I see you found my Underground, help yourself to Guns and Ammo

Its another rainy grey day. You know what that means: time for another deeply pensive blog entry in which I ponder the meaning of the universe. Oh lucky you!This morning (before I awoke the second time) I dreampt that I was the mutant Magneto. And while it was cool to be able to sense and manipulate the electromagnetic fields around me my over-all impression of the dream was that that was merely incidental. A friend of mine insists that I was reading too much into the X-Men movies and comic books. But I contend that the series is a metaphor for a variety of minority rights issues (which broaches on allegory to misuse a definition). So much so that you'd have to have blinders on not to see it.

One of the recurring themes is the Magneto character's preoccupation with preserving "his kind". This is somewhat of a concern of mine as well although it would take some serious crisis for me to consider taking thing's to Magneto's extremes. Magneto believes in the supremacy of the Mutants over "normal" human beings. While this is in-and-of itself an appealing premise it can lead to the same megalomaniacal complex which spawned the Nazi party's belief in Aryan supremacy. This is a curious mindset for Magneto to have as he suffered under the Nazi's and had direct insight into their brutality. Yet, he adopts many of the same tactics and this ultimately leads to the same end: attempted genocide.

I think the point of Magneto is to show how the desire to protect one's own kind needs to be tempered with respect and tolerance of others who are NOT your own kind. This is a lesson everyone should learn. Unfortunately we live in a political and social climate wherein the mere act of asserting your differences is an affront to others. Such a response is bound to generate resentment amongst those who are "on the outs" with our culture. Who can blame them? How would you like to be called "the enemy" in the "Culture War" and to be accused of attempting to destroy a nation? Especially when you never bore any malice toward anyone? What's important is our response. Do we claim to be "better" than our enemies but feel justified in giving them a taste of their own medicine? Or do we actually take a morally positive position and prove how superior we are?

-T

Hope and Prey

It was a rainy, cloudy afternoon today. I find rain to be a real treat down here in Colorado Springs. Mainly because I grew up in Ketchikan where an average yearly rainfall was measured in feet instead of inches. It has been in the 80's and 90's for the past week so it was a bit of a relief when the clouds rolled in.

As often happens when there is a weather change my mood changed as well. This time I was thrown into a pensive mood. I decided to go for a walk downtown. I wound up at the East Coast Delicatessan, one of my favorite joints. It was there as I was helping myself to some potato salad that I realized suddenly: Fundamental Christianity no longer exists in the United States and the abomination that sits in its place Civil-Christianity will soon be dead and buried.

I always thought that it would be my people who put the final nail in the coffin of corrupt psuedo-christian civil religion. However in my cynical state I never thought I would live to see it. In the end it came down to one inescapable reality: It really is US vs. THEM. And really when thought out it comes down to the Religious Reich's supposed "right" to continue to denigrate and persecute my people, and our right to say, "No we're not going to put up with that anymore"

Many gay people like to point the 1968 Stonewall Riots as the watershed moment in our collective history. However I see Stonewall as a mostly symptomatic reaction of any oppressed people group. Eventually all persecuted people reach a point where they have had enough, have nothing else to lose, and will rebel regardless of the consequences. American history is replete with such examples. This is just and right; no one rights should be trampled just to satisfy the lust others have for political power.

But as I said earlier I believe that civil Christianity is on its way out of the American Political landscape, the sooner the better. However don't get me wrong, actual real Christianity will remain vibrant and a part of the American cultural ethos just as it always has. This is also just and right in my opinion. The trouble with civil religion (of all types) is that it commits adultery with the government. The result is a bastardization of religious beliefs. Consequently you have the incongruous nature of Conservative Christianity, which teaches "charity only inasmuch as you get off your lazy tax-sucking welfare ass you unwed hussy!"

Full gay acceptance is an idea who's time may have finally come. There will of course be the usually screeching histrionics, gnashing of teeth and grasping at straws but I would pay them no mind. They are merely the death throes of moral cowards.

-Trevor