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Thursday, September 27, 2007

Some Thoughts Flipping Through the NYT This Morning

posted by on September 27 at 8:20 AM

27swastika.xlarge1.jpg

The U.S. Navy’s huge swastika wasn’t a problem when only God could see it.

People suck.

Ben Stein is a fuckstick.

There is no morality without religion.

I’m glad Gail Collins is writing columns for the op-ed pages again.

RSS icon Comments

1

It would be interesting to see the blueprints for that building.

Posted by Mr. Poe | September 27, 2007 8:34 AM
2

Tanya Head is one of those ugly opportunists who arise during tragedy. I'm glad she's getting called out, bitch. (Props to her for doing all the volunteer work, and whatever, but clearly she's psychologically not a healthy woman.)

Posted by Katelyn | September 27, 2007 8:50 AM
3

Being built in a swastika pattern before the incept of the internet somehow makes this obvious construction idea OK? Tear this shit down please, lest we offend...

Posted by plans | September 27, 2007 8:56 AM
4

How about Cintra Wilson on Chloe' in the style section today? I realize fashion COMPLETELY UNIMPORTANT, but she's funny as hell, and smart too. (The piece falls apart at the end, but there's some killer stuff in it that you don't often get in fashion writing.)

I've been away from the Slog lately. Fashion is a cruel mistress.

Posted by It's Mark Mitchell | September 27, 2007 8:56 AM
5

Re: "People suck"- the title of "Ms. Head" was used 31 times. Just sayin'.

Posted by mongo like slog | September 27, 2007 9:03 AM
6

@5 If you're really "just sayin", maybe you should just say it instead of announcing that you're just sayin it after you already said it.

Posted by Katelyn | September 27, 2007 9:14 AM
7

Ben Stein has always been a fuckstick. What a loathsome, loathsome human being.

Posted by Peter | September 27, 2007 9:17 AM
8

what a waste of time and energy by the anti-defamation league. who cares if the building is shaped like a swastika?

Posted by konstantConsumer | September 27, 2007 9:28 AM
9

Why didn't they just reverse the L's so they went the other way?

Posted by John | September 27, 2007 9:29 AM
10

I'm amazed that Ben Stein has managed to turn 2 minutes of screen time into a career. I wonder where he would be now if he had not been in "Ferris Buehler's Day Off"

Posted by Ed | September 27, 2007 9:50 AM
11

Ithaca, NY. Not Ithica.

Posted by casusbelli | September 27, 2007 10:00 AM
12

@9 I don't think many people in the US would recognize a manji. It would be nice, but it ain't gonna happen. It is a shame though, because that's really not a bad design for a building. It ensures light and fresh air and maximizes space.

Oh, and did you know there's a Swastika, Ontario?

Posted by Gitai | September 27, 2007 10:11 AM
13

Okay, it's a freakin building. The point was obviously not to make a glaring swastika. A dorm on my heavily Jewish college campus was shaped exactly like this, and while we joked about it, no one thought for one minute that it was intentional. It's just a good use of space. Sure, someone should have reversed the Ls, but it's just a shape.

Posted by Kate | September 27, 2007 10:33 AM
14

You can win Ben Stein's Money, but you can't win his soul. He doesn't have one.

Posted by Boomer in NYC | September 27, 2007 10:46 AM
15

i don't want to offend, but what is wrong with the existence of a group of buildings that unintentionally resemble a swastika when viewed from space?

not only that, but i don't think we should give this symbol any more power than it's already been given.

Posted by infrequent | September 27, 2007 10:51 AM
16

I may not agree with Ben Stein's beliefs regarding metaphyisical biology, but his column in the NY Times business section is great. Besides, it's a mistake to try and censure these people - it only feeds their persecution complex. Let 'em try and prove what what they are hypothesizing; intelligent design is controlling evolution.

Posted by crazycatguy | September 27, 2007 10:54 AM
17

@16: Intelligent design is a political movement, not an intellectual one
(see e.g. the Wikipedia page on the Discovery Institute), so countering it requires political, not intellectual, tactics.

Posted by butterw | September 27, 2007 11:15 AM
18

Problem is that the ID don't want to 'prove' anything, they say its quite obvious that a higher power was involved. To prove this, would of course to blasphemy.

Of course Ben Stein is a fuckwad! He wrote for Nixon and he bad mouthed Deep Throat when he was finally exposed.

I don't care if he's dead, we should still impeach Nixon and Ford (for pardoning the fucker). Same thing will happen with Bush and Cheney.

Posted by Just Some Guy | September 27, 2007 11:24 AM
19

Nixon wasn't an intelligent man, and not a bad president until he screwed up. I don't blame Ben Stein for working for a president no matter who it was.

Tearing down those buildings because their design unintentionally resembles a "swastika", which shouldn't be a taboo symbol anyway, is completely ignorant.

Posted by Michael | September 27, 2007 11:44 AM
20

michael @ 19. you are the first person i have ever encountered, either in print or otherwise, who has contended that nixon was not intelligent. the general consensus on the man is that he was paranoid, joyless, and a right wing asshole, but that he was intelligent. upon what do you base your opinion?

Posted by ellarosa | September 27, 2007 1:28 PM
21

If the swastika shaped US Navy building were in a novel, it would be called foreshadowing.

Posted by Original Andrew | September 27, 2007 1:29 PM
22

Is it just me, or were these nyt articled poorly written? They just roll along with paragraph after paragraph of redundant information with no discernable narrative thread.
A result of unlimited web space?

Posted by ams | September 27, 2007 1:56 PM
23

Isn't it time to debunk as complete and total rhetorical crap the very notion of "teaching the controversy".

The Intelligent Design folks want to "teach the controversy" around whether evolution happens...

Big Oil wants to "teach the controversy" around whether global warming is real...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to "teach the controversy" around the whether the Holocaust happened...

What do they all have in common?
Why they're all full of shit, of course!

Just keep an eye out and you'll see -- any time anyone spouts the "teach the controversy" line, you can be 100% certain that they're not only talking complete bullshit -- but they don't even have any convincing made-up, pseudo-facts to help support that worthless bullshit line.

Posted by Tim | September 27, 2007 2:40 PM
24

The Christian cross was a lot more effective for crucifixion than the hakenkreutz. Many buildings are built in the shape of a Christian cross - where's the outrage? Live and die for your silly symbols - especially as your leaders direct.

The swastika is an archetypal, universal human religious symbol. It appears on every continent and is as old as humankind. A marker of the sun's travels, it can be seen on Pictish rock carvings, adorning ancient Greek pottery, and on ancient Norse weapons and implements. It was scratched on cave walls in France seven thousand years ago. A swastika marks the beginning of many Buddhist scriptures, and is often inciused on the soles of the feet of the Buddha in statuary. In the Jain religion, it is a symbol of the seventh Jina (Saint), the Tirthankara Suparsva. To Native Americans, the swastika is a symbol of the sun, the four directions, and the four seasons.

Posted by TEAR THAT BUILDING DOWN... | September 27, 2007 3:52 PM
25

"The Anti-Defamation League in San Diego has objected to the shape of the buildings."

That just sounds funny. You'd think every one in a while, a group that stands up for civil rights like them, or the NAACP, would publicly let a few of these cases go, just to remind us all they're fightin' the good fight and not being the reactionaries their detractors paint them as.

Posted by Dougsf | September 27, 2007 5:41 PM
26

The Anti-Defamation League in San Diego has objected to the shape of the buildings. Thank God!

Catholics are stupid to object to a poster for a SanFran fag event, but Jews have every right to object to an accidental swastika.

I am glad the government is paying $600,000 to disguise this building. No Jewish child should have to accidentally see this evil shape on the internet.

When Catholics complain about an image that's stupid religions nonsense, but when Jews complain about an image that is bringing more justice to the world. The Anti-Defamation League is an important protector of Jewish rights, and makes sure no movies, images, books, or even accidental images offend any Jew anywhere.

Posted by Issur | September 27, 2007 6:04 PM
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Posted by Jack Spratt | September 27, 2007 10:56 PM

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