Tag: religion

Dad Brog (#122): the endlessly scary world we live in

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I got an email from my kids’ preschool, stating that due to current events happening in Israel, the school would be taking measures to increase the presence of security on site.  You see, my children attend a preschool at a Jewish temple, not because we have any modicum of interest in religion, but solely based on the fact that it’s a well-rated preschool with a proven track record of taking fantastic care of children.

Sure enough, the next time I had the opportunity to drop the girls off myself, there were extra security vehicles in the parking lot, and although I knew this was coming, it still pained me to the heart to see the entire temple feel the need for increased security due to happenings halfway across the planet.

Don’t get me wrong, I know Jews have had perhaps the rawest deal in human history.  I’ve been doing a little side project which basically entails reading up on the events and happenings of every single date, and I’m not kidding when I can say that sparingly, does a day go by, where at some point in history, I don’t come across an event there weren’t a number of Jewish people who were killed, primarily just for the fact that they were Jewish.  And I’m not talking about just World War II, all throughout history, basically since the Judaism was invented, at some point in time on every single day, Jews have been persecuted and/or killed just for being Jewish.

But back to my tiny little world here, it’s absolutely mortifying to think that there would be people so radicalized, so hateful or so just plain misguided, that they’d take action against a freaking preschool, full of children ranging from ages 1-5.  A bunch of kids who are all yet still so pure and innocent and don’t even understand that horrific things are happening in Israel.  Not that anyone is deserving of being attacked with the intention to kill, especially these kids should not be targeted and I’m not just saying it because my kids are also students there.  They’re all just kids, and it takes a real sick fuck to go after them.

It’s just really, really scary to think that my kids’ school even feels the need to shore up their security, and I don’t blame them at all.  It wasn’t even a year ago where another Jewish temple not that far from where I am, had bigots demonstrating right outside their property, brandishing actual Nazi swastikas, with absolutely no fear of doing so without needing to protect their identities.  I know the Jewish community has had it bad historically, and I don’t question one bit when they feel the need to beef up.

I don’t follow the news because my plate is always so full without the feeling of needing to be up-to-date in current events, not to mention that the news is always just so god damn depressing as it is, that I don’t want to hear of such shit in my life, so I’m actually quite uneducated on the specifics on what’s happening out in Israel.  But from what bits and pieces I hear from my friends’ groups chatter, it doesn’t really seem more of anything outside the ordinary from how Jews have had it historically, which is, always a sad thing to hear.  And it’s absolutely frightening to think that it’s why my kids’ school thousands of miles and a continent away, still feels concerned about their safety.  😞

Trails, Green Ranger

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

That was unexpected: Jason David Frank, most famously known as the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, found dead at the age of 49, as a result of suicide

The reason why I don’t bid happy trails to JDF is that in a nutshell, I don’t really respect suicide, especially of those that have some degree of celebrity.  Reasons may vary, but it really boils down to the unrelatable, how can your life be so hard if you’re famous opinion that I have.  And considering just how many outlets and the fact that TMZ has picked it up, JDF was clearly famous enough to be put into that category in my mind.

Supposedly, from what I can put together with as limited effort I want to put into it, JDF cheated on his wife at some point, was caught, and his wife initiated a divorce.  Presumably, JDF can’t take the heat of divorce, and offs himself; in spite of the fact that suicide is about one of the worst possible things anyone who claims to be all pious and Christian could do, and let us not forget that JDF had or endorsed some company/motto of Jesus Didn’t Tap, to where he even had it tattooed onto his body.

Some belief in Christianity there, eh Tommy?

The worst part of this to me, is the fact that his wife, who by all intents and purposes didn’t do anything wrong in this whole saga, is going to be eating the brunt of the heat from the fallout of all this, because the narrative is going to see her actions as being the catalyst for JDF’s demise, and she doesn’t deserve that.  But be it through her own self-torment, or the rage of the internet, she’s undoubtedly going to be having fingers pointed at her regardless.

But before I really dig myself into a hole of speaking ill of the dead, I have to say that this whole shitshow triggered a brog post, because it spoke to my nostalgia, it spoke to my fandoms, and regardless of what path he headed down after I grew out of it and he moved on from Power Rangers, I was a fan of JDF at some point.

I remember seeing a teaser on FOX Kids about how A NEW Ranger was going to be introduced and he was green, and I have vivid memory of seeing the exact scene in the above gif, and being immediately sucked in that they were introducing someone who was to be the combat equal to fucking Jason, which seemed pretty inconceivable to my fifth grade brain.

And then, they introduced DragonZord as the zord that he would get, and I was all in to being all about the Green Ranger.  For years afterward, even when it was really not cool to be into Power Rangers at the age I was at, I still fanboyed over it, and as I’ve mentioned numerous times in the past, it was some of my life’s ambitions to try and get my very own Zord toys, which took like nearly 20 years later before I actually did.

But man, was I fan of Tommy, and his journey of turning face as the Green Ranger, before Rita and Lord Zedd made a Terminator-like mission to end him.  And then Zordon christening him as the White Ranger, which was pretty cool because Saba bogarted all the other ThunderZords which let the Red Dragonzord fight in its own battle mode which I always preferred.

Needless to say, in spite of how much I had to hide it as a kid, Power Rangers was a notable blip in my childhood, and JDF as Tommy did have something to do with it.  Seeing him kick the bucket, even if it was in the deplorable suicidal manner, is still like seeing a piece of my childhood getting a spinning jump back kick to the face, and that is always sad.

What if… Tim Tebow, the professional wrestler?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The other day, my bros and I were bullshitting about professional wrestling as is often times the norm, and the thought crossed my mind that AEW is low-key owned by the Jacksonville Jaguars, since owner Tony Khan is the son of the Shahid Khan that owns the Jags. 

Recently, I saw some blurb about how despite having signed with the Jaguars, the attempting-to-return-to-football Tim Tebow is no guarantee to make the team, even though he’s still built like a tank and trying to come back as a tight end and not a quarterback, and then the wheels got turning in my brain to do so fantasy booking in the event that Tebow flames out of football again, but instead of trying to pursue professional baseball, chooses professional wrestling instead.  Especially since there’s already a convenient transition from the Jags to AEW, being under the same family umbrella and all.

After about five minutes of bullshit, I realized that this hypothetical bullshit would be better served as brog material and not a passing conversation in private company, because some of these ideas would be fucking gold in an ironic sense if they were to come to fruition, even though there can hardly be fewer things in the world nerdier than fantasy booking professional wrestling.

Anyway, Tim Tebow is cut from the Jags, not for anything performance-related so much as is it that the Jags are an NFL team and NFL teams are more afraid than Gabriel is in The Walking Dead of anything and don’t want Tebow’s faith to ever be mentioned in the same breath as them.  He’s in the locker room, silently crying, cleaning out his personal effects, and our character arc begins with Tim saving a cross that he hung, for last, staring at it wistfully, thinking to himself why the good lord has failed to give him the strength he needed to make it back to the NFL.

Tony Khan enters the locker room, and gives Tebow some fluff about how he performed great, and how his failure to make the team had nothing to do with his talent.  But seeing as how he wasn’t going to make the team, and to not let such physical gifts go to waste, he offers Tebow an opportunity to join All Elite Wrestling, so he could still potentially have a platform to spread the word.

“Professional wrestling?” thinks Tebow.  The fake sport with fake storylines, so much of which is debaucherous, scandalous, and frequently sacrilegious?  Khan assures Tebow that AEW is different than those whom might have put out such unsavory product, and points no further than AEW’s own TNT Champion, Miro, God’s Favorite Wrestler, as proof of AEW’s respect and commitment to Christianity.  Tebow is intrigued, and agrees to a developmental tier-1 deal.

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Why are drivers with religious vanity plates the biggest assholes on the roads?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I feel like this is kind of a redundant question, and there’s a possibility that I’ve touched on this topic before.  Regardless, Georgia has no shortage of people who have vanity license plates on their car with subtle-to-overt religious messages on them, such as DOUPRAY, SING2HM, PRAY2HM, F8THFUL and so forth.  However, there is a correlation that I’ve noticed where the cars with the pious vanity plates are often the ones being driven by aggressive assholes and/or people with all sorts of uncharacteristically suspect accessories on their cars, from blackout plate covers, suspiciously dark tint, or any other things people put on their cars that one might not expect from drivers so god-fearing, they proclaim their piousness on their vanity plates.

And if they’re not driving like they’ve got something to hide, they’re usually the most aggressive and self-centered drivers on the road.  I really should keep a running document of ones that I’ve seen, and also notate which ones are being driven by assholes and/or equipped with less-than-reputable aftermarket accessories.

Just the other day, DOUPRAY was riding my ass hole on I-285 during horrendous rush hour traffic, as if it were me personally who were impeding their ability to get to Point B in their respective destination.  When traffic eased up after passing I-20 like usual, it took less than a second before the car whipped out of my peripheral vision into the just equally as newly vacated right lane, and blew past me going warp speed in order to pass me, and every other car that was still holed up in the left lanes.  It was here where I saw DOUPRAY on the license plate, and if their windows weren’t tinted darker than Wesley Snipes, I probably would have seen the face of some irate driver glaring daggers at me as if it were my personal fault they were stuck in traffic.

That’s where I re-realized the correlation between asshole drivers and those with religious vanity plates, and the revisiting of the question of why such is the case.  Is it because god-fearing religious people are all assholes?  Or is it because aggressive drivers believe their aggression is less suspect if they’re driving cars that have vanity plates that might make them appear more docile and religious AKA non-threatening?

All that it’s accomplishing in my eyes is that cars that I see on the road with religious-intonating vanity plates are automatically becoming perceived as combatant drivers who will probably be aggressive and inconsiderate the first chance they get, and it would probably behoove me to make the first moves and get in front of them, before their reckless nature puts my well-being in jeopardy.  Because when it comes to my own want to get from point A to point B, these religious assholes can worship their god plenty, behind me.

Who knew anarchists were so detail-oriented?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Impetus: vandals break into church, spray paint satanic symbols all over the walls

First off, I don’t condone breaking and entering, or vandalism.  I don’t even condone the smoking of marijuana, but that’s more an eye of the beholder kind of opinion.  And I most certainly feel empathy for this church that hasn’t even officially opened and had its first service, before some shitheads broke in and spray painted shit all over the walls.

However, I have to say I have a hard time getting over the vandals’ execution of the anarchy symbol (pictured) they left in the church; namely the fact that they clearly utilized some painters/masking tape in the process of making it, as indicative by the extremely clean and straight lines of the anarchy-A.

Look, I give them a little bit of ironic credit of thinking outside the box, and instead of just spray painting the standard circle-A line art of a traditional anarchy-A, they decided to try and be all artistic and reverse that shit out, and knock out an anarchy-A out of circular blob of clearly-satanic red.

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Oh Georgia, #894

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Irony: Gwinnett County church’s sign vandalized; for having a discriminatory message on it

I guess the old adage of “two wrongs don’t make a right” can’t really apply when it’s likely that neither party believes they’re wrong.

But it’s amusing to me that a church is butthurt over their sign getting slathered in black paint because someone(s) who disagreed with an inflammatory message got butthurt.  Really though, it’s about as not smart to publicly put in writing shit like “Satan made gays & transgender(s)” as it is to vandalize private property.

What’s ironic is the unintentional side taken by the law, because of the whole Crime Stoppers offering up to $2,000 for arrest-able information.  All because someone who vehemently disagreed with the offensive message that Satan created LGBT people decided to act out in a noticeable, yet not necessarily destructive manner.

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The world is a terrible place, July 2016 edition

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s mornings like this that I dread.  Where something tragic occurs in the world, and it’s unfortunately the hot topic that the media is over.  News, is inherently mostly bad, but it’s times like when some psychopaths charge a runaway truck into a crowd particularly peaks, further justifying the notion that terrorists are shitheads, religion is lethally divisive, there are some truly evil people in the world and the world is a shitty, shitty place sometimes.

Everything becomes disgusting at times like this.  Faith in people, the idea that there are networks of terrorists out there that seemingly will never come to justice because of the idea that they’re secretly supplied by supposed allied forces in order for rich people to profit on the idea of war.  Disgust in the media that can’t stop running gruesome imagery in the name of journalism and throwing discretion and sensitivity to the wind.  Disgust that among the dead, numbers of those belonging to particular nationalities emerge, as if it’s more important that Americans, Canadians, Italians, or British people were killed amongst the French celebrating Bastille Day.

Honestly, it’s all tiresome.  It’s tiresome the alarming number of incidents like such that the entire world hears about, where people are senselessly killed for absolutely senseless reasons.  It’s tiresome to read, listen or see the aftermaths of the same songs and dances, that have been uttered so many times over the span of the last year that they’re completely losing meaning.  Thoughts and prayers aren’t fixing anything.  When is love going to triumph over all this hate?

It’s tiresome seeing the collateral effects of these incidents, like all the observations about how France gets all the solidarity and support of the world, while Istanbul is glazed over; or perhaps these fucking attacks are just happening with such frequency, that people just don’t have time to console another before the next terrorist ambush occurs?

Continue reading “The world is a terrible place, July 2016 edition” →