Ok, there’s no such thing as anarcho-Bokononism. But Bokononism, the fictional true religion created by Kurt Vonnegut in Cat’s Cradle, does have some interesting similarities with Christian anarchism. Perhaps the most obvious is the Bokononist repudiation of granfalloons, or false communities. A “textbook example” of a granfalloon (or false karass) is the association of Hoosiers, or people who feel that hailing from Indiana somehow bonds them in some meaningful way. Writ larger, there’s strong anti-nationalism here for “any nation, anytime, anywhere” is also a granfalloon. I think Christianity at its best can work as a true karass, but we ignore this when, say, we bomb fellow Iraqi Christians because of our misplaced trust in the granfalloon known as America.
There’s also some explicit Bokononist verses that I find very interesting. The first is from an unspecified chapter of The Books of Bokonon: “The words were a paraphrase of the suggestion by Jesus: ‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s.”
Bokonon’s paraphrase was this:
“Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn’t have the slightest idea of what’s really going on.”
Which seems to me a great anarchist rendering of Matthew 22:21. I’m also pretty partial to this “calypso” which is apocryphally attributed to Bokonon but doesn’t appear in The Books of Bokonon:
So I said good-bye to government,
And I have my reason:
That a really good religion
Is a form of treason.
Today’s Kierkegaardian either/or for you: Legitimize the state, dilute our religion, and taste power… or oppose the state, keep our religion, and become marginalized.
Matt Taibbi has a really excellent article in Rolling Stone about Goldman Sachs and their financial tomfoolery: “The Great American Bubble Machine.” As usual, Taibbi has good research and good wit: “[Goldman Sachs] is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
However, I wish Taibbi had included two other stories:
The video below is part of an upcoming documentary entitled “From Busto to Robusto” — meaning, “from rags to riches” — about young online poker pros. Like all good documentaries, I don’t think you need much of an interest in the ostensible subject matter to be engrossed. The main characters are two Calvin College alums and the one is relatively famous in the poker world (there’s even a theorem named after him). I’ve embedded one version below, but the best copy can be found here — it’s excellent video quality and I’m told the file itself was only 120mbs.
Volker Pispers has an amusing stand-up act on — believe it or not — terrorism & imperialism, with special emphasis on the terror-backing rogue state known as the U.S.A. (God Bless US!) Hopefully my uber-educated readership knows 99% of what he details, but it’s still a great routine and a hell of a lot funnier than Noam Chomsky.
I just ran over a chipmunk on my bike. I was listening to Michel Thomas on my iPod when this cute furball appeared out of nowhere. ¿Maté el chipmunk? No mueras por favor, señor Chipmunk! I thought I only bumped him, maybe nipped his nail — but when I looked back, poor dude was flopping all over the place. I’ve never seen a creature convulse like that, just bouncing around on the ground before slipping into eternity with a few last desperate twitches. Upon closer examination it appeared as if he’d actually pissed himself in all the excitement, with blood splattered all over his mouth and whiskers. No other real signs of trauma; I imagine there was massive internal bleeding and/or a snapped vertebrae. Autopsy reports pending.
I have never previously entertained the notion of running over an animal on my bike, but it appears I encountered the one sorry bugger too slow to scamper out of the way of my Schwinn of Doom. After staring for ten minutes aghast at the dastardly deed I’d done, I dug a grave for Dale between two pine trees. I’m not gonna lie, I was loathe to grab his tail but this kid deserved an honorable burial. The site is marked with a rock and two twigs in the shape of a cross, held together with grass.
After the funeral I attempted to make contact with Chip, his long-time gay lover, but to no avail. R.I.P mi amigo.
The Tiananmen Square massacre was twenty years ago today, though it’s probably important to remember that it wasn’t really just one day. My contrarian spirit dislikes being told to get worked up about this day, but the fact is that it was important and Tank Man deserves his place as an inspirational hero.
In light of Tiller’s assassination it’s worth reading this 2004 essay by Gretchen Voss about her heartwrenching decision to have a late-term abortion. Voss’ story is sad, “pro-life” terrorism is sad, and “pro-life” hatred is sad. It’s terribly glib for anyone to assume that repealing Roe v. Wade will make this difficult issue any less thornier for all involved.
Speaking of old articles, here’s a bizarre fifteen-year-old one from the New York Times Magazine: “The Great Ivy League Nude Posture Photo Scandal”. It’s a really interesting piece on the wild pseudo-science of somatotypes that gets weirder with every paragraph.
Lastly, here’s why kids should talk back to their parents; or, why teaching classical rhetoric to your children may improve relations (and make your kid a smarmy snot). Except, as usual, mythos gets short shrift (also: where’s Gorgias?). So other than logos, ethos, and pathos, you can also persuade by telling a story. Even fat ol’ Plato injected his philosophy with stories to better make a point.
Tengo un aviso emocionante: Me estoy trasladando a Buenos Aires en agosto!
In other words, I’m starting a new life in Buenos Aires, Argentina starting mid-August. I received acceptance today into a TESOL certification course and after graduating in September I will hopefully get a job teaching English in Argentina or thereabouts.
This has happened very suddenly in one sense, yet in another I’ve been preparing for this kind of thing for awhile. I looked at a number of locations around the world, but when I stumbled upon Buenos Aires things kind of clicked mentally in a way they hadn’t for other spots and I’ve approached something resembling peace about this decision. I’ll be living in a student apartment with, I think, two others and the course itself runs four weeks for a combined 120+ hours of study.
Anyway, just thought I’d share my news. It hasn’t fully sunk in yet, and I’ll feel even more excited/terrified once I book my flight (IND -> EZE for ~$450 sounds amazing, right?). I’m already brushing up on my Spanish. Wish me luck.
I really hesitate to write this post, but a confluence of factors has prompted me: Carrie Prejean’s Miss America drama, the CA Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold Prop 8, and a friend’s thoughtful response to that decision. Furthermore, now that I am done with C.U. I am free to write my opinions without fear of institutional reprisals (25 demerits and dismissal/expulsion).
When we talk about gay marriage, I think it’s best to drive straight to the heart of the issue. By that I mean that gay marriage, while an interesting subject in itself, is usually just a red herring: nobody who sanctions homosexuality will be opposed to it, and some who condemn homosexuality nevertheless won’t be opposed to gay marriage (I was once one of these for a long while). So the thorniest issue isn’t really marriage first & foremost, but homosexuality itself.
The friend I referenced in my first post is Bryce Bahler, who — it’s worth noting — was tremendously generous enough to host me for a day or two when I hitchhiked to Seattle. Bryce is also in charge of Facebook’s “Believers for Equal Rights” group and a staunch defender of gay rights. In light of the most recent Prop 8 news, he wrote a very good essay on why, as a Christian, he feels compelled to affirm homosexual believers. (I’m unsure, by the way, if this link will work if you’re not “friends” with Bryce on Facebook, but try it anyway).
Bryce’s note stirred up the usual responses, which often includes great consternation & befuddlement from the Cedarville crowd. I have a lot of sympathy for that kind of reaction, having spent most of my life with that mindset. I find Eugene Cho to be among those who’ve articulated this viewpoint in the most compassionate & thoughtful way possible.
Yet I diverged from this path more than a year ago as a result of a paper I wrote for a C.U. Bible class on human anthropology (the professor, while disagreeing with me, nevertheless gave me an ‘A+’). I entered my research with an open mind, though with certain biases, but when it was all said & done I concluded quite differently than what I expected. You can read that paper in full right here: “Romans 1:26-27 and the Pauline Condemnation of Homosexuality” (pdf).
This is the personal blog of Kevin Cole, which has been online since early 2002. It is also the homepage for the Society of Metaphysical Bums, an invite-only club to which you're now invited.
You can find me elsewhere online at: Digg, Last.fm, LibraryThing, Mojo (dopefish@deusty.com), and Twitter.
I have never previously entertained the notion of running over an animal on my bike, but it appears I encountered the one sorry bugger too slow to scamper out of the way of my Schwinn of Doom. After staring for ten minutes aghast at the dastardly deed I’d done, I dug a grave for Dale between two pine trees. I’m not gonna lie, I was loathe to grab his tail but this kid deserved an honorable burial. The site is marked with a rock and two twigs in the shape of a cross, held together with grass.
This is the personal blog of Kevin Cole, which has been online since early 2002. It is also the homepage for the Society of Metaphysical Bums, an invite-only club to which you're now invited.