"What? Who thought people would actually believeme? |
I think those of us who tend to think, rather than believe, had little difficulty having a relaxing, and sometimes comical, Rapture Day. However there are those who spent the day in complete disbelief as they had their "gullibility hymen" ruptured, and their innocence ripped away from them.
Courtesy of the LA Times:
Keith Bauer, a 38-year-old tractor-trailer driver from Westminster, Md., took last week off from work, packed his wife, young son and a relative in their SUV and crossed the country.
If it was his last week on Earth, he wanted to see parts of it he'd always heard about but missed, such as the Grand Canyon. With maxed-out credit cards and a growing mountain of bills, he said, the rapture would have been a relief.
On Saturday morning, Bauer was parked in front of the Oakland headquarters of Camping's Family Radio empire, half expecting to see an angry mob of disenchanted believers howling for the preacher's head. The office was closed, and the street was mostly deserted save for journalists.
Bauer said he was not bitter. "Worst-case scenario for me, I got to see the country," he said. "If I should be angry at anybody, it should be me."
Tom Evans, who acted as Camping's PR aide in recent months, took his family to Ohio to await the rapture. Early next week, he said, he would be returning to California.
"You can imagine we're pretty disappointed, but the word of God is still true," he said. "We obviously went too far, and that's something we need to learn from."
Despite the failure of Camping's prediction, however, he said he might continue working for him.
"As bad as it appears—and there's no getting around it, it is bad, flat-out—I have not found anything close to the faithfulness of Family Radio," he said.
Others had risked a lot more on Camping's prediction, quitting jobs, abandoning relationships, volunteering months of their time to spread the word. Matt Tuter, the longtime producer of Camping's radio and television call-in show, said Saturday that he expected there to be "a lot of angry people" as reality proved Camping wrong.
Tuter said Family Radio's AM station in Sacramento had been "severely vandalized" Friday night or Saturday morning, with air conditioning units yanked out and $25,000 worth of copper stripped from the equipment. He thinks it must have been an angry listener. He was off Saturday but planned to drive past the headquarters "and make sure nothing's burning."
Camping himself, who has given innumerable interviews in recent months, was staying out of sight Saturday. No one answered the door at his Alameda home, though neighbors said he was there.
You know I want to be sympathetic, but I just can't. These people were clearly born to be taken advantage of. As a matter of fact, one has to wonder just how many of THESE people are also SarahPAC contributors?
But the group that I CAN feel sympathy for are the children of these brain damaged imbeciles. I mean there are actual human beings who rely on these apparently lobotomized morons for food, and shelter, and guidance. I think that the local child protective services should go to their houses and take these children into state's custody before their parents convince them to do something even dumber, like get all of their information from Fox News, or go on DWTS while pregnant, or support Donald Trump's 2016 Presidential bid.
All in all the entire thing is ripe for parody. And fortunately we have the Taiwanese animators to do that very thing.
Yes, that is about the level of seriousness this whole thing deserved. If even that.
Gryph, Fox News Hounds (over on the left here) has a story today that Fox News just hired Camping on as it's newest pundit. Apparently, since we can all guess that these negotiations take time, Mr Camping did not believe his own Rapture Timeline(tm).
ReplyDeletehere's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=4488
Oooops one of the tags for the newshounds story was humor so - hopefully - this was just a Sunday morning funny! never know with FoxNews though, cuz - after Palin and Beck?- nothing they do would suprise me. :)
ReplyDeleteFox News hires Harold Camping, he must be taking Sarah's place there.
ReplyDeleteLoved the ending!
ReplyDeleteO/T... (apologies)... Republicans are admitting they have no one of any caliber to run against President Obama. They say Sarah Palin would be disastrous.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/en/gop-obama-reelection
Thinking is highly overrated. This is a false choice, the one you present between thought and belief. The pomposity is just astounding.
ReplyDeleteFeeling superior to a tiny sliver of people who actually believed in the rapture date setting of some goofy fringe guy is just sad.
Sadder than their disappointment, even.
My husband remembers a time when he was very young, and his mother made all four kids kneel beside her in front of the couch. She went on and on about God and the devil and the rapture. He said he was very, very frightened, but too young to disobey her. They were found in the same position, crying, when his dad got home from work. His Mom spent some time away from the family, but he was never told where, and they don't talk about it...ever. She is a big Rush fan, and CBN, and Sarah. These people do exist, and are swayed by anyone who can convince them they know "God's will" for their lives.
ReplyDeleteI promise you - the end of the world DID occur yesterday. It was my birthday.
ReplyDeleteSome retired guy in NJ believed it so much that he spent $140,000 of his retirement money taking out ads to let people know of the "ending".
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say he's not a happy camper now.
Yes, i feel badly for the children as well. Tehy are likely confused and soemday they will be angry that they were indoctrinated into such bullshit.
ReplyDeleteWe are the laughing stock of the world. Love it.
ReplyDeleteEven most of Camping's employees didn't believe the rapture prophecy.
ReplyDeletehttp://money.cnn.com/2011/05/19/news/economy/may-21-end-of-the-world-finances-harold-camping/
Love those Taiwanese animators. I hope they'll do a follow up.
I can see why my 12 year old grandaughter bought in to this BS, but grown up people!
ReplyDelete"We obviously went too far, and that's something we need to learn from."
ReplyDeleteIs it too much mental effort to conclude that God didn't have anything to do with the Bible? God almighty couldn't find a decent editor? C'mon man!
@1:25. "Thinking is highly overrated?" You are an idiot. This is the reigning MANTRA of your kind of "believer." Disgusting. I will ALWAYS take THINKING. Questioning the arrogance of charlatans and fools is NOT pomposity; it's SANITY. OMG, it's scary out there.
ReplyDeleteTHIS is the kind of thing that people who think "thinking is overrated" do. God! I despise the people who exploit these poor lost creatures. She SLITS her kids' throats? Because she BELIEVED some senile power mad greedy old creep? Yeah. whatever you do, DO NOT THINK!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x585522
And the Conservative Christians believe WE drank the kool-aid!
ReplyDeleteWhen I try to reason with evangelicals on huffpo on this subject, I try to point out the hypocrisy of ridiculing a man for HIS interpretation of the bible, while the rest of them are doing exactly the same thing, in different degrees.
ReplyDeleteBut they just don't see it. They can't step back from their tunnel vision to see that the same way THEY can look at this guy and see foolishness, we look at THEM and scratch our heads as well. But no, they're always right. And they insist Camping went against what was written by God in the bible.
Here is a handy link to the Sceptics Annotated Bible:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/short.html
It's turned to the page about Contradictions. It quotes God as saying something in one book, then totally contradicting himself in another book. I don't see how anyone examining that cannot come to the conclusion that it's impossible to determine what the will of God is, or the word of God. And given that, anyone can interpret what they please, because certainly my guess is as good as yours.
No one should be making any laws in congress based on this book, or legislating our bodies, or inserting it into the courts. Camping is an extreme example but I think it shows very well why we need a separation of church and state.
Way OT but: Lou Sarah...where are you? We (your followers) are truly desperate. Can you put out a press release to counteract the latest news that Roger Ailes thinks you're an idiot? It's really making everyone so unhappy. Thanks so much, Glenda's Wednesday Bible Study Group
ReplyDeleteMy mother was methodist, my father raised baptist. My father had become an Atheist pretty soon after they married but allowed my mother to send us to sunday school and summer bible school until we decided to eschew all religion on our own terms. I was 8 when I joined my dad as an Atheist; my brother did when he was 10. My mother I think still has some faith and goes to some services with her religious friends and I don't judge her for that, but it's 3 against one in my family, faith vs. Atheism. We really just don't talk about it and we all remain friends.
ReplyDeleteCamping is worth at least 70 million. If he had donated all of it to charity on Friday, I might have a little respect for the Con Artist.
ReplyDeleteCoast to Coast has of course been all over this. Even tried to get someone from Family Radio to come on Saturday night, but they refused.
ReplyDeleteOne of last night's guests, Judith Orloff, made some very good points. The ones who believed--truly believed--could be very fragile psychologically.
I was sure I read a story earlier this week where a mom killed her little boy rather than subject him to the possibility of *not* rapturing. So sad.
Maybe it was a good wake up call for some of them. They may start to use critical thinking when listening to people. I actually got a flyer/letter in the mail. I threw it away at the post office. I live in Anchorage; don't know why/how they got my post office box number, but "they" (someone) must have spent a fortune sending out a mailer! They got took. No one likes egg on their face; hope they learned something from the experience!!
ReplyDeleteIf Sarah Palin donated a couple of her ill-gotten millions for special kids as she said she would, I still wouldn't have any respect for her.
ReplyDeleteAs we have seen from contact with palin and her flying monkeys, "YA CAN'T CURE STUPID".
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Gryph, I do feel for the progeny of such an insecure and ignorant group of 'adults'.
Who were these idiots?
ReplyDelete"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Matt 24:26
OT: Michelle Obama honored Beyonce with an award tonight...or was one of those honoring Beyonce...can't wait for the spewing volcano turd you used to call governor to throw her little hissy fit about the inappropriateness of this...
ReplyDelete1:25, Belief has nothing to do with it. More like hubris. Even my RWNJ ex laughed it off, because the Bible teaches that none will know the moment. To me, this hubris goes hand in hand with a faith that focuses on saving yourself. If these people were more intent on saving others, they wouldn't be trying so hard to pin down the moment.
ReplyDeleteStupid people do stupid things. Did anyone check the flying monkey compound to see if they were in their training bunkers???
ReplyDeleteactually, i read several blog stories and heard an audio interview on NPR -most of which featured young couples (under age 35, but one family had older kids/parents -kids about to finish highschool, not preschool) w/children.
ReplyDeleteand all of them had literally done things like cashout all of their general savings/kids' college/their retirement accounts. i even saw a young couple with a few kids under 10 who had spent EVERYTHING and left nothing to pay their mortgage(/rent? i can't recall) for july.......
yeah, maybe those people were all mislead, stupid, actually delusional, but NOBODY "deserves" to literally be soon homeless-with-kids because they were -for any personal reason- prone to believing this "rapture" bullshit. i'd bet 80% of the people in that "boat" were raised in a way that saw "christian prophesy" as credible......
sure, i'm an atheist from a conservative catholic family, but i can't bring myself to laugh at any of these "idiots" who fell for mr. camping's apocolypse-that-wasn't...... for sure not their kids, but not the people 20-30ish either.....
"My husband remembers a time when he was very young, and his mother made all four kids kneel beside her in front of the couch. She went on and on about God and the devil and the rapture. He said he was very, very frightened, but too young to disobey her. They were found in the same position, crying, when his dad got home from work. His Mom spent some time away from the family, but he was never told where, and they don't talk about it...ever. She is a big Rush fan, and CBN, and Sarah. These people do exist, and are swayed by anyone who can convince them they know "God's will" for their lives."
ReplyDeleteAt least she didn't kill them.
Some people say Camping should be arrested but I disagree. He didn't force anyone at gunpoint to believe what he (a mere mortal) says. His followers need therapy. If they gave away all their worldly goods to be raptured well then let it be a lesson learned. If he should go to jail then Koran-burning preacher Terry should go, all the pedophile priests should go, L. Ron Hubbard should go as well as most of the billionaire televangelists.
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad there are so many gullible, empty people out there. But the ones who sell this nonsense remind me of Hyman Roth who was dying of the same heart attack for 20 years.
ReplyDeleteI think that Camping's followers should be able to successfully sue his ass off. He is no different than any other con man who swindles his victims with stories and lies.
ReplyDeleteAs for the "bible". Phhfft...
What we know today as the "bible" was translated from it's original language (Latin? Hebrew?) into Greek, into Turkish, eventually into English... by many and various cultures.
We have NO IDEA what they translated correctly, copied correctly, left out, added in, interpreted correctly, or incorrectly.
Remember, this was all done by laboriously, tediously translating and then HAND WRITING these copies of already handwritten gunk from another language.
Additionally, numerous rulers throughout the centuries had the entire thing rewritten to THEIR specifications and the previous versions hunted down and destroyed.
That's why there are thousands of direct and often extreme contradictions in the so called 'word of god'. Sometimes from one page to the next...
Anyone who relies on the bible as the 'word of god' is actually just relying on the whims of rulers from centuries past who were actually equivalent to the third world leaders of today; tyrants, idiots, superstitious, poorly educated, with sneaky religious agendas of their own... blah, blah, blah.
It never ceases to amaze me that there are so many descendants of Europeans who would have been staunch Catholics due to their religious ancestry.
But King Henry VIII created a whole NEW RELIGION merely because
he WANTED A DIVORCE and could not do it legitimately under Catholism.
Voila...the Church of England is born. King Henry burned out his Catholic monasteries and slaughtered his catholics as heretics and made HIS brand new religion the law of the land, on pain of death.
And billions of descendants later, we have the faithful whose sacred religious beliefs were created entirely on the whim of a creepy, fucked up king...
Bible thumpers and religious freaks need to wake the fuck up.
CNN reports approx 11,000 of Camping's followers committed suicide and/or murder in a worldwide cursory count CNN claim will be updated.
ReplyDeleteKTLA tv news: a bible bloated mommy dearest cut her kids throats & wrists then her own throat... so her kids wouldn't suffer (<---WTF? who doesn't "suffer" getting throat slashed?) during the one-way ride on the sky wizard's transporter. She's in jail w/$1 million bail.
NYC man spent his liquidated $140,000 bigguns on the Jesus' genocide billboards to terrorize children. He too broke now to purchase tickets to Big Bang Party with open bar.
S. Calif's highway patrol rescued bible belt bimbo's rapture hostages. She filled back of rental truck with homeless whose deaths she choreographed to earn her golden ticket to the Pearly Gates. Her erratic driving resulted in her hostages lives being saved in this dimension.
Only Jesus, Inc businesses can function unscathed by selling bigotry, incite violence. genocide and murder over & over & over.
The old guy (Camping) made a bundle out of his false prophesy! So, I'm sure he'll do it again.
ReplyDeleteBest comment I've seen was by curiousgeorge over at Watts Up With That (spew alert):
ReplyDelete"I hope the IRS takes this opportunity to revoke their Non-Prophet status, and throw this fool in the slammer."
Me Guest!