Barbie Bug

Friday, Jul. 30, 2010 - 6:03 a.m.

Anne Rice recently made the following announcement on her Facebook page:

I quit being a Christian. I'm out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.

Of all the people I know who call themselves Christian, I think I could name MAYBE about four that I actually perceive to be able to walk the walk and talk the talk. Meaning, all day, every day, with not a smidge of genuine hatred in their hearts because of their beliefs; living each moment with a Light and a Truth that is at least as indelible and unchanging on a spiritual level as their eye color is on a physical level.

Yes, it's true that not all Christians are bugfuck nutbags. Neither are all Muslims.

But it's also true that, throughout history, the Holy Bible is the one missive responsible for more deaths on the entire planet than any other piece of work, including the Koran.

What a thought-provoking statement she made, though, huh?

ERRATA: Whoops! I fucked up, even more spectacularly than I usually do.

About twelve hours after this entry was posted, Toren Smith dropped me a line about my sweeping statement regarding the Bible:

Wrong. That honor belongs, by a long shot, to the Communist Manifesto. And Mein Kampf is #2 on the hit parade. And it is also worth mentioning that while the excesses of Catholicism and Christianity have gotten a lot of ink spilled over them, ancient religions in the hands of the Persians, Romans, Mongols, etc have done a pretty damn good job of piling up the skulls. Just sayin', is all.

This was eye-opening to me, because that very statement about the Bible had been presented to me by a college instructor of comparative religion.

And he was a groovy guy, devoid of any symptoms of headupassery. Mr Hall was wrong, and by extrapolation, I was too. Sorry about that. Thanks, Toren!

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As mentioned previously, I now own a used Barbie doll. I spent some money and bought a batch of used clothing and accessories for her so she's all set for a reasonable amount of money, but this week's shopping excursions online have shown me the following things:

1. My parents must have gone into hock; I had a Barbie house, along with about a dozen sets of clothing and shoes for her, and a car. I didn't appreciate this when I was a child. I do now.

2. As much as I appreciate the entrepreneurship that exists on eBay, I am pretty sure the people who expect me to pay hundreds of dollars for a pair of Barbie's sunglasses or high heels have got burlap around the ol' root ball.

3. I had no earthly concept of the cultism and moneysuck that the world of Barbie can encourage.

Mind you, I don't begrudge any collector anywhere, honest I don't.; several years ago I collected numerous international versions of Keane's Hopes And Fears CD, plus untorn concert tickets, the Hopes And Fears LP, and even a Hopes And Fears promotional matchbook. I get it.

I guess the Barbie Bug continues to elude me.

However, once in awhile, on just some random day when I'd come home from school, Barbie would be sitting on the pillow of my bed with a new hairstyle, or a new dress, courtesy of Mom.

So maybe it's here, but in a different form.

And I've come by it honestly.

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Okay. Have a good Friday and I'll see you Monday.

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