{"id":50996,"date":"2020-03-06T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=50996"},"modified":"2020-03-04T22:05:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T03:05:55","slug":"a-burning-love-that-stings-like-a-bee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/03\/06\/a-burning-love-that-stings-like-a-bee\/","title":{"rendered":"A burning love that stings like a bee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here is your open thread for March 6, 2020.<\/p>\n

Today is the 76th birthday of original Supreme Mary Wilson:<\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\nRemember the Alamo? That battle came to an end on this day in 1836. The slain defenders of the Alamo have become the stuff of legend here in America, where they\u2019re regarded as heroes. Given that, perhaps it\u2019s useful in 2020 to also remember they were illegal immigrants who had taken up arms, in part, in response to anti-immigrant rules imposed in the border region.<\/p>\nOn this day 163 years ago, Roger Taney secured his eternal standing as a disgrace to himself, his country, his profession, and his entire branch of government by presenting the majority opinion in the Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sanford<\/em>.<\/p>\nAccording to his own words, Taney knew exactly what he was doing. \u201cThe question is simply this,\u201d he wrote: \u201cCan a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all of the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guarantied by that instrument to the citizen?\u201d<\/p>\nTaney thought the answer was, and ought to be, no. Today, 163 years later, many Americans still agree with that answer. Some of them are pastors, some are elected officials. Some even, like Taney, work as judges in federal courts.<\/p>\nThe March 6, 1943 issue of The Saturday Evening Post featured on its cover Norman Rockwell\u2019s famous painting \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Freedom_from_Want\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Freedom From Want<\/a>.\u201d It was part of Rockwell\u2019s series illustrating the \u201cFour Freedoms\u201d that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had described in his 1941 State of the Union address: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom From Want, and Freedom From Fear.<\/p>\nThose last two don\u2019t get as much attention as they should. Speak up on their behalf in post-Reagan, post-Trump America and you\u2019re likely to be condemned as some kind of commie socialist \u2014 as though it were un-American or anti-American to believe that Americans ought to be able to live free from want and free from fear. That\u2019s nuts, of course, unless the people saying such rubbish think they stand to gain somehow from keeping Americans in want and in fear. (By which I mean that they do.)<\/p>\nIt might be helpful or useful or smart to re-enlist Norman Rockwell in 2020, to remind our fellow Americans that the desire to ensure that we are all free from want and free from fear is as patriotically all-American as \u2026 well, as Norman Rockwell.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s a bit of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saturdayeveningpost.com\/2017\/12\/carlos-bulosans-freedom-want\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">the essay the Post<\/em> commissioned to accompany Rockwell\u2019s \u201cFreedom From Want.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>Our march toward security\u00a0and peace is the march of freedom\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the\u00a0freedom that we should like to become a living\u00a0part of. It is the dignity of the individual to\u00a0live in a society of free men, where the spirit of\u00a0understanding and belief\u00a0exist; of understanding\u00a0that all men are equal; that all men, whatever\u00a0their color, race, religion or estate, should\u00a0be given equal opportunity to serve themselves\u00a0and each other according to their needs and\u00a0abilities.<\/p>\nBut we are not\u00a0really free\u00a0unless we use what\u00a0we produce. So long as the fruit of our labor is\u00a0denied us, so long will want manifest itself in a\u00a0world of slaves.\u00a0It is only when we have plenty\u00a0to eat\u00a0\u2014\u00a0plenty of everything\u00a0\u2014\u00a0that we begin to\u00a0understand what freedom means.\u00a0To us, freedom\u00a0is\u00a0not an intangible\u00a0thing. When we have\u00a0enough to eat, then we are healthy enough to\u00a0enjoy what we eat. Then we have the time and\u00a0ability to read and think and discuss things.\u00a0Then we are not merely living but also becoming\u00a0a creative part of life. It is only then that\u00a0we become a growing part of democracy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThat was written by Carlos Bulosan, an immigrant from the Philippines who was later blacklisted as a socialist and died in poverty in 1956. (\u201cThe free? Who said the free? Not me.\u201d)<\/p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-51000\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/52\/2020\/03\/800px-_Freedom_From_Want__-_NARA_-_513539-236x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"236\" height=\"300\">On March 6, 1983, the Los Angeles Express defeated the New Jersey Generals in the first-ever game of the USFL. The league slowly became more popular and financially successful over its next two seasons until it committed suicide thanks to Generals\u2019 owner Donald J. Trump\u2019s insistence that it switch from its NFL-off-season spring schedule to compete with the more established league head-to-head. <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/2791890-donald-trump-and-the-usfl-bombastic-from-the-start-a-jerk-on-purpose\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">That was the shart of the deal that killed the USFL<\/a>.<\/p>\nMarch 6 is the birthday of great artists Michelangelo (1475), Cyrano de Bergerac (1619), Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806), and Lou Costello (1906). Hall-0f-famers Lefty Grove (1900) and Willie Stargell (1940) share a March 6 birthday.<\/p>\nAlan Greenspan turns 94 today. He\u2019s presumably celebrating his birthday by devising some new scheme to ensure that Generation X never collects Social Security benefits. Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour turns 74. High-jump revolutionary Dick Fosbury turns 73.<\/p>\nRob Reiner turns 73 today too. Here are the first seven movies he directed: This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men.<\/em>\u00a0That\u2019s quite a run. (It\u2019s his birthday, so <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/north-1994\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">we won\u2019t mention the movie that followed those<\/a>.)<\/p>\nGodspell composer Stephen Schwartz turns 71 today. Connie Britton turns 53. Rappers Shaquille O\u2019Neal and Beanie Sigel turn 48 and 46, respectively. Tim Howard, America\u2019s goalie, turns 41.<\/p>\nFinally, the cult-classic Coen brothers movie The Big Lebowski<\/em> was released on this day, March 6, in 1988. The film later became a literal cult classic when it formed the basis and guiding philosophy for the Church of the Latter-Day Dude. More than 400,000 Dudeist priests have been ordained around the world, some of whom serve as legal marriage officiants in some US states. Dudeists commemorate today as their highest holy day, <a href=\"http:\/\/dudespaper.com\/the-day-of-the-dude.html\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Day of the Dude<\/a>. You might choose to celebrate it with them. Or not, man, whatever.<\/p>\nTalk amongst yourselves.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here is your open thread for March 6, 2020. Talk amongst yourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>A burning love that stings like a bee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here is your open thread for March 6, 2020. Talk amongst yourselves.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/03\/06\/a-burning-love-that-stings-like-a-bee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A burning love that stings like a bee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here is your open thread for March 6, 2020. Talk amongst yourselves.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/03\/06\/a-burning-love-that-stings-like-a-bee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-06T11:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-05T03:05:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/52\/2020\/03\/800px-_Freedom_From_Want__-_NARA_-_513539-236x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/03\/06\/a-burning-love-that-stings-like-a-bee\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2020\/03\/06\/a-burning-love-that-stings-like-a-bee\/\",\"name\":\"A burning love that stings like a bee\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-06T11:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-05T03:05:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"Here is your open thread for March 6, 2020. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A burning love that stings like a bee","description":"Here is your open thread for March 6, 2020. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}