Arbeit macht frei, global warming, Mary and Joseph, and trouble at TESCO
Well, the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign over the Auschwitz Death Camp gate has been stolen. The words mean “Work sets you free.” A spokesman for the holocaust museum called it an “act of war.” No, it was an act of vandalism and theft for God’s sake. Frankly, there are times when I think that holocaust remembrance has crossed the line into holocaust worship, and when someone calls a simple act of vandalism an “act of war,” that line has been crossed. Or at least the line between considered response and hysterical overreaction. The same spokesman also said he assumed it was stolen by neo-Nazis. I dunno, maybe it was stolen by people who think that the goddamn camp should be bulldozed instead of memorialized? The holocaust was a terrible thing, but do we really need to make the Death Camps into what are almost shrines to remember that?
Moving right along …
… speaking of shrines, the above image was sent in by a long time reader. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, so I’m posting it for general interest. As far as I am concerned, as soon as someone brings up Al Gore in any discussion about AGW (human caused global warming,) they have admitted they either know nothing about the science involved, or are afraid to actually debate the science involved. Mostly the former, I’ve been studying climatology for years now and still don’t understand the half of it. Not to mention that when someone uses mocking in a debate, they are pretty much admitting they don’t want to debate. Still, I guess some will be amused by it.
And while we are on the topic of odd pictures, there’s this little gem from New Zealand:
This was a billboard put up by a church in New Zealand aimed at “challenging stereotypes” about the birth of Christ. Within hours it had been defaced by some enraged local, and came under heavy flak from Catholics among others. Since the brew ha ha about “The Last Temptation of Christ” I have been puzzled by the fact that some Christians basically get extremely upset about even the suggestion that the birth of Christ might have actually involved normal human beings. In the movie they were upset by the idea that Christ might have human doubts and feelings, he was portrayed as imagining while nailed to the cross that maybe he should have just married Mary Magdalen and settled down and had a family instead of becoming a preacher. I don’t really see why the idea that the divine might experience human thought s and emotions is all that threatening, I thought we were made in his image? Maybe someone can explain it to me.
And since weird images seems to be the theme of this post, I’ll conclude with this one:
This was a Christmas card sold by a big chain store in the UK. The company in question, TESCO, withdrew the card and apologized after people complained. To me this falls under the “what were they thinking category?” Yeah, on the one hand it’s just light hearted fun and maybe even is trying to make a point. On the other hand, kids were actually physically assaulted on the recent Facebook “kick a ginger day,” so I can see why some people were upset. My main thought is that anything that serves to stereotype people is at least part of the problem. Since stereotyping people by the colour of their hair has to be one of the stupidest stereotypes around, and has resulted in physical violence, I see no problem with the store in question withdrawing the card and apologizing. And with a lot of stuff like this, even though it purports to be humorous, I don’t get the joke.
Is there any theme to these images? Not really. The first one is simply an illustration, and unless you’re a holocaust denier, I can’t see it causing any offence. The second one, about global warming, is meant to be belittling and mocking. Since I can’t think of a better way for AGW deniers to proclaim that they don’t have any real scientific arguments, I don’t have a problem with it. The Mary and Joseph image was produced by a liberal Christian church, ostensibly to promote discussion. I’m not surprised that people took offence though, there are Christians just as irrational about “insults” to their saviour as some Muslims are about insulting Mohammad. You’d think a Christian church would have known that, but c’est la vie. The last image, who knows what the motivation of the card’s creator was, though I kind of suspect that only someone who was genuinely prejudiced would come up with something like this.
Next week, I change my mind about Obama, I rethink the threat of fascism in America, and Gran Torino. Have a great weekend everyone.
(The above images are all claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. None of them are being used for profit, some of them are arguably important images, and by definition they illustrate what the post is about, themselves. I actually thought the Joseph and Mary one was really funny. Poor guy, can you imagine, he’s like: “You had a one night stand with who?“)
Doug's Darkworld 
AGW-I still think its funny, Ben sliding down the money pile is pretty funny…
and I’m still not sure Doug, I have been reading about Methane hydrate.
Could melting methane clathrates have played an important role in increasing GW”
Could a temp change by us or another factor (like suns very long cycles) could cause a chain reaction?
I really just think Co2 is being beaten to death while there are more things involved than just Co2….
“There is no way, other than aggressive geoengineering, to come close to meeting the world leaders goal of overall warming not exceeding (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial (levels) without focusing on BOTH carbon dioxide and non-carbon dioxide emissions,” says Michael MacCracken of the Climate Institute
Methane played a bigger role than expected, suggesting that climate treaties such as the 1997 Kyoto Protocol need to consider it more carefully, the study says.”
from-
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2009-10-29-methane-global-warming_N.htm
I still say somthing is fishy with AGW, No I don’t 100% deny it but, well lying and fudging “some” is not a good way to convince people your right, even if you are. So, shame on them for giving all Climate science mud in the face at least….
As for your other photos doug, People always take their beliefs to be so absolute, and people do stupid things when they are 100% sure that they coulden’t possibly be wrong…..
Btw, I don’t get the post card either?
Peace
Pyrodin123321
December 18, 2009 at 3:51 pm
The Joseph billboard pic is hilarious, don’t know how you stumbled on it or the story behind it but well down.
As for AGW, my opinion is an echo from one of youre previouse posts, its a pointless topic to discuss because nothing of substance is going to be done about it untill the effects become more substantial and by then (maybee even now) it will be far too late.
You also mentioned that you have been studying AGW for years and still don’t know everything about it. That’s a big part of the problem, the science behind it is deep, too deep for most people and most politicians to fully understand. You either have to spend years studying and learning the science for yourself, or either “believe” the scientists or “believe” the critics. I side with the scientist but its easy to see how AGW has morphed into almost a faith based topic amongst the public rather than a scientific one, as illustrated in the photo.
Josh V
December 18, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I think the climatology graphic is to illustrate the dogma surrounding the climate change ‘science’ is as dogmatic as the ‘church’ that rhymes with the name.
Hundreds of holier than thou politicians flew jet planes to Copenhagen, burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel, to showboat themselves ?
Where is the leadership? They should have teleconferenced and made themselves an example for the world. Instead they say ‘do as I say, not as I do’.. they are hypocrites. They wont even be required to take the same health plan that they are forcing on the plebs.
Ben sliding down the money pile is there to wake people up.. they want the international bankers to manage their carbon plan folks.. what does THAT mean ?
Why do people put up with this BS. If your a skeptic (and rightfully so) you get shouted down.
Some people have become so full of themselves and their ‘blink of a moment’ existence on this earth that they think the earth is static. The oceans have risen and fallen many times. It will continue to do so.
It is really all about control folks. It is sad to see the environmentalist movement so co-opted by the bankers and wall street. They have fallen victim to another derivatives game made by wall street and enforced by politics and government mandates.
And now CO2 is a ‘hazardous waste’ ? LOL .. we will all get ‘allotments’ for CO2… next they will be establishing allotments for food, etc. Welcome to the brave new world.
I wouldnt be surprised if I get busted for growing my own vegetables.. you know, over consuming is BAD.. better to get some ethical vegetables grown by ADM in Chile and flown in to the USA… after all ADM has plenty of carbon credits and I just exhale toxic waste ! :)
ET
December 19, 2009 at 8:27 am
The USA is a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire. Conquerers! So when we see the propaganda, the violence, the brutality and genocide taking place in Iraq, Afghanistan, some parts of Africa and Russia, Eastern Europe and South America and any other part of the planet deemed a trouble spot, we a seeing a conquer playing out its part.
If we focus on Afghanistan for the purposes of clarity we see a country that is being used as a stage for Conquest Grandstanding at it’s historical ugliest, maybe not nearly as ugly as Dictatorial Rome in Eygpt or Macedonian/Greek conquest of Asia minor or the British conquest of the India and other colonial violations.
You can’t discuss right’s of any sort in this kind of circus. It’s a theatre of destruction.
Take a minute and imagine if roles were reversed and the USA was the trouble spot and Afghanistan was tasked with deploying troops in Texas or Chicago or some other God forsaken US state blowing up and cordoning off whatever they thought looked suspicious. Maybe a Christian Wedding ceremony or a Spring break hedonistic sex orgy/rave in florida. I don’t think you’d like another country doing that to you, making your decisions for you . You’d be pissed even if it were for your own good.
But the USA is not just another country. It’s a force, a standing army. It’s doing its job. No one should fight with it. Just get out of it’s way. Sometimes I pray someone will fire it from this job but it;s useless, another would take it’s place.
ps I don’t dislike Americans, I just think they are weak and frightened of their own ruling murdering elite class. They have no alternative leader to look to for guidance, probably because they are all dead/murdered.
Joe
December 27, 2009 at 7:56 am