Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) is starting to reach a fever pitch here in Imperialistic America. Six long years of the Bush administration has had a terrible impact on the liberal psyche. Jill Greenberg is just another artist with a camera. I think her work is fantastic; however, instead of letting it speak for itself she has decided to politicize it because that is what BDS is all about.
Greenberg’s point with these pictures is that Bush is bad and the world is horrible. It’s difficult for me to rationally explain the concept so I’ll let her speak for herself.
“The titles,” Jill says, “refer to the pathetic current administration that is being partially run by the right wing evangelical Christians. They believe in Armageddon and The Rapture, that the world is going to blow up basically and all the bad people are going to hell. Therefore they don’t care about the environment or the future at all. They think that things like Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami are good because that means the End is coming and we should all be excited. [note: Greenberg's latest art collection is called "End Times."]
“And George Bush behaves as if he thinks that too. He takes their money and he lets them tell him what to do. I mean, you know, I’ll take Walmart’s money, but I won’t let them tell me what to do. I won’t shop there.”
Perhaps I used the word “rationally” a bit prematurely. Her reasoning raises a point that I have to address. Bush has been the target of much ridicule concerning his “axis of evil” statement. Just for the sake of discussion President Reagan’s “evil empire” label of Soviet Russia received mush of the same ire from the Left. According to these liberals it is not right to call these rogue states evil because they are confused and the historical context is complicated. Osama Bin Laden isn’t evil, he’s just confused and is a product of the evil imperialistic nature of capitalism that the US has helped shape. In other words, it is perfectly acceptable to call Wal-Mart evil because the company poses no national security threat to the US. This argument is neither complicated nor confusing; it’s just based on an irrational perception of the world.
It is also revealing when many liberals are pressed for a reason why Bush is so horrible it comes down to religion. I know the idea that so many of the ignorant masses that believe in God happen to vote for Bush must be annoying, but is it really worth so much bitterness? About three years ago, I was at a bar with my friend and I got into a political conversation with this woman at the bar. She started down line of BDS and I pressed her to tell me what she really didn’t like about Bush. Her answer was clear and simple, “He put ‘God bless’ on the White House Christmas cards.” To her frame of mind, that was a clear violation of the separation between church and state. For me that was an opportune time to check out of the conversation and tab out at the bar. One little overlooked fact about the last two presidents is that Clinton invoked the name of God more frequently than Bush. Evidently, it’s only offensive if Christians support your polices.
Lastly, I would take issue with Greenberg’s last assertion about the environment. It is true many Christians and Liberals believe in the end of the world, whether it is through divine intervention or an accelerated Earth warming. I guess I fall into different camp. Humans are not going to be able to prevent either scenario from happening so why worry about it. The world survived the Clinton administration despite the warnings of others and unbelievably the Earth will still be rotating January 2009 when the next President moves into the White House. Concerning Greenberg’s artwork, her pictures remind me of most Democrats the day after the past two elections.
Dave MacPherson’s “The Rapture Plot” uniquely documents the long hidden 19th century “seeds” of Armageddon theology which lately has moved from the abstract to advocating political and even military action to bring about the End. The “seeds” were in a British journal known as “The Morning Watch” which, in its September 1830 issue, had the first public teaching of the “pretribulation rapture” (the most popular feature of “dispensationalism”). In that issue one writer stated that the raptured Christians would then collectively become “the victorious ministerers of the great tribulation” upon those left behind! MacPherson adds that an 1832 issue taught that the “vials” of the book of Revelation “shall be poured out by the risen [raptured] saints,” and that a few months later another issue went even further and declared that the collective group of raptured ones will “wield the thunders of its power against the dragon and his angels, and cast them down from heaven”! But where in the Bible did those British find support for such “Rapture Rage,” and where are the followers of Jesus commanded to bear swords against non-believers – or even support sword-bearers? (Anyone wanting to obtain MacPherson’s “The Rapture Plot” – the most detailed and documented history of the “pretrib rapture” merchandized by Hagee, LaHaye, Falwell etc. – and wanting the fastest delivery can call 800.643.4645. The author of “Plot,” BTW, states that all of his royalties have always gone to a nonprofit group and not to himself.) Rocky
wow, I never thought I would read so much about “the rapture” on my blog. Personally I think the rapture is man made theological nonsense made up by a bunch of clergy with apparently nothing better to do than debate end game scenarios. But hey, that’s just my opinion take it for what it’s worth.
[...] brutal stuff. From the mouth of babes and whatnot. This is almost as bad as Jill Greenberg taking candy from small children, making them cry, and then blaming it on the Bush administration. But at least [...]