Everything interesting I've said this morning has been a comment.

[kellinator]

To slsanfran, regarding http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/03/09/CM162371.DTL:

Just skimmed the article. Most of my family members are huge NASCAR fans (and I myself follow it with a passing interest, though not one which leads me to watch races or really anything beyond asking my family members who's leading/who won).

That said -- I disagree on the race issue, because I've heard people from my hometown say they like NASCAR because it's white. The bigwigs may like to pretend it's not that way, but to an extent it is. And this morning on the radio they were playing a sound clip from this weekend's "start your engines" -- which ran the gamut from "support the troops" (always a worthy goal, even for those of us who don't agree with the war) to "support American hunters because they're the real conservationists" -- meaning, presumably, those environmentalists who want people to reconsider their SUVs are pinko commie bastards.

A huge cross-section of the country, and especially the South, enjoys NASCAR, but the most vocal fans tend to fly Rebel flags, practice subtle (at best) racism, and talk down to their wimmen. Will that change? I dunno. I sure hope so. But the country's swinging so far right that I doubt it.

And that said, in my experience people with number 3's on their back window are asshole drivers and people with 24's are whiners. Sterling Marlin and Mark Martin fans are usually okay though.

To buckthorn, on my church experience and issues of doctrine (aka, "is Kelly becoming Lutheran because they tell her what she wants to hear?"):

Appreciate your opinion, Brian, but I'm not exactly a babe in the woods here. I grew up Southern Baptist and can give you lists of the inaccuracies spouted at me during sermons. (Example: "America was founded on Christianity." I really wanted to interrupt that sermon and explain to the preacher that most of the Founding Fathers were deists. He probably didn't know what a deist was.)

I've read my Bible through -- in fact, I probably have a better working Biblical knowledge than 90% of the American population. I've thought long and hard before reaching my conclusions, which include 1). a religion based in fear instead of love isn't what Jesus was about, 2). the Bible was divinely inspired, but it was written by men, which means like anything manmade there could have been errors, 3). the Old Testament bars rare steak and fabric blends, and I don't see anyone up in arms over those, and 4). Paul was a lot more interested in telling people they were going to hell (and women to shut up) than Jesus was.

I don't pretend to know the mind of God. Based on what I've seen, Lutherans will come closer to admitting that than Southern Baptists, or pretty much any other group of fundies. Anyway, if I join a church I don't agree with that won't even recognize that rational people can have disagreements over issues of interpretation, I'm a liar and a hypocrite. And one thing Jesus really didn't like was hypocrisy.

To mfree, on gated communities etc.:

I HATE homeowners' associations. I consider them unamerican. Once in a class at Vanderbilt, a girl said her family's homeowners' association controlled what color they could paint their house. I said something along the lines of "You're giving up your rights as an American. Doesn't that bother you?" and I shit you not, she said, "No, because they keep those people out." Stupid bitch.

to cynical7, on delicious David Duchovny:

One of my college profs went to grad school with David Duchovny. He said they all laughed their asses off when he quit to become an actor, because they'd seen him in a play and he was awful. Then he got The X-Files and they all laughed at him again because he wasn't acting, he was playing himself.

He apparently has a magnetism that makes all women want him. Duh, tell me something I don't know.

To tarpo:

I saw The Ring last night. It scared the ever-lovin' shit out of me.

Comments

[jema.livejournal.com]

it's been 3 days now since i saw the ring and it took this long to not look with suspicion at my TV.

[str8jackethappy.livejournal.com]

re: churches.

given that going to church is supposed to be a means of worshipping and/or practicing your spirituality in a comfortable and educational environment that keeps you in that regular practice, why on earth would you join a church if you didn't agree with it's doctrines? isn't that just a TEENY bit ridiculous?

HOA

[pxlboy.livejournal.com]

i've heard horror stories of HOA's. enough to keep any sensible individual out of a neighborhood like that. some fucking fundie backwards new money king-of-their-own-damn-anthill mentality. sadly enough, this condoned form of economic profiling and racially-driven exclusion seems to be the most commonly accepted form of bigotry these days. it's fucking sickening.

[azurelunatic]

I get along better with Deist philosophies than I do with most fundamentalist-type church philosophies.

[technomom]

FWIW, I don't live in one. I know Sam would NEVER agree to living in a gated community, and I happen to think that they give people a false sense of security. I have zero interest in keeping "those people" out if we're talking about race. The people I'd want to keep out are those who use power tools/noisy lawn equipment at 6am and are suspicious of anyone who hasn't covered their home and vehicles with tacky flag decals.

BUT - when you buy property in a community that has a homeowner's association, you're entering into a contract. You choose to do that - nobody forces you. If you don't want to live in a neighborhood with an HOA, you don't have to buy a home there. Simple. That isn't giving up any rights. My parents and sister live in communities with HOAs by choice. One of the reasons my sister and her husband moved was because they didn't feel their previous neighborhood was upholding the neighborhood covenants restrictively enough (yes, they're really, really different from us).

When visiting them, I've seen white, black, and Indian people and some who looked like they're probably from somewhere in the middle east. I've known Hispanic people who lived in gated communities. So I have a really hard time thinking they're all about racism, as someone else seemed to be saying.

[buckthorn.livejournal.com]

(taking a moment to bask in the irony that this comment for the moment is right below technomom's)

In my humble opinion, if you don't follow the Bible you're not a Christian. No, I don't believe there are inaccuracies in the Bible. Would an all-powerful God allow that to happen? I mean, this is His Big Speech to His people. This is the Written Record, the literal Word of God.... think that he would allow some junk to creep in there, just y'know for whatever reason?

Paul did a great deal to expand on the general principles of Christianity. If we don't like them, then that's our choice. But we have no right to call ourselves true Christians if we don't believe them and try to follow them. Same way as I can't call myself a Democrat if I don't believe what the Democrats stand for, or can't call myself a NASCAR fan if I've never seen a race, or whatever. Disagree with the Bible all you like, but then you're not a Biblical Christian. What you are remains up to you.

And while I'm thinking about it... why aren't people up in arms about fabric blends and the like? Because Jesus took away the OT law. So it's generally not applicable to us today except for specifics that were carried over. And maybe that's not a fact that 90% of people understand but it's an important distinction nonetheless. OT had lots of fun stuff ("Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live") that didn't get carried over to NT times that somehow people managed to drag over the line.

And Jesus didn't like hypocrites, true. He also wanted people to work very hard to understand God and his purpose for the Earth and Jesus' purpose on earth (John 17:3). It's important if we're going to be Christians for us to continue to grow in our knowledge as much as possible, and that means finding a church that is Biblically consistent. You can't pick and choose.

[atomicnumber51.livejournal.com]

My parents live in a restricted-deed neighborhood. (Not gated, but there is a homeowner's association that they are contractually bound by the deed to their house to belong to.)

The neighborhood is very culturally diverse, and very racially diverse. Not only are their blacks, hispanics asians, middle eastern people, etc, but even among people of european descent, there are a lot of first-generation imigrant types like my parents. And this is a nice, well respected neighborhood.

In it's defense, yes, my parents give up the right to park an RV in the front yard, put up chain link fences, and have to have a matching mailbox, etc, *but* the association maintains an olympic-size swimming pool, open all summer and free to residents of the neighborhood, 4 tennis courts, an outdoor basketball court, a workout room, meeting space for neighborhood groups and clubs, and a "clubhouse" that can be rented by residents for parties and things.

It's a trade-off, but there's more going on than just trying to keep people out.

[avatar-x.livejournal.com]

Good points on The Bible/Christianity there- always nice to meet someone of faith who's well-adjusted.

One of my running jokes: "I don't have a problem with God, just certain members of His fan club."

[astrophysicat.livejournal.com]

church: that sounds great, Kelly. If I hadn't been raised atheist, I'd like to think I'd have ended up with a similarly well balance outlook on christianity.

HOA: (any potential racism aside) the problem comes when the only options for quality recent or new construction in an area are all under HOA's, then it's a little dicier having to sign away your rights in order to have a non-fixer-upper. Lots of their bylaws you may agree with (like no rusted out cars as lawn ornaments) but other things that you might call personality, like the color of your roof tiles, end up getting proscribed as well.