Thursday, October 18, 2007

You gotta love the Perpetually Offended...

Okay, the movie is called "The Ten Commandments". You would have to be extraordinarily dense to not realize, from the title alone, that there might be a bit of religious content. Seeing as how the ten commandments (actually a couple of versions thereof, but we'll not quibble) are found in The Bible, and the main character in that book is God, a bit of religious content would seem to be unavoidable.

The movie appears to be about the Exodus which, for those of you who did not grow up in a Baptist concentration camp or those who did but doodled during Sunday school (*cough*), is when the Hebrews packed their stuff and split from Egypt. They, like most people, considered themselves Chosen By God, and were setting out to find some real estate more amenable to being occupied by Chosen People; specifically, real estate that wasn't already full of heavily-armed Egyptians with lousy labor-management relationship skills. So the whole "Chosen By God" theme is kind of central to the Exodus tale.

Except that some folks apparently don't want it mentioned.

I don't get it. Do some folks wander through life looking for things to make them feel offended?

18 comments:

phlegmfatale said...

Moses, leader of the 40 year hunt-and-peck expedition, must also be noted as the original guy who wouldn't stop and axe for directions, no matter what. I'll bet half the women were sitting there thinking "yeah, I've definitely seen this tree 4 or 5 times," but, knowing their places, they kept their yaps shut.

sam said...

Some of those "people" won't be happy until there is no one around that won't take issue with their life "choices."

Christians are an easy target. The Muslims will be harder to convince, especially when they are sawing/chopping their heads off.

Tam said...

Christians?

I thought the movie was about Hebrews?

LawDog said...

Christians are an easy target.

I seem to remember that the Book of Exodus is contained in the Old Testament, rather than the New.

And I'm pretty sure Moses -- the Chief Noodge and Navigator (2nd Class) of the Exodus expedition -- was born and died some several (hundred) centuries before Christ.

ibex said...

Technically, Christians are Jews. Specifically, a jewish-apocalyptic sect. Most of them don't like to hear that, though, so they just refer to the Hebrews in the OT as "early Christians". At least unofficially.

Rob K said...

To be fair, the way the ad script was worded made it sound like the actors were chosen by God.

Anonymous said...

phlegm, these were Jewish women. No way in Sinai they kept their yaps shut.

Someone in Hollywood thought that a film starring Charlton Heston (presidency be upon him) and Yul Brynner, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, needed to be improved. There's a message in this.

Anonymous said...

Do some folks wander through life looking for things to make them feel offended?

Yes

sam said...

Tam said:

"Christians?

I thought the movie was about Hebrews?"

The referenced news article said:

"Other radio stations and shows — some Christian and some not, including Ryan Seacrest's and Dr. Laura's programs, agreed to air the commercial as is, according to Bond."

"Liberty Counsel, a religious issues litigation and Christian advocacy group, has petitioned Radio Disney to reconsider its requirement that "God" be chucked from the spots for the movie."

Yes, technically the movie is about the Jews/Hebrews, but that is not where the reactions are.

/quibble

Anonymous said...

"Do some folks wander through life looking for things to make them feel offended?"

Rhetorical question, right? :-)

Militant churchy types, militant anti-religious types, militant women's libber types: Their basic outlook is, "Those people are having fun! We cannot allow that!"

I note in passing that the anti-Christian sorts are much less anti-Islamic. It's the Danegeld principle at work, I surmise...

Art

Anonymous said...

I try to be sensitive to other people's feelings when I speak, but when people get offended by stuff like this. . . I go out of my way to further offend them.

Anonymous said...

"Moses dragged us through the desert to the one place in the Middle East where there is no oil." -- Golda Meir

Heh.

NotClauswitz said...

I doodled pictures of Messerschmidts and Stukas getting shot in flames down by P-51 Mustangs while my dad preached. Those handy little "enrollment" cards with the blank-backs made great drawing material.

phlegmfatale said...

oy vey, comatus - what was I thinking? Of course, you are right, unless they were quietly taking notes to use as guilt-inducing leverage at a later date.
Frankly, one tires of folk who are simply festering for something to get bent out-of-shape over. Everyone's outrage chip is on such a hair-trigger that it's almost impossible to discern what is truly offensive. That's why I'm an equal opportunity offender, and by the way, dog is my co-pilot.

Anonymous said...

Professionally offended? You bet.
There's a cause celeb on the WIU
campus now about an Associated Students of History flyer with a picture of a gallows, saying Hang Around with Us.
One young lady was so offended seeing it on her way to class she couldn't stay for the lecture, and is calling for mass sensitivity awareness training for all history majors.
Donalbain

Anonymous said...

Wow, and I would have found that flyer hilarious. Heck, I'm chuckling now. OTOH, I'm a history major, thus their target market.

Sensitivity training for history majors?? Really a double ungood thing, especially for military history majors. The right group of history majors will just tear apart the feelgood misrepresentation of history. Complete with references to primary and secondary sources.

Anonymous said...

Me, I think I'll stick with Charlie Heston's version. Eddie G. Robinson made such a great renegade priest.
emdfl

Anonymous said...

"Narrator: With Ben Kingsley, Christian Slater, Alfred Molina and Elliott Gould. ... chosen by God"

I'd re-write that, too. Central Casting only thinks they are God.

markm