I’ve Been Wee-Weed

by on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 · 8 Comments 

Filed under Amish Jihad!, My Books, The Devil Wears Nada

Arrrghhh . . . I miss everything! Had I been privy to this devilish bit of goodness it surely would have made an appearance in The Devil Wears Nada. (If you hate shameless plugs, you’re in the wrong place. Speaking of which: Hey Jeff, I hope you caught this before the ink dried on your little devil.)

My favorite part is where he’s convinced Satan loves academia, because . . . you know . . . being smart in the eyes of this particular conservative church-going evangelical is, apparently, proof that you’re demonic.

Brilliant.

Granted, I won’t lie (or will I?–blame Satan!), there are few things less corrupting than academia. Outside of nation-states, CBN, musical theatre, Mickey Mouse, cosmopolitans, the Grammys, Nancy Grace, the Bible Belt, and the dwindling ‘Y’ chromosome, I would place it in the top ten.

Fortunately for Slick Rick, Sarah Palin was quick to his defense:

“They [the liberal media, I presume--or, to quote Santorum, 'smart' people] will attack any conservatives who boldly proclaims their faith and talks about there is good in the world and there’s evil in the world and that’s what Rick Santorum was talking about,” she said. “And this was a speech that he gave back in 2008, where he named evil as Satan. And for these lame-stream media characters to get all wee-weed up about that, first you have to ask yourself, ‘Have they ever attended a Sunday school class even? Have they never heard of this terminology before?’ And that’s why they got so, you know, just whacked out about the speech.”

She said ‘wee-weed’.

Wee-weed.

Further Reading:

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  • mvhannigan

    I usually really like what you post, but I think this time you may be off the mark … I think you have to take into consideration the venue, a Catholic University. It makes sense the sins of academia would be the target.

    And pride is a sin that is easy to stumble over.Actually, it seems like he is giving great credit to academia by saying it feeds everything else in our society.

    EDIT: Sorry, meant to add something about Palin, but words escape me. “Wee-weed?” Really?

    • theamishjihadist

      You very well may be correct for calling me ‘off the mark’–which is another way of saying: I have sinned!

      I’m not sure if he is giving credit to the university for saying it ‘feeds everything else in our society’ or merely stating an obvious reality. But, I hear you. And notice, on that point, I agreed with him. As an academic (who, by the way, loves teaching), I would argue that there are very few things more corrupt than the manner by which modern universities shape, discipline, and mold us into a people whose chief telos is that of consumption (though, that was not his point). Hauerwas, MacIntryre, Taylor, hooks, Fish, Asad, Carrette, Fitzgerald, etc.–I think these folks have written well on the subject. Of course, they are not just speaking of the ‘sin’ of pride (as Santorum stresses), rather they are stressing its unintelligibility as a fragmented project with little understanding of a purposeful common good (which was part of the reason why MacIntyre left Duke for Notre Dame) that cannot do anything other than fuel the very project that many of us call into question. Of course, even calling into question the politics of the modern university colludes with its very purpose. The protest itself, as Zizek eloquently suggests, legitimizes and sustains it.

      As wicked as it may be, I have to say this in its defense: the hours are wonderful.

      • mvhannigan

        Thank you for the response. 

        I guess the reason I wrote “off the mark” is because I didn’t understand the snideness of the line: “My favorite part is where he’s convinced Satan loves academia, because . . . you know . . . being smart in the eyes of this particular conservative church-going evangelical is, apparently, proof that you’re demonic.”

        I really didn’t hear that in the speech – which I again point out was to a Catholic University. He was talking about spiritual warfare in America, not a slight against a particular sector of society. The debate across the country (which Palin “wee-weed) seems to me to be about whether or not he should be talking about Satan out loud – not about whether he insulted smart people.

        Pride is something that shows up everywhere, regardless of your industry. Some athletes show off how strong or fast they are; some artists show off how sensitive they are; some academics show off their intelligence and education. I think he started with academia, first because he was speaking to a bunch of academics, and second because it is there where our leaders are made.

        Hubris is a trap for us all, but it makes sense that the most susceptible are those at the top.

        (FULL DISCLOSURE: Since as a reader I know more about you than you know of me – I am an Independent who leans significantly left, and a Baptist who was raised as a Catholic.)

        • theamishjihadist

          I was only being snide because . . . well . . . I can’t help it. Terrible character flaw. I tried to give it up once and was quite successful, but then I was proud of my accomplishment and . . . well, you get it. It’s a vicious circle.

          You realize you’re ruining all my fun, right?

          Actually, my favorite part of this whole topic is whether or not it is publicly permissible to discuss Satan. That intrigues me to no end. So, again, we are in agreement my once-was-a-Catholic-turned-Baptist friend.

          I’m really interested in seeing how this all plays out. I’m hoping for some public theological discussions on ‘Old Horny.’ And, since Palin mentioned it (and because she should know since she hearts Sunday School so much–there I go again, dammit!), much of Christian orthodoxy suggests that evil is a privation. It does not exist. It has no substantive matter. It’s a lack of the good that arises via a person’s attempt to act upon their own (parasitic) vision of the good. This makes the idea of equating evil with an ontological pseudo-deity known as Satan theologically dubious (as God would still be responsible for the presence of tangible evil in creation).

          Now, that’s the kind of stuff I would like to discuss. Makes me think getting a PhD in Historical Theology was not a total bust!

          • mvhannigan

            Oh please don’t stop being snide … like I said at the beginning, it is usually so well aimed. It both enlightens and enlivens.

            As for the devil, I don’t think most Americans care about the finer details … whether there is an ultimate enemy, or whether evil is just a byproduct of free will, the end result is the same: Evil exists in the world. 

            But we don’t really like to talk about those things that come capitalized: God, Devil, Evil, Good …. it seems those conversations are always pedantic regardless of which side of the argument you fall …. and why a doctorate in Historical Theology might not be a big commercial success (although I’d take it in a heartbeat).

            It is also why the furor over a Santorum speech discussing Satan is so interesting.

          • theamishjihadist

            Don’t worry, I won’t!

            According to much of Christian orthodoxy, evil does not exist. It is a ‘finer point’, as you astutely suggest, that absolutely challenges even the creation of the ‘modern’ problem of theodicy. We find ourselves with problems of our own making by ignoring these lovely subtleties (which, is actually not a subtlety at all) . I recommend Hart’s, The Doors of the Sea for a relatively quick and accessible read on the topic (well, accessible in terms of Hart).

            To piggyback on the original post:

            http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/rick-santorum-obama-college-plan-indoctrination-_n_1299403.html

  • betterbegood

    They say things come in 3′s….War on terror, war on Christmas, and now the war on Satan. We’ll see if it takes as many lives as this decade long Christmas war

    • theamishjihadist

      Ah, one can only hope.