Hitler and Newspapers

I know I didn’t post anything about Christmas. It was a great Christmas, I miss my parents, had a good dinner and received some really nice gifts from really nice people. A post about Christmas doesn’t inspire dialogue. I would rather think.

A recent article in the Guardian Newspaper (UK) was an interview with Gary Taylor, frequent visitor to the White House, and his proposal to eliminate Homosexual Literature from public libraries and public performance. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1369643,00.html). I’ll highlight Gary’s call to bury Gay Books - a careful word choice, to be sure. One letter difference and he’d be burning them.

As I was discussing this with Tim Sniffen, we both sunk to the conclusion that there was no real action we wanted to take. Or could imagine taking. Feeling defeated, I realized that there are more people who don’t like gays than there are gays. And, as 11/02/04 demonstrated, there are more conservatives than there are liberals - or at least more people willing to support a conservative institution than take a chance on a liberal democrat.

And so, I’m reminded of the newspapers that ignored the rise of Hitler’s extremism. The National Socialist story was largely ignored in Germany; conscious individuals on the left were so overwhelmed with the absurdity of Hitler’s call to action, that they didn’t even know where to begin. Like Tim and I, they said, “But what do you say to those people?”

What do you say to the Christian Right? I’ve thought about using my future funding to buy billboards throughout the Bible Belt and simply advertise biblical absurdities; to use the good book against those who follow it. Imagine: white text on black, reading, “Stone disobedient children” Deuteronomy 21.

Or a longer one: “Suppose a man is caught raping a girl who is not engaged. He is to pay the girl’s father the bride price of fifty pieces of silver, and she is to become his wife, because he forced her to have intercourse with him. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.” Deuteronomy 22:28-29

Marry the rapist!? Wouldn’t that wake someone up? I could do this for months - maybe follow it up with statements of morality from philosophers, or scientific truths. It would be worth any dollar amount if I could simply help one person realize that the Bible (and thus Christianity) is fallible. And it would make me feel empowered; that I was changing something. I’m sure that it would leak out that this Lesbian Comedienne from New York or Los Angeles was paying for the boards, but what does that matter when I’m simply printing the Bible?

It would be my, “Read the Book before you Follow the Faith” campaign. And it would get me assassinated. Sigh.

I think I got off topic. Oh Right! Merry Christ-mas.

Descending from Royalty

In any modern society, there ought to be a higher proportion of royal/noble/wealthy bloodlines than would be expected based on the generational wealth and status sampling of the original historic population.

What I’m trying to say is that there might be a higher ratio of royalty to peasent in today’s genes than in the past. Why? Survivability. Anyone with money in the past was probably more likely to have access to nutrition than the common pauper. And while it is true that in any generation, there are far more poor-to-middle-class families than rich ones, the number of healthy children in wealthy families must have been a higher parent-to-offspring ratio than in poor families.

Even as I’m articulating this, I’m realizing the myriad of holes there are in the argument. Of course there are more “royals” today than yesterday - mathmatics demands it. Not to mention, the potency of so-called royal blood would be diluted amoung everyone, therefore making it as notable as a submissive gene for a mole on your left shoulder.

Sigh. Oh hell, I’ll post it anyway.

Set work and Time Travel

I don’t know that I have anything to write about, but feel that a fundamental part of journaling is forcing one’s self to write. So, here I am, with some vague comments on comedy and my frustrations with the European audience.

Tonight, we ran a 30 minute set after the main show and tried out some new material. My contribution was a sketch about (what else) G. W. Bush.

High Concept: G.W.B. believes God Speaks Through Him, right? So what if he was right, and Jesus said the same things …

2 Scientists perfect time travel and arrive in Jerusalem to confirm that Christ speaks only in Bush Quotes.

Unfortunately, it just didn’t hit. There were some big laughs, but Boom is all about every third line being a punch. My stuff is all about the fun story, and the throw away tangents.

Example

“Casey, Casey, my invention worked!”

“Is it in the genetics lab? Let me get my shotgun …”

Not the funniest, but I like popcorn throw-aways better than a series of punchlines-on-topic. A weakness that I guess I’ll have to overcome.

That’s it. I’m too tired to write anymore.