Could've Been Ridiculous
Heh, It's been almost a week since I've even touched this blog. What can I say, I was really disappointed that I never got a call from the Vatican. I had even taken the time to come up with a reign name with the following under consideration:
Does the name shape the Pope or does the Pope shape the name?Appropriately, I chose Pope Ridiculous... Because I'm basically agnostic, making it virtually impossible that I would have been selected with a .00000000000001% chance - But hey, it's still a chance nonetheless! Heh.
If we could ask one past Pope for an answer, it would be the Cardinal who advanced to the title in 468. He became Pope Hilarius. At the time, the word - in Latin and Greek alike - still principally meant gracious or cheerful, and had not yet assumed its current sense of stand-up comedy.
They made him a Saint - possibly because he’d have to carry that name throughout history. But it’s instructive to note that there has yet to be a Pope Hilarius II.
- Keith Olbermann, MSNBC
As for the new pope, I couldn't help but find his predictable squawking against relativism, atheism, and agnosticism to be humorous. Relativism asserts that due to differing points of view, differing experiences and environments in every individual's life, means that what is the truth is relative to those factors. Atheists don't believe in a god / supernatural deity, so all deity worshiping religions, whether they believe in one or more deities don't like that, predictably. And similar to relativism in a way, agnosticism basically states that the existence of a god is unknown (might exist, might not) or is inherently unknowable, rather than believe religious dogma on matters, hence why that is also seen as a threat to the church. Oh my, they sure don't like their righteousness being questioned, scrutinized or even marginalized, do they (just like any other civil or political organization out there)? Secularism is also, of course, "wrong".
And then Ratzi includes "vague religious mysticism" to the list of "threats to the church". Full-blown religious mysticism is alright. But vague or half-assed religious mysticism ain't gonna cut it. Heh, oh darn, you mean people have bullshitted faith before with a few hallelujah's and occassionally invoking Jesus or god's name when convenient and little else? What? no! what?? Are you joking?
Bah, he's just bloviating anyway. It's his job.

Meanwhile when the church oligarchy was selecting a new dictator for life (essentially what a pope is), their progress indicator to the thousands who happened to have the free time to just stand around in St. Peter's Square was that chimney and the color of the smoke that came out of it. There was confusion at times as to whether the smoke was white or black.
It sounds like improvement in needed.
My suggestion: A traffic light for status reports. The red light meaning "No pope this time", yellow for "we came close to a choice", and green meaning "we've chosen your leader for you." It's color coded, just like the smoke signals are -- but unlike the smoke, one of the lights can't be mistaken for another color (unless you're colorblind).
But there are also other alternatives just as basic and as simple: Such as colored pieces of cloth being waved out of a window as a signal by some insignificant member of the church hierarchy, or blowing a horn - once for "no decision", twice for "new pope". Or perhaps something even more simple involving an insignificant member of the church hierarchy, again, except this time just announcing out of an open window whether a pope was selected in a given vote or not.
Just suggestions, mind you.
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