The Smarmy Carny

Sorry about my apparent laziness lately. You know how it is.

Those who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address.
– Lane Olinghouse

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and with the damage from Hurricane Rita, New Orleans faced setbacks on the progress they had attained. My local talk radio station took their afternoon show to invite people to call in with a one-word summary of what had happened down in New Orleans and other affected areas. "Humbling" and "devastating" were a couple words offered up by the hosts, but the first three callers offered suggestions such as "Biblical," "repent," and "Revelations." Each of these callers suggested that God had sent the hurricane(s) for such-and-such a reason. Of course, New Orleans isn't quite the Salt Lake City of the south, but I still remained uneasy about the willingness of these people to pronounce that Katrina was simply God's wrath on the sinful city of the south.

I was reading through The Religion & Philosophy Blog from Houghton College's Religion & Philosophy department tonight. It's a new blog with only a couple entries to date. The most recent entry to date was written by Dr. Richard Eckley. Eckley is the author of the book Revelation: A Commentary for Bible Students, so I knew he would have some interesting insight into the issue of claiming that Katrina's destruction was due to God's wrath or even the end times.

I urge you to read the article, titled "Leviathan Alive and Well in Louisiana." For the click-challenged and just plain lazy, here's an excerpt that should serve as some motivation to read the entire article:

Though these natural forces are deemed demonic because of their destructive chaos, the line between God's sovereign control and Satan's activity is blurred.

Certainly assigning an apocalyptic meaning to such natural disasters gives some sort of purpose and meaning to these cataclysmic horrors, howbeit merely to resign us to their happening in the "end times"–as if such things never happened in the "middle times" or the "earlier times!"

Natural disasters allow us to see evil at work in an indiscriminate and meaningless way (when a tornado runs through your neighborhood, trees fall on the rich and the poor alike.) Evil as surd at least allows our theology to stay neutral. No one caused Katrina to happen, and no one should try to find purpose in it happening to them.

Read the full article.

Walt Disney

Earlier this month, Disney became a little less evil.

In my Random Links, you might have noticed SaveDisney.com (link no longer works) pop up every so often. The site was geared toward explaining the problems with Disney (and especially with Eisner) and especially with the problems Walt Disney would have had with the company as it is today. It was run by Roy Disney and Stanley Gold.

On July 8, the Disney company and Roy Disney agreed to "put aside the differences that have characterized their relationship over the past several years." Roy Disney will be named as a consultant and Director Emeritus. Of course, I'm sure part of the agreement is that Roy Disney has to basically take back all the not-so-nice things he said about the company. As a result, SaveDisney.com will be closing on August 7. Roy wrote a message for site visitors:

A Message from Roy E. Disney…
To all the faithful visitors to our site here at SaveDisney:

First of all, please accept my most sincere thanks for your faith and trust in us, and for sticking with us through thick and thin during this campaign. You have been our biggest help in the tough times, and the good times… and there is no way to say "thank-you" any more sincerely than I do now.

It's been a while since last I wrote to you about how much nicer Disneyland has been looking lately, and as you probably know, a lot has happened in that time… maybe the single most important thing being that we here at SaveDisney have come to an agreement with the new management at the Walt Disney Company regarding our mutual relationship.

Accordingly, on August 7th, we will permanently close down this website… with regrets, of course, but also with the satisfaction that it has served its purpose… to inform and educate all of you about the future of the Disney legacy.

One result, which pleases me personally, and my family (which has endured these months alongside me), and of course Stanley Gold and many others here at Shamrock, is that I have been asked to rejoin the Company, as a Consultant, and as Director Emeritus, and to take part in whatever way I can help as a part of the Company, its art and its business. It is my intent to fully be a part of the Company again, to the best of my ability, and I can never fully describe what a joy it is that I will soon be re-connecting with so many friends – - from my past, from my present, and from my future.

There is so much more that can not be addressed here, but there are plenty of encouraging signs toward the future vision of the Walt Disney Company, visions that we share and have shared through these difficult times.

So for the moment, let me thank each of you and all of you for sharing your emotions and your ideas and your passion for what my Father and Uncle Walt created. Join with us as we enter into this new era, and its promise for a "great big, beautiful tomorrow."

On a purely personal note, I only hope than I can come close to living up to all your hopes and dreams, and maybe even play a part in creating some new dreams!

Roy E. Disney

Part of me is thrilled that Disney has finally come to its senses (at least to a degree) and agreed to bring Roy Disney back on board as a consultant and Director Emeritus. Another part of me, however, is saddened by Roy Disney's selling out to get back on board. The press release ends with some chilling statements: "Disney and Gold expressed confidence in Mr. Iger's leadership, and as Mr. Eisner retires after 21 years with the Company, they acknowledged his contribution to the Company over the years." FYI, Eisner officially steps down on September 30, 2005.

The Southern Baptists called for an end to their eight-year boycott of the Walt Disney Company. This happened a few weeks before Roy Disney's move, however, so I believe that may have been unrelated.

Apparently, there is a theology quiz meme that is running rampant across religious blogs and irking Joe Carter over at the evangelical outpost. Carter says that "making such precise distinctions between theological camps requires more than just stock photos, non-descript questions, and a few lines of HTML," so he decided to come up with his own method of allowing yourself to be pigeonholed.

So, open up the Christians: The Denominator flowchart. If you have spent a significant amount of time in Christian religious circles, you will likely find the entertaining or annoying.

Everyone and their brother seems to want to comment to his post and make sure that it gets updated so that they are categorized correctly by the flowchart. That may be the joke within the joke right there.