Thank Goodness I Can't Kill People With My Mind

by: Natasha Chart

Thu Apr 22, 2010 at 07:00


Yes, it's true, I have no magical powers to either remotely manifest ill will or telepathically engage the offices of supernatural beings for the purposes of doing my dirty work. I haven't even offed myself yet by repeatedly thinking, "kill me, now," after reading some news item that must be true because no one could make such a thing up. It's really an enormous relief, as I was raised to believe that I was very nearly as culpable for stray wicked thoughts as I would have been for acting them out.

It might sound silly to say it like that, but Pat Robertson actually believes in his ability to commit psychic murder, or he wants you to believe in it, as noted when he famously started a movement a couple years ago to pray for the deaths of Supreme Court justices. This is the depth of how weird it is that Pat Robertson, or any other hateful bigot, is a serious political figure in US politics.

Even some Tea Partiers apparently believe they have these kinds of psychic powers. A St. Louis rally included a prayer vigil for the death of Rep. Russ Carnahan. While it's certainly true that holding group hate sessions is intended to be threatening, that's because they often lead to material acts of violence committed by people acting of their own free will.

Everyone who knows anything about reproductive health care work understands how these public outpourings of supernaturalized hate work to further traumatize women who need compassion, for example. 'It's all about our love for the baybeeez,' the anti-choice demonstrators say, totally denying responsibility for the way their circuses of intimidation work to threaten women and doctors. Clinic protestors are really a fascinating case of telepathic fantasist; believing at the same time that their prayers (which they believe are effective) for harm to clinic workers should be judged by the 'love' in their hearts for other persons/entities, so they can want to kill without guilt because 'god' would be doing it, while the real world vandalism, threats and body count they normalize should be ignored in favor of their supernatural assertion that they act on behalf of a peaceful deity.

I'm not sure if this is news, but I think it's worth keeping in mind that one of our major political parties regularly pays homage to such hateful scornings of reality for superstition. People who take seriously the idea that you could (and, given that, it would be right to try to,) kill someone with your mind may believe in other crazy things, like that Republicans oppose tighter financial regulation for populist reasons.

I have crises of faith from time to time, but the worst ones are always precipitated by acceptance of these ridiculous uses of spirituality in public dialogue. You can't effectively respond to people praying for the deaths of others primarily by saying how mean it is without including something like, "I'm sorry, do you really believe you can kill people with your mind? That's ridiculous."

Natasha Chart :: Thank Goodness I Can't Kill People With My Mind

Tags: , , , , (All Tags)
Print Friendly View Send As Email

Thank Goodness I Can't Kill People With My Mind | 7 comments
Most days I think that's precisely why I'm a Christian, (4.00 / 1)
because it forces you to interrogate the range of good and evil that culture can engender. But, yeah, I read stuff like this, and it's hard not to want to go running in the other direction from the Christian faith. I could do that, though, and I'd still be bound to these people as an American citizen. Sooner or later I can't wash my hands of what's driven people to this level of hate and malice, but it can be tempting to delude myself into thinking otherwise.  
We're all stuck with each other (4.00 / 3)
The specific religion is, imo, just the local outgrowth of the contention between fear and love. We're just going to have that fight over and over again until, well, probably forever.
[ Parent ]
i can (0.00 / 0)
bend spoons with my mind. Hard time with forks though. Don't know why.  
Tines create interference patterns (0.00 / 0)
Or so I suspect.
[ Parent ]
It's politics (0.00 / 0)
Politicians do shitty things to stay in power. Sometimes they realize the things are shitty, sometimes they delude themselves, sometimes they put their fingers in their ears.

On the grand scale, Northern Democrats palled up with their traitorous former co-partisans from the Confederacy because otherwise they'd never have got their hands on any spoils. (And Northerners from both parties were more than happy to call Reconstruction quits in 1877 and leave the freedman to the tender mercies of his former masters.)

And Johnson's escalation of activity in Vietnam in 1964 was designed to provoke an incident like Tonkin Gulf to demonstrate his 'measured macho' in opposition to Goldwater's 'crazy'.

But, in a small way, in thousands of grubby compromises reached ever day in both elected branches, designed to garner contributions, avoid embarrassment, roll icky logs - politics as usual.

Even in the wake of HCR, some lefties seem to find it hard to face this little reality.

Well, I can't do it. but I know people who can (0.00 / 0)
And there is video taped proof of it on the public-access TV show from MTN (Minneapolis Telecommunications Network). Starting in late 1999 we started documenting the magickal efforts of a couple of local undercover shamans to thwart the rise of the Dik Chainy and the Army of $ as they tried to enchant and sorcerize their way into permanent power in the USA.

Lost track of the "Art Temple Mandala", however, in mid-2007 when the Beast (a golem conjured to attack the Mandala with brain-parasites and other more subtle forms of advertising) appears to run them out of town. Unfortunately, they were disbanded before enactment of the ancient and powerful Marshmallow Ritual. I may have the only surviving video evidence of the one and only time the ritual was performed. I still feel a warm breeze when I think about it.

Take it from me, folks, we owe our nation and our lives to the Mandala. Even if they are never recognized for their efforts. I know that Ken Lay will never forget them. Pat Robertson is a piker - a poser - he's got nothing.

The Mandala has left a legacy however - in the words of their most powerful mantra: "Schow  Higim Oibof Edugh". The nonsense phrase the saved the world. S.H.O.E. for short. Say it. You know you want to - saying it in your mind is good enough. In a positive way, of course.

I sometimes get a stray email, or fortune cookie message, from the former news director at Mandala News Network, Brixton Hughes. He promises me that, one day, the true story of the 2000 electile dysfunction and the neo-con coven will be fully revealed. Until then, the Sun will remain motionless.


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

Psychic Powers are Real (4.00 / 1)
A kid of some friends has this psychic power to make objects come to him.  He holds out his hand, stairs at the object and thinks really hard.  Almost always, the object moves to his hand.

Now, the casual observer may notice that someone else grabs the item and hands it to him, finding the whole "psychic" thing too annoying to deal with for long.  But as he will point out every time, it did work; he actually willed the item to his hand.

My fear is these right wing hate groups have similar psychic powers and their prayers for the deaths of others will work in much the same way.

Thank Goodness I Can't Kill People With My Mind | 7 comments
USER MENU

Open Left Campaigns

SEARCH

   

Advanced Search

QUICK HITS
STATE BLOGS

Home | RSS/XML Feed | Register | Contact

  © OpenLeft 2007-2010, Powered by SoapBlox

Powered by: SoapBlox