Thursday, August 04, 2016

Worse Than Hitler


Worse Than Hitler


Shit stinks.

I mean ‘shit’ in the fecal sense of the word. Actual shit.

This is not a metaphor nor euphemism, though I don’t understand how it could even be the latter.

When something reeks, people tend to say, 'Good gullivers, that smells like shit'. In our minds, shit is the worst-smelling of all things, so we immediately liken a horrible scent to it.

Gym socks, dumpsters, weird uncles. Shit, shit, shit.

“But what does shit have to do with Hitler?”

Great question. Thanks for asking.

Comedian Bill Burr did a stand-up bit about how bad people are immediately compared to (Adolf) Hitler.

For instance, 'That loud orange guy is so crazy and dangerous, he could be the next Hitler.'

However, as Burr also pointed out, Hitler was not the worst guy ever. Nor is shit the worst-smelling substance ever. (Have you encountered a durian fruit or a Lesser Anteater?)

*For your convenience*, I have compiled a list of people who were worse than or at least as evil as Hitler.

Some of these baddies may not be statistically worse than him, but they were downright awful so feel free to call people these names sometimes just to mix things up.

(I will return to ‘the S word’ later and it will probably make even less sense.)

Pope Urban II (c. 1042 - 1099)

Yes, a pope.

This guy is credited with initiating the Crusades- eight “holy wars” covering almost 200 years.

Instead of kindly asking Muslims in Europe to vacate the continent, Urby gave an order to redecorate everything with their blood instead.

His direct campaign killed about 200,000 people, which pales in comparison to Adolf, but think about the seven subsequent Crusades and everything similar that followed.

The Spanish Inquisition comes to mind.

(Did you expect that?)

So yes, at least one Roman Catholic pope was as bad as Hitler.

Vlad The Impaler (1431 - 1476)

When an opposing army showed up to overtake Vlad's territory, they would find their own soldiers (from a previous raid) rotting on stakes shoved through their bodies.

This much is factual about Prince Vlad but he has been accused of many other evil things, such as boiling people, skinning them alive, and dining among his (still living) impaled victims. It has even been said he washed his hands with and/or dipped his food in their blood, possibly feeding it to them as well.

Imagine eating food that was dipped in your own blood while a piece of wood is through your body.

If even half of these things are true, Vlad deserves a spot near Hitler out of sheer brutality.

Also, he was Bram Stoker's inspiration for his blood-sucking character Count Dracula.

To give him some undeserving credit, we may never have eaten Count Chocula cereal without Vlad The Impaler.

(Worth it?)

Mary Tudor (1516 - 1558)

Though the breakfast cocktail was named for her and not the other way around, Bloody Mary was the only surviving child of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine Of Aragon.

After a long struggle to attain the English throne, which included plenty of violence and proving she was not a child of incest, Mary declared all Protestants to be heretics.

She then ordered the burning of over 300 of them because whatever Protestants believe did not jive with whatever she believed.

Her untimely death from influenza and/or cancer left the throne to her half-sister, Elizabeth I, who was much less violent, but supposedly never engaged in the act of intercourse.

Ivan The Terrible (1530 - 1584)

Unlike his grandfather, Ivan The Great, who was great, Ivan The Terrible was terrible.

Russia's first tsar was paranoid and prone to such things as killing his own son and beating his pregnant wife.

Not just terrible by personal actions, Ivan led Russia into a downward spiral that lasted for 100 years, until Peter The Great (greater than Ivan The Great?) came to power.

Maybe this guy wasn't so bad but he will forever be known as 'The Terrible' so he had to be included here.

Josef Stalin (1878 - 1953)

Have you heard of the KGB? How about Gulags? Both symbols of Russian brutality are credited to Stalin.

Hitler's partner-in-moustache changed his original surname to the Russian word meaning man of steel. Unlike Superman, however, Joe decided to kill his country’s residents via massive starvation and execute people who disagreed with him, which led to tens of millions of deaths.

He enjoyed rewriting History and even changed the date and year of his birth.

His inter- and intra-country wars also did a lot of damage to Russia financially and geographically.

Some people you would probably not want to have over for dinner herald Stalin as a hero, but most do not really care for his methods and massacres. Even all the places he had named after himself have been retitled as part of de-Stalinization.

Mao Tse-tung (1893 - 1976)

A close ally of Stalin, Chairman Mao turned a struggling China into a hefty world power.

Unfortunately, he also oversaw tens of millions of deaths along the way.

Torture and murder were nothing to Mao, who killed 30-40 million people by starvation. Millions of others perished in the harsh conditions of his labor camps.

In addition to these atrocities, Mao did horrible things to his vilest enemies- educators. He had his soldiers round up teachers en masse to beat, kill, and sometimes even eat them.

Dude was bad news but is still generally honored within the Chinese Communist Party.

Pol Pot (1925 - 1998)

A big fan of the previous guy, this Cambodian dictator and I share a similar philosophy- that money should be outlawed and modern things are evil and should be destroyed.

One topic on which Potty and I would disagree is respecting differing opinions and ways of life. I tend to not interfere when folks want to do as they please.

Pol Pot, on the other hand, ordered anyone who refused to leave the cities for farm life to be tortured and/or killed. Many of those who did leave the cities were forcibly worked to death.

Oh yeah, and his troops put landmines all over the country, which still get stepped on to this day.

Look up the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge regime for more.

Albert Fish (1870 - 1936)

This guy admitted to raping/torturing/murdering over 100 children, though only a few were actually linked to him.

One certain victim was named Grace Budd.

Alby earned the trust of Grace’s family then tricked them into letting her accompany him to a non-existent birthday party. Instead of a fun time, Fish took Grace to an empty house, got naked for some reason, strangled the girl, then cut her up and cooked her in various ways.

As if that was not gruesome enough, he wrote a detailed letter to the Budds describing what he had done.

He did, however, assure them ‘She died a virgin’, which the family must have been comforted by even though there is no way its minimal amount of relief could have possibly comforted them.

The next time someone is awful, call that person a Fish or a Pol. It may not make them less-horrible but it will confuse them and that in itself is always a victory.

This complete lack of a segue brings me back to shit.

Did you know that not everyone wipes their asses the way you do?

Years back, a friend walked in on another friend in the bathroom, who was wiping his rear while purposely standing up. The first friend ran to report the news to the rest of us.

Half, including myself, were appalled. In no way had we ever thought of a butt-wiping technique other than leaning slightly.

But the other half was just as shocked at us, having never considered a method that did not involve performing a squat.

And maybe there are other ways out there that are just waiting to be discovered.

The point is that some people commit mass genocide and others wipe their asses while standing. If there is a correlation, I have not found it. Somebody do a study.

Before you criticize these freaks of Nature, consider that they actually believe their inexcusable acts are good. Try not to jump to judgement.

In closing, rising off the toilet to wipe or rising in power to kill everyone is basically the same shit.

Once more, shit.

 

Monday, May 16, 2016

A Visit To The Creation Museum

A Visit To The Creation Museum


In March of 2016, I was fortunate enough to find myself in the exotic land of northern Kentucky, where I happened upon the Creation Museum in Petersburg.

Run by the Answers In Genesis Ministry, this place promotes the idea that everything in the Bible's first book truly and actually and genuinely happened.

An Australian named Ken Ham is the president of AiG, a group of Young Earth Christian Creationist Apologists. (I had to look it up, too.) He founded the Creation Museum because "AiG's main thrust is on Biblical authority. Believing in a relatively young Earth is a consequence of accepting the word of God as an infallible revelation from our Creator." He also wants to “proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ effectively”, which is curious since Jesus does not appear until well after the book of Genesis.

The museum itself is very well-done: big, clean, and thorough. It is on a large plot of land with statues of dinosaurs everywhere, because this place loves dinosaurs. A focal point of the museum is how the Bible mentions dinosaurs and humans co-existing even though the book does not mention that and the two animals were separated by tens of millions of years.

Skepticism aside, I went into this visit with an open mind to find out how another culture experiences world.

This, for me, was certainly unfamiliar territory.

Before entering, make sure you really want to see the museum because the entrance fee was $40 for an adult younger than 60. Because of inflation and/or greed, the current admission charge is $56.99 before taxes.

Included with admission are a self-guided walk-through of the museum, two short films, some of their presentations, a visit to the insectorium, and access to the petting zoo and botanical garden. You will also get the privilege of taking their survey afterwards.

(If these things seem completely unnecessary for a place dedicated to Biblical teaching, they are.)

Not included with admission but for nominal fees, you can enjoy short films at the planetarium, the other presentations, camel rides at the petting zoo, mining for gemstones, zip-lining, a free-fall ride, grub at Noah's Café, goodies at the extensive multi-level gift shop, and/or a souvenir picture taken as you enter (which was not offered to me).

Also, since God would want you to pay for parking, that is another $10.

Upon entry, I was treated to two immediate gifts of goodness.

While paying my entrance fee, the man next to me was asked for his zip code. Apparently from Outing, Minnesota, he uncomfortably said, "5-6……..6……..6-2."

56662. The zip code of the beast.

He was so hesitant to say the middle of his zip code I thought he was going to pass out.

My second brush with luck came when the cashier told me a presentation called Dinosaurs And The Bible was beginning in five minutes. No way was I going to miss that!

Hosted by "former public school teacher" Bryan Osborne, this hour-long production taught all about two dino-topics: 1) That dinosaurs lived peacefully with early humans, and 2) That dinosaurs did not evolve into birds or anything else because the theory of Evolution is evil and must be destroyed.

(For those interested, here is an article describing the difference between a common theory and a scientific theory.)

Within itself, his argument was surprisingly sound. The ideas flowed together nicely and his PowerPoint images were spot-on.

However, should you dare to be inquisitive, you might look as dumb as the star of this anecdote that was shared during the presentation:

'A farmer was on the side of the road when he saw a cow giving birth. While watching, a city guy stopped and watched with him. The calf was halfway out. The city guy asked the farmer how fast the calf must have been running to get stuck in the cow like that.'

You see, the city guy was foolish because he assumed the calf had run directly into the cow’s backside-- something that, according to Osborne, lots of people would think.

Also, the host called anyone who has ever enjoyed Jurassic Park a heathen.

Littered with auditory gems, this presentation had me skipping down the hallway thirsty for more.

The first thing I saw was a sign displaying The 7 C's In God's Eternal Plan- Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation. The first four were elaborately shown and described during the walk-through while the last three were detailed in a short video at the end of the journey.

If space and/or money had run out, it would seem Ken Ham was not as good of a planner as God. (Or maybe that was the point!)

My adventure continued with two mannequin archaeologists arguing over the age of an uncovered fossil.

One said millions of years while the other argued just thousands, dating the dinosaur (I told you this place loves dinosaurs) back to the time of the Great Flood. A video playing next to this diorama showed an actor portraying the first guy recanting his initial idea and accepting the finding of the actor playing the other guy. (I was confused too.)

A series of signs pitting Creationism against Science eventually led to a horrifying display of our current world, which is in ruins. Through pictures, videos, and loud noises, I saw that sin is everywhere. Graffiti covered the walls, pictures showed mostly non-white people holding guns, and all sorts of abortions were happening. Homosexuals in love were getting married and people in terminal pain were ending their lives with dignity.

Human sacrifice. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!!!

The mannequin of a teen-aged boy even smoked a marijuana cigarette while playing video games and searching the internet for pornography. I can barely do one of those things at a time so this kid clearly must have sold his soul for some evil, magical power.

This Corridor Of Despair (actual name) ended with a walk through the Time Tunnel, a small hallway which was completely dark except for some faint lights in the ceiling.

What? But why? This place was no fan of such questions.

The Garden Of Eden diorama was quite vast. There were several depictions of Adam and Eve doing everyday tasks like picking berries and hanging out with dinosaurs. Everything was peaceful in an awkwardly perfect way. It reminded me of Toon Town, only it wasn't the greatest thing ever.

The dinosaurs were mostly raptor-like, which was odd since seeing Jurassic Park had already been condemned.

Other animals in the garden included giraffes, bears, and penguins. Yes, together. Just as it is now, climate change was imaginary in the Garden Of Eden, so all these animals could easily live together in one ecosystem.

The biggest surprise of my visit was not how often Darwin’s scientific theory of Evolution was “discredited”, but how something called “quick evolution” was very real. According to that non-scientific theory, God created one "kind" of each animal, which led to diversity such as domesticated dogs, wolves, coyotes, and hyenas.

What was odd about the diorama was that the “ancient” animals looked strikingly similar to their current forms, except the wooly mammoth, whose current form is less-wooly and more-skeletal.

When this visit happened, I was admittedly ignorant to the idea that the Garden Of Eden was intended to be a perfect Paradise, free from death and disease and gay marriage, with all living things being vegetarians because plants are not living things.

This utopia was shattered when a talking reptile convinced Adam and Eve to eat fruit from the one forbidden tree in the entire garden, which led to all the horrible things I listed earlier. Plus, this is apparently why childbirth can be so excruciating.

(For a fun exercise, ponder why God was able to create Adam without any base tools but needed one of his bones to make Eve.)

The exhibit about Noah and the Great Flood was the most in-depth. It even featured an animatronic Noah who answered all my questions that the museum had already programmed for me. There was also a really-real-life-sized part of the Ark and a piece stating that Noah and his small family could certainly have built the multi-level city-sized Ark by themselves, though they were wealthy so they may have convinced others to help them.

That version of Noah was kind of a dick, huh?

'Hey, a huge flood will soon eliminate all life except for what I bring on an enormous boat. If you help us build it, I will not let you on the ship but I will give you a bunch of money which will be worth nothing because the planet will be covered in water. So yeah, want to help?'

Trickery and bribery seem sinful to me, but I would accept this idea over Darren Aronofsky's weird rock monsters.

For those of you thirsty for as much Noah as possible, The Ark Encounter was completed using taxpayer money in Williamstown, conveniently located 45 minutes from the Creation Museum. The building is a full replica of the Ark as Noah built it, complete with cubits and everything.

A combination a ticket to both places can save you almost four dollars, excluding tax and parking, of course.

If my words have not been descriptive enough for you, here is a string of images from the Creation Museum. I realize I did not take nearly enough pictures but you can see more for yourself if you visit…

















What troubled me most about the Creation Museum was not its message or beliefs but how it specifically contrasted Science at every opportunity.

Similar museums about a culture's history present their beliefs without arguing against others. 'Our ancestors thought the Sun was a god and all animals were born from trees.'

Great! Thanks for sharing!

But Answers In Genesis has made such effort to discredit Evolutionary thinking that they really seemed to be grasping at straws out of insecurity. I have no problem with anyone's belief system but to baselessly present it as factual while attacking just one other method seems wrong.

And why only attack Science? The Vikings believed a massive collision of fire and ice created the world. Hindus believe their three gods have always created, maintained, and destroyed the Universe in repetitive cycles. The Hopi believe one Creator made nine Universes and a Spider Woman created all life with her saliva.

I assume AiG would have problems with these beliefs as well but they were not explicitly attacked in the Creation Museum.

(One could argue that these belief systems are not commonly taught in American schools (which is a shame) but Evolution is.)

The critical truth is nobody knows how something came from nothing. I have (mostly) stopped trying to figure it out but I enjoy learning about what different groups of people think happened. Believe what you want but stop short of forcing it on others.

If you choose to, as people have been doing for a very long time, it can only lead to the ultimate C…