Or as the I Ching advises, ‘the best way to fight evil is to make energetic progress in the good. ‘ but I enjoy being overly polite to people I don’t like for the sole purpose of annoying them
The nicest US president ever died a couple days ago, Jimmy Carter. Widely despised for being such a nice guy, and trying so hard to do good, especially because he acted like that’s how Christians like him should do. Christians across the nation pooled their resources to replace him with Ronald Reagan, who knew the value of negative partisanship.
Just curious, Author. Do you get requests for product NONplacement? I mean, is Guiness content to see their product not-so-cryptically placed in your rather iconoclastic web comic? Or is it just that they don’t know to whom they can complain?
You know, Author, you could turn product NONplacement into a lucrative sideline, somewhat like “Marie the Nuisance fl. 1340”, whom tavern-goers paid to NOT play her bagpipes at them. And OK, she’s unlikely to have existed as depicted in the meme, but hey – take inspiration where you find it.
By the way, I’d enjoy being driven crazy by decent behaviour (Peace, Tolerance, Love, & Humility) among those who traditionally don’t.
Donn Cave, your point is well taken and gives one pause. Jimmy Carter represented much of what is good in Christianity, giving aid and comfort to those less fortunate. The face of Christian culture in the United State today is very different. That face is Donald Trump, a serial sex offender, convicted felon and compulsive liar; the hero of Catholics and evangelical Christians everywhere
Religion is just a political gambit to suppress the sheep. Wasn’t it Marx who said that it was the opium of the people? Most people are morons…an unfortinate but true assesment from an optimistic pessimiist view of the status quo…
The rest of that thought about Carter — I wondered if his downfall was exactly his Christian belief.
I mean, holding all else as equal as reasonably possible. I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable that an atheist could have and practice more or less the same virtues, but Carter would then run off about the mouth about his faith etc. (Of course I’m not talking about an out-of-the closet professed atheist, just the usual politician who claims to believe but really doesn’t give it much thought.)
Honestly, half a century ago, I don’t remember much, but that’s my theory: Jimmy Carter’s Christian faith itself was a big turn-off for everyone, including Christians. They’ll never vote for a presidential candidate who doesn’t profess to be Christian, but insincerity is not just taken for granted, it’s more or less required. The only good saint is a dead saint.
Donn Cave:
“The nicest US president ever”
.. depends whom youare asking.
HE was the pres that gave LOTS of modern weaponry to the Mujahedeen to “fight the Russians”. One faction turned taliban.
Now ask the Afghan females how that turned out (if they are even allowed to answer)
We have always had this moral ambiguity, I think fundamentally between intra-tribe and inter-tribe standards of behavior. Nice people define tribe broadly, and have generous standards of behavior, but everyone has limits. Even the pope.
There’s also a difference between having good intentions and getting good outcomes. In a piece I saw on Carter’s White House solar panels, Reagan gets beat up a little for letting them get taken off, but also a note that his fossil fuel tack played a large role in bring down the Soviet Union, which lost funding when oil went down to $20 a barrel. Does that make Reagan a saint? Hardly.
Even the pope? Eh. Whats so special about him except his willfull ignorance and thirst for power and as many nubile young nuns or choirboys to satisfy his thirst one way or the other.
@M27Holts
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”
Karl Marx’s comment about religion is regularly taken out of context and thus misunderstood. His point was that religion is an attempt to relieve the suffering caused by an inequitable social system: People need religion to relieve the existential pain of an unfair social system, as people need opiates to relieve physical pain. In both cases, it would be better to not have the pain.
To quote Wikipedia:
According to Marx, religion in this world of exploitation is an expression of distress and at the same time it is also a protest against the real distress. In other words, religion continues to survive because of oppressive social conditions. When this oppressive and exploitative condition is destroyed, religion will become unnecessary. At the same time, Marx saw religion as a form of protest by the working classes against their poor economic conditions and their alienation.
I gather Marx didn’t care much for social anthropology, which I think is the field of study that would have presented him with considerable evidence of religion in every kind of society.
Not that I’m saying because it’s commonplace, therefore it’s natural, and because it’s natural, therefore it’s wholesome. Bunk is bunk.
It seems to me that in all these societies, there will be many whose religion is rather passive, probably more of them than the real believers. Here in Portugal one is naturally Catholic – I mean, obviously I am not, and there are plenty born here who overtly disbelieve, but on the whole, there’s no real reason to make a fuss about it. But one of my neighbors, very into it … and I guess maybe necessarily, as her woes are more than average. So Marx is right to an extent, but wrong in the end, because there will always be unhappy people and they will always keep buying the faith product.
I think that Marx viewed religion as benign, and rather ignored the harm that it can do – and totally ignored how it is socially conservative and was used to keep people in their “place”… A tool of the oppressor as much as a salve for the oppressed (as M27Holts says, “a political gambit to suppress the sheep”).
The current PM is trying to distance himself from his past record of defending Islamic child sex grooming practices. Cultural relativism has a lot to answer for, then and even more now. Since the Southport attacks were blatantly islamic in origin, but the police were too frightened to point the finger at Mo…thus the riots, when people realise that Islamic nutters are free to butcher young girls and the police and religious apologists are as much to blame…
Musk has suggested that the US should liberate the UK from its “tyrannical government”. He has accused Starmer of being “complicit in mass rape in exchange for votes”, has called Jess Phillips a “rape genocide apologist”, has repeatedly supported the far-right Tommy Robinson, and said that “civil war is inevitable,” in the UK.
Not a person or a platform that one should be giving the oxygen of publicity to, as far as I am concerned.
@epeeist
Has Musk always been such a right-wing cockwomble?
You’ve got to wonder whether he believes any of the shite he’s been coming out with, or whether it’s him showing how untouchable he is.
Even Farage distances himself from Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (PS I refuse to use his assumed name)… And when someone makes Farage look almost reasonable… Yikes!
Well, it looks as if America’s light shines even across the Atlantic. Imagine what it must be like for Americans who await the accession of this demented regime. I assume it’s possible to ignore it, if you don’t live there. But, you know, anointed by God; what can you do?
Donn Cave, I will wait, patiently, while those ignoramuses drive their muscle car into the ditch. It may be the post-truth era, but there will be consequences. Beyond the pail. https://youtu.be/aczPDGC3f8U
@arbeyu: “Has Musk always been such a right-wing cockwomble?”
Musk apparently sees himself as a moderate, albeit one who supports Reform, the AfD, has mocked transgender and nonbinary people, wants Anthony Fauci prosecuted, has reinstated people such as Roger Stone and “Tommy Robinson” on X/Twitter…
Proof? The southport child murderer was found to have Al Kaida materials and Ricin? Also he walks a distance to attack non muslim little girls and women with no sexual motive at all. If he was a mentalist he would have first butchered his family then attacked random people in the street….suppose he might have been a right wing neo nazi, trying to give muslims a bad name, but I think that may have be trying to pretend that any muslim who thinks that the koran IS THE WORD of god isn’t dangerous…
“The southport child murderer was found to have Al Kaida materials and Ricin?”
Citation required
“suppose he might have been a right wing neo nazi, trying to give muslims a bad name”
He was born in Cardiff, and is a British citizen. Axel Rudakubana was described by neighbours as a “quiet choir boy” who comes from a family that regularly attends a Christian church.
He has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. All of this is in the public domain.
Not an immigrant, didn’t come to the UK in a small boat, not a Muslim.
And if he was a dangerous mentally ill nutter, why didn’t he kill his parents or random people? He was acting under orders as an al kaida operative is a reasonable hypothesis? Is it not?
Epeeest.Strange how you easily found the data that supports your pro muslim stance. But struggled to find the facts that the geezer was charged under the terrorism act?
Jesus & Mo (the characters) are absurd, blinkered, and oddly very sweet. J&M (the cartoon) is brilliant: sharp, delicious, irresistible. Salman Rushdie
Jesus and Mo cartoons are wonderfully funny and true. Richard Dawkins
Jesus and Mo make the world a better place, bless their little hearts. Ophelia Benson
In a world defined by outrage and offence and liberal spinelessness, Jesus and Mo is a treasure, whose value we should never fail to recognize. Read them. Laugh. And think. Kenan Malik
The brilliant, celebrated, freaking hilarious atheist comic strip ... Greta Christina
...rays of sanity in a befuddled world. Keri Hulme
The liveliest depictions of Muhammad currently available... Malise Ruthven
J & Mo is the funniest and most consistently thought-provoking cartoon strip on the Net. In a saner world, it would run in a major newspaper. Nelson Jones, Heresy Corner
Consistently amusing, frequently thought-provoking and often heart-warming. New Humanist
Jesus & Mo is one of the most wonderful things on the internet.. JT Eberhard
Wittily captures much of the absurdity of religious apologetics. Mano Singham
I love jesusandmo.net cartoons - witty and sharp! Katha Pollitt
Often hilarious, frequently wry, these cartoons do what all the best cartoons do: they tell the truth through humour. Terry Sanderson, NSS President
...a wonderfully acid British cartoonist... Nick Cohen
I love the scrappy mockery of Jesus and Mo. Freedom of speech
includes the freedom to mock any person, any thing, any activity, and
any belief -- and J&M stands up for this unflinchingly Richard Stallman
...empowering, important and deeply progressive, not to mention hilarious... Council of Ex-Muslims
October 2, 2024
I just used Author ‘s link to read this guy. Good stuff! Thanks Author!
Or as the I Ching advises, ‘the best way to fight evil is to make energetic progress in the good. ‘ but I enjoy being overly polite to people I don’t like for the sole purpose of annoying them
The nicest US president ever died a couple days ago, Jimmy Carter. Widely despised for being such a nice guy, and trying so hard to do good, especially because he acted like that’s how Christians like him should do. Christians across the nation pooled their resources to replace him with Ronald Reagan, who knew the value of negative partisanship.
Just curious, Author. Do you get requests for product NONplacement? I mean, is Guiness content to see their product not-so-cryptically placed in your rather iconoclastic web comic? Or is it just that they don’t know to whom they can complain?
Tebirkes, I don’t think they know about it.
I am sure that Guiness would be absolutely delighted to discover their product in a comic that mocks religion and shows Mohammed drinking alcohol.
Sure, there are but few religious sorts there, I expect?
8^}
You know, Author, you could turn product NONplacement into a lucrative sideline, somewhat like “Marie the Nuisance fl. 1340”, whom tavern-goers paid to NOT play her bagpipes at them. And OK, she’s unlikely to have existed as depicted in the meme, but hey – take inspiration where you find it.
By the way, I’d enjoy being driven crazy by decent behaviour (Peace, Tolerance, Love, & Humility) among those who traditionally don’t.
Donn Cave, your point is well taken and gives one pause. Jimmy Carter represented much of what is good in Christianity, giving aid and comfort to those less fortunate. The face of Christian culture in the United State today is very different. That face is Donald Trump, a serial sex offender, convicted felon and compulsive liar; the hero of Catholics and evangelical Christians everywhere
Religion is just a political gambit to suppress the sheep. Wasn’t it Marx who said that it was the opium of the people? Most people are morons…an unfortinate but true assesment from an optimistic pessimiist view of the status quo…
The rest of that thought about Carter — I wondered if his downfall was exactly his Christian belief.
I mean, holding all else as equal as reasonably possible. I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable that an atheist could have and practice more or less the same virtues, but Carter would then run off about the mouth about his faith etc. (Of course I’m not talking about an out-of-the closet professed atheist, just the usual politician who claims to believe but really doesn’t give it much thought.)
Honestly, half a century ago, I don’t remember much, but that’s my theory: Jimmy Carter’s Christian faith itself was a big turn-off for everyone, including Christians. They’ll never vote for a presidential candidate who doesn’t profess to be Christian, but insincerity is not just taken for granted, it’s more or less required. The only good saint is a dead saint.
Donn Cave:
“The nicest US president ever”
.. depends whom youare asking.
HE was the pres that gave LOTS of modern weaponry to the Mujahedeen to “fight the Russians”. One faction turned taliban.
Now ask the Afghan females how that turned out (if they are even allowed to answer)
We have always had this moral ambiguity, I think fundamentally between intra-tribe and inter-tribe standards of behavior. Nice people define tribe broadly, and have generous standards of behavior, but everyone has limits. Even the pope.
There’s also a difference between having good intentions and getting good outcomes. In a piece I saw on Carter’s White House solar panels, Reagan gets beat up a little for letting them get taken off, but also a note that his fossil fuel tack played a large role in bring down the Soviet Union, which lost funding when oil went down to $20 a barrel. Does that make Reagan a saint? Hardly.
Even the pope? Eh. Whats so special about him except his willfull ignorance and thirst for power and as many nubile young nuns or choirboys to satisfy his thirst one way or the other.
@M27Holts
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”
Karl Marx’s comment about religion is regularly taken out of context and thus misunderstood. His point was that religion is an attempt to relieve the suffering caused by an inequitable social system: People need religion to relieve the existential pain of an unfair social system, as people need opiates to relieve physical pain. In both cases, it would be better to not have the pain.
To quote Wikipedia:
According to Marx, religion in this world of exploitation is an expression of distress and at the same time it is also a protest against the real distress. In other words, religion continues to survive because of oppressive social conditions. When this oppressive and exploitative condition is destroyed, religion will become unnecessary. At the same time, Marx saw religion as a form of protest by the working classes against their poor economic conditions and their alienation.
I gather Marx didn’t care much for social anthropology, which I think is the field of study that would have presented him with considerable evidence of religion in every kind of society.
Not that I’m saying because it’s commonplace, therefore it’s natural, and because it’s natural, therefore it’s wholesome. Bunk is bunk.
It seems to me that in all these societies, there will be many whose religion is rather passive, probably more of them than the real believers. Here in Portugal one is naturally Catholic – I mean, obviously I am not, and there are plenty born here who overtly disbelieve, but on the whole, there’s no real reason to make a fuss about it. But one of my neighbors, very into it … and I guess maybe necessarily, as her woes are more than average. So Marx is right to an extent, but wrong in the end, because there will always be unhappy people and they will always keep buying the faith product.
What’s important is to keep them out of politics.
Please don’t link to material on the platform owned by Melon Husk
I think that Marx viewed religion as benign, and rather ignored the harm that it can do – and totally ignored how it is socially conservative and was used to keep people in their “place”… A tool of the oppressor as much as a salve for the oppressed (as M27Holts says, “a political gambit to suppress the sheep”).
The current PM is trying to distance himself from his past record of defending Islamic child sex grooming practices. Cultural relativism has a lot to answer for, then and even more now. Since the Southport attacks were blatantly islamic in origin, but the police were too frightened to point the finger at Mo…thus the riots, when people realise that Islamic nutters are free to butcher young girls and the police and religious apologists are as much to blame…
“The current PM is trying to distance himself from his past record of defending Islamic child sex grooming practices.”
Really? Got evidence?
“Since the Southport attacks were blatantly islamic in origin”
Blatantly? Got evidence?
If anything, the violence in the Southport riots were instigated by far-right, anti-Muslim extremists – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr56g4v28g7o
“Please don’t link to material on the platform owned by Melon Husk”
The Link Police have arrived!
“The Link Police have arrived!”
Musk has suggested that the US should liberate the UK from its “tyrannical government”. He has accused Starmer of being “complicit in mass rape in exchange for votes”, has called Jess Phillips a “rape genocide apologist”, has repeatedly supported the far-right Tommy Robinson, and said that “civil war is inevitable,” in the UK.
Not a person or a platform that one should be giving the oxygen of publicity to, as far as I am concerned.
@epeeist
Has Musk always been such a right-wing cockwomble?
You’ve got to wonder whether he believes any of the shite he’s been coming out with, or whether it’s him showing how untouchable he is.
Even Farage distances himself from Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (PS I refuse to use his assumed name)… And when someone makes Farage look almost reasonable… Yikes!
Well, it looks as if America’s light shines even across the Atlantic. Imagine what it must be like for Americans who await the accession of this demented regime. I assume it’s possible to ignore it, if you don’t live there. But, you know, anointed by God; what can you do?
Donn Cave, I will wait, patiently, while those ignoramuses drive their muscle car into the ditch. It may be the post-truth era, but there will be consequences. Beyond the pail. https://youtu.be/aczPDGC3f8U
@Donn Cave:
“I assume it’s possible to ignore it, if you don’t live there.”
Providing you don’t live in Canada, Panama or Greenland
@arbeyu: “Has Musk always been such a right-wing cockwomble?”
Musk apparently sees himself as a moderate, albeit one who supports Reform, the AfD, has mocked transgender and nonbinary people, wants Anthony Fauci prosecuted, has reinstated people such as Roger Stone and “Tommy Robinson” on X/Twitter…
What’s God’s plan for Canada, Panama and Greenland? That’s what you have to ask.
Proof? The southport child murderer was found to have Al Kaida materials and Ricin? Also he walks a distance to attack non muslim little girls and women with no sexual motive at all. If he was a mentalist he would have first butchered his family then attacked random people in the street….suppose he might have been a right wing neo nazi, trying to give muslims a bad name, but I think that may have be trying to pretend that any muslim who thinks that the koran IS THE WORD of god isn’t dangerous…
“The southport child murderer was found to have Al Kaida materials and Ricin?”
Citation required
“suppose he might have been a right wing neo nazi, trying to give muslims a bad name”
He was born in Cardiff, and is a British citizen. Axel Rudakubana was described by neighbours as a “quiet choir boy” who comes from a family that regularly attends a Christian church.
He has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. All of this is in the public domain.
Not an immigrant, didn’t come to the UK in a small boat, not a Muslim.
He’s also on Bluesky @gurwinder.bsky.social if, like sensible people, you want to avoid the toxicity of Xitter.
So a person who pretends to be a christian can’t really be a deciple of Mo?
And if he was a dangerous mentally ill nutter, why didn’t he kill his parents or random people? He was acting under orders as an al kaida operative is a reasonable hypothesis? Is it not?
Epeeest.Strange how you easily found the data that supports your pro muslim stance. But struggled to find the facts that the geezer was charged under the terrorism act?