From the YouTube Music Video Archives: Sanctuary

Comments

1. Anonymous says

   November 1, 2008 at 9:41 pm

   Quinn– Am I missing something here? That’s my kind of video clip but didn’t expect it. Here is a clip from a leftist website, but look at the numbers the pres has created. Putting all of the noise aside, the disastrous data can only be laid at the feet of one party. I hope to celebrate Wednesday morning.
   http://jimhightower.com:80/node/6643
   Silverback

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2. cnb says

   November 2, 2008 at 12:43 am

   Gosh, that is really sick.

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3. Quin Finnegan says

   November 2, 2008 at 4:33 am

   Silverback,

   The site was password protected, so I wasn’t able to look at the data. I’d like to see it in order to respond to it directly, but I can guess well enough what where it points.

   I don’t think the disastrous data (which I haven’t read) can be laid at the feet of one party. The Republicans certainly deserve their share of the blame, and deserve to be punished (election-wise) for it.

   The problem is that the Democrats deserve an even heftier share of the blame, and ceding them control of both the executive and legislative branches will be a disaster of tremendous proportions. I know Dems want to pin the current economic crisis on the greed on Wall Street and deregulation by the likes of Phil Gramm, but I see it differently, according to the lights I follow.

   Here is an article by Thomas Sowell, who I consider reliable.

   As for the video, of course I’m with CNB. A couple of days ago I posted a parody of the sort of apologetics used in the “Death with Dignity” debate, and was surprised to see it taken seriously.

   I’m not sure satire works any longer.

   Depending on your point of view, the video either makes perfect political sense, or it’s creepy as hell.

   I’m working on a follow-up post to try and put it in perspective.

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4. Anonymous says

   November 2, 2008 at 6:34 am

   Quinn- I’ve emailed Rufus a hard copy of the data contained in the video and asked him to forward it to you. You can find Jim Hightower’s web site and get it there also. Your idea of satire/parody/humor goes right by me. cnb’s idea of sick, is, well, sick. Y’all better get used to a liberal pres and congress–they can’t screw things up any worse than Bush did in the past 8 yrs.
   Silverback

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5. Rufus McCain says

   November 2, 2008 at 7:18 am

   I have to agree with the old man on this one. I don’t see how this video is either creepy or sick or qualifies as satire. I think you could call the video naive or overly giddy about how wonderful a Barack presidency will be for us all. But how is that creepy exactly? I’m sure you could find plenty of videos from the other side that exhibit even more embarassing levels of giddiness.

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6. Quin Finnegan says

   November 2, 2008 at 7:19 am

   Silverback,

   Yes, they can. Believe me, they can. And then they can blame it all on conservatives again, and then they can screw it up even worse. Then they can blame it on “unhelpful elements”, which will include all the usual scapegoats from time immemorial, as we’ve seen this sort of thing before.

   But regarding my idea of satire/parody/humor … yeah, I know. And it’s not just you. I find this disturbing on several levels. Only the least of which is that people aren’t all agog over “Bird’s Nest”.

   Did you mean “Yes, Yes, Yes on I-10000” is one that went by you? If I may be so bold, How are you voting on I-1000?

   It may well be that cnb and I are the ones missing something here.

   In any case, I’ll take a quick look at Hightower’s site before I hit the sack. Thanks for sending the stuff via email, I’ll look at that as well. Thanks for reading, especially if you remain unpersuaded and even more if you’re unamused (but do try reading the Sowell).

   And above all, thanks for commenting.

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7. Quin Finnegan says

   November 2, 2008 at 8:04 am

   Roof,

   I didn’t mean that “Sanctuary” itself was satire (and I don’t think I ever said it was); how could it be, when it is so much in earnest?

   What I do wonder is whether satire can have any effect in a culture in which a video like this is accepted as … acceptable.

   “Naive and overly giddy” are a start, but don’t quite go far enough in my opinion. “Sanctuary” was originally a (pretty sappy) Christian hymn. By replacing “Lord” with the word “love” and given a new, purely political context, I don’t think it’s a reach that what’s being inferred here is the sort of Messianic politics and demagoguery that have been criticized as a regular feature of the Obama campaign.

   I might find it a lot less creepy if it didn’t come from that part of the political spectrum which is so rabidly anti-Christian.

   Creepy and sick is exactly what it is, and yes, you’ll find examples of this sort of kitsch all throughout the political spectrum. I gagged at Reagan’s “Morning in America” speech in the days before the ’84 election, but at least I was confident he and the people working around him were trying to beat back the statism that would have us on our knees before Gog, or Ma Gog, or whatever.

   I have no such confidence in Obama and even less in many of the people supporting him.

   There may well be celebration in Obamaland come Wednesday morning. Indeed, I will find reasons to cheer. Another peaceful political transition in a world that sees far too few. The first black president, which as Peggy Noonan recently noted, is no small thing.

   And I’ll be praying that Obama finds that Christian identity and wakes up from the nightmare of a proposed FOCA. That we won’t see the sort of fraud and thuggery that have characterized much of the Obama campaign so far. That we won’t see another incarnation of the mendacious “Fairness Doctrine”.

   But I won’t have much in the way of HOPE.

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8. Rufus McCain says

   November 2, 2008 at 8:59 am

   OK, well … a word or two of commentary might have helped in this case. I wasn’t familiar with the hymn, so it didn’t cause idolatry bells to go off for me. Now I get why you and CNB would react to it that way.

   On the other hand, I think some of the giddiness among Obama supporters — and maybe this is an example — is not so much idolatry but a merging of the political and religious that goes back to the civil rights movement along the lines of Martin Luther King Jr. and what it means to have a black president with regard to our nation’s race problem. I think there are sincere Christian folks who see Obama’s presidency as the turning of the page in complex variety of ways from a bad chapter in our nation’s history to something they can feel hopeful about — in terms of their faith. I’m not sure that the makers of this video aren’t in fact Christians or at least working in a Christian tradition. Even if they are bastard liberal new age atheists, I’m not sure that it’s all that bad to borrow a hymn to evoke a sense of hope. I still think it is naive, but I don’t think it’s necessarily idolatrous or cultic or creepy in the sense that a lot of commenters (now that I’ve gone and looked at references in the rightwing blogosphere) on this video want to make it out to be.

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9. Anonymous says

   November 2, 2008 at 2:59 pm

   I voted early– against I-1000. I took one look at the I-1000 piece– didn’t read it completely, and assumed it was “tongue in cheek”. That’s “satire” in old cowboy language I suppose. When you read the economic data either from the Hightower website or when Rufus emails it to you, I’ll be interested in your comments. Are you saying Obama’s campaign is rabidly anti-Christian? Surely you aren’t being so presumptuous as to question whether or not Obama is a Christian. Now that would be messianic.
   Silverback

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10. cnb says

    November 2, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    I should clarify: I recognized the hymn immediately, and couldn’t help interpreting the video as another of those “Obama as Messiah” pieces. Hence, sick.

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