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my generation's response to rage
Sep. 23rd, 2013 05:08 pmthere were on "street preachers" campus today. lunatics with signs (one of them was wearing a sandwich board, which I thought was adorable as I didn't know people actually did that) explaining our sins to us. Included such gems as "girls who aren't virgins deserve to be raped", "women should belong to a man", and "aids is god's punishment for gays."
this being a college campus full of young people, the main response was to congregate for the street theatre and troll the shit out of them.
I held a sign that said "yay for gay" for a while. People cheered for his "testimony" of how he drank and smoked pot in fifth grade, calling him a badass child. apparently later people in blue body suits showed up later.
as a comic I like once said, "Man cannot live on bread alone - he lives off of bread and circuses."
And it was kind of glorious, the unity it caused. The spontaneous friendships that were able to form with "hey, what about this asshole?" as an opener. And people were exposed to that sort of insanity for the first time, so they could understand some of the forces in the world.
Some people were taking them seriously, which was less fun. You don't respond to hate with hatred, that just justifies them. (There's a verse in Matthew that I curse repeatedly some days) But some people got it. trolling is more fun than shouting. but it got personal and messy, so.
Honestly, lunatics with signs aren't worth wasting energy on. If they had any power, they wouldn't be shouting and wearing signs. They'd be in congress. But lunatics with signs should be allowed, of course. Because they're allowed to be crazy just like we are, and besides, better have them out in the open.
It's easier to laugh at them that way.
this being a college campus full of young people, the main response was to congregate for the street theatre and troll the shit out of them.
I held a sign that said "yay for gay" for a while. People cheered for his "testimony" of how he drank and smoked pot in fifth grade, calling him a badass child. apparently later people in blue body suits showed up later.
as a comic I like once said, "Man cannot live on bread alone - he lives off of bread and circuses."
And it was kind of glorious, the unity it caused. The spontaneous friendships that were able to form with "hey, what about this asshole?" as an opener. And people were exposed to that sort of insanity for the first time, so they could understand some of the forces in the world.
Some people were taking them seriously, which was less fun. You don't respond to hate with hatred, that just justifies them. (There's a verse in Matthew that I curse repeatedly some days) But some people got it. trolling is more fun than shouting. but it got personal and messy, so.
Honestly, lunatics with signs aren't worth wasting energy on. If they had any power, they wouldn't be shouting and wearing signs. They'd be in congress. But lunatics with signs should be allowed, of course. Because they're allowed to be crazy just like we are, and besides, better have them out in the open.
It's easier to laugh at them that way.
