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sacredness
genkaku
Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
Comments
I think he's a comic genius, personally.
YOMV....
I actually find him a bit annoying although he makes some reasonable points.
I normally like what I see of him.....(which is usually on here, NB)...I also liked how he started it out. Then....I wasn't sure. He seemed to be advising one set of people about the meaning of the word.....so was he really educating the people he seemed to be addressing? Who was his audience? Shouldn't other holy books/groups have been pointed out, as well? All groups freak out over their sacred stuff . It would have been nice to see him throw everyone in the mix under the sacred umbrella, that's all.
Maybe I'm over thinking this....
This is just one small snippet of his work. Trust me, the christians get a fair whack from him in other shows and interviews too!
well, @Vastmind, from what I could understand, the specific reason he focused on the Qu'ran, is because that is the book which this extremist person said he would burn by the thousands.... I daresay, had another 'holy book' been picked, he would have focused his attention there.... and I think he did generalise towards the end....
@Bunks said " This is just one small snippet of his work. Trust me, the christians get a fair whack from him in other shows and interviews too!"
True.....I thought about that...I just caught myself waiting for another example that didn't show up. ( shrugs)... I really like how he made the point with the actual covers...how he went about it was brilliant! ..... I'm just giving him a little critisizing..
..
He of course makes no mention of the 'fucking idiot' who has built a comic routine on the ' fucking idiots 'who publicise the threats made to the ' fucking idiots' who burn the Qu'ran.
He also makes no mention in this sketch of those ( about whom he is equally scornful believe me.) who " build meditation huts in the garden and put Buddha images in them, and drink green tea because it is more holy than PG Tips..." quote.
Say what you like about Minchin, but he is an equal opportunity nihilist. He doesn't discriminate.
Agree with @Citta, superficially clever, look a little deeper . . .
He doesn't rip a new one for those who practise with compassion, diligence and love. His ridicule is reserved for those who 'say' but don't 'do'.....The mouthpieces of 'The Word' who actually don't mean a word of it.....
I could make a cheap comment by saying 'and a whole bunch of f@kin idiots were sucked into watch a f@kin idiot discuss other f@kin idiots', but that would just make me a f@kin idiot wouldn't it. lol.
Is the OP an invitation to discuss sacredness or just the comedy clip @genkaku?
We can discuss the sacred . . .
In some forms of dharma there is no difference between sacred and profane, these are value judgements. In others a sense of the sacred is part of the focus.
It is quite possible to treat Harry Potter as a sacred text and Mahayana text as fiction. It is a question of perception.
@anataman -- It may be too boisterous for some, but I just liked the fact that he took some time to parse what passes for "sacred." The fact that the riff focused on Islam struck me as largely irrelevant since the net he cast might equally apply to other persuasions as well. Haven't I too felt raucously offended by someone else's take on what I hold near and dear? You bet I have, though at my age, naturally I like to think I have outgrown that particular idiocy. I'm kool ... I'm serene ... I'm detached ... I'm compassionate ... I'm a 'defender of the Dharma' ... I'm Buddhist ... right?
Thanks @ genkaku
So nice to touch back into the web and NB to find my hero Tim reaching so many about the sacredness of uncommon sense.
Throwing the words "fuck" or "fucking" into a monologue a dozen times isn't comic genius. It's getting people to laugh through shock value, as literally thousands of standup comedians -- most of them non-geniuses -- have proved relentlessly over the past few decades. It's a shortcut to a laugh.
He makes some good, rambling points, but comes to no cohesive conclusion.
Being able to freely and relentlessly criticize the things other people hold sacred -- which he advocates -- is essentially the antithesis of right speech.
Welcome back @how.
How was the zen @how?
Thanks @genkaku
I have no idea.
@vinlyn -- At the risk of being egregiously self-serving, here is a column I wrote about cussing for the local newspaper not long ago. I thought of it because I agree that using the f-bomb does not necessarily mean a comedian is being funny: Often it just means s/he lacks comedic material. In Minchin's case, I think that the use was integral to the tale he was telling ... but that's just me.
Should have expected that response @how... lol
I'm not opposed to cussing. Cuss myself. On occasion. Used to tell students who were sent to my office for cussing that there's a time and place for cussing. But not in school. This was the opposite of what my colleague assistant principal would tell them: "Adults never cuss." Which of course is fucking bullshit.
I can't edit, I just can't. And won't.
Sometimes, I have to confess I do, because of the inappropriateness - but that is just too funny.
Actually I was reprimanded on this forum once by...well, someone up there...because I had complained about cussing in a religious forum, and was told that I was dead wrong.
It could well have been me...
I used to be a bit touchy about profanities, but I think occasionally, sometimes, at times, well.... nothing else will do....
I disapprove of wanton, careless gratuitous profanities, where people 'say' them purely for the sake of it.
I think personally, that's unnecessary, and may show an ignorance of being capable of articulating anything without punctuating the entire discussion with effin' and jeffin', as we say, here....
But sometimes, the funny, is made funnier, and the point is made more pertinent.
No, Federica, it wasn't you. :-)