Unpleasant Topics 2

 

This is specious gaslighting. No-one looks at that image and says it is obviously based on the comparatively obscure van Bijlert’s “Feast of the Gods”, and not on one of the most reproduced and recognizable images of Christian art. The composition is all off from van Biljert, for one thing, and from other paintings of Dionysian feasts. The initial image was held on for a good long time so people could make the connection. People look at this tableau and say it is an obvious parody of da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” using pagan gods and a runway. And if Thomas Jolly did not on some level realize it would be taken this way and still courted the scandal, he is even more of a gormless twit than he appears.  This is mockery with malice aforethought. Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

A congenial, avuncular figure.

A grinning, monstrous rogue.

There has been a lot of criticism lately about Kamala Harris’s choice of Tim Walz as her Vice-Presidential running mate. A lot of it focusses on ‘stolen valor’, a subject I do not feel qualified to comment on, although there appear to be many actual veterans who seem to be disgusted with what they say are exaggerated claims. Still, that’s only an opinion. What’s worse, in my eyes, is a more verifiable objection.   “Data from the Minnesota Department of Health indicate that since Governor Walz was inaugurated in 2019, eight babies survived abortion attempts in Minnesota [These are not counting babies who did not survive because of congenital defects]. On five occasions, no measures were taken to preserve life. On three occasions, only comfort care was provided. Tragically, all these babies died. Instead of strengthening protections for these children, SF 2995 repealed the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which was intended to provide legal protection for infants who survived abortions.” Abortions were allowed well into the third trimester and even after birth. In January 2023, Walz signed a bill into law declaring abortion a “fundamental right” in Minnesota that can be exercised without restrictions at all stages of pregnancy. In his State of the State speech in April 2023, Walz said the bill “established an ironclad right to reproductive freedom.” I was lately assured that no Democrats were advocating for third trimester abortion for any reason, and certainly not ‘live birth abortions,’ and now we have such a one proposed for Vice-President. I suppose if you agree with baby murder, that makes him a good candidate.

Unpleasant Topics

 

The Accusers

Things continue to develop in the case against author Neil Gaiman with at least two more women coming forward to accuse him of uncomfortable, weird sexual behavior taking place in an unbalanced power dynamic; in other words, of taking advantage of his fame and popularity to foist himself on females sometimes decades younger than himself. Gaiman, who has famously touted the ‘believe all women’ doctrine, has not denied that the encounters ever happened, but has stated that they were completely consensual. So consensual and justifiable, in fact, that several of the accusers were paid off and made to sign non-disclosure agreements to save trouble and keep them quiet. Agreements, it must be pointed out, that his accusers are now not honoring.

The former secular saint has been so notorious along the writer’s workshop circuit that many have quietly instituted the so-called ‘Neil Gaiman clause’ in many writer’s and lecturer’s agreements, stating that speakers will not take advantage of their position as teacher and mentor to sleep with their students, no matter their maturity or willingness. Detractors have been scouring Gaiman’s works for problematic ‘kinky’ passages in a further effort to tar him as a sexual deviant (without taking into account that, well, this is fiction), while rabid fans wring their hands and moan, “Say it isn’t so!”, going so far as to threaten those who would dare stain their idol.

Obliquely related, in that it links literary matters to politics and morality, is talking torso Rachel Maddow’s assertion that Tolkien’s works are favorites of ‘the far right’ and that Republican vice-presidential hopeful J. D. Vance’s fondness for them (“He named one of his companies Narya, which is just ‘Aryan’ with the ‘N’ moved to the front!”) proves his racist, fascist bona fides (or does Vance’s approval prove that Tolkien is racist/fascist? Either way, it’s bad, folks!) I hate dragging fandom, even fandom for the artists themselves, into politics, and by extension, morality. I was asked lately by someone who is very close and dear to me whom I thought Tolkien would support, Trump or Biden (this was back when Biden was still ‘the best Biden ever’ and sharp as a tack). I eventually replied that there was no way of knowing that now, and that anyway fandom was not a method of deciding these matters (he liked to compare Yoda and Gandalf to Biden and Trump to the Emperor and Saruman, and so on). Also, I am not so sure that the Catholic Tolkien would come down so clearly on the liberal fetus-killing side of things as he may hope. Tolkien could be very pragmatic when it came to deciding between two bad choices (politically).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NETjQXvhwAU Why Tolkien Supported Franco