Ah, Myspace.com! What joy you give so many Internet savvy folk. Everyone gets a profile and everyone can be involved. The most entertaining aspect of MySpace is to witness the different ways people or groups of people can define themselves. Whilst searching MySpace I happened upon a Christian group I shall rename the Bible Thumpers to preserve their anonymity (though I’m sure they would prefer it that I advertise their name for them). The entire purpose of this profile is to remove the sinful veil from the reader and show that reader the error of their ways and the means to correct said error. Naturally the means of correction is joining the Bible Thumpers and helping them spread their literary seed to other poor sinners.
The Bible Thumpers use various signs to portray this message. The first sign to be discussed is the prevalent use of Bible quotations. The purpose of the quotation is obviously to provide me with some sort of tangible evidence convincing me of the wrongness of my ways. What is the most convincing tool in the Bible Thumper’s arsenal? Why the out of context quotation of course. I find it interesting how the meaning of a quote can be significantly different to a reader when it is taken out of context. Take for example the quote, “I am happy.” Since happy is a signifier without a contextual signified the person reading the sentence simply fills in the absent context with his own meaning of happy. This is necessary because without a context or a reason for the feeling of happiness it has no meaning. Perhaps the person is happy about wearing a fresh pair of silk boxers or just glad to be a lifetime subscriber to Playboy. Now to add some context; “I am happy the old bitty is dead, she smelled awful!” Now that there is a context to the happiness the meaning of the word happy has not changed but the impact the word made on the reader has changed from a good connotation to a horribly cruel one. Context determines meaning. Many of the claims made by the Bible Thumpers are proven to be true by various Bible quotations. Now let’s get high while we continue our essay, oh wait but God says I’ll burn in hell for lighting up that peace pipe. At least I’ll burn in hell if I believe the quote given to me by this profile. The quote is as follows:
Why can't I get high? It's not like it hurts anyone else
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
We are given this quote which could be used to condemn any number of negative activities. I highly doubt the Bible takes the primitive stance on drugs of Mr.Mackey of South Park. I believe the Bible Thumpers have twisted the context of this quote in an effort to further their own designs of convincing to the common reader, the sinful ways of man.
The next sign used by the Bible Thumpers is the common exclusionary tactic used on children across the world. The language used on the profile is just littered with the subject of we. We stand for God and We are against pornography and You should do the right thing and join us. The reason this device is used is because it is effective. Man is a social animal. Put a guy in solitary confinement for too long and he will go crazy. This same exclusionary tactic is used by child day cares everywhere. When the child breaks a rule, the child is excluded in “time out” until the child decides to follow the rules and rejoin the others. In the case of the Bible Thumpers God is the rule enforcing Super Nanny and we are the rule breaking children, but instead of time out we have Hell.
Yet another sign used by the Bible Thumpers to promote their goal of purifying my ways is the use of statistics. I am obliged to quote my former English teacher Mr.Carter on this topic. He said “Figures can’t lie, but liars can figure.” This quote perfectly describes the statistics used on this page. The statistics on pornography are as follows:
50% of church going men and 20% of church going woman are addicted to pornography
50-60% of pastors are addicted as well.
The purpose of this sign is to use a random percentage to prove a point. People trust numbers because math follows universal rules without opinions. I find it amusing at how EXACTLY half of the church going men are addicted to porn. Now porn addiction is never defined but the general meaning is negative. There are no references to any polls or any studies confirming these numbers, leading me to believe some Bible Thumper pulled these figures out of their holy ass. A simple number without any context proves nothing to me and thus in this respect the Bible Thumpers have failed in their goal to persuade me to the Light Side.
How successful was this profile in its goal to assist me from the sin ridden path I walk upon to the righteous mountain they preach from? Honestly, it has inspired me to crack open a beer, light a joint, and download some porn while I read the next blog about the word of God. Do not take me to be a hater of religion. I respect the different morals religion can present and I even follow a few of them. I see no harm in a person using religion to give their life guidance and purpose. What I resent is the threat of burning in eternal Hellfire should I not realize the “error” of my ways. As if I am such a lowly ignorant creature that the only way I will change is if threatened with pain and suffering. This threat coming from a person likely “guilty” of the same “crimes” as I. This threat coming from a person whom has no idea what happens when we die.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
This was a very entertaining piece to read. You definitely approached this assignment from a different perspective. I like the fact you used myspace and also that you did it on a whole group identity compared to a specific person. I think you did a good job interpreting what the group was trying to convey, but also you showed why it was wrong. You clearly put lots of time to this. I liked the fact that it was humorous, but at the same time had a serious message about what this group was doing.
Very funny piece, and I liked that you took on an entire group rather than just one person. I completely agree with you in that their arguments are not necessarily convincing, but how do you think the average person would respond to this profile? Do you think it's unsuccessful for everyone, or does this group greatly impact a select group? Really, who's their target audience, and does this profile work for those people?
Post a Comment