Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Beware the Statue of Tyranny!


Good ol' Chico Alex Saguras has been keeping busy lately with his own self-styled patriot-citizens with jingoistic fever lobby group called the Immigration Delegation. Recently he's been keeping busy circulating emails to concerned patriots like one sent today warning "Supremes to allow Statue of Tyranny?" The head suggests that somehow every other news media outlet had missed the scoop of a lifetime in that a group was about win over the supreme courts and allow them to erect a 'statue of tyranny' adjacent to the Statue of Liberty. The ominous photo in the article (here to the right) suggests the statue would be Adolph Hitler.

Turns out that after you sacrifice 11 seconds of your life reading the article further, you find out that no one is planning on erecting a statue of the fuhrer next to old lady lib, instead this is just the snarky interpretation taken by legal representatives in the recent ten commandments case going on in Pleasant Grove. The article cites legal briefs saying:

"Under the flawed private speech jurisprudence of the panel in this case – there exists no principled basis upon which the government could turn down for permanent display on Liberty Island a donation of a 'Statue of Tyranny,' or, perhaps, a new copper colossus bearing the message 'Pay No Attention to the Lady With the Torch – the Golden Door is Now Closed,'" the legal briefs argued.

The current case is an interesting one as far constitutional free speech issues go, one where the Summum church of Salt Lake City is making an interesting case for them being allowed to erect a monument to what they describe as the Seven Aphorisms, or laws given to Moses that he only allowed a select few to learn about. Very nuanced case indeed, and one probably not best introduced to the public with a headline suggesting that a giant statue of history's most evil bastard was in the works to be put up next to the Statue of Liberty. Nice one Alex, thanks for keeping us in the loopdy loop. (Eric S. Peterson)

3 comments:

  1. Summum one has forotten their way. As I understand it, Summum Church is out to provide folks with mental and spiritual tools to help them overcome that which binds common mortals to this Earth - hopes, wishes, desires, dreams, etc. Without expectations, Summum followers believe that an individual can free their essence, or spirit, in order to follow an honest spiritual path. Sounds a helluva lot like other Eastern religions to me, but hey, what do I know? Anyway, seems to me that by fighting to erect this plaque of Moses's Seven Aphorisms next to Moses's Ten Commandments, Summum Church directly opposes their own teachings. Seeing as how Summum Church guides their believers to leave all forms of desire behind in favor of true knowledge, why would Summum care whether a plaque exists to support their beliefs in a public place, and why would they fight for it? Summum is trying to impose their will upon others, which is something that they preach against. Seems that all earthly religions share at least one common value at the core - hypocrisy.

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  2. I always took Summum to be tongue in cheek.

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  3. I've always understood the basis of all religions to be tongue in cheek. As far as Summum goes, I always assumed that the creator of this particular religion simply read Stranger in a Strange Land too many times on too many hits of acid.

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