by Claire A. Williams
There are idiots everywhere. Today, I had the pleasure of being preached to by one such toxic person. As a result, I walked out of church today. Not at the normal time, mind you, when it is over. Instead, I got up in a huff in the middle and stormed out, fearing that otherwise I might kill (in a very Christian way, naturally) the guest preacher, Raging Idiot.
It began when Raging Idiot started talking about his interest in research. Apparently this twenty something guy is big on "research", and has most recently spent one month "researching" bird feeding patterns, and six months "researching" how girls' clothing choices get them raped. It was all very scientific. "I have done research on it I tell you," he liked to repeat throughout the course of the hideous sermon, which naturally is the first sign that someone is telling you dirty, dirty lies about research.
Although outlining Raging Idiot's argument will only enrage me further, I will give the briefest of summaries:
Communication has something to do with God, he said, and Good Communication is Good. This was the larger purpose of his insanity today. The stellar twenty minute example he came up with to convey his oh-so-not-political-soap-box message centered on the aforementioned "research" he had done identifying that women and girls in Kenya and beyond invite rape by wearing certain clothing. It communicates a certain message, you see, he informed us.
Nevermind that statistically (and anecdotally) speaking, at least 20 women in the room had experienced sexual abuse, most likely in the form of incest, and most likely before the age of 10. Nevermind that Raging Idiot was telling these women that their tight clothes had put them in their dire straights. Nevermind that the orphanage is run by three incredibly women (all in attendance) who wanted to smack him.
There is cultural sensitivity, and there is sheer lunacy, disrespect, misogony, racism, and homophobia. Sometimes, the problem with living overseas as a American who feels bad that most of our citizens couldn't name even one country in Africa (when every eight year old Kenyan can name George W. ) is that we forget when someone has crossed the line between cultural sensitivity and general idiot insanity.
Today, luckily, it was clear.
4 comments:
That's outrageous.
Thank you for standing up for women everywhere.
Grrr....
Any chance "forced first-person research into feeding habits of lions" falls inside the range of acceptable and/or Christian killing?
Just wondering, is all.
Yeah, well done for walking out.
Here in OZ a few months ago a
Muslim cleric claimed that women who do not wear the veil are like 'uncovered meat' who attract sexual predators.
And that women were 'weapons' used by Satan to control men.
It created such an uproar he had to make a public apology - now there's an idea! *S*
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=412697&in_page_id=1770
Yeah, well politically I agree with the walking out bit, however I would direct my comment to the post in general.
I feel for ya. A topic and conclusion I observe and allow to irritate me all too often. I've lived 10 years outside the US, most recently in NL for 6 years.
Being away gives you a unique awareness and perspective that non-expatriates have difficulty acknoledging. That only serves to heighten ones awareness of the ignorance, smugness and lack of ability to see anything more that what is fed from the them from the comfort of SUV's and Fox news.
I know it sounds bitter and all, and maybe it still is after 1.5 years of being back. I just can't help noticing all the idiots everwhere. They're here, they were there and I'm sure I'll have to continue to notice them until my time is up. Sorry for you that you had to endure one such as that.
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