian, I find people like Eriksdottir to be… Well, I don’t know what I find him to be, but, damn, it makes it hard not to let myself feel pretty damned unChristian toward him.
Fuck.
This guy is as execrable a specimen of soulless, vicious theocrats who debase and beshit the religion they claim they belong to as anybody I’ve seen. This guy doesn’t understand the first fucking thing about being a Christian. He’s one of these selfish, lazy assholes who believe that if they just stand up and bleat the magic words about Jesus being their savior, then they’re off the hook. Forever.
They can steal food from homeless orphans and throw penniless widows out of their homes; they can lie and cheat and steal; they can beat a filthy, depraved homo to death; they can do whatever the fuck they want to. All because their evil little idol they worship will let them do it, since they’ve already done all the hard work of proclaiming themselves to be Christians.
It’s the most self-serving and abusive kind of system of belief. And it’s utterly unlike anything Jesus ever said. Jesus said, among all kinds of godless commie stuff, “By their fruits you shall know them.” This means you can tell what kind of person someone is by the way they behave, by the kind of life they try to lead. It means that if you’re a vicious, sadistic, selfish dick who fantasizes about killing liberals and beating up people who don’t believe in theocracy and all kinds of sociopathic shit like that, then you aren’t a fucking Christian, asswipe!
I look at Christianity as a calling to love everybody–even those I don’t like, even those I hate–and help people however and whenever I can, whoever they are, whether they’re Christian or Jewish or Hindu or agnostic or atheistic or all of the above or none of the above. It’s a calling to try to be better than I want to be. It isn’t a magic spell that gives me free rein to fuck over anybody I feel like. It isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card that lets me hurt others with abandon and still get all the benefits of an afterlife of bliss, which is what it seems to be for Erik the Dick. He uses it like a license to fuck people, and not in the mutually consentual way.
I understand the urge to wish him ill. And to be truthful, wish him ill myself, theough I know I shouldn’t. I would smile to learn some awful fate had befallen him, that fate had beshat him. But what I really wish for him is to come to understand what he’s done. I wish him to see and understand all the awfulness and meanness and sadism he’s responsible for, and feel real sorrow for what he’s done. I think that would be the best and most fitting punishment for him. And best of all, he could learn something from it; he could become a better person. Not that it’ll eve happen, but that’s what wish for him.
(For the record, I don’t know what the afterlife is, or if even if there is one, and I don’t believe that somebody has to be Christian to get there; the God I believe in wouldn’t be that petty. Christianity works for me, but it isn’t the answer for everybody. And I might have it all wrong, too, so I’m not about to tell somebody else they’re wrong because they go to a mosque or Buddhist temple or because they don’t follow any faith.)
harlana
As far as the Tucson shootings go, the fact that a “respected” media outlet like CNN employs and continues to employ, someone like Erickson, is a big part of the problem.
Liberty60
Just a question, a bit off-topic-
when a nutjob shoots a bunch of people at Ft. Hood, Wingnuttia immediately went berserk calling it “terrorism”
When a nutjob shoots a bunch of people in Tucson….not so much.
What could be the difference?
G. Nelson Buttnergle (formerly Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey)))))
@harlana:
True. But they’ll never see it. They’ve so thoroughly bought into the “both sides do it” bullshit that they’d excuse anything he did, however awful.
@Liberty60:
I’ve wondered that myself. It’s hard to pin down just why these two shootings are so unlike, but there must be some good reason. Seems like after the other shooting, they were screaming that it was irresponsible to jump to conclusions. Well, I’m sure they have some good, utterly uncynical reason for behaving otherwise this time.
Hypnos
I find the rhetoric of evil extremely misleading and dangerous. And I think the fact that the concept of evil is apparently so ingrained in American culture helps to explain why a large segment of American society is incapable of coming to terms with their country committing crimes and violationg human rights – of admitting that America and Americans can do wrong, while still being American.
Once you define something as evil, you cast out of this world. There is no absolute evil or absolute good in the human world. Human civilization is made of shaded, nuanced concepts. And even at times when one side is overwhelmingly in the right, as in the case of WWII, it can still commit crimes. The firebombing of Dresda is a crime, a human right violation, a wrong – because it was perpetrated against human beings who, despite being extremely in the wrong for their actions, were still not “evil”.
The concept of evil is at home in fantasy books and religious texts. The armies of Mordor are evil. There is no moral nuance to their action.
Human actions and human beings can never be evil – when you use the evil rhetoric, you assume an external agent that makes such an absolute possible in relativistic human society. Satan, or demons, or what have you. And by doing that, you’re both assolving the perpetrator, and ensuring you will never act humanely towards him – because he is no longer human.
If your opponent is evil, then you are good, again in a religious sense, and good can do no wrong. That line of thinking inevitably leads to abuse, and the impossibility, for the party that considers itself “good”, to even comprehend the abuse that it is committing.
It is not only violent rhetoric that needs to be toned down – it is also the religious parables about “evil in this world” that need to go. Leave evil to unwordly dimension, and seek to understand human societies for the complex moral system that it is.
SFAW
It’s that damn Liberal Media, I tells ya.
West of the Cascades
@Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey)))): This. I come to the same place: Christianity works for me, and my faith makes my politics more liberal than they might be otherwise, as it should anyone who takes what Jesus taught seriously. It may not work for other folks, and it may not be “right” (and I’m not sure I’ll ever know, since I’m not 100% sure about all the afterlife, either).
And, very emphatically, the Gospels make it pretty clear that Jesus did not go around preaching that (1) following him was going to make you rich, (2) following his teachings would be easy (the bit about selling everything you own and giving it to the poor for example, or sitting down to break bread with outcasts and loving people who aren’t like yourself), or (3) you should self-promote or toss out rote phrases or stand on the street corner braying your prayers at the top of your voice. Erickson and his ilk evidently don’t really believe what they purport to preach.
ABL
@trollhattan: that made me laugh OL.
nestor
Erick Erickson once tried to sway me with this gem:
Since there was only one attempt at follow up, I’m assuming Erick’s passion for brains is being explored in other venues.
G. Nelson Buttnergle (formerly Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey)))))
@Hypnos:
Well, I don’t believe that people can be evil, not even Erickson or Limbaugh–hell, not even Hitler or Stalin or Mao or Pol Pot. But while people cannot be evil, they can do evil things. Deeds can be evil, but not people. I mean, the Holocaust was just evil. There’s no black and white about it. Stalin’s gulags were evil. Waterboarding is evil.
r€nato
@John Cole:
Erickson ought to join Westboro Baptist at the funeral; birds of a feather and all that.
BH
CNN’s hiring of Erickson was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. No website visits, no TV viewing. Screw them.
forked tongue
Maybe, maybe not–I don’t have much trust in the moral sense of those who design Infernos. But let’s not forget who started this whole “If you don’t believe in Jesus, you’ll go to hell” bit. That would be, er, Jesus.
Cacti
Thank you Jesus for not stopping those bullets.
Your saving power is truly awesome.
Yours truly,
A. Heathen
r€nato
@Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey)))):
there are so very, very few self-described Christians who understand what Jesus was actually about, who so clearly ignore his very plain teachings because it’s inconvenient, that I find it much easier to just reject the entire enterprise as a failure.
Evolved Deep Southerner
I am truly surprised not to have seen this come up anywhere in any of these threads.
Chet
As with SBC president Bailey Smith’s 1980 assertion that “God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew”, we’ve been given a useful explication of what a great many fundamentalists believe – indeed, are required to believe – but are usually too circumspect to say right out loud in mixed company, and in suck starkly matter-of-fact terms.
In an odd way, we should probably thank Erickson for his theological candor.
r€nato
@Xantar: likewise… the selling of the Iraq war did it for me. No more cable TV news for me, ever. At least, not the domestic networks. Al Jazeera Int’l and CNN Int’l are far different than US infotainment networks. So, of course, we aren’t allowed to see them.
John Casey
@Mayken:
At the end of Tom’s post: “*Details here. I personally favor numbers 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9, but YMMV. Note the key point though: I do not wish that Erick Erickson should die. I do not seek to wreak violence upon his person. Divine judgment, baby. That’s all.”
So, no harm wished on the firstborn of Erickson, if that be a non-empty set.
fucen tarmal
the worst thing about these christofascist fuctards, is the butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth looks on their faces when someone calls them on their bullshit.
all their increasing virulence, doesn’t change the fact that people in this country are becoming less and less christian by the day. they are bleeding market share like ma bell after divestiture. other religions, non-believers, and people who just don’t take the shit more seriously than something to do on the holidays.
yet ericx2son and his ilk seem to think they can pretend that everyone is, or should be a christian . and any bullshit they say about robe and sandals adrian peterson, cannot possibly offend, because everyone but the freaks believe what they believe.
its the superconductor of intent to offend and ignorance that many will be offended that pisses me off. they could print “bow down to jesus or go to hell” on the money for all i care, if they could be forced to acknowledge the increasing number of people who don’t believe their shit.
Citizen_X
I hate to do this to the erudite Mr. Levenson–after all, he introduced me to the word “assonance” in this thread–but plague is spelled p-l-a-g-u-e.
Cacti
I’m surprised erick son of erick stopped short of musing whether the shooting was divine retribution against the christ-killer Giffords.
elle
@SFAW:
which probably explains why CNN is bleeding viewers….don’t tell them that oh!
Anne Laurie
@Wile E. Quixote: __
IIRC (and I’m sure not gonna look), the census rant ended with his wife taking the shotgun away from him. And how she resisted shoving it into one or another of Ewic’s orifices, I’ll never understand.
Monkeyfister
Long Cat is Loooooooooooong!
–mf
cckids
@PurpleGirl: hey, it’s Arizona. Use a saguarro cactus.
G. Nelson Buttnergle (formerly Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey)))))
@r€nato:
Well, I can understand why many people feel that way. I would say that any belief or ideology, however benign it may be, is susceptible to hcksters and worse who would twist it to ther own ends. I think that the sleazes in any religion tend to get the most press, as they are so often the most aggressive and the most willing to pick fights, kick weaker groups in the teeth and fuck things up for everybody.
I mean, it’s Pat Robertson and other like-minded bigots and zealots who get most of the press among Christians, not the many anonymous Christians who try every day to help those around them without prostletyzing or otherwise asking for anything from those they help. It isn’t, as a rule, the Muslims who do the same thing, every day, all over the world, who show up on the news in this country most of the time, it’s Osama bin Laden.
I don’t deny that too often many of us Christians who do our best to live up to the name do not call out Robertson and his ilk; that’s our fault for not doing our job, not your fault for having a bad taste in your mouth about Christianity in general. Liberal Christians, and I speak as one, need to do more to fight the theocrats who would oppress those they don’t like. Too often we don’t do more because we tend not to be awfully confrontational. Sometimes we don’t because we really don’t know what to do to fight this rancid theology. But we need to get it together and speak out more loudly and more often.
Linda Featheringill
@Mnemosyne:
Lovely baby. Looks great on my desktop. :-)
rikyrah
I’m with you about Erickson. completely with you. he’s scum with a capital S
Linda Featheringill
@Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey)))):
at #95.
Very nice essay.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, lord’ . . . . . “
oondioline
Please be to Jeebus that SOMEONE FIX THE SPELLING OF THE WORD “PLAGUE” IN THE TITLE OF THIS POST.
IT’S DRIVING ME CRAZY.
Svensker
@Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey)))):
What you said.
hildebrand
I think it best, as a Christian, to follow a few points – 1. What Jesus actually commands in the Gospels (which look a heck of a lot different than most of the fundamentalist types on the right side of the aisle. 2. Martin Luther said we rather get ourselves into a great bit of trouble when we try to read the mind of God. He thought what we usually ‘saw’ was something that happened to square with what we thought in the first place. 3. Linus’s (the cartoon character, not the pope) advice to contemplate (when speaking to his Sunday School teacher) – “Has it ever occurred to you that you might be wrong.” Yep, every day.
Tom Levenson
Sorry for the long delay (a) in engaging this thread and (b) fixing the spelling gaffe in the headline. (My motto: if you are going to screw up, do so as obviously as possible.)
By way of excuse — I tend to post at the end of my workday (i.e., just before child encounters) or at the end of my night (i.e. just before I knit up the ravelled sleave of care). So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
@West of the Cascades: @scav: I left out gnats because they were associated w. a high death toll. But on the assumption that E.E. would be merely bedeviled, then sure, I’m down with it.
@forked tongue: remember — I used the subjunctive.
Got to go: time to take my cancelled-school-and-hence-joyous ten year old out for a late night walk.
Mayken
@West of the Cascades: yeah re-read after putting aside my knee jerk reaction to knowing what the 10th one is (I’m a new mom myself) and see I should have given Tom the benefit of the doubt. Tx!
I like others have avoided CNN like the plague (hee hee) for years. Unfortunately (or not depending on your pov) MSNBC is also (mostly) verboten in the house due to the evil Pat.
batgirl
@Mnemosyne: She would have never been a target if she had accepted Jesus and then none of this would ever happen? Ugh. I feel dirty now.
Mayken
@John Casey: See above thanks.
Also, “non-empty set” – damn I love when a man speaks geek to me! Lol!
Ruckus
@Warren Terra:
Of course it scares them. They blindly accept that worshiping their deity is the only way one is not a heathen. If it turns out that they might be wrong in this area then they might be wrong in any and all other areas. And they have to be right at all costs. IOW there is no personal validation for them when their crazy ideas are not reinforced.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
You left out eyes. Never forget around the eyes. Now that’s fun.
ETA Of course you didn’t leave them out! I just can’t read today.
redoubt
@Cacti: I got out of the boat.
What gets me about what Erick bin Erick wrote is how smug he sounds. Like, “I’m a Christian, and this is what happens to non-Christians, ha ha.” As if being “saved” is a bulletproof force field. Erick bin Erick forgets that he is a) an elected government official and b) people in Macon also have guns.
From the essay: Political rhetoric did not make Jared Loughner do what he did.
Then why didn’t he try to go shoot a Republican?
Tsulagi
Hey, no love for the other front pagers at RedState?
Sometimes I stop by that site for a little comedy from the rampant stupid in their posts, but since the Saturday tragedy that place has been a putrid cesspool. Commander EE has been leading the charge, but virtually every frontpager has been running multiple posts wallowing in their gutless, self-absorbed victimhood. They have suffered so. They’re the victims.
Even his “come to Jesus” post you excerpted EE starts out about their collective victimhoodyness…
No doubt Jesus is weeping while E2 continues…
Then he goes to Jesus. Think partly to show the RS denizens how spiritual he is in addition to being their head thinkerer.
Another part is you can also see the soothing dog whistle Brawndo Math at play in E2’s shoutout to Jesus. Loughner the shooter is evil therefore he cannot be Christian. All good teabaggers and nutters are Christian. Of course a majority of Democrats favor choice (to be a RS frontpager you must be anti-abortion) so like Loughner they aren’t Christian either. Therefore Loughner if not Democrat has much more in common with them.
Their conscience is clear. Brawndo bliss achieved. Time to get back to putting crosshairs on Democrats and other non-teabelievers while issuing liberal hunting licenses. Praise Jesus.
Jebediah
@Anne Laurie:
So his wife is the boss of him? Does that fit with conservative notions of manliness? Is it possible that EE is less ruff’ntuff than he would like us to think? Oh, heaven forfend…
DPirate
This post is so fucking pathetically hateful it disgusts me. The OP is a sick fuck, not Erickson.
Yeah, and I’m sure they will appreciate your spreading more vitriol about.
Jackass.
Jebediah
@DPirate:
Sorry, but a bunch of the milk of human kindness got spilled.
So, when a twisted fuck like Erick “Shotgun” Erickson emits his twisted fuckery, everyone should just radiate sunshiny love rays his way? I like the alternative much better – folks who need to vent using a blog to do it, rather than, you know, going all second-amendmenty on innocent people.
Jackass.
IronyAbounds
A beautiful young 9 yr old girl, the very embodiment of what we want our children to be (and a churchgoer to boot), is shot down for no reason, and we’re supposed to embrace a god that just sits there and allows it to happen? What kind of messed up deity is that (and no, “it’s all part of God’s plan that we must accept” – if He/She is all powerful, He/She can come up with a plan that doesn’t involve the senseless killing of innocents. The cognitive dissonance of people who believe in an all powerful Prince of Peace who would allow such unspeakable horrors to occur on Earth never ceases to amaze me.
valdemar
Sorry if this has been pointed out before, but (as a British atheist who finds US politics interesting in the Chinese proverbial sense) I’m surprised that folks over there (esp. the wingnuts) aren’t making an obvious point.
A woman was shot through the brain and not only lived, but is making a remarkable recovery.
Surely to any true believer this is divine intervention – on behalf of a liberal Jew who voted for health care reform? God is clearly pro-Obama.
Lee Hartmann
Tom, I think you were too kind to that scumbag.