I even remember one with no words at all. I think it was called “God’s Free Love Gift”; can’t find it on his website now. It features American Indians and explains Chickianity through pictures alone. (Original sin is represented by stink-lines around Adam and Eve after they eat the fruit.) I guess Chick thinks all Indians are illiterate, or don’t know English, or something.
And I’ve heard that Bill Clinton later expressed deep regret that he did nothing to intervene in Rwanda. It’s understandable why he didn’t. His political stock WRT foreign intervention, especially in Africa, was low after the Somalia debacle; and it was not immediately obvious just how bad the situation was in Rwanda; and if any foreign power intervened, shouldn’t it be the French, whose former colony it was? Still, he could have done something, with or without Congressional authorization or UN mandate, without fear of being impeached for it.
Well, you’re right about Somalia being a major factor in the US’ hesitancy to intervene. The Black Hawk Down incident had only happened the previous year. The original number of peacekeepers was supposed to be higher, but the US convinced the security council to lower the number to an ineffective 1,300 (4,500 was the original number of troops requested; Romeo Dallaire later estimated that he could have halted the genocide with 4,000 soldiers).
The US intervening on its own was always highly improbable.
The French actually did intervene, to protect the genocidaires. I’m not 100% clear on this story (I think if I could speak French, it would make googling for it a little easier), but in 2007 Rwanda sued France through the International Court of Justice for their actions during the genocide. One of my best friends is French and when I mentioned it to her awhile back, she kind of went ballistic with anger at her own government. Apparently this is considered a national shame among many French people. (Or maybe it’s just my friend, who’s been a member of Amnesty International since she was 14.)
The problem with this kind of intervention is that it’s virtually impossible to come out of a situation look good. If the US had intervened and halted the genocide, people would be furious because of the inevitable US casualties. (Not to mention, the US would have gotten tangled up in rebuilding the Rwandan state.) We wouldn’t be aware that the action had saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. No peacekeeping mission ever goes perfectly, and there’s always plenty to criticize.
Okay, I think this is a good place to start, if you’re interested in the controversy over the French role in the Rwandan genocide:
Opération Turquoise. (Also, the gayest name for a military operation…ever.)
I’m pretty much sitting out on the new tract comments this time, but I will say that it has amazed me for years how Chick presents his literature as simple and straightforward, avoiding complex theological discussion, or somesuch repeated remark.
After years and years of “processing” hyper-religious so-called thought, the twisted memes become second nature and it seems somehow illogical and convoluted to question them. Just the opposite of reality, of course.
It reminds me of a college-era conversation with some LDS folks. When I pointed out that their citation of something in one of the Pauline epistles had nothing at all to do with their much vaunted three afterlife destinations, and, in fact, did not even refer to a three-fold distinction in parallel, but rather a duality, they were completely unable to understand my argument, and cheerfully told me so. They said that, on the other hand, they completely understood what they themselves were saying, as if that were significant. :rolleyes:
“You can never argue with a crazy man. You oughta’ know by now.”
Yep, one of the maddest, nastiest, lost-the-plot Chick tracts of all.
My favourite line is the one about Jesus coming back ‘soon’. Er, about that. If you read the gospels, it’s pretty clear everyone was expecting Jesus to come back ‘soon’, like while some of them were still alive. Guy didn’t show up. A few hundred years later, still no show. You’d think at least a few believers would have the honesty and clarity of mind to admit ‘Okay, we concede that the second coming seems not to be happening. But hey, we still think a lot of his teachings are worth a look…’. But no. Even now, 2000 years later, we still get the ‘soon’ line. It’s fun to ask extreme evangelical christians about this. How do they know it’s ‘soon’? Where’s the timetable? Show me a working definition of ‘soon’ that means nothing happens for two t-h-o-u-s-a-n-d years.
This is why Starving Artist is starving. Chick fired him.
And lemme tell ya, this guy is getting impatient!
Well I’m going off-topic but I must say the US, the UN, and the French in Rwanda not intervening were utterly morally inexcusable. Also why didn’t President Clinton respond forcefully in Somalia anyways? Black Hawk Down? Send a few thousand Marines; far more than those pathetic guerillas that the US could have eradicated like a cockroach ifr it had tried and kill the warlords! Geez, I can’t see what the solution was so hard on that! Maybe I’m ignorant of politics but 1) it would have been perfectly easy and 2) the American public would have been behind a nice revenge mission.
You’re ignorant of politics.
I wonder what would have happened if that French soldier from the Guardian article did intervene. I don’t mean with lethal force or whatever…but would what have happened if he’d just gone over, kicked that guy’s ass, and then sent the woman off to a camp or safe house? I doubt he would have been reprimanded or court-martialed! No CO or politican would want to be on the receiving end of the firestorm of public opinion that would no doubt ensue if someone accused that guy of not following orders while saving the life of an innocent woman about to be hacked up.
You’re ignorant of politics and military affairs.
The US didn’t send in troops to stop this decade’s genocide in Darfur either, though admittedly the response was somewhat more pronounced.
Because when Clinton sent American troops to try to stop similar war crimes in Bosnia, conservatives screamed in outrage.
And Kosovo, too. And from lurking on Free Republic, my understanding is that the outrage is based mainly on the fact that Bosnians and Kosovars are Muslims; apparently we should have sided with the Christian Serbs.
So the lesson here is, its ok to murder people, cause that’s pretty much what Jesus did. Not “changed his mind” or enlightened him or scared Judge Stone straight, but he just killed him.
Man that Jesus, such a crazy, murderous cat! 
Well, I just forgave my pregnant wife for macking the last slice of bacon in the hou…oh shit! :eek:
Now I’m imagining a video on College Humor or Cracked or something like that “think with your dipstick, Jimmy!” Oil commercial, except some priest running around “forgiving” people for doing mundane things like littering and watching them die.
Someone make this happen please.
Who can say, but (from what little I know) the Peacekeepers were hugely outnumbered and I imagine that mob retaliation would not have been unthinkable or even unlikely.
It’s worth noting the fate of the Belgian UN troops who were attempting to protect Hutu-moderate Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. Surrounded by the Presidential Guard they surrendered and after the Prime Minister and her husband were shot the Peacekeepers were castrated, gagged with their own genitalia, and then murdered.
These were not reasonable people.
It’s not your fault.
Yeah, I know that.
Look at me son. It’s not your fault.
I know.
No. It’s not your fault.
I know.
No, you don’t. It’s not your fault.
I know.
It’s not your fault.
Alright.
*It’s not your fault.
It’s not your fault.*
Don’t fuck with me.
It’s not your fault.
Don’t FUCK with me, alright?! Don’t fuck with me — not you.
*It’s not your fault.
It’s not your fault.*
You were born in sin because of what Eve and Adam did. It’s not your fault. But you still deserve to burn in Hell for it for all eternity.