Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft & Politik

Katholische Realsatire

Christian Wulff at Sachsenhausen

Sie müssen leider sitzen bleiben
By ashleighb77,
used under cc license

Nimmt solche Äußerungen eigentlich noch irgendjemand ernst? Für mich klingt das einfach nur nach Realsatire. Wie weit an der Realität kann man eigentlich vorbeileben, ohne es zu merken?

Nach den derzeit geltenden Regeln sind geschiedene Katholiken vom Abendmahl ausgeschlossen. Es gehe darum, Menschen zu helfen, “deren Leben in wichtigen Dingen unglücklich verlaufen ist”, sagte [der Freiburger Erzbischof] Zollitsch … Dazu gehöre auch eine gescheiterte Ehe.
“Ich glaube …, dass wir in der Frage der wiederverheirateten Geschiedenen weiterkommen werden – zu meinen Lebzeiten”, sagte Zollitsch. Das sei eine Frage der Barmherzigkeit. Als Beispiel nannte er den katholischen Bundespräsidenten Christian Wulff, der nach einer Scheidung zum zweiten Mal verheiratet ist. “Er ist für mich ein Katholik, der seinen Glauben lebt und darunter leidet, wie die Situation ist.”

Ok, ich wette 10-1, dass der Herr Wulff seit seiner Scheidung schon mehr als einmal wieder am Abendmahl teilgenommen hat. So wie mein geschiedener Onkel auch und wie wahrscheinlich auch 99% aller anderen gläubigen und geschiedenen Katholiken. Glaubt der Bischof wirklich, dass all die geschiedenen Katholiken immer traurig in der Bank sitzen bleiben, wenn es zum Abendmahl kommt? Solche Aussagen zeigen doch nur, dass die Kirchenvertreter selbst bei der Deutung der Lebenswirklichkeit Ihrer Anhänger unter noch mehr Realitätsverlust leider als ohnehin schon. Mal im Ernst, wann hat ein Bischof das letzte Mal etwas gesagt, das nicht völlig bizarr klang?

Cheerleader did not cheer for her rapist, dropped from squad, lost court case, must pay $45,000 legal fees

Cheerleader did not cheer for her rapist, dropped from squad, lost court case, must pay $45,000 legal fees

Via the Guardian:

HS was 16 at the time she complained she was raped in 2008. Her attacker was charged with sexual assault, but after a plea deal, admitted misdemeanour assault and got a princely sentence of no time served. She was told to keep a low profile at school to avoid attracting attention, because obviously when high-school students are assaulted, the appropriate response from the school district is to tell them to hide while their perpetrators enjoy accolades. HS, with the support of her family, told the school district to get stuffed, and was put to the test in 2009 when she attended a basketball game as a member of the cheerleading squad and was ordered to cheer for her attacker.Understandably, HS refused,  […] Instead, she chose to stand silent through the cheer for R. B.’s free throw, folding her arms across her chest instead of shaking the pompoms. For speaking, as it were, her mind, HS was suspended from the cheerleading team, but the victim who staunchly “didn’t want to encourage anything he was doing” chose to take the case to court, rather than accept her suspension. The initial court ruled against her, an appellate court upheld that decision, and the supreme court refused to hear the matter (it exercised its right to silence and did not comment on the refusal).

And as a lovely parting gift, the girl’s family must now repay the school $45,000 in legal fees for what a lower court termed as a frivolous lawsuit.  (Last part from NBCSports)

A thoughtful comment from the Huffingtonpost:

Now, as a recovering attorney, I admit it’s a fair legal question whether or not the plaintiff actually had a court case against the high school for forcing her to cheer for her alleged rapist or for being kicked off the cheerleading squad when she refused. I’m sure my strict constructionist friends are fuming at the idea that somehow there’s a Constitutionally protected right to bear pom-poms. But the issue here isn’t about school spirit or cute uniforms. There’s a larger theme running through the events of this story — if you’re a school girl who’s been raped or sexually assaulted, don’t expect any support.

Apparently, that’s how things are done in Texas. A recent New York Times story about the alleged gang rape of an elementary school girl in another Texas town suggested that some in the community believed the fifth-grade victim brought the attacks upon herself, expressing sympathy for the alleged perpetrators and their futures, especially the ones who were high school athletes. The physical and emotional injuries the 11-year-old girl will live with the rest of her life were given little thought until weeks, and much criticism, later, when the Times ran a more thoughtfully researched piece.

The way these stories are reported gives the sense that the important issues to be discussed involved the legal system or internal school rules. The important nugget of what’s really going on is missing, though — these stories are about power and control, where authority figures push troubling actions under the carpet and put school athletics and the interests of sports boosters ahead of the physical and mental welfare of our daughters.

A similar theme played out in the coverage of journalist Lara Logan’s brutal sexual attack while reporting on the recent uprisings in Egypt. Many people raised the question of whether Logan had brought the rapes on herself by daring to be a woman reporter — and a very attractive one — in a Muslim country, implicitly suggesting that women who dare to step outside of certain boundaries should be prepared for whatever negative consequences come their way.

You’d think things would be a little better in 2011 for women and girls who try to put their lives back together after they’ve been raped. Whether you’re a girl who won’t cheer for the boy who raped you or a woman who dares to be a journalist covering an important, but dangerous, story, there’s scant support from institutions of authority. Of course, as one friend only half-seriously quipped, if that Texas cheerleader had said it was against her religion to cheer for her rapist, she’d be standing victorious on the Supreme Court steps today.

If you want to help the girl with her court costs, you can do it here.

Top 10 Douglas Adams Quotes

douglas adams 

In memoriam Douglas Adams
By michael_hughes,
used under cc license

Ten years ago, the writer Douglas Adams passed away suddenly and way too early at age 49. Adams was one of the rare people who were both insightful and funny. Here are my 10 favorite quotes from him:

 

10. Generally, old media don’t die. They just have to grow old gracefully. Guess what, we still have stone masons. They haven’t been the primary purveyors of the written word for a while now of course, but they still have a role because you wouldn’t want a TV screen on your headstone.

 

9. All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.

 

8. There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

 

7. He hoped and prayed that there wasn’t an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn’t an afterlife.

 

6. I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1) Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.  2) Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3) Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things”.

 

5. I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting. But it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously.

 

4. Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

 

3. See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.

 

2. I’d take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.

 

1. A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

 

Chris Rock on the Tea Party movement

chris rock

Chris Rock is known to speak his mind.
By whittlz,
used under cc license

Pretty old news (Feb 16th), but I found Chris Rock’s comment in this interview too interesting to pass over. Not the kind of answer you’d expect from a comedian:

SR: Like many nice Caucasians, I cried the night Barack Obama was elected. It was one of the high points in American history. And all that’s happened since the election is just a shitstorm of hatred. You want to weigh in on that?

CR: I actually like it, in the sense that — you got kids? Kids always act up the most before they go to sleep. And when I see the Tea Party and all this stuff, it actually feels like racism’s almost over. Because this is the last — this is the act up before the sleep. They’re going crazy. They’re insane. You want to get rid of them — and the next thing you know, they’re fucking knocked out. And that’s what’s going on in the country right now.

Lets hope he’s right.

Zur Wahl in Finnland

My friend Soini (yeah, right)

Wahlplakat der Wahren Finnen

Via SPON:

Doch woher kommt der dramatische Rechtsruck? Es waren wohl vor allem männliche Wähler, jüngere, mit einfachem Bildungsniveau und eher geringem Einkommen, die Kiviniemi abgewählt haben und nun zum ersten Mal einen rechtsbürgerlichen erklärten Europa-Gegner in Helsinki an die Macht bringen.

Früher war den Dummen, Unfähigen und Besitzlosen noch das Himmelreich, doch darauf lassen sie sich heute nicht mehr vertrösten. Stattdessen wählen Sie – Überraschung! – populistische Protestparteien.

Wenn es selbst den Skandinaviern nicht mehr gelingt, dieser Gruppe Hoffnung und damit ein Zuhause in der politischen Mitte zu gewähren, dann wird das hier auch nicht mehr lange funktionieren.

 

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