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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / This is Brilliant

This is Brilliant

by | 85 Comments

This post is in: 

Alexandra Petri nails our infatuation with victim blaming:

Crucified man had prior run-in with authorities

The gentleman arrested Thursday and tried before Pontius Pilate had a troubled background.

Born (possibly out of wedlock?) in a stable, this jobless thirty-something of Middle Eastern origin had had previous run-ins with local authorities for disturbing the peace, and had become increasingly associated with the members of a fringe religious group. He spent the majority of his time in the company of sex workers and criminals.

He had had prior run-ins with local authorities — most notably, an incident of vandalism in a community center when he wrecked the tables of several licensed money-lenders and bird-sellers. He had used violent language, too, claiming that he could destroy a gathering place and rebuild it.

At the time of his arrest, he had not held a fixed residence for years. Instead, he led an itinerant lifestyle, staying at the homes of friends and advocating the redistribution of wealth.

He had come to the attention of the authorities more than once for his unauthorized distribution of food, disruptive public behavior, and participation in farcical aquatic ceremonies.

Some say that his brutal punishment at the hands of the state was out of proportion to and unrelated to any of these incidents in his record.

But after all, he was no angel.

Pretty much.

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  2. 2.

    MJS

    Yep, brilliant. As an unenthusiastic Catholic, I’ve come to realize that Jesus’ suffering, as bad as it may have been (meaning, if he existed and the story of his crucifixion is true) took from after dinner on Thursday until 3:00 Friday. So a total of about 20 hours. That’s nothing compared to the torture and suffering we’ve inflicted on our fellow citizens and others around the world.

  3. 3.

    ThresherK

    She forgot “no fixed address” and whatever the modern equivalent of “confirmed bachelor” is.

  6. 6.

    SFAW

    “Bird-sellers”? (For the not-very-religious among us. I expect there’ll be a facepalm moment after someone ‘splains to me.)

  7. 7.

    germy

    Sheila Abdus-Salaam, a trailblazing judge on New York’s top court, was found dead on Wednesday in the Hudson River, multiple outlets reported. Abdus-Salaam made history in 2013 with her judgeship when she became the first African-American woman to serve on the seven-member Court of Appeals in New York. Abdus-Salaam, 65, had previously earned the distinction of being the first female Muslim judge in the United States when she began as a New York State Supreme Court Justice in 1994, according to the New York Times.

    Abdus-Salaam’s body was found fully clothed and without visible signs of trauma, police told the New York Daily News. Residents had called authorities shortly before 2 p.m. when her body was found floating on the bank of the Hudson River by the parkway near 132nd Street. Her husband, who identified the body, had reported her missing from her home in central Harlem earlier that morning, according to the Daily News. Police are still investigating how she ended up in the river.

  8. 8.

    MJS

    @SFAW: There’s a story in the New Testament about Jesus going ape-shit in the synagogue, turning over tables and driving “the moneychangers” out of the temple. The “bird-sellers” would have been selling birds for sacrifice.

  9. 9.

    Patricia Kayden

    Great post. Conservatives would hate Jesus if he popped up today. There is no way he’d be sharing their hateful rhetoric against marginalized and poor people.

  11. 11.

    Jeff R.

    @SFAW:

    One of the rituals in the temple in Jerusalem was animal sacrifices. Vendors sold animals that people could offer. Doves and pigeons were what poorer people could afford.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    Meh. If there are two things conservatives couldn’t care less about​, it’s (1) Jesus and (2) being hypocrites.

  14. 14.

    Beatrice Blacklow

    The line about the “farcical aquatic ceremonies” literally made me laugh out loud. Meta-snark is the best snark.

  19. 19.

    zhena gogolia

    You’ve got to read the comments, where the Christianists try to dispute that it was “out of wedlock,” or that Jesus consorted with prostitutes — she was just a woman who committed adultery. Etc. Makes me proud to be a Christian (not).

  21. 21.

    MattF

    There was also the ‘relationship’ with Mary whats-her-name.

    BTW, that song has one of the all-time-greatest first verses:

    My name is Mary Magdalen
    I come from Palestine
    Please excuse these rags I’m in
    But I’ve fallen on hard times
    But long ago I had my work
    When I was in my prime
    But I gave it up, and all for love
    It was his career or mine

  24. 24.

    Ohio Mom

    @Jeff R.: Also, a lot of the people showing up at the Temple had just finished schlepping across the desert. Imagine how shagged out they must have been by the time they got to Jerusalem.

    Bringing a live bird from home wasn’t practical, the poor thing probably would be on its last feathers or dead by sacrifice time.

  26. 26.

    Major Major Major Major

    Some fellow in the comments is feeling a lil contrarian!

    pcconrad
    12:36 PM GMT+0700
    Haha, cheers, Alexandra! Fine work! I anxiously await your follow up column in which you mock Mohammed! Happy Easter!
    LikeReplyShare2

    pcconrad
    12:25 PM GMT+0700
    I anxiously await your follow-up column that mocks Mohammed.
    LikeReplyShare2

  29. 29.

    Scott P.

    Bringing a live bird from home wasn’t practical, the poor thing probably would be on its last feathers or dead by sacrifice time.

    It’s not dead, it’s resting after a prolonged squawk.

  31. 31.

    Spanky

    @germy: The only point they are aware of is that they’re being persecuted. Again, or still, doesn’t make a difference. It seems like they aren’t true religionists without the persecution.

  32. 32.

    Spanky

    What the hell’s going on on the front page?

    ETA: 2 new posts that I ain’t clicking on.

  37. 37.

    ruemara

    I went to bed around 11:30 & woke up at 4. My hostess has been up since 5, walks like a ton of bricks and is now vacuuming and moving furniture around over my head. Whatever deity I pissed off with my existence, you could’ve just listed the terms for some respite from my usual miserable existence and I’d have done it already.

  38. 38.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    Also, there are literally people named Jesus, for whom deportation will = potential death sentence….and these reich-wing fuckwads are cheering for it.

  40. 40.

    liberal

    Alexander Cockburn had a brilliant column bashing the MSM, and the “McNeil Newshour” in particular. One example was a debate about Pilate and Jesus. The two establishment talking heads were debating whether Pilate should have Christ crucified, or whether he should wash his hands of it and let some other group deal with Christ (savagely). The third guy, who got almost no time, started in about Christ being the son of God, and then was cut off for lack of time.

    Same kind of thing with the Donner party: the establishment guys were debating whether there should be a market for human flesh, or whether people should just eat it or whatever. The guy saying perhaps we shouldn’t eat human flesh at all had almost no time and was cut off.

    And so on.

  42. 42.

    liberal

    @Baud: They don’t care about Jesus because (for the protestant ones, at least) their religion is some weird modern perversion of the Old Testament.

  45. 45.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Conservatives, or at least those who profess their devotion to Christianity, won’t care about this because clearly the writer is talking about Totally Made Up Mythical Jesus as opposed to their various Jesuses, yunno Republican Jesus, Supply Side Jesus, Forced Birther Jesus, Gundamentalist Jesus and so on.

  47. 47.

    Yarrow

    @NotMax: I just can’t get into Alexandra Petri’s writing. I usually agree with her sentiment but feel like her columns miss the mark and aren’t all that funny. I feel like in the hands of a better writer this sort of column would really soar–I’d love to see someone like Betty Cracker have a go at it.

    That being said, it’s timely and a good reminder of hypocrisy. Wasn’t there a column a few years back that wrote about the US elections and politics the way we write about those happenings in other countries? Referred to the Tea Party as an “extremist sect” and so forth?

  51. 51.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Yarrow:

    I just can’t get into Alexandra Petri’s writing. I usually agree with her sentiment but feel like her columns miss the mark and aren’t all that funny. I feel like in the hands of a better writer this sort of column would really soar–I’d love to see someone like Betty Cracker have a go at it.

    As a lifetime reader of my hometown paper (although I won’t subscribe to it), I remember when Petri came onboard. She’s of that generation of Posties hired toward the end of the oughts in some attempt to staunch the bleeding of readership by appealing to millennials, etc. Most of those “kids” were utter dreck, Monica Hesse being the poster child for that. However, Petri was one of the good ones so seeing her “promoted” to the opinion column is a good move for the WaPo.

    But I agree wholeheartedly, there are far, far better writers in the blogosphere saying most of what she’s saying. Betty would be great but I doubt the WaPo editors would allow all those “fucks” and “shitgibbon” and other such salty language that would generate howls of “I’m gonna unsubscribe” from the WaPo’s geriatric, print subscriber base.

  52. 52.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    Semi-OT but, I see the Wilmer-bots are out in force screaming that the KS election failure was yet another sign of the Evil DNC!!1!’s perfidiousness. Can any non-Wilmer-bro attest to whether there is any truth to this claim? Sorry, but the past 18 months have made me hear nothing but “Wolf!” whenever they open their yaps.

  53. 53.

    Yarrow

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Yeah, I’m not really upset about her having the job, but it just seems like kind of a shame that she’s so…ordinary.

    I’m sure Betty could be persuaded to replace a few of her more colorful words and phrases with equally good ones that would get past the censors. She’s creative that way!

  55. 55.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Uncle Ebeneezer: they were late and slow to get into the race, from what I understand because the polling changed late and dramatically. A Dem poll from the weeks ago showed their guy down by more than 20 points, which is typical for that seat.

    ETA: IIRC, about 60% of 2016 Dem voters showed up, compared to about 40% of ’16 Trump/R. I think 60% is pretty good turn out for a special election, and maybe 40% is, too

  56. 56.

    Boatboy_srq

    @Major Major Major Major: Indeed. Point: missed. They seem to forget that making millions miserable for centuries is only slightly better than killing dozens -indeed, that not killing (anymore) for such things makes them Oh So Very Tolerant. They’re the sort that, encountering some surviving victim of the Inquisition, would insist that person should be thankful the Church let him/her live.

  58. 58.

    Yarrow

    @Uncle Ebeneezer: I don’t know what you’re hearing, but the political people I was following said that more money from the DCCC probably would have given the whole race more attention. That in turn would have meant that in a district that Trump won by 30 points that more Republicans would turn out. So attention on the race could mean a less close race. And the DNC doesn’t get involved in those races–it’s the DCCC.

    the past 18 months have made me hear nothing but “Wolf!” whenever they open their yaps.

    I hear “Russian bots and trolls.”

  60. 60.

    Roger Moore

    @Uncle Ebeneezer:

    Semi-OT but, I see the Wilmer-bots are out in force screaming that the KS election failure was yet another sign of the Evil DNC!!1!’s perfidiousness.

    Speaking of people who have made it their life’s mission to miss the point…

  61. 61.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    @Yarrow: Thx. Yes, I read similar sentiments on Al Giordano’s TL. Makes sense to me but I’m no expert…however, I think Tom Perez might be.

  62. 62.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Yarrow:

    And the DNC doesn’t get involved in those races–it’s the DCCC.

    Well, one thing I will say, I don’t think anybody ever accused the Berniebots of knowing what the DNC does, how it works, or indeed what it is.

  63. 63.

    Yarrow

    @Major Major Major Major: Truth. And notice how they very often seem to be focused on top down work. “B will solve everything!” “It’s the fault of the DNC!” Are they out there doing the grunt work at the local level? That’s where the real change starts.

  66. 66.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: @Yarrow: @NotMax: I’m sympathetic to the overall thrust of these comments, but her Jesus piece (someone had to say it) is easily the least-broad and I find it to be legitimately funny.

    @liberal: It’s this piece. Cockburn was a good writer (and Jeet Heer said he probably would be a good writer in the Trump era…but that is the best thing he has going for him. As a human being, Cockburn was shiiiiiit (re: significantly worse than William Maher SUPERGENIUS) — excepting Loomis, for the most part I consider any favorable reader of/contributor to Counterpunch to be discredited until proven otherwise.

  69. 69.

    scav

    @Yarrow: Well, everything always looks easy until one is actually in charge of the egg roll, live and in real time, and then it’s all Nobody knew it was so Complicated!

  71. 71.

    ruemara

    @Uncle Ebeneezer: It’s stupid. They’re blaming the DNC. The DNC has nothing to do with House races. Throw in the fact that adding national party attention would draw even more RNC attention and they demonstrate their usual gift for strategy and comprehension.

  72. 72.

    Itinerantpedant

    Christ, Cole are you TRYING to start another round of DougJ trolling his crush Alexandra in comments and her live chats at WaPo?

    After the last round I thought they should get a room. On his part at least.

  73. 73.

    hovercraft

    @Uncle Ebeneezer:

    What the fuck do they want at this point? The election is over, Hitlery is gone, Wilmer is a frequently sought after guest on TV, regarded as the “voice” of the “populist grass roots”, never mind that they lost the primary. Yesterday Politico had a piece saying that in rebuilding the party Pelosi and Schumer are turning to Wilmer’s ideas.

    Dems to unveil populist agenda showing Sanders’ sway

    Party leaders believe they can only rely on Trump messing up for so long.

    Which is bullshit, they are simply stating democratic principle and laying out an agenda, infrastructure is nothing new for us, Wilmer didn’t drag us kicking and screaming to it no matter what he and his fans say.

    They can bitch all they want about a party many of them are not a part of, but there is absolutely no reason we have to pay any attention to them. If Rachel and Chris want to have hi on to berate the party, that’s their prerogative, but we can make it clear he doesn’t speak for us, and ignore him. As I keep saying people in the gallery get to squawk and gawk, but it’s those of us in the party who will determine the future of the democratic party. Being sore losers, especially when the winners keep bending over backwards to include the losers, is not attractive or persuasive.

  74. 74.

    hovercraft

    @Timurid:

    Many people are being mocked in that column. None of them are Jesus.

    Thank you!!

    The response by these morans makes her point. The column is an accurate extrapolation of who Jesus was in contemporary times, the fact that they would shun a man of that description is making them all defensive. Projection, defensiveness, cluelessness, gee, no wonder they love Twitler and his Two Corinthians, he’s just like them. Assholes.

  76. 76.

    Yarrow

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): It’s funny but I find it only mildly funny. I keep clicking through to her pieces and always find myself somewhat disappointed. Like I said, I wish someone with Betty Cracker’s bite would have a job like that. I think in the right hands it would have been searingly funny.

  77. 77.

    The Moar You Know

    What the fuck do they want at this point?

    @hovercraft: To lose. Forever. That way they’ll never have to assume responsibility for anything, they can just bitch and bitch and bitch.

  78. 78.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @The Moar You Know:

    To lose. Forever. That way they’ll never have to assume responsibility for anything, they can just bitch and bitch and bitch.

    Funny, that sounds like the GOP. Now that they’ve won everything, they don’t know what to do with it. Who knew legislatin’ and governin’ could be so complicated?

  79. 79.

    Ella in New Mexico

    It’s brilliant because it’s exactly the argument that lead to his death, 2000 years ago.

    He was supposed to be a lesson for all of us, not just through his explicit teachings in the Bible, but to be wary of the way in which we are moved to mob mentality by bias and fear.

  80. 80.

    James E Powell

    This guy admits what no one in the press/media has the guts to say:

    The idea that moral hypocrisy hurts you among evangelical voters is not true, if you’re sound on all of the fundamentals,” said Wayne Flynt, an ordained Baptist minister and one of Alabama’s pre-eminent historians. “Being sound on the fundamentals depends on what the evangelical community has decided the fundamentals have become. At this time, what is fundamental is hating liberals, hating Obama, hating abortion and hating same-sex marriage.

    From a New York Times article about Alabama’s governor resigning because of sex & corruption scandal.

    Frankly I do not understand why the governor’s sexual adventures would bother the people who voted over 80% for Trump.

  82. 82.

    TenguPhule

    @James E Powell:

    Frankly I do not understand why the governor’s sexual adventures would bother the people who voted over 80% for Trump.

    He committed the cardinal sin among evangelicals.

    He got caught with enough evidence to make denials useless.

  84. 84.

    JAFD

    Now it may be that I am an aficionado of the art of the pun, such that some of my efforts were met with online bomb threats…

    Or that I am a dirty old man who fantasizes exchanging quadruple entendres with her into the evening…

    But I rather like Ms. Petri’s work!

  85. 85.

    Tehanu

    @MJS:

    I’ve come to realize that Jesus’ suffering, as bad as it may have been … took from after dinner on Thursday until 3:00 Friday. So a total of about 20 hours. That’s nothing compared to the torture and suffering we’ve inflicted on our fellow citizens and others around the world

    And your point would be what? When I was in therapy many years ago (midlife crisis, yada yada), I kept saying I had no right to be unhappy when other people were starving or being tortured. My shrink had to persuade me to stop denigrating and ignoring my own pain because it wasn’t as bad as other people’s. It wasn’t as bad, but it was still pain, not some kind of meaningless vague feeling. Maybe Jesus’ suffering was “nothing compared to” whatever, but my point is, making comparisons like that is stupid and mean. I want a world where nobody suffers — not one where people can snark about how one person’s pain is unimportant, or doesn’t mean anything, because other people are in pain too.

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