religion

PotD  /  Social Commentary
Purpose
September 19, 2015
charles i. letbetter - purpose

charles i. letbetter - purpose

On A Pedestal (2014)

I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose.—Charlie Chaplin

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]The universe may be making a comment on one’s day when one gets up in the morning and the first thing in the newsfeed is an article on death; specifically, how the primary causes of death have changed since 1990, a mere 25 years ago. High blood pressure still tops the list, which reminds me I need to take my pill. But then, articles like this don’t help any, either. They just make my blood pressure a little higher. You know, worry and all.

What seems obvious, looking at the primary causes of death, is that we are all committing suicide in one way or the other. Take a look at these figures:

Source: The Lancet

Source: The Lancet

How many of those are the direct result of our mode of living; lifestyle choices we make, excesses in which we indulge, knowing full well the consequences but still choosing to go right ahead and tempt fate. What’s the purpose? Do we only live so that we can orchestrate our own deaths in less-than-spectacular fashion? If we are creating lives so unbearable that we must worry, smoke, drink, and overeat in order to cope, what’s the fucking point?[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Christian author and megachurch pastor Rick Warren has written and talks extensively about “the Purpose Driven Life,” and popular culture has latched onto his concepts of a religious-based purpose to living. Many other self-help gurus have done the same thing, trying to use religion, or some universal sense of spirituality as a basis for there being some reason to exist. The recently deceased Dr. Wayne Dyer once said:

Everything in the universe has a purpose. Indeed, the invisible intelligence that flows through everything in a purposeful fashion is also flowing through you.

Religion serves as the defining purpose of life for many millions of people around the world. The concept that some force greater than the individual has predetermined a course or fate for their lives is attractive because it relieves them of the responsibility of having to determine that course or establishing some purpose for themselves. If one dies inappropriately young, or endures a lifetime of poverty, then religion offers the excuse that there was some greater purpose at work.

But what if there is no universal purpose? Humans are but a blip on the timeline of history. The cosmos got along just fine developing itself and evolving and doing things before we came along. What if our presence here is of no consequential purpose at all, but rather a momentary sideline amusement while everything else takes a breather? We are, after all, apparently hell-bent upon our own destruction. How can that be of any benefit to the greater good of creation? What benefit does the universe derive from our presence?

At the moment, I’m not seeing any great over-arching purpose to humanity existing beyond this current stage of universal evolution. I suppose that, in some form or fashion, we might provide a link to whatever it is that comes next, but by the time that stage of existence comes into being we, as a species, will have long been forgotten. Perhaps, we might want to consider changing our approach.[/one_half_last]

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PotD  /  Social Commentary
Pain In The Ass
September 11, 2015
charles i. letbetter - pain in the ass

charles i. letbetter - pain in the ass

Pain in the Ass

You gotta love livin’, baby, ’cause dyin’ is a pain in the ass. —Frank Sinatra

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Today’s meme is insulting to some and offensive to many, but at 4:30 AM EDT, which is when I’m writing this, I really don’t give a shit. I didn’t care last week, either, when I created the pain in the ass meme. Sure, it’s Friday and we tend to try and shrug things off by focusing on the weekend, but I’m rather tired of having to be nice all the time and judging from several conversations I’ve had lately I get the impression that many of you are feeling the same, you just don’t feel that you can safely voice your opinion without getting into trouble.

I’m not aware of any objective research on the subject, but observationally it seems that men seem to be more likely to be a pain in the ass than women. I think it might be because we have control issues and have difficulty letting the people around us think for themselves and act in their own best interests. Guys then use their fists or declare war when they don’t get their way. What a complete pain in the ass those guys are.

Religious people are a pain in the ass to those who are not, and vice versa. For those who are not religious, we really don’t give a flying fuck what anyone else believes and we sure as hell don’t appreciate your beliefs getting in the way of things we want or need to do. For those who are religious, those who are not are a pain in the ass because they threaten and question one’s faith and cause one to second-guess what they’ve been taught.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Politicians, in general, are a pain in the ass, but at the current moment I’m especially fed up with the overly-abundant crop running for President. Every last one of them is a pain in the ass. Watch them today. This is the fourteenth anniversary of the 9/11 bombings and I’m willing to bet every last one of those jackasses manages to politicize the event rather than actually memorializing those who were lost. Done. Over them. Next, please.

People asking for money or trying to scam money are a pain in the ass. My email is full of both. Some are wanting me to support a cause. Some want me to support a politician. Some want me to take out a high-interest business loan. Fuck all of them. You know who gets my money? My family. We take care of our needs first, then, if there happens, by some miracle, to be anything left over, we’ll use it to help people who have legitimate need, not something they’ve concocted for a campaign.

Okay, so maybe I’m in a mood this morning. We all have the ability to be a pain in the ass from time to time, but there are too many people for whom being a pain in the ass has become a dominant personality trait. Everyone else on the planet is trying to make the most of their pathetic lives and we don’t need jackasses getting in the way. So, to all the pains in the ass we’ve mentioned, and those we didn’t: Fuck you, fuck off, get the fuck out of our lives. Now, enjoy your weekend.[/one_half_last]

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.
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pop culture  /  PotD  /  Social Commentary
12 People Who Totally Suck
May 30, 2015

charles i. letbetter

Indiana Tea Party Republican Governor Mike Pense (2015)

“All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.” -Richard Avedon

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Ha! I bet you thought we were going to give you a list of twelve individuals who totally suck! Okay, we did think about doing that, but then the number of Republican candidates for President grew to 16 and that just made the list too long.

Kidding. Sort of. Almost.

Sure, we preach being nice and inclusive and loving most the time. After all, that really is the only way the world is going to improve. However, there are certain groups of people whose actions as a group are so reprehensible that they need to be called out and shunned. Furthermore, we as a society should do everything we can to encourage the demise of these groups. Some I doubt will ever go away, but many can, and should. Here’s our list of the most despicable.

No12Pseudo-Celebrities

Real celebrities, those who have some significant talent that thrusts them into the public eye for good reason, can be challenging enough; there have been many in that group whose behavior is less than stellar. Pseudo-celebrities, though, have no significant talent. They have no significant reason for being popular. In most cases, we have reality television to thank for this phenomenon. When networks find amusement in airing the antics of talentless, classless, and too often clueless people, we all suffer. Greatly. Better they all go away. Forever.

No11Terrorists

These people are just straight up mean. They do not value life in any form, theirs nor anyone else’s. When people don’t value life, they do stupid things such as see how many people they can blow up. Ostensibly, they all have some cause they are trying to defend, but what cause would anyone support that doesn’t value life? Where on the scale of reason does that even remotely make sense? Here’s the thing: not all terrorist are in the middle east or carry guns. There are more in corporate boardrooms. They’re all just as dangerous and all need to be stopped.

No10People Who Knock On Doors

When I was little, I would get excited every time I heard a knock on the door because it almost always meant a friend had come to play or the UPS guy had dropped off a package. Now, the UPS and FedEx guys just ring the doorbell and disappear. So help me, I swear they’re using teleporters. I’ve not seen a truck in front of our house in years. Now, when there is a knock at the door, it’s someone wanting to change my religion or ask me for money. I’m not interested in doing either and, quite honestly, even if I was looking to do either I wouldn’t wait to see who showed up on my front porch. If I didn’t invite you or you’re not bringing me something fun, go away. Forever.

No9Racists

This is one of those groups that, no matter how much we rail against them or point out how totally ridiculous they are, they’re probably not going to go totally away. Why do I think this? Because racists have been here pretty much from the moment hominids developed and separated into different tribes. Just because they won’t go completely away doesn’t mean we should in any way, shape, or form tolerate their unacceptable behavior. To the degree we ignore them, they fester and grow like an untreated cancer. We have to stay on top of them, stopping them at every possible juncture, or else they will take over.

No8Homophobes

Here we have one group who can, should, and must go completely away. More than anything else, these people are quite simply ignorant. We can’t even complain that they’re believing in ancient myths. These fools are making up nonsense out of the clear blue. While we would like to think we can love them into accepting everyone regardless of their sexual orientation, history would seem to indicate otherwise. We must instead focus on educating younger generations correctly, dismantling the nonsense before it has a chance to grab hold, and hoping that those who refuse to learn die out quickly.


No7Sexual Predators

Rapists. Pedophiles. Anyone who sexually takes advantage of another person, or commits any sex act against them without their permission and compliance, is someone who needs to be immediately removed from society. There’s actual science to tell us that recidivism among sexual predators exceeds 80% no matter what type of treatment or intervention they receive, or who their parents are, or what reality show they’re on, or which presidential candidates have had their picture taken with them. If we want to keep them from committing further crimes, they have to be removed from society. We simply have no choice at this point.

No6People Who Don’t Hold Doors/Elevators

Compared to the previous group, this one may seem completely insignificant. However, I challenge that people who don’t hold doors and/or elevators, especially when they see the person approaching is in some form of distress, are more than just rude: they have no respect for other people. Those who have no respect for other people not only don’t hold doors/elevators, they are capable of doing any despicable and mean act of which one can think. Murder is not off the list of choices for these people, given the correct set of circumstances. Note, we’re not talking about someone who is just having a bad day and lets one instance slip. These are the people who, every day, despise everyone else on the planet and do their best to be mean. They can all go away.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]

No5Justin Bieber Fans

I’m relying on statistical analysis for this one. I’m not sure I’ve ever had the displeasure of actually running into a true Bieber Believer. I don’t go to the places where they are likely to congregate and run in the opposite direction at the first sound of anything that might possibly be the beginning of that noise Bieber calls music. Bieber fans elicit screams and other sounds that exceed the measurable quotient of the human ear. Rumor is they’ve actually had to re-route aircraft to avoid the shockwave of disruptive noise caused by Bieber Fans. Many cities are considering a ban on indoor Bieber concerts due to the screams of fans compromising the structural integrity of the buildings. Fortunately, most Bieber Fans grow up, discover real music, and move on.

No4Self-Righteous Assholes

You know at least one. They are convinced that they know better than everyone and no amount of evidence to the contrary is ever going to convince them otherwise. They believe they have the best religion, went to the best school, drive the best cars, live in the best houses, and could have just as easily invented Facebook themselves accept for the fact they’ve never been a loser geek. These people delight in putting everyone else down in an effort to make themselves look better. We have another word for them, too: Bullies. Like many others on this list, we have to stand up to them to keep their numbers from growing. Fortunately, there is evidence they can  be converted when shown the error of their ways. We have no choice but to try.


No3Non-Tippers

If you’ve never worked for tips in the United States, you don’t understand the severity of this crime. All over the country, we hear people talking about the minimum wage being too low. What rarely gets any publicity is that groups of very necessary people work for even less, roughly 75% less, on the promise that if they do a good job people will tip them. Your server’s base wage is a mere $2.75 an hour. Who can live on that? No one! And while the concept of tips sounds good, the fact is that as meal prices have gone up, and the quality of food has in many cases declined, tips given to servers, who control neither prices nor food quality, get shafted. Not tipping should be a crime. The punishment: working three doubles in a row at a busy restaurant … with no tips.


No2Murderers

This one is a no-brainer as well. Murder is probably the worst crime of them all, and often the most difficult to catch. Police can’t look for a murderer until they have evidence that the crime has been committed and contemporary murderers have all kinds of methods preventing that from happening. Murderers can be divided into two groups: passionate murderers who were simply pushed to far and killed in the heat of the moment; and psycho murderers who think, plan, and prepare before carrying out their nefarious deed(s). The first group probably isn’t all that dangerous with a little psychiatric help. The fact that they killed once was totally related to a specific situation. The second group, though, can’t be trusted no matter what. That there are still a huge group of them running loose should make all of us afraid to go to bed at night.


No1Tea Party Republicans

The Republican party has a grand tradition and holds a valuable place in political conversation. At least, it did until this small group of jackasses calling themselves the Tea Party started taking over. Tea Party Republicans have done more damage to the country, especially at the state level, than ISIS or any other terrorist group ever could. Consider their list of crimes:

  • They’ve gutted civil rights laws and the 1964 Voting Rights Act,
  • they deny women the right to control their own body,
  • they deny much-needed services to the poor and incapacitated,
  • they deny assistance to military veterans,
  • they’ve turned education into nothing more than a test-taking machine,
  • they are systemically killing the environment,
  • they have attempted to usurp the First Amendment with laws explicitly promoting Christianity while oppressing everyone else,
  • they claim they do not have to obey decisions made by the United States Supreme Court,
  • they believe rape is the woman’s fault, and
  • they refuse to recognize the civil rights of the entire LGBTQ community.

Sadly, that list is just the most common grievances to be held against Tea Partiers. These folks are nothing short of insane. Running on a platform of fiscal responsibility and smaller government, once elected they decimate every necessary program that does not kick back funding to their cronies. They are the very definition of a real and present danger that, if not completely removed from the political system, could single-handedly destroy the country.

See, I made it all the way through the list without naming anyone specifically. Well, okay, there is the idiot in today’s picture, but that’s more implied, don’t you think? Besides, he’s already proven this year just how much he sucks. He doesn’t need my help.[/one_half_last]

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PotD  /  Social Commentary
5 Reasons We Can’t Have Nice Things
May 29, 2015
charles i. letbetter

charles i. letbetter

The Worry of Bills (2010)

“If I were to teach, I wouldn’t teach a course in photography. I’d teach a course called ‘What Matters.'” -Ralph Steiner

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]I used to watch the animated television show, The Jetson’s when I was a kid. Set somewhere in this century, they lived in condos balancing in the sky on giant pedestals, wore unitards with unexplained but uncomfortable looking collars and cuffs, had robot maids, and most importantly, cars that flew. We were supposed to have flying cars by now!

While the practicality of many of the predictions launched in the cartoon are far-fetched, one can scarcely deny that we are not as far along the developmental scale as possible. Had we realized a bit more of our potential, it’s quite likely that we would be off fossil fuels, have more efficient means of transportation, and perhaps even solved problems that put our natural resources in danger. So, what happened?

I don’t have all the answers, but here are a few reasons we don’t have nice things.

No5Jailing The Wrong People

We have developed a bad habit over the years of jailing people for little things and letting those who commit more egregious crimes walk away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. A failed war on drugs has saddled way too many young men, especially young black men, with criminal records from which they can’t escape, making education and employment difficult. Meanwhile, the bankers, brokers, and politicians responsible for the 2008 recession received … nothing. The institutions for which they worked received fines, but none of the individuals were held responsible. Even worse, politicians pushed us into a totally unnecessary war, committed acts in gross violation of the Geneva Convention, were responsible for the deaths of thousands, and yet are allowed to continue living lives of luxury as though nothing happened. If we are going to move forward as a society we need to fix this issue promptly and find ways to keep young, non-violent offenders out of jail.

No4Religion

Every time society begins to take a step forward, such as with birth control to help stop over population, or gay marriage so those who love can legally be with those they love, or allowing women to make their own decisions and run their own lives and dress how they please, there is always one religion or another claiming that such a move defies their mythology and therefore, no one should be able to progress. While one has the right to believe whatever they wish to believe, they do not have the right to impose that belief system upon anyone else or use that belief system to prevent others, or society as a whole from progressing. Religion is great at bringing comfort and peace to people who can’t find it elsewhere. Society seeks out religion when there is none. However, that is not to say that religion should be allowed to dominate society or determine its progressive direction. There is no place for religious authority outside the religion itself.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]

No3We’re Rude

How we treat other people is a significant factor in how society progresses and we seem to be doing a great job of blocking ourselves simply in the way we treat others. Not only are we, as a society, still dealing with issues such as homophobia, racism, bigotry, and class warfare, we can’t even drive to work without being disrespectful and rude to each other. We fight for the best parking space at the gym. We bully people for dressing different or having body shapes we don’t find attractive. We make fun of people behind their backs and there’s no way we’re letting that co-worker get that promotion. A progressive society has to figure out how to be supportive, considerate, and caring of each other. Otherwise, we’re dooming ourselves.

No2Big Everything

We know monopolies are bad. We know oligarchies are oppressive. Yet, we’ve not done anything to stop either. Big banking. Big pharma. Big tobacco. Big media. Big Internet. Big Oil. By allowing certain industries to become, “too big to fail,” we’ve put them, rather than us, in the position of deciding when, where, and how society progresses. If they don’t like an invention, they squash it. If they do like it, they try to buy it and control it for themselves. There is no “trickle down” to the economics here. What big industry captures, it keeps. Forever. If we are to move forward, we must do more to prevent progressive development and innovation from being squashed and swallowed before it gets off the ground and break up the monopolies and oppressive industries that hold us back.

No1Politicians

I’m still not sure how we’ve gotten here, but politicians and governments, especially at the state level, have done more to hold back progressive development and social change than anything or anyone else. They’re purposefully and maliciously imposing themselves over things in which they have absolutely no business being; things such as who can marry whom, restrictive business regulation, and even who can or cannot be consulted on important matters. Scientists have been banned from discussions on the climate and space. Experts are not allowed to be consulted on matters ranging from education to public transportation. We could easily be light years ahead of where we are if the politicians of the world would simply get out of the way!

We could and should be much further progressed as a society than we are. Yet, much like a parent disciplining a child, the universe will not let us have the nice things such as flying cars until we learn to be more responsible. We control our destiny, and we can blow it.

Don’t blow it.[/one_half_last]

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Music  /  PotD
Take Me To Church
May 3, 2015
charles i. letbetter

charles i. letbetter

“Sexuality, and sexual orientation – regardless of orientation – is just natural. An act of sex is one of the most human things. But an organization like the church, say, through its doctrine, would undermine humanity by successfully teaching shame about sexual orientation – that it is sinful, or that it offends God. The song is about asserting yourself and reclaiming your humanity through an act of love.” (“Q&A: Hozier on Gay Rights, Sexuality, and Good Hair”. NY Magazine. 11 March 2014.)

[one_half padding=”4px 8px 0 4px”]This morning we’re starting a week-long series on photographs that remind me of songs. Understand, almost every photograph reminds me of one song or another. The photographs we’ve chosen for this week more specifically relate to songs that, once I hear them, I can’t get them out of my head. I’m sure you’ve experienced that phenomenon. Imagine what it’s like trying to edit a whole set of pictures when the same song keeps playing over and over and over on endless repeat in your head. Fortunately, they’re usually songs that I like so that’s not a terrible problem to have.

I’ll admit, we chose the picture that reminds me of this song for today partly because of the obvious connection between church and Sunday, but also because it is one of those instances where the picture came long before the song. The photo was taken in 2010 and Hozier’s song wasn’t released until 2013. However, that’s just how strongly the connection is in my head. The instant I first heard the song, which I quite like, I thought of this photo.

Not that the song actually has anything to do with the act of going to church in the traditional sense. Hozier wrote the song after a bad breakup, which isn’t all that uncommon in the music field. Comparing a lover to religion is a little more unique, but in making that comparison, the young Irishman takes on centuries of Catholic dogma in a way I’ve not seen since another young Irish performer, Sinead O’Conner.

Hypocrisy, bending truth to fit convenience, attempting to exert control over someone else’s life, tarnish the symbol of the cross that holds one’s attention in this picture.  That the cross is blurred speaks to the less-than-clear meaning it holds in contemporary society. I find it humorous that many who wear it see no actual religious connotation to the symbol at all, but find it merely a pretty decoration. Do they feel the same way about love; is that just a pretty decoration as well? Or is the cross a warning that the person, like the Church, will attempt to diminish one’s own humanity? Perhaps it has no meaning at all.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 8px”]The words to the song’s chorus speak the loudest:

Take me to church
I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life

Religion and love are both inescapable. Both have the ability to do good, but too often they both leave us wondering who we are versus who they want us to be. So we ponder.

Take a listen to the song. Enjoy the picture. This is going to be a fun week.

[/one_half_last]

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Advertising  /  Mythology  /  PotD
Popular Mythologies
May 1, 2015
charles i. letbetter

charles i. letbetter

7 Billboards You’ll (probably) Never See. Day Six: Popular Mythologies

[one_half padding=”4px 8px 0 4px”]People have always created gods as they’ve had a need for them. My late father, a Southern Baptist pastor whose views he considered conservative now seem at the very least moderate compared to today’s denomination, frequently explained that the need for God was inherent in man because there was no other way to explain the things their minds could not understand. Prior to Galileo, humans thought the universe revolved around the earth because God had placed it at the center of the universe. Before Sir Issac Newton’s ponderings on why apples fall from trees educated people used God to explain what we now call gravity. Wherever there is a void in understanding, humans have filled the empty intellectual space with deity; sometimes a great number of them. When one looks at the process over time, it really is rather amusing.

Finding the very beginning of religion is difficult because its earliest traditions and stories were strictly oral. If one considers the remnants of ritualistic burial behavior, an almost-certain sign of religious activity, religion was present as early as 250,000 BCE. Those ancient mythologies were polytheistic with the number of deities varying dramatically from tribe to tribe. While tracking ancient Asian and Northern European mythologies is difficult, we know that by 5000 BCE semi-nomadic peoples along the Nile River, what would eventually become Egypt, had a very elaborate set of deities and as that society developed, their leaders, called Pharaohs, were assigned deistic power, beginning a long mythological tradition of god-men.

Around 3000 BCE, once language was largely codified in textual form, the number of recognizable mythologies seems to explode. Actually, most of these are formalized versions of more ancient oral myths, but setting them to print had the effect of universalizing the belief system so that it remained consistent from one location to another and also established a more firm code of discipline for those whose behavior put them outside their mythology. Religion was a critical part of keeping society together in this age and no one even considered questioning what was being handed down from generation to generation. They had no desire, no curiosity, to know about things outside the very dangerous and frequently lethal realities of the here and now.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 8px”]Most of the religions we recognize now had their beginnings between 500 BCE and 500 CE. Everything from Buddhism to Zoroastrianism, Christianity to Islam are all born during or near this period (Islam didn’t actually begin until the seventh century). Religion during this period is cultural with belief systems giving definition to specific people groups. By the time Constantine The Great became emperor in 306 CE, religion’s political influence had grown to the point that it became a part of his government. Expansion of the Roman Empire under Constantine not only meant administrative and financial reform, but saw the first significant spread of a religion outside its base geography. One’s religious beliefs became more of a political statement than a matter of actual faith.

Education and travel led to challenges within the world’s major religions and by the 17th century Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism had all split into a number of different sects or denominations that reflected changes in social attitudes. People of reason, who had been hiding quietly amongst themselves began to loudly question the validity of a first-century god in modern society and fewer of them were being killed for their opposition. The concept of a secular government, as opposed to a religiously dominated one, took hold and fostered significant revolutions most notably in the United States but also in France and Russia, eventually spreading across much of Europe and Asia with the political concepts of socialism and communism.

We continue to morph belief systems to fit our social needs and fill the gaps in our understanding to the point those early founders would likely not recognize their religions today. Reason and dependence on science has developed into its own cult, sparring with more traditional belief systems. Present an idea, give it a snazzy title and a great website, and someone will bite. Today’s billboard isn’t anti-religion but a statement of the obvious. Some people will believe anything, which makes all belief systems suspect and none fit for government.

Maybe today’s billboard isn’t so unrealistic after all.[/one_half_last]

 

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