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 Monday, October 12, 2009

The Irony, It Burns

By Greg Perkins @ 5:00 AM

A recent piece from PJTV floated by, "Is Barack Obama Jesus Christ?" It starts off with footage of one of those often-creepy examples of children singing patriotic songs or Jesus-jingles with the words modified to be about Obama (this time it appears to be a Jesus-jingle). The piece goes on to explore its title question with sarcastic tongue in cheek comparison and contrast that ranges through the schools that have kids singing like that, to the adoring treatment of Obama in the mainstream media and artistic community.

There's a lot to talk about here, but what struck me wasn't the quality or lack in the analysis. No, it was the sheer irony. This commentary was created to register some degree of outrage at the deification of Obama, at the sacrilege of any comparison of him to a Christlike Savior -- and the commentator is making a real point about how dangerous this is: after all, pretending doesn't make it so. Giving up our independent understanding and following authority in some sort of primacy-of-consciousness yes-we-can pretend world does in fact leave us dependent and exposed to all sorts of dangers, positioned poorly to deal with all those pesky facts of reality, ill-equipped to achieve genuine values in the actual world.

The video took some serious effort to produce, so what is being said isn't exactly casual -- yet it somehow misses the painfully obvious application of its criticism to precisely what it is defending! Check out the closing:
Luckily, though, if there's anyone on earth who can help us stop thinking or laughing or learning new information, it's our public school teachers, mainstream journalists, and state-loving artists.

So, boys and girls, is Barack Obama really Jesus Christ? Of course not! But working together we can all pretend, can't we? And if we pretend very, very hard, we can soon go to live in his magical kingdom, where everything is taken care of for us, and nothing costs anything, and we never have to make any of those nasty, old personal decisions for ourselves ever again. And then we're screwed.
And in religion -- most definitely including the one being defended against this slight/competition -- we are called to submit to authority and take important matters on faith (that is, it helps us stop thinking). And religion tells us that if we simply pretend (i.e., believe) very, very hard, we can soon go to live in God's magical kingdom, where everything is taken care of for us, and nothing costs anything, and we never have to make any of those nasty, old personal decisions for ourselves ever again.

And then we're screwed. Indeed.

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 Comments

Monday, October 12, 2009 at 10:37:03 mst
Comment ID: #1
Name: Ryan C

I said this ages ago when conservatives first started attacking the deification of Obama. They have no philosophic ground to stand on. Very astute analysis, Greg

Monday, October 12, 2009 at 10:44:04 mst
Comment ID: #2
Name: Guy

Love the title!

Monday, October 12, 2009 at 12:48:57 mst
Comment ID: #3
Name: Richard
E-mail: rbramwell(at)sympatico.ca

I watched the video and found Kavan uses so much sarcasm that it was difficult to tell if Greg's argument is valid. I immediately interpreted the portion Greg quoted as just more of that sarcasm. The "And then we're screwed" follows a stretch that could easily be a Jehovah's Witness argument for becoming a Christian... "and the lambs will lie down with the lion". To me Kavan is saying, if we go along with such silly arguments we'll be in that JW fantasyland, and then we're screwed.

Kavan was originally Jewish, then was an agnostic for some time, and then became a Christian. Often people who go through such tortured reasoning reject formal religious institutions. They view the World as a real place to which reason must be applied â€"rather as do Deists, such as Thomas Jefferson.

I would be interested as to what in the portion Greg quoted is not sarcasm, and therefore indicates the irony Greg seems to observe. At this point, I think the whole thing is sarcasm.

Monday, October 12, 2009 at 13:18:11 mst
Comment ID: #4
Name: Greg Perkins
E-mail: greg(at)ecosmos.com
URL: http://dianahsieh.com/blog

Hi, Richard.

I took the following as sarcasm: "But working together we can all pretend, can't we? And if we pretend very, very hard, we can soon go to live in his magical kingdom, where everything is taken care of for us, and nothing costs anything, and we never have to make any of those nasty, old personal decisions for ourselves ever again."

And I took the next/closing sentence to not be sarcastic: "And then we're screwed."

I don't see any way to read either part in the opposite way and have it make sense. If you see a way, please do share.

Thanks,
Greg

Monday, October 12, 2009 at 23:30:24 mst
Comment ID: #5
Name: Mike Hardy
E-mail: (my last name) (at) math.umn.edu

And then there's this comment from
free-lance philosopher/(erstwhile) musician
George H. Smith (known on youtube as smikro1):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ7nm_HnWZw

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 13:00:36 mst
Comment ID: #6
Name: Halelly
E-mail: halelly(at)talentgrow.com
URL: http://www.talentgrow.com

Amen. Well put.
I continue to find this whole issue so frustrating lately in the media coverage of events: either it's deification of Obama by seculars on the left or re-alignment of the glory to its 'proper owner', Christ, by the religious right. Hath Reason no savior?

Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 19:14:54 mst
Comment ID: #7
Name: Richard
E-mail: rbramwell(at)sympatico.ca

Greg,

I see Kavan's sarcasm in the same way as you. I just cannot imagine anyone (Kavan) being so compartmentalized that he can use such strong sarcasm ridiculing Obama Deification, and not see that the same words apply, just as well, to Jesus Deification. I believe that is how you see it (and hence see irony) but to me that sarcasm was so blatant and so applicable to both Deifications, that I could not see it. If it IS as you say, then the degree of compartmentalization is astonishing to me. I guess I need to see him passionately defend Jesus in the same degree he has criticized Obama lovers.

I always thought I was the cynic, whew, this one takes the cake.

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