Over at Boing Boing, there’s a short documentary on the wackiness and intrigue that is Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
(HT to reader)
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28 Comments
Wet rainy cold. That video realy made my day.
Weird, I knew he was weird but really…
Is it the water?
I shall not name names, but I have it on good authority that a prominent expat writer here is a member of the Unification Church. Indeed, his book is a “bestseller” on the Seoul Selection Web site.
This is nearly incomprehensible. I realize that some politicians will overlook quite a bit for large contributions but this guy’s history is not only criminal but looney. Listen to him speak! It’s like interpreting dog barks. Politicians have been known to associate with criminals, or are criminals themselves but if the winds come out and they are found to be cavorting with loons. Who would take such risks? John Gorenfeld is doing us all a favor. To come out publicly backing this guy truly shows a tremendous preponderance of inactive grey matter. I mean even more than the 90% the rest of us have.
King Baeksu, are his intials “M.B.”?
#4: No, no, Mike Breen is no Moonie — as far as I know.
Talk about yellow journalism.
I find it totally ironic that the leader of what some people would have called in the past a sex cult is now advising young girls to stay virgins…Then again, cult members don’t tend to have much of a recollection of their past.
Not only that, he expects them to keep their private parts untainted and untouched for the benefit of their children. So, apparently he proposes a race of people all products of immaculate conception.
I think King Baeksu is refering to rjk, because that is the only name i found on the seoul selection best seller list.
#9: Would a true believer refer to the head of his own church as “wacky”?
That would be a rather sophisticated diversionary tactic if so, but I think you need to check that list again because there are a lot of other names on it.
Preachers urging abstinence until marriage — that’s neither new nor crazy. (I don’t agree, but the proponents of such a position aren’t crazy.) That the “logic” offered by an old Korean man, and the English he uses to express said logic, is incomprehensible — that can’t be said to be unexpected either. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard, coming from the mouth of some older Korean man, idiotic ramblings about how the shape of this or that determines its self-evident nature.
I’m not a Unification Church member myself — and yes, I think they’re weird. But objectively speaking, all churches and theological positions are weird. Barack Obama’s church seems kinda weird too, but we’re all supposed to overlook that. Why hate on the Moonies? Or Xenu?
Much of the venom directed at Rev. Moon must be based on his support of conservative politics. In principle, if I were a politician I would steer clear of the guy, but what does that have to do with the Washington Times newspaper and Insight magazine? Does the fact that the money to fund them is somehow tainted by the “craziness” of the funder make any of the work product therein any less true or credible?
“Much of the venom directed at Rev. Moon must be based on his support of conservative politics.”
Brendon Carr, master of the false binarism used in the service of pushing his own self-interested argument at all costs.
Gee, where did you learn to think that way, I wonder?
Supreme Master Television, of course. Oh no, wait, the binarism isn’t false — I simply watched the documentary linked above, and commented upon its content. The makers of that piece on Rev. Moon made quite a point of his support of conservative politics, and sponsorship of the Washington Times and Insight.
Oh yeah, and where is the self-interested argument? I simply don’t think it’s fair to beat up the Rev. Moon for being an odd church leader. After all, he’s neither a Canadian nor a hippie (I know, the former is a subset of the latter).
#13: For someone who is always going on about Obama’s alleged anti-Semitism, you seem surprisingly unconcerned about the many charges of anti-Semitism made against Rev. Moon.
Or charges of influence-peddling, corruption, etc., etc.
Oh wait, no, a lot of people just don’t like him because he’s a conservative.
And those people who don’t like him are all wild-eyed lefties who use drugs and deserved to be “thrown in jail.”
It it pointless to have a rational debate with you because you only argue rationally with people whom you agree with, or with people who can pay you to agree with them.
Happy blogging and all that.
My God Brendon, even in Korea where they buy into fan-death he was looked upon as wiggy, even in his youth. He hasn’t developed sanity in his dottage.
And the Washington Times? The Washington Times? Do they substantiate any claims before going to print? The Washington Times gives fish-wraps a bad name.
I’m not denying Moon is weird. The evidence offered in that documentary, however, is not the evidence I’d marshal to build the case Moon is weird.
With respect to Moon’s alleged anti-Semitism, since that’s something I consider material, I’d be glad to review any references. References to the anti-Semitism of Obama’s crew are easy to follow up, but the Moonies are harder to track. It wouldn’t be all that surprising if Moon were an anti-Semite, and if so, that would be a reason to criticize.
The Washington Times is a good newspaper, and Insight was a good news magazine last time I read it 20 years ago. The only knock on them (and the UPI wire service) seems to be that they are “owned by the Moonies” — in my view, not enough to disqualify everything they do.
“References to the anti-Semitism of Obama’s crew are easy to follow up”
To quote the Great Communicator, “There you go again.”
It’s obvious that Moon’s ties to both the Bush and McCain camps make you uneasy, and your strategy is to raise enough doubts here to make said connections less of a threat in this election year.
Nice try. Sort of.
BTW, it’s now official: Obama just won Texas.
Enjoy the gravy train while it lasts, asshole.
Wow, you’re a venomous loon, Burgeson. Just try to keep things on an even keel for once. I know it’s possible — you’ve asked questions in good faith before, and gotten fair answers from me before going off the rails.
I’m not working for John McCain or George Bush, and don’t imagine that the “gravy train” I’m on depends on the election of any Republican. Unless you have information that Obama intends to destroy America and the world economy, or something like that. If you do, keep us posted. (I do think I’m going to send Maverick some money, though. Just like I sent John Edwards some money in 2004.)
There is a case to be made that Christian Science is misguided and wrong — dangerous for the children of Christian Scientists, in fact. The Christian Science Monitor is, nevertheless, an excellent newspaper. That’s what I’m getting at here — “owned by the Moonies” and that weird old Korean man is not a substitute for thinking about the content of those publications.
#18: “Just try to keep things on an even keel for once. I know it’s possible — you’ve asked questions in good faith before, and gotten fair answers from me before going off the rails.”
Go back and reread the grand canal thread and see how you pointedly ignored the same earnest questions I asked of a legal nature, and in the end dismissed me with a patented Carr False Binarism: Progressives don’t care about working or taking care of a family.
I am a proponent of Netiquette and good manners online, but you are so insidious that I prefer to call a spade a spade here, because you simply cannot have a debate in good faith.
You sir, are an asshole.
End of discussion.
what’s the big secret? who’s the fuckin moonie?
Carr v. Baeksu
Carr WINS!
No innuendo…just facts…
WINNER!
#19,
So I take that you didn’t enjoy reading “In the Shadow of the Moons”.
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-M.....y/dp/03163
21: Owoe: “Carr WINS”
not true.
When carr and baeksu start another epic battle on the marmot comment boards, EVERYBODY wins.
Uh, the guy had himself crowned the “King of Peace.” That’s not weird?
The Washington Times is, by just about any objective standard, a pretty lousy newspaper. But the issue here is not ownership, but ownership intervention in editorial. The Christian Science Monitor has generally had independent editorial. The rap on the WT, however, is that its editorial is not independent.
Considering that several Congressman who get slammed in the video for bowing down to Moon were Democrats, it seems to me that the video was not just political posturing.
The point of the video was not the WT or left/right politics, but the extent of the Moonie holdings and influence in American politics. There are plenty of other sources for learning more about the not-so-reverend Moon’s wacky beliefs.
Why have you been so cranky and humorless lately, Carr? (At least at the Hole.)
Rev Moon is what you would get if you put a Kim Jong Il in a capitalistic, free society.
Get in front of a bunch of politicians and journalists and say, “free love…Satan”, and stick your tongue out after you say Satan and leave it out for about ten-twelve beats. As you are doing it look around the room with a kind of Jack Nicholson/Shining inner glow.
I don’t know about all of you but I love this guy!
#5 Ask Breen where he got married, the answer will surprise you.
#20 Breen. The chap who wrote “The Koreans”