1646h
I just back from Quad and classes. There was yet another preacher out today. It was nice and warm this afternoon. Actually, it is still nice and warm this afternoon, as far as I know. The sun came out see, and that's so valuable in October.
Anyways, this guy was wearing yellow signs on him, saying who all was going to hell. I had a hard time finding anything I fundamentally disagreed with him about, which was kind of creepy, though I didn't stay long. He was saying the professors and all manner of people were a path to hell and the like, as they were more concerned with their own ends. Yeah, lotta people are missing the point, but I don't see it as anything particularly terrible, even if it is disheartening at times.
What scares me now though, in retrospect, is the increasing number of these fanatics out there. This year especially, the upswing on our campus, at least, has been tremendous. Did I mention the other day the God Fleet of these guys, actually only a few adults and several younger kids who were carrying huge signs spread out on white sheets damning people to hell. They managed to chase a group of schoolchildren off the Quad by calling their teachers witches and encouraging them to not follow "the system".
the danger is prolly more from reading The Handmaid's Tale than anything else, but you ever wonder that these people will continue to attract followers - I mean some of what they say is true, is of concern - namely that people aren't really keeping their moral priorities straight and all, and that it is a strong negative tendency ... I completely disagree with their nutty rhetoric that they see as the solution - basically a return to the crappy days when men were men and women were suitably cowed, and we were all fanatical followers of God and believed in Jesus ... but they seem increasingly to disrespect our government, the system, and seem to be advocating that something stronger must be done.
I think any time we see people flirting with the cause of revolution, we need to keep an eye on them ... and these people do seem to be getting around ...
And no, they're not popular, but how many Christians in this country? Catholics probably can't be counted as possible comrades for these zealots, but there are plenty of fundamentalists, anti-abortionists, born-again weirdos, and the great mass of vanilla-flavored Christians that if they ever were nutty enough to put their government where their passions were that things could potentially get really really ugly and bad.
But I do have a great faith in the strength of our government, and it's ability to adapt and respond to threats, ultimately getting a little better each time in the interests of all.
But then I'm also one of those God-forsaken Atheist Liberals.
And I publish my thoughts openly. the second that Christian Nazi we had on the Quad a few weeks back gets the chance to run the government and conduct public executions of Liberals, I'll be on the first lists of folks who just gotta go ...
If something like that ever did come to pass, it would mark an interesting turn in world history.
This time, it would be America in flames, and perhaps an economically depressed Europe trying to put it straight. Asia too. I wonder how Japan and China would react to a bloody revolution in the USA.
Definitely being overly speculative here, but it never hurts to be aware of possible contingencies.
I'm glad to see my imagination kicking in though. It's been missed a lot since grammar school and high school
The problem with English 381 is that it's followed right after by B&TW 261 ... not that we had class today as Mills is out, but we met to review our web project.
I like having projects to do for classes. Let's review what projects I'm now involved with;
Anyways, the problem with English 381 being followed directly by B&TW is that I get ideas pumping in 381 and by the time I get back by a computer they're gone. Nothing to say here.
Of course, I didn't read today's reading either, being more enticed by and amenable to Vonnegut's Jailbird last night, but as it looks an interesting article, I may well play catch-up this weekend. Coz I'm more studious right? :)
Anyways, I saw that pretty girl last night ... there's this gal who hangs in a group of four girls, and they're like this little nuclear family unit thing. Weird. Anyways, it looks like three of the four are Hispanic, or whatever politically-correct term everybody is describing themselves as these days. (To quote Roberto, "I'd rather be called Hispanic over Latino.") Actually, there's no way in Hell you're going to see me writing Latino/a - I am not going to take it upon myself to politically correct the language of a culture that is not my own. Masculine gender generic. Let Spanish-speaking people deal with it, I'd rather not appear so arrogant.
Anyways, they hang out as a group of four, three Latinas and this Asian girl. Something about them tells me that they're more city than most ... something seems kind of "ghetto" about them. (That's how I remember Bart referring to FAR. "FAR's kinda ghetto if ya miss LPHS.") Anyways, you see that "ghetto" isn't a derogatory term, to me it's an easy shortcut which gives ya some texture. I'm kinda ghetto here, that's why I'd like to find others who are ghetto.
Being a white guy, "ghetto" isn't some weird black thing. It's really a "I'm living in the cornfields with suburbanites, and I miss my Chicago" thing.
The trouble with using weird, potentially-offensive slang, and having people from far off reading this, is I feel obligated to explain myself.
Anyways, I first noticed the Asian gal at the Allen Hall formal last year. She's got a very beautiful, innocent-looking face. But being that I was involved at the time, I just noted that she was really pretty and let it off at that.
Now of course, the times are different. As a group with a collective consciousness, they seem aware of me, and that I have some interest in them, though I wonder if they think I've singled out the one I particularly have singled out ... it seems like some sort of adolescent mess. I should make "first contact" sometime and land on their planet, poking around the surface instead of doing orbital surveys.
Okay, that was weird.
Nahh, really they seem like a nice group of folk, I'd wanna actually talk to them sometime. Anyways, when I popped in to a study room there was some quiet giggling amongst them as I had earlier popped my head in to survey a place to study. I think they thought I was sneaking in. I s'pose I was, but just to maybe get more of an inkling about them whilst I read my Vonnegut.
21 October
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