I pit the Revelations TV miniseries

The BBQ Pit
1

I’m not the intended audience for this series. Fine. No problem. Change the channel and go on with my life. But no, family member is fascinated. Still no problem. Except…

40 minutes in, and let’s see if I have this straight.

Little girl is struck by lightning. Doctors pronounce her braindead.

Little girl starts reciting portions of the Bible in Latin.

Little girl’s father is paid off by a rich man to harvest her organs. (Little girl’s mother is dead, and therefore not available).

Discussion ensues about whether to “pull the plug”, despite that said little girl appears not to have a ventilator, feeding tube, or anything more life-sustaining than an IV attached. (If she did, how could she speak?)

Nun to priest: “Does she have an advocate”? No, “We’re all she has.” More conversation which suggests doctors just can’t wait to disassemble little girl for parts.

Little girl resumes speaking, and even making coherent drawings/map. Still, we are to believe that she’s in imminent danger of being withdrawn from life support.

Judge orders 72 hour stay of machine removal, “pending a full medical work-up” (because, again, those knife wielding doctors wouldn’t have bothered doing so already, given how bloodthirsty they are.)

Words can’t even begin to describe how offensive I find all of this sloppy, inaccurate storytelling. I have been way too close to all of these kinds of life-and-death decisions for a family member, and this horribly inaccurate portrayal of events deeply bothers me, particularly in the wake of the recent situation in Florida.

2

People will love it. Should a simular strawman, involving depicting republicans, come on TV, I would hate to see the results. Where’s the throwing up smiley?

3

Morbid curiosity drew me in, and I was struck by the same scene as the OP. An altogether creepy piece of bull pucky. What weird ass hair up do these people have up about organ donation? Jebus Areebus, its just about the only generous act you can commit that costs you absolutely nothing! Far as I’m concerned, when I’m done with this sack of meat, you’re welcome to whatever you can use, up to an including catfish bait.

But I digress. Wonder why some branch or other of the Mouthbreathers for Jesus hasn’t raised a stink about this?

And I wonder about how they’ll play the Rapture aspect. As you prob know, some of the Fundyloons believe the Rapture is an essential feature in the whole Apocalypse, others regard it as not substantiated by Scripture. I was going to pay just enough attention to find out, but my kid made me change that channel to South Park cause this show was too “gay”. That means “not groovy”. I guess.

4

I’m glad to see that this brain dead X-files ripoff for the godly set got pitted. This was the biggest insult to my intelligence that I’ve seen on television in a long time, and I watch Fox. It makes me long for the art and subtlety of a Lifetime original movie. Somehow they managed to make a show that is a waste of Bill Pullman’s meager talents.

5

Seeing as how I was raised Catholic, and thus I never read the Bible, I’m still pretty sure that “The End Times” is not a major or minor feature of Catholic idealogy. So that Catholic nun (is that redundant?) is kind of misplaced. And the quotes before each segment from the King James version of the Bible, which I’m pretty sure we Catholics don’t use, seemed just a little out of place. And I thought the story was was pretty stupid too, as noted in the OP.

But I think I’m going to watch next week, 'cause I think it will get stupider and, perhaps, more entertaining.

6

Isn’t it illegal to buy bodily organs?

7

I’m not sure, but I have seen a Bhuddist monk.

8

DaddyTimesTwo-there are nuns in the Orthodox church, so no, it’s not redundant.

9

Yet another manifestation of the Christian Right’s Culture of Death.

Apocalypse. End Times. Resurrection. Angels. Scourging and Crucifiction. Last Jugdement. Rapture.

Criminy, these folks got a bigger woody for the dirt nap than a suicidal Goth at a Marilyn Manson concert!

Earth to Fundies! Cut out all the Death crap! It’s morbid and creepy and its bringing the rest of us down!

Go for a walk in the park. Play with your kids. Be kind to your neighbors. Pay some attention to LIFE for a change, would ya? Then maybe you wouldn’t be so scared and angry all the time … .

10

Apparently there were Christians and Atheists in the cast, but tell me - were there any Muslim or Jewish characters?

If there were, did they at any point admit that their faith had been wrong all along, and convert to Christianinty? Because I would like to see that.

11

Yep.

And this pisses me off. I have a very personal connection to organ donations (being that I lost a girlfriend to renal failure). Shit like this is just going to make people more reluctant to donate organs, which in turn is going to cost more lives. That’s stupid and irresponsible, almost at a criminal level.

I’d ask for suggestions on where to send an actual complaint, but having not actually seen this stupid show, I feel kind of funny about that.

12

Somebody should ceratinly call attention to how the show blatantly misreprsents organ donation. It also occurs to me that the show apparently thinks that hospitals can harvest the organs of children without the parents’ permission. You’re right…it plays into every stupid, paranoid fear that people might have about organ donation without the slightest regard for what the facts and the laws really are. Plus it slanders doctors as being avaricious sociopaths who are willing gut conscious children for personal gain. Plus it sends an even stupider message that just because someone is braindead doesn’t mean they won’t still magically wake up and start drawing pictures.

I’m sorry about your girlfriend. That must have been tough.

13

i.e. You have a triple-digit IQ.

14

Exactly.

And that attitude is certainly not restricted to the religious. But it somehow seems (from my limited experience) to be rampant among the religious, and I can’t figure out why. Does not Christianity teach us to be charitable? Does it not tell us to do unto others? Does it not teach that the soul is forever and the body is temporary? Why then selfishly hold on to organs that are useful to you but could save the life of someone else? Surely such a charitable act will win you brownie points with The Lord.

I’d love to hear a Christian explain this one. Color me perplexed.

15

It was sad, to be sure. I heard about it 6 months after the fact, and some 5 years after we had broken up. It was her mother who called me. Must suck ass to lose your only child, and at the age of only 35. Must also suck ass to have your (devout Catholic) sisters dismiss it as “She brought it on herself for not going to church.”

16

(approximation of what the Pullman character said about the Plagues of Egypt)

“…and these flies spread typhus, which caused the boils.”

Wife, not even looking up from her trashy 1925 novel: “But typhus is spread by lice. Typhoid can be spread by flies but it doesn’t give the rash you get from typhus.”

I envy her ability to tune out the TV until they talk about something she’s interested in.

17

I was only half watching while doing something else, but the glurge was so thick I began to get sick anyway. This is actually a series? Blecch!

18

Most Christian denominations approve of organ donations, and many, including several of the largest (Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist, Lutheran) encourage it as an act of charity.

Funny how wrong “limited experience” can be.

19

No, no, no… you’ve got it all wrong, Dio. The doctors need to sell her organs, not for personal gain, but so they can pay the hospital’s electric bill. I mean, if the hospital can’t keep the ICU lit brightly, the rest of the hospital rooms must be in complete darkness!

20

They are for organ donation, yes, but what is the official stance on “pulling the plug?” If someone is braindead, orin a coma, and the doctor’s give a 0.0000001% chance of them coming out of it, does the Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist, or Lutheran church approve of taking them off life support so they can donate? Or do they see it as taking of a life? That was more of the issue, I think, the afct that the “evil doctors” wanted to do nothign more than kill this poor little girl for her orgnans, instead of letting God decide what to do with her life.

Also, she was quoting scripture in Latin, which is kinda freaky and reason enough for very religous people (especially a nun who is trying to prove the Rapture) to keep her alive.

What I didn’t like is how stereotypicasl Bull Pullman’s character is. Here is my rendition if him:

“Waaa! I lost my daughter! Waaa!”
“Waaa! I lost my faith in God because he killed my daughter! Waaaa!”
(I’m not in any way belittling the loss of a family member, I’m just pointing out that this is a very overused cliche it seems.)