Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Gloria Steinem, defining symbol of women’s movement and eloquent advocate for equality, dies at 92 (September 4)

2. Flock cameras draw opposition from across the political spectrum (September 5) "Every month, Flock cameras capture billions of license plates, along with other vehicle data. Police say this tool helps them find stolen vehicles and missing people. But the technology has been abused. Officers have used it to stalk ex-partners, for instance."

3. If you weren't on Cohost, you don't have to miss it (September 5, via) "This post is a response to those whose impression of Cohost has been based off the glowing retrospectives by its biggest fans."

4. The U.N. backs a new world map showing Africa in its true relative size (September 4) I don't get why the UN is doing this, seems like not really the best use of their time, but you should definitely go take a look at this map.

5. Wales Gender Clinic In The UK Pauses Surgeries Over Accusations That They Help Too Many Trans Patients (September 2) "However, the impacts on patients have been devastating. Existing gender-affirming surgeries on the books were cancelled for the foreseeable future. Some patients were informed of this mere hours before they, themselves, were scheduled to go under the knife. Some had already been admitted to the hospital when news broke. People who had waited years for this care, rearranged their lives, took time off work, and traveled to the clinic from all over the country are now stuck in a medical purgatory."

Also from Erin in the Morning: 21 States Sue Federal Government To Block Anti-Trans Under-19 Medicaid Ban (September 4) "The lawsuit targets a rule published on Aug. 13 that bars federal reimbursement for puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery for anyone under 18 on Medicaid or under 19 on CHIP, and which could do significant harm to transgender youth in these states, who currently have that care covered."

And: The Guide To Anti-Trans Democrats In The 2026 Elections, By State (September 8)

6. Seth Moulton lost. Good. (September 3) 

7. The widow of Zarephath and the extra mile (September 9) "But what would it mean for us to have told him that this is what he was obliged to do? What would it mean for us to have insisted to him that this self-sacrifice was compulsory and something commanded of him? That would seem to put us in the same category as the corrupt white cops and klansmen who were also telling Lewis that his duty — his role in life — was to take a beating, turn the other cheek, and then be beaten again. Instead of the world being changed by his radical heroism, we would be locking that world into place, with all of its grievous injustice protected and enshrined."

The question of how much self-sacrifice we are morally obligated to do is something I've been thinking about for my entire life. Maybe the approach in this blog post is reasonable.

8. Dolly Parton Was Political, But Not Partisan (August 31) "Parton’s achievement, then, wasn’t in pursuing nonpartisan politics over partisan politics; simply refusing to be partisan is not a virtue in itself. Rather, the reason she did so much good is that she identified areas where her resources and her carefully cultivated position as a nonpartisan figure would allow her to advance particular causes—LGBT acceptance, children’s literacy, vaccine development, vaccine uptake—in a way few others could. That took decades of unwavering commitment, careful strategy, and moral commitment. Everyone can’t be Dolly, and I don’t think everyone should be Dolly. But everyone can be inspired by a public figure who figured out her path and used it to do so much good."

---

Links related to the antichrist:

1. climate.us (via) Site where US climate data is now being hosted without political interference, after what happened with climate.gov.

2. MapQuest app reaches No 1 on US Apple list after defying Trump’s Lake Ontario order (September 1)

3. CBS Just Putting It Out There That Maybe Abdul El-Sayed Secretly Loves Terrorism And 9/11 (September 2) "What kind of questions? What kind of duck? A communist duck? A terrorism-loving duck? A Muslim duck? What sort of quacking and in what direction? This seems like a very weird thing to say if you have a concrete criticism of someone that isn’t 'Well, I don’t like his religion.'"

4. Supreme Court allows Trump to continue building White House ballroom (September 1)

5. Speaking (and singing) of the dead (August 31) "Yes, poor Sisera’s Mama — waiting for her son to return in his fancy chariot and dreaming of all the loot and new slaves he’ll be bringing back for her. Except oops — sorry Mom! — your son isn’t coming home because he’s dead! One of those women he planned to enslave put a tent peg through his skull! [shrug emoji, cry-laughing emoji]"

6. Trump’s 9/11 Lies Are A Moral Failure, Not A Cognitive One (September 9) "In a telephone interview just after the attack, Trump boasted that his property at 40 Wall Street was the tallest building still standing in Manhattan. That was a lie; it was the second tallest. And it was an incredibly fucked up thing to say while the bodies were still being counted."

Children's Bibles and "presenting mass slaughter to children"

Artwork showing Samson knocking down the pillars, causing the roof to collapse onto a crowd of terrified men and women. Image source.

I've been reading the book "Text, Image, & Otherness in Children's Bibles." This book is great.

One of the chapters is called "Samson's Suicide and the Death of Three Thousand Others in Children's Bible Stories through Two Centuries," by David M. Guan. This is about the bible story where Samson is captured by the Philistines, and he knocks down the pillars of their temple, causing the building to collapse and kill a huge number of people, including himself. The bible (and children's bible stories, in my experience) portray this as a good thing because the Philistines were the bad guys.

Guan's essay analyzes the illustrations in children's bibles which tell this story. I want to show you this one quote in particular from page 242:

It may not be easy for artists to make doomed Philistines look like wicked people. Illustrators work under various constraints, including the space and frame available, and such considerations may account in some cases for few Philistines and lone Samsons. But as the example of the escaping Philistines suggests, there are likely to be other factors involved in the design of these illustrations. One obvious factor is adult concern about presenting mass slaughter to children (let alone any respectable person).

Wow, there it is. "Presenting mass slaughter to children (let alone any respectable person)."

This is huge, honestly, and I'm glad someone is calling it out. The bible has a lot of stories about mass slaughter- in particular, stories where mass slaughter is portrayed as a good thing, where the bible heroes kill "enemies" in the name of God. There are even some stories (like Joshua's conquest of the land of Canaan) where God commands his people to commit genocide- to kill all inhabitants of all the cities in the promised land. The story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho is one of the classics you always see in children's bibles- God commanded his people to walk around the city for 7 days, and then miraculously, the walls collapsed, and then God's people went in and killed everyone (except Rahab and her family because she had helped them). Yes, really, we really are teaching little kids in Sunday School that God commanded his people to kill everyone in Jericho (except Rahab's family) because they were bad guys.

"Presenting mass slaughter to children (let alone any respectable person)."

In the children's bibles I've seen, these stories sometimes are cleaned up a bit and they don't mention all the murder. For example, when we tell kids the story of Daniel in the lions' den, it's common to end the story right after Daniel comes out of the lions' den safely (uh spoiler warning?), and not mention the part where Daniel's enemies and their wives and children were then thrown into the lions' den and killed by the lions. But for other stories, they're not "cleaned up" to get rid of the mass murder- we tell kids that the bible heroes killed people in the name of God, and that it was right (as in the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho).

(These are the 2 approaches I discussed in my post 2 Wrong Ways to Write Bible Stories For Kids.)

I'm very interested in the essays in "Text, Image, & Otherness" which analyze this weird contradiction- that conservative Christians believe it's good for everyone (including children) to read the bible, and we can always learn some good lesson from it- BUT ALSO we don't necessarily want to explicitly show kids these scenes of over-the-top violence- BUT ALSO it was right for these bible role models to commit violence in God's name, it is right to commit genocide if God commands it- BUT ALSO wow yikes, we're not actually going to draw a picture of it and show it to kids.

If you're writing and illustrating a bible for kids, you SHOULD be confronted with the problem of "presenting mass slaughter to children (let alone any respectable person)." 

Personally, I believe that the writers of the bible were wrong when they said God commanded and approved of this violence. And furthermore, if your God tells you to kill someone, you should just quit religion right then and there, okay? Don't, like, actually do it, my god. 

But if you believe in biblical inerrancy, you don't have the option to say the biblical writers were wrong. So you're stuck in this weird position where you're teaching children that sometimes mass murder is good. I seem to recall that Jesus said it would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around one's neck.

---

Posts about "Text, Image, & Otherness in Children's Bibles":

"Text, Image, & Otherness in Children's Bibles" (I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH)
David and Jonathan's (One-Sided) Friendship 
Who Cut Samson's Hair? (a post about reading the bible for what it is) 
The way we write children's bibles is "an act of bad faith" 
Children's Bibles and the 2 Creation Stories
Children's Bibles and "presenting mass slaughter to children"
Children's Bibles and "turning ambiguity into clear articulations"
Children's Bibles and the Victims of the Flood 
The Problem of Equating the Bible's God with a Real God

Related:

2 Wrong Ways to Write Bible Stories For Kids 

Good Friday is R-Rated

Who Cut Samson's Hair? (a post about reading the bible for what it is)

VHS cover for "Greatest Heroes and Legends: Samson and Delilah." Image source.

I've been reading the book "Text, Image, & Otherness in Children's Bibles," which is a collection of academic papers about children's bibles. I love this book so much.

In this post, I want to talk about a little section from the paper "Samson's Hair and Delilah's Despair: Reanimating Judges 16 for Children" by Caroline Vander Stichele. This paper analyzes several different video adaptations of the story of Samson and Delilah, comparing the way they portray Delilah.

If you're not familiar with the story from the bible, here's a basic summary. (The part with Delilah is in Judges 16, but Samson's story actually starts a few chapters earlier than that.) God gives Samson super-strength, but only as long as Samson never cuts his hair. Samson is an Israelite, and throughout this time period the Israelites are fighting against the Philistines. Samson falls in love with Delilah, and the Philistines convince her to ask Samson the secret of his strength, so they can defeat him. (Delilah might be a Philistine but the bible doesn't say this explicitly.) She does convince him to tell her- he says that if someone cuts his hair, he will no longer have super-strength. She gets someone to cut Samson's hair, and/or cuts it herself (we'll get to that), and the Philistines capture Samson and gouge his eyes out. Later, Samson prays to God to give him his strength back one last time, and he is able to knock down the pillars in a giant crowded temple, killing a lot of Philistines, along with himself.

I want to talk about this part in "Text, Image, & Otherness" on p 304-305:

Apart from these gaps in the story, an important ambiguity in the biblical text relates to who does the actual cutting of Samson's hair, Delilah herself or someone else. The NRSV [New Revised Standard Version of the bible] suggests that "a man" cut Samson's hair: "She let him fall asleep on her lap; and she called a man, and had him shave off the seven locks of his head" (Judg 16:19). The Hebrew text does indeed mention a man (ish), but the following verb is in the third-person singular feminine, indicating that Delilah herself is the one who does the shaving. Who the man is, however, remains unclear. According to [Robert] Boling, Delilah called a man to bring her a razor and maybe to help her in shaving Samson's head (1975, 250), while [Jack M.] Sasson suggests that Samson himself is the man in question and that Delilah calls him in order to check if he is indeed asleep (1988, 336-38; Exum 1996, 183).

That the man may be a barber is suggested by both the Septuagint A [ancient Greek translation of the bible] and the Vulgate [ancient Latin translation of the bible] translation, which identify the man as such (koureus and tonsor, respectively; Septuagint B has aner). As a result, the text has often been interpreted this way. This reading turns Delilah into more of a passive witness than an active executor of Samson's shaving. The interpretation of Delilah as witness is also reflected in numerous depictions of this scene and is also followed in the [Greatest Heroes] animation.

Wow, this is fascinating. The Hebrew text of the bible says Delilah called a man, but then the verb for cutting the hair is in a feminine form. So, what's going on here? Did Delilah cut Samson's hair? If so, who is the man she called? Did she call a man to cut Samson's hair? If so, why is the verb feminine?

[I'm curious to read more about this- googling it isn't turning up anything relevant- the English translations of the bible all seem to say Delilah called a man, and the man cut Samson's hair- with no indication that there's anything confusing about this verse.]

I always read this story from the NIV version of the bible, which says that Delilah called someone to shave Samson's hair, so I thought that was that. I didn't know there was anything unclear about the original text. I didn't know that the translator had to make a choice about how to make this make sense.

Honestly, if I had to guess, I would say that there's a lot we don't understand about ancient languages. Probably back when they were writing the bible, this grammar made sense, but the knowledge about what exactly this grammar means has been lost to time. Modern translators are doing their best, but the bible is written in ancient languages, and sometimes we really just don't know what they were trying to say.

Actually, I think it's misleading the way that I can open an English version of the bible and read sentences that are totally normal and understandable sentences. This does not reflect the reality that some things in the bible are confusing and unclear and the translators really don't know what they were trying to say.

But anyway, when I was reading the section about the question of who cut Samson's hair, I was thinking about how I would have viewed this when I was evangelical and had a "biblical inerrancy" mindset. I really believed the bible was completely true and without error- and therefore, this discussion about something in the bible that doesn't really make sense would have felt like an attack. I was used to thinking about biblical inerrancy in the context of arguing with atheists on the internet- ie, somebody posts a giant list of supposed "biblical contradictions", and then some Christian comes along and responds to every single one, to explain how it's not a contradiction. See, don't worry everyone, it totally is logically consistent to believe the bible is inerrant.

So, if you're a "the bible is inerrant" Christian, and some atheist on the internet says the bible has an error in this verse in Judges 16 where Delilah calls a man, but then the verb for cutting hair is feminine... Well I would have thought that this hypothetical internet atheist was being a bit ridiculous. Come on, this is such a small thing, nobody cares. It doesn't even count as an error. Clearly Delilah called a man to cut Samson's hair, and the verb is feminine even though it should be masculine, but that's just a minor grammar thing, you understand the meaning is that the man did it, and that's what's inerrant, regardless of this little grammar quirk. Why are you making such a big deal out of this? What do you got against the bible, that you spend your time arguing about feminine verb forms? Sounds like a you problem, hypothetical internet atheist.

In an inerrancy/apologetics mindset, you can't actually look at this for what it is. You have to see it as a potential error that we have to quickly gloss over before anyone notices.

I did so much of this "glossing over" when I was an evangelical. I read the bible every day, and I 100% believed it was inerrant, and therefore I was always subconsciously doing the work of reconciling the things in the bible that didn't exactly make sense. I wasn't able to even be aware of the possibility that something might be an error.

But wow, it's so DIFFERENT reading the bible when I don't have an emotional stake in it being inerrant. If this little detail about who cut Samson's hair is an error, well, that's fine, it doesn't affect my life, it doesn't completely invalidate everything I believe in. (Wow, on some level it's terrifying to read the bible if that's your mindset.) 

Instead of being so terrified that some atheist from the internet is going to pop up and say this is an error in the bible, we can go beyond that and ask more questions. Why did the writer of the bible write it this way? Did they think it made sense, or did they make a mistake? Or were they copying from multiple sources that didn't exactly fit together?

Maybe there's actually an interesting reason for this weird grammar in this bible verse! Maybe we can learn something from looking at it in an honest way, rather than trying to ignore it because we can't deal with the idea that something in the bible might not make sense.

---

Posts about "Text, Image, & Otherness in Children's Bibles":

"Text, Image, & Otherness in Children's Bibles" (I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH)
David and Jonathan's (One-Sided) Friendship
Who Cut Samson's Hair? (a post about reading the bible for what it is)
The way we write children's bibles is "an act of bad faith" 
Children's Bibles and the 2 Creation Stories
Children's Bibles and "presenting mass slaughter to children" 
Children's Bibles and "turning ambiguity into clear articulations"
Children's Bibles and the Victims of the Flood 
The Problem of Equating the Bible's God with a Real God

---

Related:

The Bible and the Pixar Theory

The Bible Stories As I Read Them Were Never Actually In The Bible 

The Bible's Contradictions Matter, And It's Not a Logic Problem 

"The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" (book review)

Blogaround

1. Taobao Plans to (Finally) Allow Users to Pay Via WeChat Pay (September 5) Well I guess this is only relevant to people who do a lot of online shopping in China, but it's going to make *my* life more convenient so I'm posting it here.

2. A Defense of Delilah (March 4) "The only difference between Delilah's actions and those of the women we laud is that she wasn't playing for the team the Bible roots for."

3. "criticizing AI is racism," says AI-backed writers group 😐 (September 5, via) 24-minute video from D'Angelo about the drama with NaNoWriMo and AI.

4. The Chosen Doubles Down (August 18) Laura Robinson continues to write about this bible-related urban legend about anointing the Passover lamb, and I am so here for it.

Also from Laura Robinson: The Ethical Problems with the Something Was Wrong Podcast (September 3) This is a really good analysis of the ideas "don't blame the victim" and "believe victims" which you always hear feminists saying. What does it actually mean to "believe victims" and how should that look different depending on what your role is? Particularly interesting is how the statistics about "false rape allegations are extremely rare" are specifically about rapes that are reported to the police. In that context, false allegations are extremely rare because there is little incentive for people to lie. But in other situations, it might not be so unlikely that someone claims to be a victim of rape when they are actually not.

5. This Sudoku Is Astonishing [MUST WATCH] (September 7) 22 minutes in, not one single digit placed, "This is the sort of thing that should be, just, taught in schools as an example of what human beings are capable of." (59-minute sudoku solve video.)

6. The Bell Riots: What Should Happen When History Catches Up to Star Trek? (September 2) 16-minute video. "Some of you might say, but wait, doesn’t Star Trek need to resolve these inconsistencies between its fictional history and our real history in some explicit, in-story way, so that creators of future Star Trek projects can refer to those fictional historical events without contradicting real history? Good question. No."

7. Dick Cheney says he will vote for Harris (September 7)

8. James Earl Jones, voice of Darth Vader, dies aged 93 (September 10) I was a huge fan of "The Lion King" when I was little. (Okay who am I kidding, I am still a huge fan of "The Lion King.") I remember one time, my parents were watching "Star Wars", and they explained it to me by saying "that guy is the same voice as Mufasa."

9. The Word of the Week: Sanewashing (September 9) "Why isn’t Trump being covered the same way? When Trump says something insane or incoherent that should be the news. It’s not just smoke that a reporter needs to blow away to reveal some underlying policy point that may or may not actually exist."

10. cohost is shutting down (September 10) Cohost is a social media site. The link I'm sharing here is a Pillowfort post discussing it, because I've only heard about Cohost through Pillowfort. Sad to hear they're shutting down.

Blogaround

1. 12/27 Flashback: ‘Rash’ (December 27) "And that’s monstrous — almost as horrifying as the original story. Those well-meaning Sunday school teachers all assumed, as Jephthah did, that he was absolutely bound by his vow, no matter what. And thus they all repeated Jephthah’s error — assuming that such vows and rules might somehow matter more than the life of Jephthah’s daughter."

2. 14 Nights [content note: sexually-explicit drawings, NSFW] A webcomic about an asexual man who agrees to try sex things with his boyfriend, for 14 nights.

3. Two romantic songs about being in a long-term relationship. I love both of these. They make me think about my husband.

Taylor Swift - Lover 

Justin Timberlake - Mirrors (Official Video)

4. NY Gov. Kathy Hochul’s veto of a secular addiction treatment bill makes no sense (January 4) "As things stand, that option already exists, but most people are oblivious to it. They just assume AA is secular (it’s not) or that any treatment program would inherently be non-religious (nope). This bill would put the decision of seeking religious or non-religious addiction treatment in the hands of the person going through it, not a judge who doesn’t know any better."

5. How Thailand Honors the Disabled (January 3) "It signifies that the royal family holds him or her in high favor because she has granted this wheelchair to the individual."

Blogaround

1. The kingdom of heaven is like: Legal quirk allows gay couples in China to get married online in conservative Utah (October 6). I love this!

2. You CANNOT and MUST NOT Solve This Sudoku (October 3) 1-hour-35-minute sudoku solve video, with a very advanced ruleset. (This puzzle illustrates the concept of a "deadly pattern" very well.) I love this. Here are my favorite quotes:

• 55 minutes, with not one single digit in the grid yet: "And if this doesn't work, I'm turning the camera off, because my brain, my brain is already shot to pieces."
• 1 hr 03 min: "Have we been doing sudoku? That is a philosophical question."
• 1 hr 19 min: "What an extraordinary puzzle this is. Imagine if I don't manage to solve it now. I will probably cry, actually. I will probably cry, because this is, it's amazing. It's amazing."

3. Biblical Womanhood T-Shirt. I love this!

T-shirt that has a drawing of a tent peg through a skull, and says "Biblical Womanhood, Judges 4-5"

4. Sign o’ the times, mess with your mind, hurry before it’s 2 late (October 4) "We were 16 years old and our pastor, youth pastor, and the Bible teacher at our Christian school were all assuring us that we’d never be 26."

5. Forced Birth is Torture. (September 22) [content note: medical/pregnancy trauma. Mother and baby survive, fortunately] "What happened next was several hours of careful cutting and suction and burning and stitching while I lay with my arms strapped down and the baby wailed."

6. If the Media Are Reluctant To Properly Label the GOP’s Racist, Christian Nationalist Ideologies, We’ll Have Trouble Hanging on to Democracy (May 20) "Every time a Republican who has voiced “Great Replacement” views in the past is interviewed, he or she needs to be explicitly asked about it—and if they don’t actively disavow their past claims, it needs to be stated that they subscribe to white nationalist ideology—an ideology that has killed hundreds in the US in the last years alone, and millions in the last century worldwide."

7. The New York Times Has Badly Lost Its Bearings (May 13) 

8. I Opposed Abortion Until I Fought To Defeat Personhood In Mississippi. Here’s Why. (May 25) "'We’re just trying to get the amendment on the ballot. That’ll all get figured out later.' The brush-off chilled me. I had an ectopic pregnancy in 2004 and, unfortunately, that is not a pregnancy that will survive. It must be terminated, or the mother will die."

9. What Jesus Said to the Homeless Man (October 2) "In my experience, one hundred percent of people experiencing homelessness battle demons every day."

10. ‘Graduation Day’ for Guide Dogs Highlights Their Rarity in China (October 10) "However, the number of guide dogs in the country is grossly inadequate — a 2019 report by the China Association of the Blind said there were fewer than 200 guide dogs for a country with about 17 million people with visual impairments."

11. Rochester to pay $12M to settle lawsuit filed by Daniel Prude family, largest civil rights settlement in city's history (October 6) [content note: police brutality] "The settlement is not an admission of liability, the court documents show."

12. Angela Lansbury, 'Murder, She Wrote' and 'Beauty and the Beast' star, dies at 96 (October 12) 

13. How SEO Is Gentrifying the Internet (2020) "'Can Cats Eat Blueberries?' was a masterpiece by SEO writing standards and an absolute turd by regular writing standards. A reader might spend five minutes reading the article and still have no idea if it’s OK to roll one (1) blueberry across the floor for their floofy pouncemonster to chase. However, as long as the reader spends those five minutes looking at the page—and more importantly, the ads that are placed on it—then mission accomplished. This is where the SEOification of the internet has brought us, and it [****]ing sucks."

14. Sex Work and the Power of Choice (2011) "When you think about this for ten seconds, you should realize that it makes no sense. People in any other service profession can, and do, turn down customers they don’t want to work with."

15. Sex-Positivity, Compulsory Sexuality and Intersecting Identities (2012) "There are too many issues of power and privilege at play which are not adequately challenged and criticised. The institution of compulsory sexuality still underpins sex-positivism."

16. that female athlete doesn’t look feminine enough (August 18) "Girls looking insufficiently feminine is now a complaint that the government takes 'seriously', and that the government then investigates."

17. The City of Philadelphia Apologizes for Decades of Medical Experiments Performed on Black Inmates (October 11) "From 1951 through 1974, Dr. Albert Kligman, a dermatologist from the University of Pennsylvania, conducted 'the dermatological, biochemical and pharmaceutical experiments that intentionally exposed about 300 inmates to viruses, fungus, asbestos and chemical agents including dioxin—a component of Agent Orange.'" And the article goes on to describe experiments even more disturbing than that. WTF????

18. Epidural-Induced Births ‘Far Behind’ in China, Says Top Expert (October 12) "Mi Weidong, an anesthesiologist at the country’s top health authority leading the taskforce in promoting epidural anesthesia, said that only 30% of female respondents in a nationwide survey were offered anesthetic services during childbirth, despite a large majority of them opting for a more painfree delivery method."

19. (Chill) Ex-Ace Narrative 1: Validation (August 14) "Amidst this chorus of voices, ace communities were the only ones to consistently say 'The subjective experiences you're having are real and okay-- even if they're non-normative and statistically uncommon. You can articulate your own relationship to sex and sexuality on your own terms. You don't need to change your behaviors/desires/attitudes to more normative ones for the sake of fitting a relationship or an ideological ideal. You don't have to organize your life around the expectation that you're someday have a more normative relationship to sexuality.'"

Blogaround

A drawing of George Floyd with the text "Justice for George Floyd #SayHisName". Image source.

1. Shockingly lifelike dinosaur fossil makes public debut (posted 2017) Holy crap, this is amazing. This was published in 2017 and I'm only hearing about it now???!!! It's a dinosaur that's so well-preserved they're using the word "mummified." Wow.

2. Our Nation Has Lost Its Witness (posted June 3) "What set us apart from China was that we were not like that. We did not put tanks on the street. We did not crack down on peaceful protests calling for freedom or the redress of grievances."

3. Ah, I guess I should let you all know the new blogging schedule:

Now that I have a baby, my new blog publishing schedule is as follows:
It gets posted whenever it gets posted.

— Perfect Number (@pnumber628) May 4, 2020

4. Black Lives Matter. Keep protesting. And register to vote.

5. The kingdom of heaven is like Rahul Dubey sheltering 70 protesters in his home. (Found that link via Slactivist's post, Redeeming the Nasty 19s, which is also very good.)

6. The Police Are Rioting. We Need to Talk About It. (posted June 5) 

Perfect Number Watches VeggieTales "Gideon: Tuba Warrior" (2006)

Heyyyyyy let's do an episode of #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggietales, where I livetweet a veggietales episode bc I grew up evangelical in the 90s

— Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2019年5月3日

Perfect Number Watches VeggieTales "Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush" (2005)

Let's watch VeggieTales "Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush" (2005) #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AZbTz5sB50 …

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

I've never seen this one. Pretty sure it's the VeggieTales version of "Indiana Jones" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

yeah veggietales theme song :) #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

We start w Bob & Larry on the counter. Larry asks why Bob is the one who always gets to read the letter. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Larry pulls out a different letter
now Bob & Larry are arguing abt which of the 2 letters they are going to answer #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

oh they both got letters from someone who is being bullied
Larry questions how Bob can be certain it's not the same bully
is this going to be a lesson abt being certain even when it's not 100% certain #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

okay seems we are watching the story of Junior Asparagus as Robin Hood #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

oh no, a giant ........ gourd dragon? #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales pic.twitter.com/qqxtUt38FA

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

oh actually it's just Junior on the playground, imagining himself as robin hood. & a bully is sitting on him. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales pic.twitter.com/sBBXCgWOBK

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

the bully says no one is allowed on the playground unless he says so #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

the kids are going to go to Laura's house instead. Junior doesn't want to go. he seems really sad/embarrassed about being bullied. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Celery girl asks if Junior wants to tell his parents. he says no. seems like "tell his parents" is presented as the "right answer" & junior is going to learn he needs to do it #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

now Junior is fantasizing abt himself winning a football game #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

back in reality, Laura comes to check if Junior is okay #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Junior is acting like he's all brave & doesn't have any negative feelings. tells Laura he is not scared of Gordon the bully #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

now Junior is imagining himself flying a spaceship #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

he landed on "The Planet Sandboxian", where a bully lives #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

now a huge alien is chasing Junior #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Junior uses some kind of scifi tech to make the bully inflate & float away like Harry Potter's aunt #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Back in reality, Junior's dad shows up. Junior asks if he was ever afraid as a kid. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Dad tells the story of how he was bullied as a kid. Until one day he stood up to the bully & got "pounded" but then the bully didn't bother him any more after that #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Dad says "God has not given us a spirit of fear" & he needs to "turn the other cheek" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

The other kids come to see if Junior is really willing to go back to the playground #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Junior is hoping th bully is not there. but oh no he is there. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Junior reminds himself that god gives us courage. then he tells the bully that no one owns the playground.
"If you're gonna pound me, go ahead. But what's it gonna prove?" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Junior says "you're gonna have to pound me every day. because i'm not afraid of you!" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

all the other kids step up & say Gordon will have to beat them up too #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Gordon gives up & goes away without pounding anyone #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Junior says if Gordon ever comes back, hopefully it will be bc he wants to be friends #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

now junior is back to being robin hood #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales pic.twitter.com/24nj7Nmbi8

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

he sings a song abt turning the other cheek, with the courage that comes from god #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Now silly songs with Larry! Larry is singing abt how he ordered a pizza but it's been hours & it hasn't come yet. RELATABLE. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

"Pizza angel please come to me" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

wowwwwwww i have had all these exact feelings #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

"Then my heart skipped when i heard the door" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

oh no the delivery guy ate the pizza. wow this is awful #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

All right now time for the story of Minnesota Cuke & the search for Samson's hairbrush. Minnesota is on a snowy mountain #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Martin (Bob the tomato) is talking to Minnesota (Larry) on a video phone #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota finds the snowman w the golden carrot nose #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

oh no, the snowman's head rolled down & chased our hero #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Mr Lunt shows up & grabs the golden carrot. mwahahaha #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

next scene, Minnesota & Martin are back at their children's museum, which has NO exhibits bc Minnesota couldn't get the carrot nose #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

OH MY GODDDD I HAD TO PAUSE THE VIDEO AND LAUGH
celery comes in to say there is a group of Canadians trying to take over both sides of Niagara Falls
Minnesota: "But they have the best side already" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

i have been to Niagara falls a LOT of times & CAN CONFIRM, Canadian side is better #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Anyway, these Canadian barrel makers are searching for Samson's hairbrush to give them power #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Bob recaps the story of Samson. he fought the philistine bullies #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

celery says Samson's hair gave him his strength. Bob interrupts but can't really get a word in- I'M SURE he wants to say Samson's real strength came from God. & that's going to be the lesson #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

anyway, Minnesota decides he will find the hairbrush & get the strength to stand up to his professor rival who's bullying him #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota goes to find Julia (we met her in "Duke & the Great Pie War")
a lot of we-have-a-romantic-backstory banter between them #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

She says a lot of ppl want to find Samson's hairbrush. it's too dangerous! he should stay out of it #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

She tells him an address. Minnesota leaves. Just then, the rival, played by Mr Lunt comes in & wants the address too #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Bob is on the video phone telling Minnesota that god made Samson make promises like not to eat grapes or cut his hair
Minnesota: "That's weird" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

again, bob gets interrupted before he can say the whole thing #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota goes back to the ice cream place where Julia works & finds she is flooded with melted ice cream. he saves her. she says she didn't tell mr lunt ANYTHING #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

now we are in a barbershop with 2 EXTREMELY ITALIAN carrots #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota comes to ask the barbers abt Samson's hairbrush.
turns out they are in a secret order that has protected the hairbrush for generations #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

they say the hairbrush is in the ancient catacombs below the city
(with a joke abt how "catacombs" sounds like "cat combs" in an Italian accent) #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Oh no! Mr Lunt heard the whole thing & is going to the catacombs! #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota calls Bob & says Mr Lunt isn't just a bully, "he's my enemy!" Minnesota is so mad! Bob tries to tell him the bible says to love our enemies #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota is so ready to get revenge #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

now Minnesota is down in the catacombs #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

he sees wall paintings showing the story of Samson. with a lion & everything. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

yay a rickety old bridge. i expected no less. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales pic.twitter.com/TLlQb62bCY

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

omggggggg below the bridge is a pit of worms
"Worms, why did it have to be worms????"
(Indiana jones fans will get it) #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota Cuke gets the hairbrush. just then, mr lunt comes in & demands it #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota says he has the brush so he has the power!
mr lunt says nope, Minnesota has no power bc he doesn't have hair (anyone else having flashbacks to the hairbrush song?) #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

oh no! Julia is a hostage! We find out that the celery guy was working for mr lunt all along! #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota hands over the hairbrush to free Julia. then mr lunt cuts the bridge & leaves them both dangling there #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota says he has to go and stop him! Julia is like "why?" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Julia says Minnesota Cuke being so interested in revenge makes him a bully #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

now Bob is on the video phone again
& Larry concludes there never was a band of evil Canadians #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Bob explains that Samson's real power came from God, not from the hairbrush
& god can give Minnesota the power to love his enemies #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota chases down mr lunt. 2 Canadian mounties show up to stop him #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

mr lunt tries to fight them but then realizes the hairbrush has no power #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota tells the mounties not to arrest mr lunt
then mr lunt is like "whyyyy did you do that? no one's ever done anything nice for me" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

back in the children's museum. they have the hairbrush on display. yay. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

now Bob & Larry are going to talk abt what we learned today #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Larry says we learned there are bullies & sometimes you can't do anything to change them #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

THIS. "Sometimes you can't do anything to change them." I wish that had been emphasized more- because the rest of the "lesson" very strongly implies that it's your responsibility to change the bullies by "turning the other cheek" etc.

Bob says god never wants us to try to get even. instead we should love our enemies. & it's also good to talk to your parents #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

that's the end of VeggieTales "Minnesota Cuke & the Search for Samson's Hairbrush." Let's discuss. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

So the lesson in this VeggieTales episode is what to do abt bullies #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

i didn't like the lesson
we'll get to the reasons why in a minute. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

So, the first story, abt Junior & the playground bully Gordon #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Junior "solves the problem" by deciding that he's not afraid & he's going to stand up to Gordon & say Gordon doesn't have the right to kick them out of the playground #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

& Junior stands up & says he doesn't care if Gordon beats him up, he's going to come back every day & stand up to him #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

so..... that was a giant bluff, right? #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

i don't feel comfortable w this lesson bc it's abt how the bullying victim can try to make themself less of a target/make it not interesting for the bully to bully them #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

it feels like this advice abt how to respond to bullying ACCEPTS that the bully has the power & it's just abt what you can do to make him less interested in bullying you #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

I think an authority figure needs to step in & tell the bully it is NOT okay to treat ppl that way, even if they do make themselves easy targets or whatever #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

This advice abt what *you* should do & what *you* should say & how confident *you* should act when standing up to a bully sends the message that it's *your* responsibility to stop him from bullying you #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

And if a kid tries following this advice and it doesn't "work", then what? It would be easy for the kid to conclude that it's their own fault. They might think they didn't follow the advice correctly and need to try harder. When in reality there will always exist mean/abusive people in the world. Sometimes you just need to cut them out of your life, because trying to change them is not going to work.

personally i don't know what the current thinking is on a healthy way to handle childhood bullies, but my starting point would be the concept of BOUNDARIES #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

ie, it's not okay for ppl to treat you that way, & i do NOT accept the situation being framed as "the bully has the power & it's my job to say/do the right things to get him to stop" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

The bully is the one who's doing something bad. That should be the focus- an authority figure telling the bully their behavior is not okay & they need to stop. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

I don't like this focus on how the victims should respond. it feels victim-blamey. almost like saying "you are LETTING this happen to you by not standing up to them in the correct way" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

okay next was the story of Minnesota Cuke. the rival professor was a bully to him. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Minnesota is so mad & vows to get revenge. The audience is meant to understand that this is wrong. This makes Minnesota into a bully too. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

So yes, I agree revenge is wrong. But. We need to have a discussion abt the difference between justice & revenge. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

I would say revenge is when you're driven by your own hurt/anger & you want to hurt the other person in a way that's not related to the amount of damage they actually did, but motivated by your desire to make them suffer #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Whereas justice is when someone pays for what they did wrong, in a way that's reasonable & proportional to the actual damage they did #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

As an aside: Actually, I believe there are 3 aspects to justice:
1. help the victim
2. punish the person who did wrong
3. prevent it from happening again in the future
#PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

but in church they only talked about the "punishment" part of justice #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Anyway. It is wrong for Minnesota to try to get revenge. But it is GOOD to hold mr lunt accountable & make him face justice. #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

But this veggietales episode just said "turn the other cheek" & "god wants us to love our enemies"- didn't say it's good to seek justice & let bad ppl get the punishment they deserve #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

"Turn the other cheek" can be an effective strategy for getting people to stop mistreating you. (For example, look at nonviolent protest during the Civil Rights movement.) BUT. It's only going to be effective if you've really thought it through. If you've evaluated the risks and possible outcomes, if you're clear about what your goals are, if you understand the power dynamics of the situation, if you have a plan for how to set up a situation where "turn the other cheek" will make a big impact. In other words, it's only going to work if you're able to carefully evaluate it beforehand and understand exactly what you're doing and have the option to NOT use it if you decide it's not useful. Don't just naively do it because "it's the right thing to do."

personally i don't think "love your enemies" was the right response RIGHT AFTER Minnesota & Julia were ABANDONED ON AN OLD BROKEN BRIDGE by their "enemy" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

like........... how about "it's okay to be mad, but don't act on it until you calm down & think rationally abt it" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Personally I would focus on your own emotional health- ie, being constantly mad & wanting revenge isn't a healthy state to be in #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

so you should learn to handle your emotions in a healthy way FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, bc YOUR OWN emotional health matters. not because "it's the right thing to do" or any crap like that #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Then Minnesota tells the Canadian mounties not to arrest mr lunt. umm. didn't he just try to kill you though....? #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

i mean, this is a lighthearted kids' movie, maybe Minnesota & Julia weren't actually in any danger. but it seemed to me that mr lunt left them trapped down there to die #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

BUT SERIOUSLY, if somebody tries to kill you, you shouldn't ask the police not to arrest them, just bc "god says to love our enemies" #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

especially since there's no indication whatsoever that lunt recognizes he did a bad thing & repents #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

like, don't you think he's going to show reckless disregard for ppl's lives again in the future?
like don't just let him go bc of some lofty "love your enemies" bullshit #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

and oh i rolled my eyes SO HARD at the part where mr lunt was like "wow you did a nice thing for me, i don't understand why" *cue opportunity to talk abt god's love* #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

bc this is what they taught us in sunday school. be loving to the ppl that are mean to us, & they will be astonished & desperate to know how it's possible we can be so kind when they are so mean #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

... and there's your opportunity to tell them abt jesus! #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

I remember I actually tried this, as a little kid. Another kid, let's call him Mark, was always trying to be the first one to get off the school bus, instead of letting us all file out one row at a time from front to back like the bus driver said. I believed Mark's behavior was very unfair to me (and all the kids who were waiting their turn), but I responded by "loving my enemy" and politely letting him go first even when it was my turn. GUESS WHAT? He never said "wow why are you so nice to me when I'm so mean to you?" He probably didn't even know that I believed he was mistreating me. I had extremely strong feelings about how Mark was being such a bad person- and probably nobody else even noticed because I never said anything about it. I just stood quietly and let him go first, imagining that he understood how generous and forgiving I was being, and how unfair his own behavior was. Imagining that I was "heaping burning coals on his head."

spoiler: THE REAL WORLD DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

over here in the real world, if you act loving toward ppl who mistreat you, you give them no incentive to change their behavior, & they will walk all over you forever #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

which would be OBVIOUS if we taught kids abt BOUNDARIES #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Also i want to talk abt the story of Samson
which Minnesota sort of learns little-by-little throughout his adventure #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

First of all, the biblical story of Samson is EXTREMELY F**KED UP & very much NOT suitable for children & can't be simplified to a single moral lesson. & Samson should NOT be taken as a role model #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

let me give you a little taste: Samson told a weird riddle at his wedding which made his wife's whole family mad at him & then he got mad at them & went off & killed a bunch of ppl #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

later Samson comes back to see his wife, but her father doesn't let him in (he assumed that relationship was over bc of that whole incident at the wedding) so Samson gets mad ... #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

...So Samson catches 300 foxes (what?) & ties their tails together in pairs (WHAT?) & lights them on fire (WHATTTTTTTTT) & releases them to go burn the philistines' fields #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

and so on
like, the whole story of Samson is one giant WTF after another #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

VeggieTales claiming "he fought against the philistine bullies" wayyyy oversimplifies things #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

and yes, i suppose in the bible story it is true that, even though a big deal was made of Samson's hair, his real power came from god, not his hair #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

but like that was just 1 little piece in a parade of WTF and murder #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

my point is, let's not act like Samson is the kind of story you can pull 1 nice little lesson from & teach sunday school kids #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

that very much misrepresents the biblical story of Samson. i might even go so far as to call it dishonest #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

like what happens when you teach kids "Samson is a story abt how god gives us the power to love our enemies" & then later they go read the bible story & try to force it into that mold? #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

note: i'm pretty sure veggietales did not actually ever specify what power god gave Samson, exactly. heavily implied it was the power to love one's enemies. ... #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

... but those of us who read our bibles know it was the power to kill a whole building of philistines in a murder/suicide sort of thing #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

see what i mean when i said this story really isn't appropriate for children? #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa wow they are using the story of SAMSON to teach kids to LOVE THEIR ENEMIES oh my godddd let's take a minute to just marvel at how completely backwards that is.

Anyway let's wrap up. VeggieTales "Minnesota Cuke & the Search for Samson's Hairbrush" was abt what to do abt bullying #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

but i don't think it's good how the lesson focused on the "right" way for a victim to respond, rather than asserting, in no uncertain terms, that the bully is doing a BAD THING & should be held accountable #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

@pnumber628 Doesn't sound like it addressed how bullying is a form of ABUSE and how it can have a long-term effect on people, either. (There are adults who were abused as children by other children who deal with stuff like C-PTSD, anxiety, among other things.)

—Shelly (@mizshellytee) 2018-04-12

it reminds me of complementarianism teaching women whose husbands treat them bad that they just need to submit more & their husband will magically start being nice #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

like, it accepted the framing of the situation that has the bully on top, w all the power, & the only thing the victims can do is try to entice the bully's whims in a certain direction #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

... & hope it works
#PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

i don't think "love your enemies" & "turn the other cheek" & "don't let him see your fear" are good advice in this situation #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

All right, those are my thoughts on VeggieTales "Minnesota Cuke & the Search for Samson's hairbrush" ~ thanks for tuning in #PerfectNumberWatchesVeggieTales

—Perfect Number (@pnumber628) 2018-04-12

---------------------

To see all my VeggieTales reviews: Perfect Number Watches VeggieTales (Master Post)