The Pleasures of Fresno
Going through Fresno the other day I spotted two license plates that pretty much sum up the feel of the place. The first one was a plain plate, but with a frame that said “I can predict the future… God wins”. I was hoping to pull up next to the person at the stop light so I could ask “Sure, but who’s God playing and what’s the point spread?” I would not find this plate disturbing if it weren’t for the fact that fundamentalist ideologues in this country are bent are twisting scientific research to ignore the *fact* that the world is more than 6,000 years old. My joke response was meant to be a joke, but really, what does God win? The eternal battle between good and evil? If that’s the case, why doesn’t God just win right now? Anyway, I would lay money on it that the person with that plate frame is not exactly like the Calvinist intellectuals that I come across in my travels to Calvin College and Geneva, but is instead one of these fundamentalist radicals who thinks that Adam walked with dinosaurs.
The other plate was perhaps more troubling, perhaps less. It was a vanity plate on a ginormous black SUV that said simply “RNAZGUL”. The meaning of the “R” became clear when I saw the Bush/Cheney bumper sticker next to the plate. Since Bush is the Sauron of US politics, and Cheney is the lord of the Nazgul, the “R” stands, no doubt, for Republican. I doubt the driver of said vehicle is one of The Nine (who would be Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby and other pornographers). So one the one hand, this plate is less troubling than the other: the person admits that he is evil and that he voted for Bush. At least he’s self-aware. The thing that troubles me is someone who brags about being evil (and about voting for Bush).
It brings me back to my experience volunteering for Fresno Habitat for Humanity. Habitat is a Christian organization, so one expects religious and pious folks to form the backbone of the organization. But, at the same time, given their mission, one might expect enlightened, thoughtful and socially conscious Christians instead of fundamentalist troglodytes. But no. My second and last time volunteering for them in Fresno was the day after the 2004 election. Everyone else there was ecstatic about what a wonderful day it was for the country and democracy. They spent the day listening in rapt attention to a convicted illegal drug user on the radio (Rush Limbaugh) as he went on to utter his usual inanities and obscenities. I had hoped that, at the least, people would keep their politics to themselves and did not expect to have to listen to Rush all day, nor to get a 30-minute fundamentalist screed. I left feeling like, though I support the idea of Habitat for Humanity, I simply will not subject myself to that claptrap. Honestly, it would have been annoying enough if I had agreed with them, but since I found their views stomach-churning, it was simply impossible for me to go back.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Add to: 
del.icio.us •
furl •
reddit
•
digg •
technorati cosmos
