Episode 74: Monumental

Special Episode this time. We talk the entire show with George Hrab from the Geologic Podcast:

http://about.me/georgehrab
http://www.geologicpodcast.com/
http://www.cdbaby.com/all/geologic

 

Special thanks to Geo for putting up with us!

We review the film “Monumental: In Search of America’s National Treasure

Spoiler – we hated it.

 

All clips except the first come from the movie. The first clip comes from the dbate between Kirk Cameron and Racomfort vs. The Rational Response Sqaud.

 

8 comments on Episode 74: Monumental

  1. Quaz says:

    wait wait isnt the bible typically read in America the Kings James Bible…..am I thinking about a different Kings James than Kirk…if so isnt Kirk’s bible the one ordered to be edited to confirm the power of the church, by teh crazy evil King he’s against….wow

  2. Mike.K. says:

    “What freedoms are they loosing?”

    I’ve said for decades, the religious right in this country is a group of people that, when you hedge their ability to summarily remove other people’s rights, they start to scream and wail about oppression.

    This is the cognitive dissonance that is the “This is a Christian nation!” / “Christians are being oppressed!” narrative. On one hand, they really do believe that God gave this country to white protestant men, and that Jesus showed them how to play word-jumble with the Bible to create the Constitution. They believe this country was ordained for them, and they are the true, rightful, and blessed heirs to that power.

    They also see their influence waning. Their power comes from God. In their minds “God”, “religion”, and “Christian” are the same words. So, any time their malicious whims are not met or their demands are not heeded, that is a denial of their divine right and therefore an affront to God and therefore an attack on Christianity.

    When they say their rights and freedoms are under attack, they mean they are very angry they are not getting their way and everyone around deserves the temper tantrum going on. The angry (old white male) Christian who is told he cannot ship gays and Muslims to prison camps is no different than the spoiled child you suddenly hear screaming in the cookie aisle of the grocery store, ‘Why do you hate me?!? Why are you ruining my life?!? I’m so oppressed!!!”

    Mike.K.

  3. Mike.K. says:

    And (and more quickly)

    “Celebration of ignorance” is a beautiful turn of phrase.

    It is also basic marketing for religious and political conservatism.

    There is a lot of money to be made telling bigots they are actually Good Christians, xenophobes they are flag-wavin’ ‘Murrican Patriots!!1!, ignorant rubes they have meaningful knowledge, and angry paranoids they have the secret plans of The Enemies.

    This is the entire existence of Limbaugh, Beck, hate/fundamentalist radio, and FOX. Fox is a monolith because people pay good money to have a handsome white man in a nice suit repeat their angry paranoia, ignorance, and bigotry back at them, and to have a pretty woman with nice knockers smile and wink at them for being such insightful Christian Patriots.

    Kirk Cameron may or may not be an idiot, and may or may not believe this bilge, but he knows well what his audience will pay for.

    Mike.K.

  4. RipleyP says:

    I really enjoyed this episode and although I adore the usual format the change of pace was very entertaining.
    I listened with some scepticism as I could not believe that someone would create such a disingenuous movie.
    Your commentary on the golden age argument was excellent and your herculean ability at refraining from merely calling the movies creator a delusional disingenuous outright propaganda peddler whose movie (Invoke Godwin’s Law now) would have made the most rabid Nazi or Stalinist propagandist sit down and start taking notes on how it’s really done was inspiring.

  5. Julia says:

    I thought it was pretty funny that one guy in the movie says “You can’t pick and choose from God’s law”. Oh really? What about not wearing mixed fabrics, keeping women silent in church, or selling a woman to her rapist? These are just a few examples of biblical teachings that are largely ignored by Christians today.

    Plus, all the statues Kirk loves so much… surely those break the second commandment? “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

    Religious people pick and choose from their god’s laws ALL THE TIME. Yet another example of cognitive dissonance.

  6. Robert Slaney says:

    Huy guys…. Thanks for making my corner of the universe bearable, perfect length episode for my 90 minute drive home from work.

    I think you have found a movie that is even worse than Prometheus…

  7. JHGRedekop says:

    Just found your podcast thanks to Geo’s and had a listen. Great show, apart from the pain of having to sit through the clips. I’ve got a couple of comments:

    Here’s what “sitting in victory” looks like, demonstrated by another Geo:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:George_Washington_statue_1.jpg

    Also, Akin was making — or attempting to make — a point about the Founding Fathers thinking that pure democracy wasn’t good enough. That’s true, which is why they made the US a representational democracy instead. But then Akin talks about how you have to start at the grass roots, with individuals… which leads right back to the pure democracy that the Founding Fathers distrusted.

    Anyway, gotta go cue up the back episodes…

  8. Phil says:

    It’s possible to be “seated in victory”. I’ve done it plenty of times on the toilet after an especially large meal.

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