I watched this last night and frankly I was a bit irritated with it. Not because it's something that should be ignored, and not because I could not fathom the connection between the the lynching tree and the crucifixion of Jesus by the Romans but because James Cone has a seriously annoying voice. I also didn't appreciate that smug victim hood he appeared to be promoting, and wallowing in.
Why would that bug me?
Because wallowing in victim hood sure didn't promote spiritual growth in MY life. Then again, I didn't grow spiritually until I gave myself permission to chuck out the window some of the elitist bullshit involved with organized religion. People that take the part of their religion that the rich and powerful used to control them and remain rich and powerful and then wear it like a hair shirt make me sick. The hair shirters are not nearly as bothersome to me as the people who think that their shit doesn't stink, and everyone else is a lesser human being, or deserve to die because they subscribe to a different religion, or none at all.
I thought that what Bernice Johnson Reagon had to say was beautiful and eloquently delivered.
Moving on, I watched a show that had a team of scientists, historians and divers looking for evidence of the Battle of Lepanto (1571) during which the Christian Europeans used some new kind of battleship and kicked some Turkish Muslim butt right out of Europe. Which basically means that Christian pirates were free to plunder the world & bring it back to their royalty and not have the plunder snatched by Muslim pirates and taken to their royalty.
(my ITunes just played this:
Damned For All Time/Blood Money 5:09 Andrew Lloyd Webber Jesus Christ Superstar [Disc 1] Soundtrack )
Okay-bee
i saw the same shows. had pretty close to the same reaction. like, gee, maybe that funny looking guy is the brightest and most eloquent son of a bitch ever, and there has been a disturbing resurgence of the lynch noose and attending tree symbolism but, i had to turn away. couldn't take his annoying manner and voice. (if somebody were to wag their finger in my face like he did to moyers they would have pulled back a nub)
ReplyDeletethe battle of lepanto was cruicial. the losses there required pulling back the northern turkish troops from the balkans and threatening the gates of vienna. the results of that battle lasted for generations. you're correct that the main result was that the religion of the pirates changed. not much else.
Hi mb and thanks for visiting, I'm honored. I thought I would get hateful comments for being honest about my reaction to Cone. Thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one who had this reaction.
ReplyDeleteYes, the whole noose thing totally creeps me out, but I didn't get the feeling that Cone was promoting dialogue. I got the feeling he was treating Moyers like a bad puppy who needed his nose rubbed in the poop he left on the living room carpet. There may be people who deserve to be treated like that, but Moyers certainly isn't one of them.
Peace