A Chinese monk observed that the earthquake there demonstrated that the world is out of balance. What a terrible thing to say! Blaming the earthquake on us! Given the almost universal condemnation of Rev. Wright’s ’chickens coming home to roost comment, I expect to see Chinese monks really catch it from the pundits now.
After all, Rev. Wright was saying the U.S. was attacked by foreigners who resented us for meddling in their countries. That’s absurd because we are simply making them behave the way all free people shoud. It is our right as a superpower to decide what sort of government and what sort of economy other countries should have. Just ask the neocons; they have this all worked out. In fact. they have implemented this view to great effect in the Middle East. We are in the driver’s seat now!!
But it is just in the nature of people on the margins of society, as the Rev. Wright so clearly is, to be unfair and unjust in their spiteful attacks on the society that has nurtured them. When the reverend cites segregation laws, and I do remember those, in fact, I was targeted by them but that was my own fault as a White person who married a Black person – who would’ve thunk it? ….. but anyway, when he cites segregation and blips on the screen of American exeptionalism like the Tuskeegee Experiment, he is simply slapping at a society he resents for not welcoming him with open arms. I mean, really, not too many White people back then really wanted to accept Black people with open arms. I remember leaders of the society counseling patience; if your kids couldn’t get into college, then maybe your grandkids would be able to. Why all the rush? It’s that sort of impatience that proved to a lot of Whites that Blacks just weren’t ready.
Not that preachers and monks don’t have a right to speak out against evil and sin. That’s kind of their job. And again, the Rev. Wright fell down on his job, running around helping poor people and AIDS victims. Where were the powerful lessons on self-reliance and frugality and abstinence? That’s a preacher’s job. Look at the Rev. Hagee, how he pointed out what natural disasters are really for, to punish gays and other perverts. I’ll bet Vegas is next. We’ll see how well Wayne Newton warbles during the Big One.
And if New Orleans and Vegas go, you know California is going to be sliding toward Hawaii. That’ll mean us in Arizona won’t have to rely on our kiddie pools, we can just drive a few miles west with our beach towels and enjoy real surf. See? As Rev. Hagee would say, the Lord works in mysterious ways.