Of Course - It is all the fault of Christianity!

[Sparko]

But Virginia Union was. And guess who WASN'T allowed there until the mid-70's?

Pirates?

[seer]

Pirates?

It's always about you - isn't it!

[Cow Poke]

It's always about you - isn't it!

me!

[One Bad Pig]

This seems apropos:

Source: Stop Drinking Poison - Laura Hollis

Earlier this week, the Weather Channel featured a brief video of the flooding in Brookshire, Texas. In the short clip — which went viral — a group of "good Samaritans" rescued a semi driver stranded by rapidly rising floodwaters. One of the volunteers, wearing a life vest, swam out to the truck attached to a rope that several men held onto from dry ground yards away.

The video demonstrates just how perilous flash flooding can be. By the time the driver was pulled from the cab of his truck, the water was already up to the headlights, and its flow was so powerful that six grown men had difficulty holding fast to the rescuer and the rescued.

But what stood out for me was the ethnic composition of the group of people performing the impromptu rescue: men who appeared to be of black, white and perhaps Hispanic backgrounds all pulled together to save another man from drowning. Commenters on the Weather Channel's site noted the same thing. One wrote, "Did anyone ask the rescuers if they were Democrats or Republican? Christian, Muslim or Jew? Doubt it ... They saw the need to help a fellow citizen and worked together." Another said, "Made me cry. This is what should be on the news." Still another said, "So beautiful. Why do most people believe this isn't the norm?"

Ah. Now there's a question. In truth, it is not remarkable at all that a group of people from a variety of ethnic, racial or cultural backgrounds find themselves in the same place at any given point in time in the United States. Nor is it remarkable that all of those people would pull together — literally — to save another man's life.

What is remarkable — and deplorable — is that that kind of cooperation and collaboration goes on every day in this country, and at some level, we all know this. We see it. Yet we ignore it in favor of popular negative narratives that are slowly but surely poisoning public morale.

Academia is a source of some of the worst pollution when it comes to "honest" conversations about ethnicity, race, religion, culture, and every other conceivable human difference. For academics, it seems that "honesty" means coming up with infinitely new ways to rub old wounds raw, and extract "mea culpas" from current generations for past wrongs.

The "publish or perish" stricture and desperate clamor for tenure contributes to this in no small part: Gotta come up with a new theory. The more controversial the better. Controversy gets attention. And attention gets citations. This is exacerbated by the "ivory tower" ambience of academia, which insulates academics from the consequences of their pet theories, while the rest of the world deals with the aftermath.

© Copyright Original Source

It's tough to take academia seriously when this sort of thing comes up.

[Cow Poke]

This seems apropos:

Source: Stop Drinking Poison - Laura Hollis

Earlier this week, the Weather Channel featured a brief video of the flooding in Brookshire, Texas. In the short clip — which went viral — a group of "good Samaritans" rescued a semi driver stranded by rapidly rising floodwaters. One of the volunteers, wearing a life vest, swam out to the truck attached to a rope that several men held onto from dry ground yards away.

The video demonstrates just how perilous flash flooding can be. By the time the driver was pulled from the cab of his truck, the water was already up to the headlights, and its flow was so powerful that six grown men had difficulty holding fast to the rescuer and the rescued.

But what stood out for me was the ethnic composition of the group of people performing the impromptu rescue: men who appeared to be of black, white and perhaps Hispanic backgrounds all pulled together to save another man from drowning. Commenters on the Weather Channel's site noted the same thing. One wrote, "Did anyone ask the rescuers if they were Democrats or Republican? Christian, Muslim or Jew? Doubt it ... They saw the need to help a fellow citizen and worked together." Another said, "Made me cry. This is what should be on the news." Still another said, "So beautiful. Why do most people believe this isn't the norm?"

Ah. Now there's a question. In truth, it is not remarkable at all that a group of people from a variety of ethnic, racial or cultural backgrounds find themselves in the same place at any given point in time in the United States. Nor is it remarkable that all of those people would pull together — literally — to save another man's life.

What is remarkable — and deplorable — is that that kind of cooperation and collaboration goes on every day in this country, and at some level, we all know this. We see it. Yet we ignore it in favor of popular negative narratives that are slowly but surely poisoning public morale.

Academia is a source of some of the worst pollution when it comes to "honest" conversations about ethnicity, race, religion, culture, and every other conceivable human difference. For academics, it seems that "honesty" means coming up with infinitely new ways to rub old wounds raw, and extract "mea culpas" from current generations for past wrongs.

The "publish or perish" stricture and desperate clamor for tenure contributes to this in no small part: Gotta come up with a new theory. The more controversial the better. Controversy gets attention. And attention gets citations. This is exacerbated by the "ivory tower" ambience of academia, which insulates academics from the consequences of their pet theories, while the rest of the world deals with the aftermath.

© Copyright Original Source

It's tough to take academia seriously when this sort of thing comes up.

Yeah!

[Sparko]

It's all Trout's fault. He is the last Christian after all.

[Cow Poke]

It's all Trout's fault. He is the last Christian after all.

Wait... Trout is Jaltus?

[Jedidiah]

Wait... Trout is Jaltus?

How did we go so long without learning this?

[Sparko]

really? you are just now realizing that? When trout disappeared, where was Jaltus?

It was the yellow pants disguise wasn't it?