Junk Activism

Electronic Arts staged a protest of their upcoming video game “Dante’s Inferno” at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles.

Inspired by the real Dante Alighieri, but adapted for a new generation and a new medium, the hero of the game is a soldier who defies death and fights for love against impossible odds. The Italian mercenary Dante returns home from the wars to find that his beloved Beatrice has been murdered, and her soul pulled down into Hell by a dark force. He gives chase, and vows to get her back. For weapons, he wields Death’s soul-reaping scythe, and commands holy powers of the cross, given to him by Beatrice.

Thank you EA, I know deep down that you hatched this idea just for me.  You combined three of my favorite things: clever marketing, video games, and protesting all into one package.  As a marketer, I gotta respect it.  Hats off to EA for the cool idea.  I’m sure the religious right hates you, but Jesus will still love you.

There must be a million things you can draw attention to by hiring 20 or so people for a few bucks to stand around and pretend to care about something.  I mean, most people in a protest crowd don’t do much anyhow but hold protest signs to draw attention.  But that’s the point, I think.

Here are protest signs from EA’s Protest for Dante’s Inferno:

Oh boy, it must be my lucky day!   Who said Friday the 13th was unlucky?  Finding news like this is a pure golden gem that makes me giddy and tickles my fancy!

Religious cults are fun.  Especially ones where the leaders have been interviewed by Bill Maher in Religulous.    If most religious belief systems didn’t seem schizophrenic and confusing before, our Latin friend De Jesus is BOTH the Second Coming of Christ… AND…. the Anti-Christ.

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I’ve spent about 5 years of my life independently studying the World’s religions and various faiths and one of the most interesting aspects of Islam is no depictions of the prophet Muhammad or God in any way/shape/form. This is easily seen in any Muslim art, which typically is more abstract, patterns-based and intricately beautiful.

That said, I am sick and tired of violent, ignorant Muslim groups blaming entire countries and groups of people because of a few ignorant people and a newspaper do not respect their beliefs.

“We are even ready to sacrifice our life for our beloved Prophet,” said Mahmood Sadiqui, a student leader.

About 200 people held a similar rally in Multan, a main city in the eastern Punjab province, burning Danish flags and chanting “Death to the Cartoonist!” and “Boycott, boycott of European products!”

At two rallies in Pakistan’s biggest city of Karachi, about 150 supporters from radical Islamic parties torched effigies of the Danish prime minister amid calls to boycott Danish products.

I know it’s not “all of Islam” doing this.  But to “all of Islam”, you should know that this message officially sucks.  How can you expect trust and respect in the world when some asshole yells Jihad against the entire country of Denmark, busting out with a chorus line of pointless, irrational flag burning, car burning, rock-throwing, and threats to hang a person who drew A CARTOON…A PICTURE…that you happen to dislike.

This isn’t Denmark provoking a war.  Through history, I think we have all seen enough violence called in the name of religious beliefs.

While it’s obvious you don’t believe in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Press, (although I’m positive you believe in gun rights), or for politics based in logic and reason - is there nowhere in the Koran where Muhammad teaches you forgiveness and understanding?

“Please stop what you’re doing,” Imam Mostafa Chendid, the leader of the Islamic Faith Community, said in an address to young people during Friday’s prayer. “The prophet has not taught you to burn down schools, or burn cars or infrastructure.”

At least some in Islam have some damn sense of reason.  The world is a big place, there will never be a day when everyone is Muslim, so you’d better learn to just get along with the rest of us.

Fun link of the day, and my final thought: Christianity can handle some criticism of their art and deity.

Holy Jesus, those Atheists are at it again! I mean…. Holy Science…I mean, Secular Science, well, nevermind.

A New Jersey town council meeting with a 55 year old tradition of starting off with a recital of the Lord’s Prayer is now being protested by a dude who actually believes in something as wonderfully American as Separation of Church and State.   My biggest concern is why someone wants to go to a boring meeting to discuss the pink flamingos in someone’s yard or squirrels eating electric cables.

All Christians will tell you that we should ignore such a calling because the real Atheists agenda includes staying home on Sunday, being grumpy, and bitterly lashing out at children:

Rightfully so, they refuse to give up their ritual of reciting SOMETHING at the meetings:

While the Lord’s Prayer tradition has officially ended in Newton, the council has informally agreed to start reciting secular invocations prior to its meetings, said Unhoch, who was pleased that the tradition of a prayer of some sort will continue.

It should be more P.C….as they say.  Here’s my suggestion for the Town Hall of an Atheistic solution to their problem.

The Atheist’s Invocation (aka.. the euphemism for “Prayer”)

Our undisclosed superstition from somewhere unknown,
irrelevant be your name,
until we find measurable proof of your kingdom,
we scratch our heads to what your will is,
on Earth or in multi-dimensional spacetime.
Today we’ll probably eat something.
Forgive me my lack of common sense in this town hall meeting,
as we feel more important than those who lack even more common sense.
May science allow us to live forever,
and circumvent our totally unimportant death.

[For science, my material goods, and neglected emotional well-being, now and forever. ]

In some odd, twisted state of mind, religious groups are now speaking out in protest against such political issues as gun control, oil drilling and Robert Redford.

Don’t get me wrong, people can believe whatever they want to believe.  I realize I don’t know the answers and some feel like they have, which is fine by me.  But the lack of flexibility in most religious faith brings about all sorts of fun and curious contradictions I can’t help but point out.  Let’s talk about this gun control thing:

Here’s a gun control protest from a North Philidelphia group called Heeding God’s Call.  God’s Call seems to now be focused on taking the guns out of the hands of regular people who he has deemed too stupid to own a firearm - or maybe it’s self-fulfilling prophecy.  Perhaps we are due for an end-of-the-world Revelation like apocalypse, starting with giving exclusive authority to carry firearms to militarism, thugs, religious regimes, and authority figures with Barack Obama at the helm.  The best was this quote from the one of the protesters who refused to leave the gun store:

One of the protesters, Melissa DeLong, 28, of Camden, said: “I’d rather leave in a [police] wagon than see one more child in a coffin.”

I don’t like to see children in coffins, either.  But perhaps you should protest funeral parlors next time.  Or you can pray.  Or something TOTALLY unheard of, like teaching firearm safety to kids whose gun-handling resumes only include Halo 3, Doom, and Half-Life.

I must also point out that millions of people take their children once a week voluntarily to a building whose predominate symbol is a Roman torture device and central focus is a message of blood and torture that is glorified.  It all seems so masochistic.  My point is - can’t we do more for our children?  Can’t we teach them more about how we are very close to finding life on Mars, or how we have found ways to map the human genome, or even just foster their imagination?