“And to keep the fire burning here, I'm wondering: isn't it astounding that about 90% of the readers surveyed think that Homosexuality is a sin, and that sin is sin, but then network TV is not held up to the same standard as the stuff being produced by ETE?
I guess it turns out it is OK to watch morally-vacant junk is non-believers produce it, but if believers produce it using the same means of non-believers we're suddenly worried that gay actors are getting work.”
I deeply resent the Turkoman’s insinuation that I apply a double-standard. I’m the very soul of moral consistency.
If I watch something on TV, then, by definition, it’s worth watch; but if I don’t watch something on TV, then, by definition, it’s not worth watching.
How’s that for moral clarity?
“There's an organ out there with a monkey attached to it, and the monkey is wearing a t-shirt that says ‘who am I to judge the non-believer?’"
I am not the least bit judgmental. I will fight to the death for your inalienable right to agree with me!
“I'm waiting for one of the guys at T-blog to start grinding that organ.”
Unfortunately, the Turkoman’s simian illustrations beg the very question at issue.
Is the monkey-grinder a Christian character? Is the monkey that plays the character of the organ grinder’s sidekick a straight simian or a lip-wristed simian? Is the aforesaid monkey an animal rights advocate for limp-wristed simians?
Regarding moral clarity, I think you have said the only thing you can say: that is, "I like what I watch, and I'm OK with that."
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a joke coming from Triablogue. I have this fear that it is not.
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I don't think the monkey-grinder illustration begs the question at all: it frames the question. As you have been walking down the cultural street, you have been listening to the organ grinders that you have passed by. Occationally -- perhaps even at random -- you have been handing quarters out to monkeys, all of whom have tried to bite you. It's annoying, but the monkeys are cute at first glance.
Suddenly, you stop at one organ-grinder because you thought you heard him say "to every tribe" and thought he had shibbothed. But when you bend down to give his monkey a quarter, you find out the monkey tries to bite you! Why, the OUTRAGE! To show how mad you are, you walk up to the organ grinder and tell him, "Signore, your monkey tried to bite me even though I know you are a Christian."
To which the organ-grinder replies, "He's a monkey; you think I baptized him or something?" And you are somehow appalled that an organ-grinder is using a monkey.
They are all organ-grinders. They are all using monkeys. To get mad at this last one and boycott him when you have boycotted none of the rest for using monkeys is, in fact, arbitrary. It's an organ-grinder problem, not a monkey problem.