Is The End Nigh? We’ll Know Soon Enough

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

– Matthew 24:36

There are a certain brand of religious nut jobs expecting – hell, HOPING – the world ends on May 21st.

NPR covers them here.

They seem to be based or at least heavily centered around San Francisco so here is part of the local coverage there.

We also have many, many, many billboards around here. Some in town and a lot in Minneapolis, at least on the highways. Here’s the local take on it, admittedly awhile back. I think most folks are trying to ignore it and hope it just goes away in a week or so.

Personally? I think these folks are nut jobs. If they didn’t wrap up their crazy in a Bible, someone would have locked them up already.

I also worry about their kids and families. The NPR story shone a brief light onto what has got to be a hellish situation. What do you do if you spouse tries to sell all of your belongings to go convert tourists on a Florida beach? (Incidentally, if *I* were recruiting for the end of the world, I wouldn’t be hitting up South Beach. I’d be at a LOT more cooler places. If I’ve got to spend eternity with you, you’d better be interesting.)

Mostly though, this whole thing smacks of failure and egoism. Look, every generation thinks it is the last one. But that doesn’t make it sane. Nor is it something to aspire to. I don’t want to hear about the end of the world. I want to make it better in my time. I want to hope someone will be around to cherish it after me. If the Almighty wants to hang it all up tomorrow, that is – literally – his business, not mine.

I want to live. I give a damn if the polar bears are gone in a few years. Or that there is no snow on Kilimanjaro. God, as they say, helps those who help themselves and drilling for oil on every coast of North America just so every family can have a SUV sounds completely ridiculous, short sighted, and just plain mean. If not somewhat evil to be cheering it on.

Seriously, pretend this is a test for an afterlife if you believe in one. I think the random atheist has a better chance at everlasting life than those wishing for the world to end during their lifespan.

Either way, there is more of this to come. Apparently a village in France is suffering from unwelcome End Times tourism.

Navy Will Perform Same-Sex Marriages

Granted, given the location of naval bases, this is more of a symbolic gesture it is nice to see the military leading the way towards that more perfect union.

I mean, the Air Force is a Talibangelical stronghold and the Marines aren’t much better. You’d hope for more from the Army and maybe it will yet happen. The Coasties are just a busy as the grunts too I imagine.

Either way, even baby steps count.

5 Toxic Right-Wing Lies Obama Must Strike Down from His ‘Bully Pulpit’ | News & Politics | AlterNet

Frankly I am used to most progressive websites attacking the President more than the average Tea Baggers but this article not only has good advice but is fairly level-headed in delivering it.

I’ve stopped following/reading a lot of sites and talking heads. Might this be a sign they realize that you are either part of the solution or lumped in with the rest of the troublemakers?

The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science

There is a scientific reason behind why we doubt things that have been proven with hard evidence.

Granted, we’re all skeptics. Well, I’m more of a cynic, but you get the idea.

Sadly, the folks that doubt science the most these days – anti-vaccine folks, creationists, climate change deniers – won’t be listening to this argument either. And the racists posing as birthers, afterbirthers, whatever wont see the correlation to their lunacy either.

Oh well, at least there’s a reason why they are embracing their particular madness. Not to mention the crazy stuff you and I believe – or don’t.

Don’t Release the Photos

Granted, the day after this article came out, the White House decided not to release any death photos of bin Laden. Thankfully, they realized that anything that might both piss off Tea Baggers AND al-Qaeda is probably the way to go.

I have chuckled at friends and family who have gotten viruses or had online accounts hacked by trying to view supposed Osama death photos and video. Thank God none of them have called me for help. I probably would have hung up the phone given that most of these folks consider themselves good Christians most days.

I have no interest in seeing a corpse, much level the added joy(?) in reveling in who it is.

I have also been disgusted in some folks who I had previously believed were more mature than in what they have shown themselves to be. As asinine and pointless as it actually is, I went about un-friending those folks from Facebook in most cases. Does that wake them up or change their mind? Oh no, they’ll just be pissed at me in reality, at least the ones I mentioned it to. Some mere acquaintances just got the bump.

Am I morally superior to these folks? No, of course not. But I know enough that if you gloat over someone’s demise, that says a hell of a lot more about YOU than it does the target of the violence, necessary or not. I haven’t always been this calm about it, but the more I see of this world, the more I realize that some folks are more alike than others. And the folks bleating to see death photos have more in common with suicide bombing poor Muslim street kids being used by rich Saudi pricks like bin Laden than with me.

As for how I heard the story in the first place, it was part of this discussion on Talk of the Nation. Stick around for the phone calls, they are sadly instructive of the kinds of folks we live alongside.