'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
The DaVinci Code
By Baron Dave Romm
Very little of this essay hasn't been said before, but I'm going to try to connect a few dots.
Christianity can be seen as the last vestiges of the Roman Empire. And the Roman Empire got most of their mythos from the Greeks, who borrowed heavily from the Egyptians. Yehoshua bar Yoseph was never called Jesus Christ to his face. He probably wouldn't have answered to languages he didn't understand. The current usage is from the Latin Jesus and Greek Christ. A better English translation of a name he might recognize would be "Joshua the Messiah". (Messiah and Christ don't mean quite the same thing; a different essay) The major symbol of Christianity is related to the major symbol of Egyptian religions.
 |
 |
| Interpretation: | |
| Life | Death |
| Mystical Interpretation: | |
| Birth, Rebirth | Death, Rebirth |
| Derivation of Symbol: | |
| Womb Sun, Heavens, Eternity Sandal strap Supernova | Jesus being tortured
to death Christ suffering for rest of humanity |
| Sexual politics: | |
| Women are the bringer of life, and female gods are as powerful and as important as male gods. | Women have their place, but G-d is male and the Trinity does not have a specifically female aspect: Father, Son, Holy Ghost |
Aside: Aldous Huxley made the next step in the 1932 science fiction novel Brave New World, where the religious symbol was a "T", standing for the assembly line of the Ford Model T. The "T" is easy to adapt from the Christian cross: simply cut off the top.
In The DaVinci Code, author Dan Brown brilliantly shifts the debate away from religion and onto sexual politics. Let's look at Dan Brown's major point: That Christianity -- or people acting in the name of the long-dead Jesus -- brutally suppressed women. Why would anyone do anything so heinous, especially people acting in the name of The G-d of Love? The same reason anybody does anything: To get laid. Oh, and for the money and power. But mostly to get laid.
Judaism is a melding of the culture and religion of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Both had major female dieties and tended to treat women well -- highborn women, anyway. Judaism was even better, and a marriage was a union of soul mates. Women could divorce men (though legally what happened was that the woman forced the man into a get; if he didn't grant a get, he could be imprisoned and suffer other punishments) for a variety of reasons, including physical abuse. Ancient Hebrew, as well as Modern Hebrew have no neuter gender, only masculine and feminine. Although Judaism uses masculine words to describe God, Judaism maintains that God has no gender. A balance was undertaken where God would be referred to in a masculine role, the majority of objects related to worship in Judaism such as the Torah would be referred to in the feminine gender. Judaism was well ahead of it's time in the treatment of women. Unfortunately, it's time was 4000 years ago.
The Roman Empire was a very male-dominated, right-handed, militaristic Empire. The guys ruled. They killed entire populations who didn't send them tribute. For the soldiers: war in the provinces, then come home for one giant frat party: Toga parties galore! And Vomitoriums! A pantheon with important female gods would get in the way of the bluster. Women were around, and important, but as wives and prostitutes. The female Roman gods were either wives first or virgin warriors. Lots of Fertility goddesses, natch, but where the Greeks has Gaea as the Mother of All Things, the Romans relegated her counterpart to lesser status.
Back to The DaVinci Code: One of the assertions Brown makes is that the decision to make Jesus divine (and not a man) was during the Council of Nicea called by the Roman Emperor Constantine. This council certainly affirmed the credo strongly, and with the political backing of the Emperor (who wasn't Christian at the time). Brown's critics love to point out that, they claim, this decision (revelation?) was made at earlier councils. Nonetheless, Brown's point is valid. Whether the final blow was at the Council of Nicea or earlier, the basic facts remain: The decision to make Jesus a G-d not a man was a political decision made many years after the event by people who weren't present.
A recap: Religion up through Judaism treated women better and better. In the Roman Empire, things got worse for women. In order to keep the peace in an ever-growing empire the Romans had to reconcile the different religious and political factions. They justified their male-dominated culture by borrowing from the rising Jewish cult of Christianity as well as Emperor Constantine's Sol Invictus sect. This blending of religions had minor effects, such as switching the Sabbath from the Jewish Friday evening-through-Saturday evening (based on the lines in Genesis, it was evening, it was morning, the first day) to the Sol Invictus "day of the Sun", Sunday; and major effects such as insisting on a Virgin Birth (that is, no sex for the woman) and claiming Yehoshua didn't enjoy the flesh of a loved woman or have children of his own.
Okay, fine: religious thought changed over the years. Not, in itself, a cause for alarm (unless, like me, you subscribe to one of the religions it changed from; we hope y'all return to that old time religion). The question raised in The DaVinci Code is: Will they kill people in the name of their G-d who specifically said love thine enemy? The Romans and Christians are hardly the first to slaughter whole peoples, or even the first to do it claiming the moral high ground as they consign themselves to hell. But that doesn't let them off the hook. A partial list of atrocities committed in the name of Christianity: Albegensian Crusade against the Cathars, The Inquisition, The Holocaust and genocide in Guatemala. A longer list here.
The next question from The DaVinci Code is: Did this barbarous treatment extend specifically to women. Their Inquisition against Jews and pagans and the Crusades against Muslims are well documented. But was half the population suppressed to keep one religion in power?
One of the rules about bureaucracies is: Beware when institutions create enemies only they can fight. The Inquisition did that: "The biggest threat to you is the enemy only we can recognize." That lives today while the NSA can wiretap anyone's phone and not have to justify doing so because merely to ask the question makes you suspect. "What have you got to hide?" The entire conservative Bush administration is built around inflating a real terrorist threat to Cold War nuclear threat levels, and insisting that anyone questioning their shady character is helping the enemy.
For Christians, the threat was and is, among many other things, women who wanted to be soul mates with their husbands and not be subservient. The theological justification for the oppression of women went through Thomas Aquinas, adopting Aristotle's view. Aquinas suggested that G-d made a mistake in creating women. That went tipped the balance further: It was okay to kill lesser creatures. The number that Brown gives, 50,000 women burned at the stake, seems low. Most start with the 50,000 number. Some sites claim up to four million witches were persecuted by the Church and burned at the stake in America and in Europe from 1100 to 1820. Most witch hunt history that I can dig up starts post-Aquinas. The records of earlier times are less complete, but the Witch Hunt Timeline makes some observations.
For the claim that the Christian Church has suppressed women to the point of killing huge numbers as heretics and pagans, the point goes to Dan Brown. The DaVinci Code is a work of fiction, but has struck a long-repressed nerve. Has Brown has uncovered relatively minor abuses of power or revealed a wholesale culture of death? I don't think Opus Dei or the Priori of Sion have much, ifanything, to do with the larger sweep of history, but I'm glad the issue is raised.
It should be noted that The Sacred Feminine doesn't mean that women are superior to men anymore than G-d the Father means that men are superior to women. As usual, the Sphincter Conservatives can only see the world in black and white. They should study the Yin-Yang symbol, where each opposite contains a piece of the other. Or they should finally read the words of Jesus without the prejudicial overlay of 2000 years of spin control. Really, what he said was very wise. I hope The DaVinci Code prompts more people to take a look at the actual words spoken and deeds done.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts being reworked. Recent radio programs can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air. --////
Reader Comment
Re: Vince Welnick
Hiya,
Read your page all the time.
I saw Carolyn Wonderland
at the Eureaka Springs blues fest last night. While checking her page I saw a couple of recordings of her with Vince Welnick. Thought it might interest you.
'Loser'
'Meet Me In The Morning'
BTW: Check out Carolyn's web page. Her talent is incredible and her politics are right on!
Rob
Thanks, Rob!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Kim Ficera: Don't Quote Me: Truth, Lies, and Textbooks (afterellen.com)
The debate over textbooks that include GLBT people is long overdue.
Karel: It's good to be mutant (advocate.com)
The movie X-Men: The Last Stand is all about whether "abnormal" people should be cured. Great! Cure the crazy fundamentalists, the greedy mega-SUV drivers, the liars and cheats. But leave my gayness alone, thanks. It's who I am.
Robert Urban: Taking the Homophobia Out of Hip-Hop: A Progress Report (afterelton.com)
Since the 1990's, Jamaican artists like Beenie Man, Tok and Buju Banton have released hit tunes with lyrics that, in addition to being blatantly anti-gay, also advise, and even instruct, listeners to kill gays. Another popular Jamaican artist, Elephant Man, declares in song, "When you hear a lesbian getting raped/ It's not our fault ... Two women in bed/ That's two Sodomites who should be dead." Another artist, Bounty Killer, beseeches listeners to burn "Mister Fagoty" and make him "wince in agony."
Sam Slovick: Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves (curvemag.com)
Sultry, sexy singer-songwriter Deborah Falconer; '80s girl icon and Go-Go's alum Charlotte Caffey; and the Indigo Girls' Amy Ray have a few things in common. They are all women who have asserted themselves in the music industry and thrived in that cutthroat world.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Sparring With the Almighty (beliefnet.com)
"In Auschwitz, there was a man in my block who traded in 10 portions of bread for a pair of tefillin that had been smuggled in. And we would all wake up at the crack of dawn to put on the tefillin. We didn't even have time to say the Shema, just the blessing itself. We knew we'd be beaten if we were caught. But we still never missed putting on the tefillin." -- Elie Wiesel
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: The Defiant Man of Faith (beliefnet.com)
The unique contribution of Judaism to world religion is a total rejection of a dejected and compliant religious posture in favor of a brash and audacious spirituality that is prepared to wrestle even with G-d in the face of seeming divine miscarriages of justice.
Ellen Leventry: Why Bad Things Happen (beliefnet.com)
How different religions view the reasons for undeserved human suffering.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
MAN ON THEE IMPOSSIBLE QUEST
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Not quite as hot, and I'm grateful.
No new flags.
Wedding Crashers Wins Big
2006 MTV Movie Awards
Jessica Alba hosted the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, known for taking a lighthearted look at the industry it honours.
The show is scheduled to air at 8:30 p.m. June 8 on MTV.
Best movie: Wedding Crashers
Performance: Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain
Comedic performance: Steve Carell, The 40-Year-Old Virgin
On-screen team: Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, Wedding Crashers
Villain: Hayden Christensen, Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith
Breakthrough performance: Isla Fisher, Wedding Crashers
Hero: Christian Bale, Batman Begins
Sexiest performance: Jessica Alba, Sin City
Fight: Angelina Jolie vs. Brad Pitt, Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Kiss: Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
Frightened performance: Jennifer Carpenter, The Exorcism of Emily Rose
mtvU student filmmaker award: Joshua Caldwell, A Beautiful Lie
Silver Bucket of Excellence: Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing
MTV Generation Award: Jim Carrey
2006 MTV Movie Awards
Pledges Support To Bush
Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke has pledged his support for US resident George W. Bush's controversial foreign policy in Iraq. The SIN CITY actor, who is famed for being for being outspoken, has come forward as one of the few stars to support the war on terror. The former boxer says, "George is doing a hell of a job during very difficult times, more power to him. Screw all them people who don't like him."
Mickey Rourke
Judge Allows Evidence
Pellicano Trial
A federal judge presiding over the trial of a private investigator accused of wiretapping Hollywood celebrities said prosecutors can use evidence gathered in a search of his offices.
FBI agents raided Anthony Pellicano's offices in 2002 and found illegal explosives. Authorities were investigating whether Pellicano hired a man to threaten a Los Angeles Times reporter working on a story about actor Steven Seagal and his possible links to the Mafia.
Pellicano's attorney Steven Gruel challenged the legality of the search, saying the raids amounted to a fishing expedition. FBI agents seized computers and numerous digital audio tapes that led to a 112-count indictment unsealed in February against Pellicano.
Pellicano Trial
Do It For Their Country
Australians
Australia is in the grip of a baby boom, figures showed on Friday, after the government urged couples to do their patriotic duty and "have one for your country".
Australia recorded 261,400 births in 2005, the highest number since 1992, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said, pushing the national population up to almost 20.5 million.
The baby boom came after Treasurer Peter Costello urged Australian couples two years ago to have more children, saying they should have "one for mum, one for dad and one for the country".
Australians
Another Show
Tom Green
Tom Green is getting another late-night talk show, this time online.
Nearly three years after MTV axed his show, ManiaTV.com will begin hosting a weekly call-in show with the Canadian-born comedian on June 15, live from his living room in the Hollywood Hills.
Tom Green Live will be broadcast and archived on both Denver-based ManiaTV.com and Green's website. He is signed up to do 50 one-hour episodes for an undisclosed fee.
Tom Green
Files Restraining Order
Bob Uecker
Hall of Fame announcer Bob Uecker filed a restraining order against a woman he contends has been harassing him for years and last week confronted him at a hotel pool over his refusal to assist her charity work.
A hearing is scheduled June 15, according to the Wisconsin Circuit Court Web site. Uecker, the voice of the Milwaukee Brewers for more than 35 years, filed a harassment injunction against Ann E. Ladd on Thursday, as first reported by the investigative Web site The Smoking Gun.
In court filings, the 71-year-old former player said Ladd has been bothering him for six or seven years by sending unsolicited gifts, driving around his home in Wisconsin and having contact with him in various cities.
Bob Uecker
Discovered In Western France
Ancient Cave
A 27,000-year-old human skeleton laid out in a room decorated with ancient art was among the rare finds at a cave in western France whose subterranean art predates that of the famed Lascaux caves, officials said Friday.
It was only the second time that a human body from the upper Paleolithic period had been found placed in a cave with decorations, the Culture Ministry said.
Cavers exploring part of a grotto once used to dispose of animal carcasses discovered the cave in December. It dates to the upper Paleolithic period roughly 25,000 years ago, like the skeleton.
Ancient Cave
Sold At British Airports
Sex Slaves
"Slave auctions" of women sold into prostitution are being carried out on the concourses of British airports, it has been revealed.
The Crown Prosecution Service said people traffickers were selling sex workers as soon as they arrived on British soil from countries including eastern European states.
A CPS spokesman said one specific example of slave auction had taken place outside a coffee shop in the arrivals hall at Gatwick in south London.
Others were thought to have been staged at Heathrow, Stansted and other airports across the UK, he added.
Sex Slaves
Marries Cobra
Bimbala Das
A woman who fell in love with a snake has married the reptile at a traditional Hindu wedding celebrated by 2,000 guests in India's Orissa state, reports said.
Bimbala Das wore a silk saree for the ceremony Wednesday at Atala village near the Orissa state capital Bhubaneswar.
"I am happy," said her mother Dyuti Bhoi, who has two other daughters and two sons to marry off.
"Bimbala was ill," Bhoi told local OTV channel. "We had no money to treat her. Then she started offering milk to the snake ... she was cured. That made her fall in love."
Bimbala Das
In Memory
Arthur Widmer
Arthur Widmer, who developed some of the most widely used special effects technology in films and earned an Academy Award last year for lifetime achievement, has died. He was 92.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Widmer the award for his work in developing Ultra Violet and "blue screen" special effects processes.
Working for Warner Bros. in the 1950s, Widmer developed the Ultra Violet Traveling Matte process, an early version of what would become known as blue screen, in which two different images shot at different times and places could be combined into one.
Widmer left Warner Bros. in 1964 to design and build the optical department for Universal Studios, where he continued the development of blue screen and other visual effects until his retirement in 1979.
Arthur Widmer
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