Holy Ghost Hokey Pokey

You put your right foot in,
You put your right foot out,
You put your right foot in
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.
--The Hokey Pokey

You remember "The Hokey Pokey," right? It was a fun, goofy song you sang when you were a little kid. Watch a few seconds below if you need to refresh your memory. Seriously, a few seconds will be all you need...



Now check out the following video (VIA Bifurcated Rivets). You really need to watch at least 3 or 4 minutes of this. (In fact, I recommend watching the whole thing, appalling though it is)...



Here's what the person who uploaded that video to YouTube (sbails39) had to say about what you just experienced:

Perhaps the saddest, lowest, most incomprehensible moment in the history of Christianity. It is difficult to understand how any form of Christianity, at any point in the history of humanity, under any circumstance possible, could degrade into this foolishness.
To see any form of content so divorced from the extreme emotionalism is horrifying. It's the Hokey Pokey, and they treat it like magic.
And the way that dude sings the song... it's the Hokey Pokey dude. Come on.

Amen to that, Brother.

More and more these days I find myself somewhat tongue-tied when it comes to talking about some of the fucked up things going on in the world. Really, I don't even know where to begin. The above video is just one example among a countless number of things that are so wrong in so many ways and on so many levels that my mind recoils at the thought of even attempting any sort of coherently expressed argument about why this shit is fucked up.

In my mind I hear a forlorn voice sputtering something like: "But, but, this is no different than the kind of stuff that goes on a rock concerts and shit!" "Indeed," I hear myself reply. "But is that the kind of comparison you really want to make? Is that where you really want to go with this? If so, then let me tell you very plainly right now. You're doing it wrong."

Of course religion is only one fucked up thing in the world, and Christianity is only one religion. They're all wrong. Just so you know...

Please Show ID at the Door

This oughta be good. Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis (the ID/creationist group behind the Creation Museum), is coming to Japan!

From AiG's website:

At the end of this week, I will be flying to Japan to speak six times Friday and Saturday. This visit is under the auspices of AiG’s Worldwide division and is for the purpose of taping and producing videos of our lectures in the Japanese language [...]
Each year we try to visit one country for the express purpose of having a number of our basic presentations translated into the native language of that country [...]
Please pray for these lectures in Japan [..].

Mr. Ham even has a spiffy PowerPoint presentation all ready and set to go. Here's a sample slide:


[Hat tip: J-Walk helpfully points out that "he left out CON, CRAZY, and COO-COO."]

While the Japanese will no doubt be impressed by the effort Mr. Ham put into making his PowerPoint slides, if he really wants to win them over, I think a cute-looking mascot would probably go a lot further.

I found this comment (from the article) amusing:

In a few days, I will try to send some photographs (assuming good Internet access) and reports on the conference.

"Assuming good internet access"? Mr. Ham, the entire developed world has better internet access than you do. You do know that Japan is a developed country, right? Or, wait, are you coming over to show us the wonders of your modern civilization and its "science" and religion? Gambatte, Mr. Ham.

Oh, and while you're here, don't forget to check out Christ's Tomb!

Blackface

Go have a look at this. Then go read what David Marx has to say about it. Excerpt:

I have only one problem with Japanese people in blackface: it’s totally inexcusably awful. I hate to be shrill about this, and outrage in this case feels like almost like a cliche, but how many more of these are we going to have to see?

Since this is hardly an isolated incident, I have to say that I'm in complete agreement with David. I'm quite willing to accept that Japanese who put on the blackface are well-intentioned and perhaps even believe they're somehow being flattering. But seriously folks, this should simply be unacceptable in any society that wants to be taken seriously by the rest of the world; or, at the very least, in any society that wants to be taken seriously by the President of The United States of America.

Give it a fucking rest.

I Think I'd Rather Be Fat...

If they still market this product, I hope they've had sense enough to change the name.