It seemed a terrible oversight that the editors of Tomorrow's World should provide us with a rogues gallery of untruth tellers on the cover of their latest issue, and yet not bother to identify by name those unlucky enough to be nominated.
But of course, they did. In very small print at the bottom of page 4.
So here is the full list...
Top row: John Lennon, Alfred Kinsey, Che Guevara, Alfred North Whitehead.
Second row: Marx, Nietzsche, Mao and Darwin.
Third row: Stalin, Ingersoll, Ghandi and Richard Dawkins.
Bottom row: Bill Nye, Kurt Gödel, Lenin and Freud.
Bill Nye must be flattered to be up there with Charles Darwin and Ghandi. I dare say he's already framed the cover to hang in his study.
Thanks to Corky who, with more patience and skill than I'm capable of, captured those hiding on the top row underneath the magazine logo. I guess you could say he uncorked them!
And special thanks to the lads at TW. Great entertainment value. Mad magazine couldn't have done better.
It's great to have at least 50% of a brain twister from the people who claim to have all the answers. I would never have guessed Kinsey or Whitehead.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, once I learned that Popeye always ate spinach and beat up Bluto either to rescue Olive Oyl or to win her heart, I became bored with Popeye cartoons and moved into other fresher entertainment. Armstrongism is similarly predictable. Who knew, though, that after their prophecy deadlines passed, after science and history passed them by, they would continue to serve up the same stuff, actually expecting it to be the basis for rebuilding their empire? That people have become bored with this sheer predictability of the larger groups is manifested by all of the weirdness some of the little aspiring guys are displaying, weirdness that is not working either, because they simply use it to spike the original stuff. Armstrongism presents a prophecy model and worldview that time has passed by and invalidated. The chief role of the surviving groups would seem to be to comfort the old stalwarts by continuing to present the same old familiar message as they transition towards their own personal ends.
BB
I am very much in agreement with what you wrote. At one time there was a single, nearly monolithic, Armstrongite organization. It was sufficiently differentiated that the organization did not generally compete for dollars with other organizations. The monolith fractured into many similar small pieces thus creating a market. The pieces must come up with a message that give them better revenues in this little market. This means developing stuff hat is more lurid and titillating. The big message is "Christ will be here on such and such a date..." But this is a card that Armstrongite marketeers should never play unless they are planning to terminate their "ministries" for some reason around the time of the date that they predict. Armstrongites generate revenue by keeping people in a state of expectancy not by failed prophecy. Weinland self-destructed by taking this too far. HWA almost did the same thing with 1975. But HWA's spin machine was able to manage the disaster with finesse.
DeleteWhen the market competition works in the realm of religious ideas, it is amazing what it comes up with. In Dixon Cartwright's newspaper you can see the strangest, most embarrassing stuff. One guy, I noted in the issue made available through this website, was ranting about the fall of the nation because women were wearing lipstick and high heels. I can't help but feel there is in this rant a failure to understand what is important and a liberal dose of repressed and angry sexuality. This message competes in the competitive market and no doubt will have a few fans. If it doesn't bring in revenue, the ranter will go out of business or rant on something more marketable. It guarantees that the best ranters will survive. It makes you wonder what the final, winning ideas will be. It is an interesting but sad phenomenon to watch.
-- Neo
The world according to Meredith:
ReplyDeleteBill Nye has been blinded by the god of science into doubting the Gilgamesh Epic.
And Ghandi was rebelling against the "Manifest Destiny" of his colonial exploiters.
I'll forgo the obvious "They forgot HWA and GTA in their list!", and, Popeye aside, I'll simply note the inclusion of Bill Nye the Science Guy in their list.
ReplyDeleteObviously, this is because Bill Nye the Science Guy recently beat Ken Ham in a debate about creationism.
It's amazing (and somewhat entertaining) that anyone would regard Bill Nye as a liar, while regarding Ken Ham as a truthful person!
But, I guess that's what those in the Living Church of God are conditioned to believe.
No Women? Where's Dr. Laura..... or Laura and Audra Weinland?
Yeah. And, what happened to the Illinois Enema Bandit, and the Mad Gasser of Mattoon?
DeleteBB
Hitler didn't make the final cut, but Bill Nye did?
ReplyDelete