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anti-press ezine 2005 02 14
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< ANTI-PRESS EZINE #50 >
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"We're Positive About The Negative"
This E-dition filed 02/14/05 from NENYland (pronounced nee-nee-land),
the northeastern corner of New York State (i.e. the hinterlands). Our
Precision Reality Center, located in Plattsburgh -- The Fake City --
features Bull Tracker 9000. More details at the end of this e-dition.
(C) Copyright 2005 Anti-Press
* ASSTUTE HALL OF FAME: The Compliant Citizen *
A guy, around twenty years old, apparently able-bodied, made a comment
we couldn't ignore one day at the Kafe coffeehouse.
"People have to get over it," he was telling an older woman as they
grabbed some coffee. "Bush is our president and there's no reason to
complain. He was reelected, that's it. All this protesting -- it won't
change anything."
We were sitting nearby. "So," we asked the compliant guy, "what are you
going to do when they draft you and you have to fight in Iraq?"
The guy looked at us and shrugged off our observation. "They won't take
me," he stated. "I'm gay."
* A Real Reason To Cry *
It's all about socio-economic stratification: the haves remain
blissfully ignorant of the plight of the have-nots.
There's an ad that's been running on the TeeVee lately for a jewelry
store chain. A young black couple sits at a table, sharing a tender
moment. They're well-dressed, nice clothes; upscale types. The woman
cries. Why? Because her husband just gave her a diamond ring for
Valentine's Day.
At this point we wish we could interrupt that stupid ad, confronting the
couple with the truth about diamonds. Diamonds aren't rare; they're
plentiful. But major diamond companies buy up and horde all the stones,
creating an artificial high-priced market.
A Twilight Zone experiment: the black couple in the TeeVee ad are
wrenched out of their modern storybook world, finding themselves in
South Africa during the "good old days" of the diamond trade. The need
for work would force the husband to work at a diamond mine, separated
from his wife for long periods. Since the mining company is so
concerned about theft, the husband would have to live on site, stuck
inside the compound. No families are allowed. He would be paid low
wages for his backbreaking labor and a good share of that would go back
to the company for the food and housing. After all, a company town is a
real moneymaker.
The diamond business has always exploited black South Africans. In
fact, black Africans were doing OK, living off the land with farming,
until the sly white settlers came along and forced them to work in the
mines by imposing taxes. With the lousy housing provided by the
company, the miners enjoyed such comforts as crippling concrete beds.
That's after a long day of exposing their lungs to air polluted with
asbestos or other "healthful" materials. But things have improved since
then: the miners don't have to sleep on cement mattresses. As for the
air quality...
But the upscale couple in that TeeVee ad doesn't have to worry about a
hard mattress or clean air or being treated one step above slaves. They
would probably be insulted if you told them about the sordid history
behind the diamond business. After all, diamonds are beautiful.
So beautiful that they make you cry.
(Source: "The Underside of De Beers Diamonds," article by Janine
Roberts. ABUSE YOUR ILLUSIONS, Edited by Russ Kick, 2003.)
* Alpha Hates Omega? *
He created everything: He is everything. God is the alpha and the
omega, the beginning and the end, the straight and the gay.
December 16, 2004. Thursday evening. Another Common Council meeting in
Plattsburgh, NY. A citizen asks why the city charges $350 for a
political information booth at its Mayor's Cup Festival, a weeklong
event during the beginning of July. This citizen, one of God's
creations, says he believes in free speech; anyone should be allowed a
booth free of charge, whether it is the Boys Scouts or the Ku Klux Klan.
The Mayor responds that he doesn't believe that a free society should
allow hate groups at public events, especially someone like the Rev.
Fred Phelps who shows up with his followers with signs proclaiming "God
hates fags." You see, God created the Mayor gay. The Mayor is an
openly gay Republican.
A front-page article about this exchange appears two days later in the
local newspaper. The following day, Phelps, all the way over there in
Topeka, Kansas, opens his Sunday sermon by quoting and commenting on the
article. This sermon is archived on his delightful Web site,
<www.godhatesfags.com> . Phelps -- another one of God's creations who
can look like so kind and grandfatherly in a photograph -- doesn't
understand why Plattburgh's mayor has said bad things about him. For a
passing moment Phelps sounds genuinely hurt: "I've never done nothing to
him." [SIC]
By ignoring his double negative, we see that Phelps is implying that
he's the injured party, that Plattsburgh's mayor has no reason to attack
him.
Really. Well, maybe Phelps didn't do anything directly to the Mayor
but...
The anti-Gay Baptist minister led a picket in 1998 at the funeral of
Matthew Shepard. Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming who
was killed for just being gay. After being brutally beaten and
pistol-whipped, he was tied to a fence, left to die. He was found hours
later, somehow still alive, despite a fractured skull and brain stem
damage. Never regaining consciousness, he later died at a hospital, his
injuries too severe for doctors to attempt surgery.
After being imprisoned, the two men who killed Shepard decided their
crime was justified by citing a particular book: The Bible.
At Shepard's funeral Phelps and his followers held up signs like "Matt
In Hell." A section of the main index to Phelps' Web site is entitled
"Memorials". It includes a counter for the number of days Matthew
Shepard has supposedly spent in hell. Just below this counter is this
statement:
<Deal with it! All else is trivial and unimportant. All the fag
caterwauling, candlelight vigils, court orders, etc., can't buy these
perverts one drop of water to cool their tongues.>
The site also features a list of scheduled pickets by Phelps and the
members of his Westboro Baptist Church (WBC to you.) Here's one item of
note:
<WBC to picket sodomite whorehouses (Ezek. 16:24) masquerading as
churches in Plattsburgh, NY, on Sunday, July 3, 2005, -- in religious
protest & warning: "God is not mocked!" God Hates Fags! & Fag-Enablers!
Ergo, God hates heretical Arminian churches with weak, cowardly
preachers -- such as those in Plattsburgh -- who create a Hellish
zeitgeist wherein sodomites seize power and deep, irreversible
corruption brings down the wrath of God as at Sodom.>
Some say God is Perfect: you can see it in his creation.
Phelps is a living example of imperfection. He says his mission is one
of love but the word "hate" features prominently in his messages. In
his sermon he calls Plattsburgh's mayor an "anal-copulating freak," also
suggesting that the Mayor might be a "little scat nibbler." One tries
to remember if Jesus used such loving phrases.
God, the Supreme Creator = Love & Perfection. Phelps, self-proclaimed
Man of God = Hate & Imperfection.
So what is going on here? Does God exist?
If He does, He must have a wry sense of humor.
The last laugh will be on the Rev. Fred Phelps.
One day he might find himself standing before Jesus, shocked to see the
Christ wearing the face of Matthew Shepard.
=============================================================
NOTICE: Unless indicated otherwise, all articles by Anti-Press.
Articles submitted by others do not necessarily express or reflect the
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WHERE WE'RE AT: Anti-Press Ezine radiates from our Precision Reality
Center. We're presently entrapped in the alleged city of Plattsburgh,
northeastern New York State (NENYland), USA. (Valentine's Day: a
holiday when lonely singles suffer for the sins of happy couples.)
EMAIL: Antipress1@aol.com
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