The End of Days of Sanity...Zeus Help Us All

I know, I know, I should listen to my own words, but I haven't gotten to that sardonic and reflective stage of looking at this newest absurdity. First, a bit of the story -

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Prominent US preacher Pat Robertson said that recent natural disasters around the world point to the end of the world and the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

"These things are starting to hit with amazing regularity," Robertson told CNN, remarking on the coincidence of a major earthquake that killed thousands in Asia Saturday and recent killer hurricanes slamming the United States.

Those disasters come less than a year after a massive tsunami levels huge portions of South Asia, killing more than 31,000 people and leaving some a million left homeless.

Devout Christians believe that the "last days" will be marked by political and geological upheaval, and Roberts said recent events show that those days might have arrived.

Asked if the world was reaching this moment, Robertson said: "It's possible. I don't have any special revelation to say it is but the Bible does indicate such a time will happen in the end of time. And could this be it? It might be."

"Unhhh, I'm squeezing out another, unhhh...prophecy..."

Okay, I'll admit, it's really nothing new, especially considering the source. I mean, how many times have we heard this coming from him already. I vividly recall a few similar rapture-around-the-corner revelries fall from those same lips in my scant forty years of existence. But, once again, this predictable prattle has resulted in getting me puffed up about a couple of other related matters...

First, I have now officially thrown out any hope that CNN's coverage during Katrina may have instilled in me for the actual revival of journalistic integrity on the boob tube. Beyond advertising every wacko-religious theory on the cause of the last hurricanes to strike our coasts, now they have given Pat Robertson (who's recent 'assassinate' Chavez comments pretty much underlined his self-reinforcing delusional state) a national platform in which to speculate that the newest disaster in Southern Asia has possibly tipped the balance in revealing the ultimate Biblical wet-dream. You have got to be fucking kidding me. And CNN gets no softening points for airing the skit on a Sunday either...

Let's just skip the obvious demeaning of human death and suffering such remarks infer from a supposed Jesus-loyalist and go to my first ancillary rant. I'm flat-out tired of extreme fundamentalist fanatics getting a free-pass when determining what's newsworthy. What is the ethical difference between helping to proliferate this particularly zealous interpretation of disasters from that of any other fringe group in our country? There are uncountable militant/race-oriented/fill-in-the-blank hate groups in this nation who, I'm sure, also have plenty to say on these matters with comparable zany explanations. Naturally, they don't get the air-time because they are generally on the opposite end of the spectrum from rational discussion of news events. But solely because Pat Robertson and his ilk wrap their perverted world-views around established religious organizations, these guys are continually allowed to skip the 'crazy-gauge' test with our news organizations. And it's done solely for the ratings that such controversial, yet condoned, guests end up bringing them. On Monday I noticed that CNN was having Jerry Falwell in to discuss Robertson's hopes for our future. I would have watched it, but when they splashed the title 'End of Days?' across the screen to promote the coming segment, I just couldn't stand it anymore. Of course, both interviews were conducted by Wolf 'The Sky is Always Falling' Blitzer…what an alarmist asshole…

Finally, does anyone remember when Pat Robertson was one of the group of American Christian icons who regularly gave 'spiritual advice' to former President Ronald Reagan? And we all know how religious our current leader is - so much so that one of the primarily 'selling' features for his newest Supreme Court nominee is that she is an 'evangelical' Christian (I still can't believe that's supposed to be a good trait). Personally, the knowledge that, whether spoken or not, we allow the number one position in our country's government to be held by people who fundamentally agree with Robertson's denouement of life scares the absolute shit out of me. Do people not understand the underlying ramifications of having a President who literally believes that a day will come when an invisible ethereal being will wipe out a bulk of the world's population? (Not to mention that such wide-scale extinction is to be targeted on those with differing religious philosophies) Can anyone honestly say that such beliefs don't influence the daily decisions our leaders make? I've said in the past that it always worries me that these people might sub-consciously (if not consciously) help bring about such 'apocalyptic' times through their actions, or inactions, to world events. And, in all honesty, can we ever truly believe that a President who describes himself as a born-again evangelical Christian and who believes in a literal interpretation of the Bible can really put such thoughts of a coming Rapture aside while waging a war against nations of predominately opposing faiths? Worse, does anyone but us small minority of realists hidden here and there across the country even care about this potential fatal flaw in our President's psychology? I'm almost afraid to hear the answer to that question… Jage