July 21, 2008Memo to those offended by the recent New Yorker cover portraying Barack Obama in Muslim garb and Michelle as a machine gun-toting revolutionary: A sense of humor is a terrible thing to waste.
(These days, the following disclaimer seems necessary:
* Yes, that was a parody of the old United Negro College Fund slogan.
* No, the reference was not meant to disparage Senator Obama’s race or intelligence.
* Yes, I am disparaging people who either can’t see the obvious satiric intent of the cartoon or claim that it wasn’t portrayed in the proper “context”. This latter group seems to be suggesting that Stephen Colbert stencil “I’m not being serious” on his forehead.)
Another group of the cover’s critics acknowledges the satire but insists that the cover is still dangerous because the masses will believe that Barack and Michelle plan to display a portrait of Osama bin Laden over the Oval Office fireplace. Right-wing bloggers have jumped on the complaint that Red Staters won’t get the joke to (perhaps justifiably this time) paint Obama and the left with the brush of elitism.
Perhaps the most aggravating aspect of this controversy is that it’s yet another event in the news media/political cycle which stages pseudo-conflict over nothing of real importance. So Obama can’t bowl and wanted to imitate John Kennedy by speaking at the Brandenburg Gate. So John McCain can’t send e-mails and sang “Bomb Iran” to the tune of a Beach Boys song. So what?
Events of this sort become significant because they distract the media from (or allow the media to avoid) reporting on issues of genuine significance. Read the rest of this entry »
This Sunday, well over a billion people across the globe will be riveted to the battle between Les Bleus and the Azzurri. Millions of immigrants to America will flood living rooms, restaurants and bars to watch and cheer as well.
And the majority of people born in the United States will be apathetic or openly hostile to a match that most of the rest of the world has been waiting four years to see.
The match in question is the World Cup soccer final between France (known as Les Bleus) and Italy (the Azzurri). But those prevailing attitudes about the sport in this country shed light on some other struggles of arguably more relevance to progressives: the conflicts concerning America’s place in the world and immigration rights. Read the rest of this entry »
A substantial number of Christians on both the left and right deserve credit for seeing the success of The Da Vinci Code as an opportunity to engage the book’s 43 million readers and the additional millions who will see the movie. But while it’s one thing to assume that most of these readers and viewers have at least some interest in the spiritual, it’s quite another to believe (as the plans of many Christian groups indicate) that these masses are ripe for conversion to the One True Faith.
(For a look at how Progressive Christianity in particular might react to the book and film, please join us for a screening of The Da Vinci Code this Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. at the Paseo Stadium theaters in Pasadena. PCU’s co-founder George Regas will offer some thoughts after the movie. To reserve a space at the screening, please send an email to , write “Da Vinci” or “Da Vinci Code” in the subject line and give the full name of everyone planning to attend. Tickets will be $12 at the door.)
It’s always interesting to hear conservative religious and social commentators ascribe literally demonic motives for the movies and TV shows that Hollywood churns out, when just about all the time there’s only one agenda that the entertainment industry is concerned with: making a buck.
That’s not to say that The Da Vinci Code won’t offer any food for thought regarding religious issues. (To see if Da Vinci has anything to say to you and to hear what PCU co-founder George Regas thinks about the movie, please join us for a screening next Saturday, May 20 at 8:30 a.m. at the Paseo Stadium theaters in Pasadena. Please contact PCU for more details; tickets (priced at $12) will be available at All Saints Church in Pasadena this Sunday. Read the rest of this entry »
We’re almost a week away from the opening of the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s mega-bestseller The Da Vinci Code, and it’s hard not to get caught up in the cultural tug-of-war over the movie’s merits. One side insists that Da Vinci be either excused or dismissed as Hollywood fluff, while others are certain that the film will create scriptural illiterates at best and raging pagans at worst.
(For those of you who’d like to judge The Da Vinci Code for yourselves and hear our founder George Regas’ thoughts on the movie and controversy, Progressive Christians Uniting will host a screening at 8:30 a.m. Saturday May 20 at the Paseo Stadium theaters in Pasadena. Call or write PCU to find out how to buy tickets. Read the rest of this entry »
