Doomsday

The following is a working plot for my short story. This plot will, very likely, change through out the course of this semester:

In the year 2015, Islamic fundamentalists gained access to the atomic bomb. However, as the whole world waited for a nuclear explosion nothing happened. The American CIA developed and deployed (just in time) a neurotoxin that affected their capacity for emotion (positive or negative). With their passion for martyrdom gone, the terrorists were harmless.
Governments around the world see the potential for such a compound and, soon enough, the medication has begun to creep into the food supply (disguised as essential vitamins and minerals). The only capacity that humans are left with in this world is that of pleasure because “pleasure” is the result of much more primitive brain mechanisms. People do things because it feels good and not because they can anticipate long-term goals. Society is kept in line with severe punishments since humans since perceive pain very well.
This concept of the “normal” becomes the intellectual goal of the individuals in this society. In this constant search for normalcy, people have no time to consider any other philosophical problems. The only goal of academia is to make people more “normal.” There are no artists in this world because the chemicals make creative expression much more difficult.
However, despite the fact that humans do not have emotion, they do seem to want something other than this mundane life. A very small minority yearned for a Messiah to bring them into a world where thoughts and life was not so structured.

This link is for an upcoming launch of a website that will allow users to enter an address to see what the possible damage and fallout would be in the wake of different nuclear strikes.  Very cheery stuff.  And brilliant…!

http://awp.diaart.org/raskin/

I guess this is my lucky year. This is the first time (as far as I can recollect at least) that all of my courses overlap in subject matter and discourse. Oppression whether it be patriarchal, environmental or economic, I have been forced to reckon with its varying forms. This week I got to grapple with “technoppression” or technology used as a tool for apocalyptic domination. I have become more than familiar with Hollywood’s admonition that machines or technology will first enhance and eventually replace mankind at a final showdown (see every Will Smith movie for examples).  Despite my exposure to such influences, I rarely considered the implications of rapidly developing technology and its impact on the concept of the human body. Earlier this summer I read Bodies by Susan Orbach a psychologist who explored the idea of the manufactured western body. According to Orbach the body has become a form of work on which we are constantly improving, fixing and changing in order to become “better” versions of ourselves. Granted enhancement for beautification purposes is hardly a new topic but she drew upon the indispensability and the decreasing diversity of the “perfect” body that Quinby mentions. Even right now as I think about this I realize that this is evident is quite a few places. I had the opportunity to read another book titled Killing the Black Body, which mentioned the history of eugenics in this country and its racialized targeting of African Americans for sterilization. I was horrified to find out that many of the hysterectomies preformed even into the 1970’s upon black women were without their consent in attempt to eliminate the “black” gene and all of the social baggage that comes with it in this country. I do not know if it would be a stretch to say that this was an earlier form of genetic engineering but I believe that this continued technological development will only negatively affect those who do not fit in the idealized mold. “Programmed perfection” is so pervasive its somewhat upsetting. Personally I can easily draw and example from the issue of black females and their hair. It is shocking and disappointing that black females spend billions of dollars annually on making their hair look “right” through the use of weaves, corrosive chemicals and other magical tricks. Usually the finished product no longer mirrors the tenacious and unique curls that springs from their heads but instead is a sleek and shiny imitation of the idealized European standard.

Hi everyone, this is a reminder that you are to read the essay on “The Singularity” along with the assignments already listed on the syllabus.  You will find it under Readings and your blogs should address it as well as the others.  See you Tuesday, Lee

Throughout our readings, there are different depictions of God ranging from absent to omnipresent. Compare the role of God in two texts and explain what effect it has on the type of Apocalypse experienced by the characters.

Possible essay question:

Is there a distinction between “Truth” and widely accepted discourse? In Glorious Appearing Truth is given to the few believers living during the tribulation. While the characters come from varying backgrounds and religions, their common bond is the  accepted “Truth” of Jesus Christ. How does this relate to a structure of power amongst the group of believers and their interactions with others around them? How is are other forms of “truth” left out of the discourse and characters quest for knowledge? May be I am asking too many questions?

Here’s an interesting question.
1) Can LaHaye and Jenkin’s Glorious Appearing be considered propanganda? Make an argument for both sides.

http://www.raptureready.com/rap2.html

Be ready!

Mcalister begins by painting the Left Behind novels as a strong supporter of US intervention or disruption of Middles Eastern politics. I was not entirely sure if she was indicating that the books incited people to support US military action or simply that the books were another manifestation of a mindset that already existed. Before the reader oversimplifies the role of the novels in our time she encourages us to find what makes the Left Behind series different from its predecessors. To be honest the only series that I can think of similar to Left Behind that infiltrated popular culture is Pilgrim’s Progress. I never actually read either but I remember seeing a film adaptation of both prior to taking this class. To be honest I was really unaware of a religious calling to protect Israeli state at all costs. As I continue to read and learn in this class I feel like an outsider learning all of these things about evangelicals and what they supposedly believe. But back to the issue at hand, is the pro-Israel sentiment in America is largely fueled by Israel’s role in end-time prophecy? Where do the Palestinians go? I do not think this makes any sense and I am angered that she argues that Americans (evangelicals anyhow) are largely invested in this region based upon their role at the end of the world. This has not been my most cohesive blog entry but I am not sure of what to say really. I am annoyed with this group of evangelicals that have completely disregarded the plight of a people who have been displaced in their own country. I am also annoyed at myself for not figuring this out on my own. I do not want to racialize this, but hell it reeks of racism and religious discrimination. I am ashamed really to be associated with America in general but this is another thing that I am able to add to my current list of grievances. Right now I am unable yet again to identify with American evangelicalism despite being Christian and a similar claim to acknowledge the same God because there is a serious disconnect between reality and their reality. I am not able to fully articulate how I feel but it is quite disheartening for the Palestinians and other Israelis to be used simply as a means to an end apocalyptic end.

Once upon a time, there lived a group of believers who were persecuted by mean people and God came made the bad guys pay by melting their eyes and rotting their flesh and everyone else lived happily ever after, the end. Deux ex machina in a manner I would only expect from the Scripture: this is the Glorious Appearing in a nutshell.
If there is anything I worry about after reading this book it is that, perhaps, the authors imaginations for anything more than blood and gore is severely lacking. The characters are “perfect” Christians— those who have had troubled pasts but found themselves in Jesus. The characters lack depth because they are nothing more than puppets who say “praise the Lord,” “Amen,” and “Jesus spoke to me” in every other sentence and fall to their knees in front of their Lord in truly dramatic fashion more than a few times through out the course of the book. Every waking moment is spent discussing prophesies, conducting Bible studies and, praying. Then, once Jesus arrives, all the characters ever seem to say is, “He spoke to me in [insert native language here], wow”— whatever little depth we see in the characters is their love for the Christ. After the Glorious Appearing, the Believers are indestructible and the rest of the plot almost has no meaning. For example, we are not worried when a group of Believers walk around GC troops in Jerusalem because we know nothing horrible could happen to members of the tribulation force. There was nothing to look forward to because we knew exactly how the story would end. Someone mentioned in their post that we read and listen to stories where we know the ending all the time. Those stories are circulated within a culture to reaffirm certain beliefs. This story, within the “born-again” Christian community would have been a success because it reflects what they believe. However, when I read it, I feel like the outsider who would be sent to the pit of fire. Perhaps only believers would be able to truly appreciate the novels in a way the authors intended.
Finally, I feel like it is hard to criticize Glorious Appearing without criticizing the Christian God, the Christian view of God, or the Christian’s view of good Christian behavior. This is partially because the second half of this book has been lifted out of the Book of Revelation complete with the Jesus’ verbatim dialogue. Also, I find that what I disliked most about the characters made them perfect Christians. If I were to tell a “born-again” Christian that I did not like the Left Behind series, they would probably tell me to find God first: basically, I feel that there is no non-religious way to enjoy this book and a lot of it has to be taken on blind faith.