Slog
News & ArtsMonday, March 14, 2011
Religion O They Will Know We Are Christians...
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 6:24 PM
...by our delusions and our hatreds and our blood lust.
First, this: "I like your Christ," Gandi said. "I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Second, this: every day I thank the God I don't believe in for Christians like my mother, Stephen Sprinkle, and Slog superstar Kim in Portland. I would be lost to total despair without 'em.
9
yeah, what @4 said (and what I said in the thread where she came up earlier). Troll with bad timing for lulz, hangs out at Landover Baptist.
(http://www.landoverbaptist.net/member.ph… and http://i.imgur.com/wwHZU.png according to sleuths at reddit).
(http://www.landoverbaptist.net/member.ph… and http://i.imgur.com/wwHZU.png according to sleuths at reddit).
10
I'm so tired of stupid people. I'm tired of half-wits who question nothing. I'm tired of mentally inferior people who use Sky Magician to justify their hate and prejudices. Let's box 'em all up and ship 'em to Dumbfuckistan until they agree to free their mind.
12
Troll or not, I'm going to have to watch like 6 hours of kitten videos to cancel out these bad feelings I'm having.
15
I thought the point of Lent was to affirm your own relationship with God through sacrifice, not to smite the unbelievers. And among my friends, "sacrifice" means giving up chocolate for a month.
16
she needs to get a foundation that isn't a totally different color than the rest of her. god should collapse her house as a reminder.
18
Looking at her subscribers and who subscribes to her, I'm going to guess appallingly effective satire in extraordinarily bad taste.
21
If an attempt at satire, very poor taste. If true, we need to bring back the Coliseum and the lions.
23
I literally couldn't watch more than 30 seconds of this without my stomach coming out of my mouth, and my eyes popping out of my head in utter revulsion at what I had subjected them too.
24
her god needs some serious honey badger don't give a shit treatment imho....
"c'mon look as this god guy, acting all tough, ewww japan, and haiti and libi- ya- ewww look at god throttling rwandada, eww thats sooo gross."
"c'mon look as this god guy, acting all tough, ewww japan, and haiti and libi- ya- ewww look at god throttling rwandada, eww thats sooo gross."
25
as a christian myself, may I affirm you, dear people, that even if she is a troll or tries to be satirical, there are many "chirstians" like her, especially in the Southern parts of US. Poe's Law in action! ;)
May I say thanks to Dan for recognizing Kim In Portland in his post, she is indeed a treasure, and for giving us, Christians that try to be like Christ, the benefit of the doubt. We value your compliment and trust very much , friend
May I say thanks to Dan for recognizing Kim In Portland in his post, she is indeed a treasure, and for giving us, Christians that try to be like Christ, the benefit of the doubt. We value your compliment and trust very much , friend
29
The god of the buybull is a pig. Richard Dawkins put it best:
"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."
"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."
30
Whether this is a case of Poe's Law or not, I still want to kick her teeth down her throat. Lucky thing for her that I don't have the same dedication to vengeance as God.
32
Good parody.
Not sure why it's appalling to make fun of the reactions that evangelical leaders have had to past disasters.
Taboos are made to be poked.
Not sure why it's appalling to make fun of the reactions that evangelical leaders have had to past disasters.
Taboos are made to be poked.
33
I was just waiting (or dreading) to see who would come up with the so-called Christian logic like the kind that was used over Haiti (yeah, it's totally 'cuz they rejected God); but I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
I gather from the comments above that there's uncertainty as to whether she's serious (and seriously fucked in the head) or whether it's supposed to be satire (though I don't think she's old enough and lacks the intelligence to employ such sophisticated wordplay).
If, in fact, she's cracked, then she herself needs to be shook up by God. [See, I'm not being vindictive or promoting violence, though I'm sorely tempted.] If she is serious, then it's depressing enough to make me question the validity of the human race continuing to exist on this planet. And that depresses me even more.
I gather from the comments above that there's uncertainty as to whether she's serious (and seriously fucked in the head) or whether it's supposed to be satire (though I don't think she's old enough and lacks the intelligence to employ such sophisticated wordplay).
If, in fact, she's cracked, then she herself needs to be shook up by God. [See, I'm not being vindictive or promoting violence, though I'm sorely tempted.] If she is serious, then it's depressing enough to make me question the validity of the human race continuing to exist on this planet. And that depresses me even more.
34
Dan thinks this is real?
Dan, view all her videos, examine her channel page, and report back. Thanks.
Dan, view all her videos, examine her channel page, and report back. Thanks.
36
In related news, Gilbert Gottfried just got fired by AFLAC for tweeting a bunch of tsunami jokes...
37
I think it's the "God is so LOVING! Look how he answered our prayers and MURDERED thousands of Godless atheists!" that sort of gives it away, but at the same time, I can completely envision more than a few actual Christians using exactly this same brain-'sploding choice of words.
Which I think pushes this more into parody than actual satire, the difference being that, it's so spot-on accurate that many people are clearly having difficulty determining whether it's supposed to be ridiculing Christian attitudes or sincerely emulating them.
Which I think pushes this more into parody than actual satire, the difference being that, it's so spot-on accurate that many people are clearly having difficulty determining whether it's supposed to be ridiculing Christian attitudes or sincerely emulating them.
38
"Duh winning" is of course what jeebus said as thousands of athiests were washed violently into teh sea.
40
Stop. Stop. Somebody make her shut up; in a christian way of course, if by christian way we mean, rolling our eyes, saying "duuuuh" to her face, whatever. Just make her stop. Geez.
42
Well, if you want to get that bad taste out of your mouth, click here and sign Freedom to Marry's petition to Obama:
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/page/s/i_d…
And kudos to Kim.
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/page/s/i_d…
And kudos to Kim.
45
Does she think that she can control God? She prays for him to bring destruction on non-Christians? Why wouldn't she instead pray for God to convert non-Christians?
49
I posted the dictionary definition of the word "literal" in the comments, so I feel as though I've done my good deed for the day.
50
As a former devout Catholic now atheist, I can confidently say that this girl is not trolling... she is sincere. This is not satire.
It's in the way she talks, and her facial expressions... I've seen and heard it so many times before from a thousand different devout religious teenagers.
I was surrounded by people like her throughout most of my teen years. Not so much in church, but at Catholic youth prayer groups, World Youth Day, Christian Rock Concerts, Pro Life youth meetings (yes, specifically for youth), and I even did missionary work for a year with a group of girls just like her.
When I look at her and listen to her, I see and hear who I used to be, and it makes me want to throw up...
Only people who have been part of the Christian youth subculture can truly understand just how batshit crazy and cultish it is.
It's in the way she talks, and her facial expressions... I've seen and heard it so many times before from a thousand different devout religious teenagers.
I was surrounded by people like her throughout most of my teen years. Not so much in church, but at Catholic youth prayer groups, World Youth Day, Christian Rock Concerts, Pro Life youth meetings (yes, specifically for youth), and I even did missionary work for a year with a group of girls just like her.
When I look at her and listen to her, I see and hear who I used to be, and it makes me want to throw up...
Only people who have been part of the Christian youth subculture can truly understand just how batshit crazy and cultish it is.
52
I didn't do any research besides watching two other videos. She sounded sincere to me.
I'm too lazy to go all interwebs on her, can somebody provide clear evidence that she is a troll? I see no satire in the videos I watched. Willing to be wrong about that, but seemed totally sincere to me.
I'm too lazy to go all interwebs on her, can somebody provide clear evidence that she is a troll? I see no satire in the videos I watched. Willing to be wrong about that, but seemed totally sincere to me.
53
Labeling this video as satire is grossly underestimating the misguided conviction and fervor of religious youth.
54
I agree with @50.
If this girl is a troll, she has the whole jesus-loving-teenager thing to a T. Much like jpfh, I met a lot of people just like her at various Christian youth events in my younger years and even if this is meant to be satirical, I've seen a multitude of "this was karma for Pearl Harbor!" post on the internet and it's disgusting.
If this girl is a troll, she has the whole jesus-loving-teenager thing to a T. Much like jpfh, I met a lot of people just like her at various Christian youth events in my younger years and even if this is meant to be satirical, I've seen a multitude of "this was karma for Pearl Harbor!" post on the internet and it's disgusting.
56
Sigh. My Atheist eyes may need contacts to see clearly, but even without the contacts, my eyes are more open and able to see the real world than this christians. I would like to rise above and give her the benefit of the doubt (cant we all see the oozing indoctrination here?) but... I would rather just say, WHAT A CRAZY BETCH!
58
If this is the first video of hers you've ever watched, it does come across as pretty sick, even if she's using satire to make a point most of us here would agree with (i.e., there are some crazy-scary Christians out there who say crazy-scary things).
But if you watch some of her other videos, it fits in perfectly with the "series." Logically, this is EXACTLY what her crazy-scary character would say. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with her exploiting a natural disaster for the sake of satire or performance art, but it's a lot more offensive as a standalone clip than as one of many clips.
I wonder if she has a background in improv comedy. Or maybe she just a dedicated rationalist who really liked Borat.
But if you watch some of her other videos, it fits in perfectly with the "series." Logically, this is EXACTLY what her crazy-scary character would say. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with her exploiting a natural disaster for the sake of satire or performance art, but it's a lot more offensive as a standalone clip than as one of many clips.
I wonder if she has a background in improv comedy. Or maybe she just a dedicated rationalist who really liked Borat.
61
Also her home address has been discovered by Anonymous on 4chan.
Tamar Boehm.
3204 Elda St. Duarte, CA 9101.
She appears to have posted that video admitting she is a troll after numerous Anonymous members have started harassing her.
Tamar Boehm.
3204 Elda St. Duarte, CA 9101.
She appears to have posted that video admitting she is a troll after numerous Anonymous members have started harassing her.
62
She can be quite good, people may want to watch her other stuff before siccing the Internet on her (she may be in poor taste here, but it's not like some religious idiot isn't thinking/saying these same things. I was going to say see Facebook, but those are mostly trolls too.)
Trolls gettin' trolled. That's life on the intertubes, Dan. *coughsantorumcough* They can't all be winners, kid.
Trolls gettin' trolled. That's life on the intertubes, Dan. *coughsantorumcough* They can't all be winners, kid.
63
This is her video uploaded 3/14/11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51gMdlBu5…
"Hey guyzz, it's Pamela, I've been making troll videos for a while now, but this last one seems to have pissed off a lot of people (which was my intention!) but at this point I'm kind of tired of pizza [her address was posted many times in the comments], so I'm gonna let the cat out of the bag. I'm coming clean! It was fun guys. So, uh, yeah! I guess I'll see ya. "
"Hey guyzz, it's Pamela, I've been making troll videos for a while now, but this last one seems to have pissed off a lot of people (which was my intention!) but at this point I'm kind of tired of pizza [her address was posted many times in the comments], so I'm gonna let the cat out of the bag. I'm coming clean! It was fun guys. So, uh, yeah! I guess I'll see ya. "
64
The beauty of the Poe, any satire of fundamentalist religion is believable because they're just that fucking stupid. But I'll take it for a win. We're all reminded why fundamentalists are horrible people, & the video gets almost universally condemned, 1,758 likes to 83,636 dislikes. I'd high five her at the next atheist clubhouse meeting for getting more people to think less of xtians.
65
Ok, scratch that. Now this will just be one more thing for xtians to scream victimization over against those evil mean atheists trying to make them look bad. Xtians will not be O'Keefed, they know how to play the victim too well.
66
I was having a conversation with my mother the other day about this. Her generation didn't grow up with the same relationship to church as mine did. I'm roughly the same age as the girl in the video, early twenties, and my mother is in her fifties.
She was schooled by conservative nuns and was taught to worship quietly, to be more stoic in her prayers. Faith was more of a private and personal thing. The mass was still in Latin, and there were no youth events to attend.
Not much longer after all this, my experience was very different. Like I said before, there is now a vibrant Christian youth subculture that is thriving. It has broken away from the somber mass. Now, being open and outspoken about your faith and your relationship to God is encouraged. Public displays of extreme emotion (from tears of joy to tears of sadness) are common. Body language has changed, youth groups will pray with their hands stretched up towards the ceiling and their eyes closed perhaps swaying back and forth or dancing. The music has changed and is no longer provided by a lone organist, some youth masses have full young christian rock bands next to the altar. Often there are images of Jesus, candles, or people praying being projected onto a big screen during the hymns. Youth fasts are often a weekend overnight event during which fun religious themed group activities pass the time. There is lots of hand holding (during prayer) and hugging, complete strangers or not. I distinctly remember people having "fits" or crying hysterically during a mass adoration of the Eucharist because they claimed to have seen the holy spirit. Once I was in a prayer circle with a girl who started talking gibberish in a fake trance, but I sincerely believe that she believed that she was actually touched by the holy spirit who allowed her to speak in tongues. The organizers of these events were enthusiastic devout young people as well, usually in their early thirties. My bible study mentor was a good looking guy who had the crucifixion wounds tattooed on his hands, feet, and torso to remind him of How Jesus suffered for him. All the girls, and some of the boys I'm sure, had a huge crush on him.
It's interesting how drastically the environment of Christian youth has changed in just a few short decades. Keep in mind that my parish and youth groups were quite liberal for Catholicism. The things I've talked about above I experienced in liberal Christian youth groups.
...I had a taste of fundamentalist youth when I traveled for that missionary work, and as far as public emotion and intensity goes it was pretty much the same, there was just a lot more ignorance and scripture quoting.
More...
She was schooled by conservative nuns and was taught to worship quietly, to be more stoic in her prayers. Faith was more of a private and personal thing. The mass was still in Latin, and there were no youth events to attend.
Not much longer after all this, my experience was very different. Like I said before, there is now a vibrant Christian youth subculture that is thriving. It has broken away from the somber mass. Now, being open and outspoken about your faith and your relationship to God is encouraged. Public displays of extreme emotion (from tears of joy to tears of sadness) are common. Body language has changed, youth groups will pray with their hands stretched up towards the ceiling and their eyes closed perhaps swaying back and forth or dancing. The music has changed and is no longer provided by a lone organist, some youth masses have full young christian rock bands next to the altar. Often there are images of Jesus, candles, or people praying being projected onto a big screen during the hymns. Youth fasts are often a weekend overnight event during which fun religious themed group activities pass the time. There is lots of hand holding (during prayer) and hugging, complete strangers or not. I distinctly remember people having "fits" or crying hysterically during a mass adoration of the Eucharist because they claimed to have seen the holy spirit. Once I was in a prayer circle with a girl who started talking gibberish in a fake trance, but I sincerely believe that she believed that she was actually touched by the holy spirit who allowed her to speak in tongues. The organizers of these events were enthusiastic devout young people as well, usually in their early thirties. My bible study mentor was a good looking guy who had the crucifixion wounds tattooed on his hands, feet, and torso to remind him of How Jesus suffered for him. All the girls, and some of the boys I'm sure, had a huge crush on him.
It's interesting how drastically the environment of Christian youth has changed in just a few short decades. Keep in mind that my parish and youth groups were quite liberal for Catholicism. The things I've talked about above I experienced in liberal Christian youth groups.
...I had a taste of fundamentalist youth when I traveled for that missionary work, and as far as public emotion and intensity goes it was pretty much the same, there was just a lot more ignorance and scripture quoting.
67
The originals have all been taken down off youtube.
But I am kind of curious what all the fuss was about. Anybody have a link to a mirror site or similar?
But I am kind of curious what all the fuss was about. Anybody have a link to a mirror site or similar?
68
See troll confession here,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=364_VCNSVDA
SLOG readers ignore unregistered comments, typically. I refuse to register. You're welcome all you assholes who won't read or acknowledge me.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=364_VCNSVDA
SLOG readers ignore unregistered comments, typically. I refuse to register. You're welcome all you assholes who won't read or acknowledge me.
69
She closed her account, I assume because her video had gone viral and then was transferred to the hive-mind of trolldome on 4Chan.
Yesterday I watched several of her videos and was unable to determine if she was a troll or sincere. She was always on the border between regular batshit and "wait, what?" satire batshit. If I had to bet, I'd bet she is a troll, but not your regular atheist. Her gestures, her word-choice, intonation and that glassy-eyed expression speaks of someone who was at least raised inside the culture where that sort of shit is sincere. She may be taking it a step or two beyond the ordinary insane pale, but she learned from the experts.
Yesterday I watched several of her videos and was unable to determine if she was a troll or sincere. She was always on the border between regular batshit and "wait, what?" satire batshit. If I had to bet, I'd bet she is a troll, but not your regular atheist. Her gestures, her word-choice, intonation and that glassy-eyed expression speaks of someone who was at least raised inside the culture where that sort of shit is sincere. She may be taking it a step or two beyond the ordinary insane pale, but she learned from the experts.
70
The coming clean video has been mirrored:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQfCjuOr1…
Can't find the original video mirror, but I'm sure it's somewhere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQfCjuOr1…
Can't find the original video mirror, but I'm sure it's somewhere.
71
Even as a troll, she is vile to have put this up, and has no skill for satire, which requires that you get close, but not completely identify, with the discourse you target for satire. She is pathetic and deserves what she's getting for polluting the public sphere.
72
The thing is, her video was effective exactly because it was so believable. Most of us have experiences with people who really think this but just say it amongst themselves and don't put it on youtube. It's good to have people that occasionally drag that type of objectionable thought out into the light so it can be properly condemned.
73
OK, 68, I'll bite. Why refuse to register? From here, it looks like you are freely choosing your bitterness - "I'm ignored if I don't register, so I won't register so I can bitch about being ignored". How does that approach work out for you in life in general?
76
@71: I disagree, I think the best satire is that which is indistinguishable from reality. But at the same time I find her just as vile as you do, troll or not. The Japan video in particular was a low blow especially so soon after.
79
I never understood why people would think that Sumerian, or some ancient bloody Semitic language, is all biting one's tongue and spitting.
If one is really interested in learning Sumerian or Aramaic, there are published textbooks, in English no less, on such subjects. You don't have to have Jesus skull-fuck you to be able to, at least, read such languages; they are already fairly well understood by scholars.
If one is really interested in learning Sumerian or Aramaic, there are published textbooks, in English no less, on such subjects. You don't have to have Jesus skull-fuck you to be able to, at least, read such languages; they are already fairly well understood by scholars.
80
The point of good satire is in laceration. It hasn't worked, as well as it could, unless people feel righteously offended. Lefty types, just as much, pay observance to the WASP state gods of decorum and political correctness, as do righty types--in the English-language spheres, at least.
You don't have a right not to be offended. And the response this woman has received is proof of her success.
You don't have a right not to be offended. And the response this woman has received is proof of her success.
81
She confessed this to be a troll, apparently she's an atheist troll who has put together a series of videos lampooning christianists.
The problem, as I see it, was that her stuff was absolutely indistinguishable from the genuine crazy I've seen spewed about by real non-troll folks. That spells huge trouble for anyone of a religious bent, crazy or not.
The problem, as I see it, was that her stuff was absolutely indistinguishable from the genuine crazy I've seen spewed about by real non-troll folks. That spells huge trouble for anyone of a religious bent, crazy or not.
82
I say her successful trolling should be rewarded by others continuing to troll her.
Nothing quite as cool as using the deaths of 1000's to get attention and try to make yourself famous!
Nothing quite as cool as using the deaths of 1000's to get attention and try to make yourself famous!
83
What a bunch of self-righteous bullshit in this and 4chan over the video. She made a bad joke, it's really nothing more than that. As if none of you have done something in public in bad judgement. It is not deserving of harrassment.
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