Monday, January 19, 2015

Pope Francis earning street cred in "Thug Life" rap

Signs of the times, eh? Listen to the end of the video. The rap number starts at about 25 seconds into the video.


I'm not quite sure how to take this video. As you can see for yourself, some of the comments claim that the video was intended a defence of the attack on Charlie Hebdo. I'm not sure.

There's a bit about the group HERE and a compilation of Thug Life music video's HERE.

7 comments:

Son of Ya'Kov said...

So does Doug Wilson still think he's wimpy?

Christopher said...

I take the video itself as a purely comical take on Pope Francis' threatening to punch out somebody for talking about his mother. Dude, Pope Francis is a THUG! (i.e, "you dont take shit from anyone" - Tupac).

Francis: the first pontiff to have street cred. ;-)

As to what the Pope himself was saying -- incoherent at best.

"It is true we cannot act violently … but if a friend were to say something insulting about my mother - A PUNCH AWAITS HIM!" … ok, um, what?

Son of Ya'Kov said...

@Chris

He was saying it is natural to want to punch someone who deeply insults you in a personal way. It's not justified but it is quite natural.

Like talking smack about your wife or parents. Thus naturally blaspheming someone's religion would also provoke a strong reaction.

Morally we shouldn't mock other people's religions.


Ex-Atheist turned Catholic Science Fiction writer John C. Wright said it best. I paraphrase from memory "If you cruelly mock what another man finds sacred (no matter how silly you think to be) you make an enemy of him".

Cheers.

Christopher said...

Oh, I get the underlying gist of what he was saying, or trying to, but I also understand why his remarks sow confusion.

Let's look at what he said:

1) "It's true that you cannot react violently.
2) But, if Dr. Gasbarri, my great friend, says something against my mother, he can expect a punch. It's normal."
3) Those who "giocatalizzano," or "make a plaything out of the religion of others … are provoking," he went on. "And, what can happen is what I said about Dr. Gasbarri if he says something about my mother. There's a limit. … Every religion has dignity, every religion that respects human life and the human person and I cannot make fun of it. And this is a limit," he added.   

I understand the Pope probably intends assertion #1 … but #1 is also qualified in part by his assertion that "there is a limit", and "what can happen is [what I said about Dr. Gasbarri if he says something about my mother" … this can also be interpreted as an implicit endorsement of a violent reaction, were said "limit" to be reached.

After all, using Francis' logic, what's to say that Muslims didn't reach their "limit" witnessing the repeated blasphemies of Charlie Hebdo, and opted to punch, howebeit in a more forceful, more lethal manner?

Christopher said...

That being said, I see Francis has opted to further "clarify" his remarks, as he seems perpetually obliged to do.

Son of Ya'Kov said...

Chris

The is a moral limit on us in terms of mocking other people's religions.

That is what he is saying here.

Violence is never allowed. But if we choose to criticize other people's religion there is a moral limit on us when it devolves to mockery.

There is also intention. Hebdo didn't intend anything high minded. He was a Gnu Atheist bigot who would just as soon (& has) draw disgusting nude pictures of Our Lady as he would Muhammed. Just for the purpose of being a "Richard".

That is wrong and it is beyond disproportionate to kill the man over it but Hebdo was still not a laudable person.

If a bunch of klansmen cartoonists who printed disgusting pictures of blacks or MLK got murdered by some extremist Furgeston protestors or gang bangers that would be wrong too and would require the law to fall on their heads.

But a bunch of Klansmen are not laudable people anymore than anti-religious bigots like Hebdo.

Cheers bro.

>That being said, I see Francis has opted to further "clarify" his remarks, as he seems perpetually obliged to do.

You can "blame" Francis for lacking clarity but realistically I despair the media who rule by soundbite will ever try to get to the truth behind the bite.

Cheers again.

Ralph Roister-Doister said...

I will go with Christopher's interpretation of the video, although I would rewrite his second paragraph as "Francis: the first pontiff to have no cred."
:(

I can sometimes imagine Bergoglio sitting in a tattered lawn chair outside the junk yard trading oneliners with Fred Sanford to gales of laughter. Five minutes into their kneeslappin' exchange, a bro in a cheap suit pulls up, aces falling out of his sleeves, and involves Fred and Frankie in some numbskull scheme that promises to bring ruination down on they fool heads. The buddy's name is "Kasper." By that point I imagine my hand on the remote.