Tuesday, November 28, 2006

[wren cross update] vapidity, interpretation, commentary

Remember the William and Mary business where the cross was taken from the altar of the chapel and locked in a cupboard so that it did not offend other faiths?

The Director, Gene Nichols, who did the act:

It is precisely because the Wren Chapel touches the best in us—the brightened lamp, the extended hand, the opened door, the call of character, the charge of faith, the test of courage—that it is essential it belong to everyone. It defines us. And it must define us all. I make no pretense that all will agree with these sentiments.

Interpretation:

He’s going to keep it locked away.

Commentary by Beach girl:

The removal of the Wren Cross is like a rape, a violation. The Wren Chapel without its Wren Cross is an empty place, devoid of the solemn majesty that guarantees all of us freedom of religion. It is a sad day when Christians have to plead, to ask permission from a secular authority that the Wren Cross be taken out from under lock and key so that it may be placed upon the altar in the Wren Chapel.

Was there anyone so dispossessed as a uni student? Their opinions apparently mean nothing, compared to a smiling, besuited man in a mahogany office.

5 comments:

  1. Good job! Have migraine, must honor the migraine. It is the best way to get through them.

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  2. Beach Girl is dead right.

    The man's comments are kind of vapid cynicism, the laziest possible answer, which attempts BB-style, to show that an act of censorship is empowering, and that the existence of a single object is a kind of direct assault.

    It's also a secularist's dogwhistle, complete with obligatory references to a mythical "everyone", who can only be welcomed by the removal of religious things.

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  3. Sorry, by "BB" I meant you know who out of that novel by the guy with the pseudonym whose real name is like the Prime Minister's, who almost never gets quoted anymore. I think the initials were intended as a satire on Brendan Bracken, Information Minister during the war. Hence the mindless calls of "BB-BB-BB-BB", with Mr Blair imagining all the crowds worshipping that somewhat ineffectual man.

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  4. Yes, you have it right, Tin Drummer and your classic explanation in your second comment brought a smile to the face.

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  5. And it ain't over neither! Now Gene's minions have removed the chairperson of the Philosophy Department. He's one of only two department heads who refused to back a petition supporting Gene's view of the Wren cross removal. And guess who replaced him? Yes, coincidentally, it was the very same professor who initiated that petition. And here's the topper: he's an English professor! But it gets even better: the former Chairperson was removed due to anonymous complaints. Apparently he worried to much about standards and not enough about a "welcoming environment". I wonder if they even bother to remove the ACLU's logo off these briefs before they passed them around? Does Gene just keep a huge pile of blank "____ was/is not welcoming and/or inclusive" complaint forms sitting outside his door?

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Comments need a moniker of your choosing before or after ... no moniker, not posted, sorry.