Oh, dear me ... Ben Stein is wigging out:
End TimesI'd like to point out that Mr. Stein and his wife are passing their days in a house on this lake in Idaho:
There is that feeling in the air.
... Strange day.
I awakened to a text from a close friend who is a devout Christian and who was so angry at the elite media that she could not sleep. "I am so frikkin' sick of the media telling us that Islam is a 'religion of peace,'" she said. "Look, people make fun of Jesus all of the time and I mean ALL of the time and we don't kill them or harm them. But do anything at all that offends any Muslim and they start killing Christians and Jews -- and then Obama apologizes for it. How long can this go on? The times of Tribulation are at hand."
I got up, walked out on the deck and looked out at the perfect fall day over Lake Pendoreille. An absolutely perfect Fall day, blue skies, light breeze, just a slight chill in the air.
At breakfast, my wife suddenly said, "And then I beheld a red horse ridden by a man with a great sword...."
"What is that?" I asked her.
"It's Revelation," she said.
"I know, but where does that come from?"
"I just feel as if something big is about to happen," she said. "Something feels like we're about to live in a totally changed world. It feels like end times. Why are we apologizing to the Muslims? They're killing and expelling their Christians and we don't say a word. End times."
I nodded. There is that feeling in the air....
At Ivano's, I talked to a man who seethed with rage against Mr. Obama. He simply could not believe that Mr. Obama would make time to be among his Hollywood big shots but not make time to see Benjamin Netanyahu. "These are getting to be Biblical days," he said. "The final days." ...
If the shit hits the fan stateside, it ain't gonna get anywhere near Ben Stein's lakeside retreat. Meanwhile, much of the non-Western world experiences this kind of unrest all the time. What scares the bejeezus out of Ben Stein and his friends and relations is the potential for something that's just the daily grind for much of the planet.
But this is how wingers think -- every enemy is Hitler, every disturbance of the peace is the the impending arrival of the Beast.
Fox Nation tipped me to Stein's pants-wetting essay. Free Republic tipped me to this bit of apocalypticism -- the trailer for a forthcoming, rather capably done paranoid right-wing indie film (no, not that one -- this one is actually competently made):
This is the work some young people in Minnesota (the director is an Iraq veteran). They're very, very sincere -- and they really believe we're on the verge of experiencing (or actually are experiencing) precisely this kind of totalitarianism combined with economic and societal breakdown. They said as much to Alex Jones, whom they greatly admire:
They name-check FEMA and the Federal Reserve. They've also given interviews to a Minnesota truther organization. (Is trutherism becoming less a blind alley some lefties take and more a right-wing, Alex Jones kind of thing?) Oh, and they're trying to crowd-source funding for the movie on Indiegogo, with the following pledge levels:
$5: Proud Dissenter
$10: Angry Protester
$25: Riot Jockey
$50: Rebel Fighter
$100: American Insurgent
$500: Militia Leader
$1,000: Champion of Liberty
$5,000: True Patriot
Read the Ben Stein column, watch the movie trailer, and tell me: What's wrong with these people? My theory: They want this to be true. They want us to be in the Last Days because it makes them feel world-historical and gives their lives meaning. It makes them feel like heroes. It makes them feel like victims. And maybe that last bit is most important to them.
Whenever one of the fundies starts up with this talk I always ask "When did the temple get rebuilt and why wasnt it news?" And then remind them it is not gonna happen until the temple is rebuilt. Funny thing is, that usually calms them right down.
ReplyDeleteYes, "The End Times" are coming.
ReplyDeleteAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANY day now...
That's been predicted for over 1,000 years, even longer than the threat that Iran will have a nuclear weapon in anywhere from 6-9 months, to 2-3 years - this has been the prediction since the Reagan mis-Administration, which is when the US gave Saddam Hussein WMD's to fight the Ayatollah(s)
Funny.
I never new that the completely talentless Ben Stein was a Christian, waiting for the end times.
When did THAT happen?
Bueller?
BUELLER?
Where do you get the "competently made" part? I don't see it in the trailer.
ReplyDeleteI'll say this (only) for the swinish Stein: about forty years ago, when his old man was part of the Nixon administration, Stein had a lectureship at UC Santa Cruz, and lived for a time on campus, taking his meals in the dining hall where I washed dishes. Unlike a significant number of the privileged undergraduates, the guy would at least consistently bus his dishes when he finished his meal. I'm going to argue that this gets him paroled from hell for a weekend every year.
I remember first reading Benjy Stein back in the late '70s when he would write some articles from LA in some then-trendy magazine (New West, I think), and finding his writing amusing and engaging. I even briefly enjoyed "Win Ben Stein's Money" as a clever take on game shows. And when his dad died he gave an extremely nice tribute/remembrance guest commentary on NPR.
ReplyDeleteBut then he became one of the "went nuts after 9/11" crowd, turning his conservative paranoia-meter up to 9.5. Then the ascension of the Kenyan Socialist Usurper turned the knob up to 11, so he now puts out this sort of crap, and trades shamelessly on his dad's reputation by now allowing himself to be introduced, uncorrected, as an "economist."
This, from the Wikipedia entry about him, is most revealing:
ReplyDeleteStein was the commencement speaker for the Liberty University 2009 graduation on Saturday, May 9, at Williams Stadium.[7] At this ceremony, the University awarded him an honorary degree. According to the school, Stein "delivered a message about creationism, patriotism, and value for humanity to graduates and their families."[8]
He graduated from Yale Law school, so you are correct, sir, Stein is as much an economist as I am a geneticist because I took one course for my major in Biology more than three decades ago.
I talked to a man who seethed with rage against Mr. Obama. He simply could not believe that Mr. Obama would make time to be among his Hollywood big shots but not make time to see Benjamin Netanyahu. "These are getting to be Biblical days," he said. "The final days."
ReplyDeleteNow, if I encountered a guy in town who was "seeting with rage" I'd wonder whether his mental disturbance needed treatment, or whether it was a matter for law enforcement.
Especially after I found out that what he was "seething with rage" about was that a politician in a remote city chose not to meet with another politician, and that it was an Apocalyptic sign.
I certainly wouldn't agree with or identify with him.
"My theory: They want this to be true. They want us to be in the Last Days because it makes them feel world-historical and gives their lives meaning. It makes them feel like heroes. It makes them feel like victims."
ReplyDeletePerhaps. Or perhaps they just want to be able to say "I told you so!" to heathens like us.
"Is trutherism becoming less a blind alley some lefties take and more a right-wing, Alex Jones kind of thing?"
ReplyDeleteOh, absolutely, and it has been for years. I started following the "patriot movement," (i.e., the "libertarians," Alex Jones fans, Ron Paul followers, tea party types, Sarah Palin enthusiasts, etc.) in the late summer of 2008, and have been following them closely since. Trutherism is rampant among this crowd. The vast majority of Truthers I've encountered are from this "patriot" community -- *not* lefties.
During the middle period of the Bush years there were a some lefties who got ID'd as truthers, but most of them weren't true truthers; most were simply people who observed that Bush had plenty of warnings of an imminent attack and did nothing. The left wing truthers were also, often, people who just hated Bush a lot and liked to say bad things about him.
But today, trutherism is almost entirely a far-right obsession.
Where do you get the "competently made" part? I don't see it in the trailer.
ReplyDeleteWell, compared to Innocence of Muslims, it's freakin' Scorsese.
"They want this to be true. They want us to be in the Last Days because it makes them feel world-historical and gives their lives meaning. It makes them feel like heroes. It makes them feel like victims. And maybe that last bit is most important to them."
ReplyDeleteFred Clark at Slactivist nailed this with a couple of posts from a few years back:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2008/09/08/false-witnesses/
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2008/10/08/false-witnesses-2/
As for the pending apocalypse - LOL. Last night I was reading my kids an essay by Martin Gardner from the late 70's that referenced potboilers like Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth." The world was going to end "any day now" 40 years ago, too.
Predicting the end times is basically a full-time job for these idiots. Maybe the BLS should add it to its Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Ben Stein was one of the Opus Dei converts, along with Larry Kudlow, Sam Brownback, Robert Bork, and Tony Blair, if I'm not mistaken.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else think that it's weird that Ben Stein wrote this? Ben Stein, who is Jewish? Jewish, meaning, the people for whom Revelation is not part of their canon? The people who, for many who do believe in a version of that book, will be annihilated when that book's prophecies come to pass?
ReplyDeleteHuh?
Also, too:
http://www.proposalmagazine.com/2010/06/23/tiwh-june-23rd/
This is the lady who supposed quoted Revelation? Really?
Can't anyone just ignore his opinion based upon his calling September 16th "a beautiful fall day." How the hell can I trust him to tell when the end times are coming if he doesn't even know what season it is?
ReplyDeleteBen Stein was one of the Opus Dei converts
ReplyDeleteWas he? I'd love a link for that, but I can't find one. I do find this, which leads me to think otherwise....
My theory: They want this to be true.
ReplyDeleteThere's something to this. The classic conservative (per Corey Robin) is a reactionary, craving conflict... and drama.
Another point: it's relatively rare for people to make fun of Jesus. It's far more common to make fun of self-declared Christians, who barely follow Jesus at all. Making fun of idiots and tartuffes is not making fun of religion per se. But narcissism is common among the religious right...