Thomas Disch reveals he is God, takes your questions
A reader writes, "In preparation for the release of his newest book The Word of God, respected New Wave SF writer Thomas M. Disch (The Brave Little Toaster, Camp Concentration) has revealed himself to be God and is now taking questions from the faithful at his blog."
LinkDear G_d: Could you clarify the order of Creation? There are two different lists in Genesis, and people have died over interpretation. Please guide your humble flock.
PS: What did you do on the 8th Day?
The Aardvarks came first. Then the others, in alphabetical order. Except some of the really cute ones, like the panda, wheedled their way to the head of the line. And the zebra just stood there feeling this would be his lucky day.
the latest
latest episodes
Two questions: Why relativity? And why turbulence?
Oh yeah, and does the universe run linux?
So do you know I'm going to do something before I do it?
I'm reminded of some of my favorite episodes from the classic 1970s BBC adaptation of I, Claudius.
"Yes, I've become a god! Isn't that wonderful!"
"Why, yes, Jove!"
Oh cool, I have something in common with Thomas Disch. Neither of us proofreads when we post on intraweb message boards and such!
Meh. That's not even the best LiveJournal from God. Then again, I think that Disch is overrated; I got bored with The M.D. and quit about halfway through, and his book of essays about science fiction was similarly unimpressive.
Here's my question: Do you care at all if people beleive in you or not?
So, umm, God... who/what created you?
Why in the world did you create mosquitoes?
I think Liberal humor would flounder without Conservatives and Religion.
It seems like 70% of Liberal humor is based on parodies of Christianity.
I have heard this mocking for a few decades and it gets repetitive and mundane. Ha Ha -- Christians are stupid! -- What insight!
Voltaire said this in the 1600's
Well Peacock, I guess you're right. If stupid people stopped being stupid, intelligent people would stop laughing at them.
>I have heard this mocking for a few decades and it gets repetitive and mundane.
You will be happy to know that thousands of years of being told we will burn in hell for all eternity hasn't worn thin at all.
We non believer suffer fools gladly.
>Then the others, in alphabetical order.
So god created the English language too! was that on the morning of the 8th?
It is just blasphemy.
If this guy at least wanted to show he was brave and not just irreverent he would say he was Allah.
>It is just blasphemy.
Everyones belief is someones Blasphemy.
If this guy at least wanted to show he was brave and not just irreverent he would say he was Allah.
He's not showing bravery. He's participating in humor that's funny to some (admittedly me.) So you wouldn't be offended if he said he was Allah?
No but Muslims would. He picks on Christians because they are to love their enemies. What is it Muslims are to do to the infidel?
maybe he picked god because thats the tradition he grew up in ?
like: make fun of us before we make fun of them ?
no problem. and anyway, allah and god are the same abrahamic diety, just names in different languages. its not about bravery, its just humor. i got some good chuckles.
Careful, Evidence. I'm going to start pulling phrases about war and God making his chosen tribes proficient at it, about dashing infants on stones, and other things in a moment.
He picks on Christians because he's Western.
Most religions torture and murder their enemies because they hate them. Christians torture and murder their enemies to show them how much Jesus loves them. New and improved inhumanity.
Tenn,
Why aren't you at school?
I'm ill again and my parents just left for four days. I was feeling well enough to attend by 12, but I would have had to walk and while well enough to attend I wasn't well enough to not pass out on the way.
Might as well give up on my junior year.
"Might as well give up on my junior year."
It's a deal! :)
I can always make money at the blackjack tables!
Tom Disch is crazy, crazy smart. He claims to have 98% (I think) recall of all conversations, and it's borne out by his books. He's far from my favorite writer - intelligence isn't everything when it comes to literature - but he's always interesting.
Well, almost. I didn't find these very funny, but it is always cool to see a writer interacting with his fans. I don't see how it has anything to do with Christianity, really - his answers mention little that's specifically Christian, as if they're serious at all.
Jesus said to turn the other check, but it appears he never said you couldn't whine.
This improves my opinion of Tom Disch considerably. Before this all I knew was The Brave Little Toaster film, which would undoubtedly be a different experience for me as an adult, but after seeing it once as a kid I would have requested a trip to the dentist rather than a repeat viewing.
The story of the Brave Little Toaster is an altogether different thing from the movie. I would have said you couldn't possibly make a Tom Disch story into a movie for kids, but I was surprised; deadpan humor/satire in the former turns into straight if very odd children's fare. (I actually liked both in very different ways.)
Disch's writing is all over the map. If you want something sparkling and spectacular but easy to read, I recommend his early novel Camp Concentration; somewhat the same sense of black humor as Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. I suspect it would appeal to a lot of BoingBoingers.
... and doh! I now see Camp Concentration was specifically mentioned in the lead article. OK, I'll add The Genocides for people who like really really really depressing SF.
You guy are kings of twisting scripture and fearful of
Muslims. You do value life. Thats a start.
Any of you seen Expelled yet?
Some of us really don't give a rat's ass about scriptures. Truly, we don't.
We are ".. fearful of Muslims.."
As people have said, we just don't have a problem mocking ourselves, which is somewhat different to specifically mocking others.
I'm sure you know this already Evidence, but the fact is, most people in western society have grown up in a christian-normative environment. Whether or not their parents supported it, their society was most likely christian, of one sort or another.
So all the christian-type things you hold dear, as your own, that you choose to define a part of you and your community, are also things we know and have grown up with and have relationships with, for better or worse.
You don't own god, as a man or a christian.
Not the general notion of a god, nor a specific instance of one, like Jesus.
Nor do you own the words, people or books of your faith. They are academic, they exist beyond the importance you place in them. They are part of our landscape.
Public Domain, if you like. No-Man's-Land, Every-Man's-Land.
To me, and many other people, Jesus and God (upper case, this time) are just characters, interwoven into the fabric of our culture and to be taken as fables to better live ones life, like fairy tales, not as existing beings who can spring forth from the pages of mythology and interact with us today.
To me, they are no different to Odysseus, or Heracles (who was also the son of gods). Some rudimentary version of them may have existed as people in some far off time, but their value to us today is as lessons and entertainment. Either way, stories and iconic characters are vitally important to our culture, artistic expression and idea of who we are as human beings.
As to whether I feel the same way about the characters in Islam, I'd say I don't know them well enough to comment, just like I wouldn't know which hentai character I'd rather enslave. I don't have enough interest or information to make those jokes. And if I did, would my audience have enough interest or information to laugh along?
..and who says he was talking about your god anyway?
#5 HalloweenJack
This, from god-dot-com.livejournal.com:
"Sometime I'll have to tell you guys about My other male offspring, Thog, Who I sent to earth to save the Neanderthals. The funny thing about the Neaners was their extremely low threshold of amazement. The only miracles that Thog really had to perform were walking near water and raising some old guy from a dead sleep.
**sigh**
I miss those guys. It's a shame how they slowly died out after realizing how completely unattractive they were.'
Haha ha ahah ha.
I am sure you all assumed he meant the God of the Bible.
So I guess you are saying familiarity breeds contempt?
Be very sure you are right.
I am not being judgmental or saying I own God but He says in His book do not blaspheme Him or His name.
I just want to make sure you know that and and not doing things out of ignorance.
Are you sure He is a myth or does not exist?
>He says in His book do not blaspheme Him or His name.
I thought his name was "the Lord" This guy has more names then Prince. And I hope in God's next book he doesn't plagiarize himself so much and maybe gives it a good read through to remove some contradictions.
>Are you sure He is a myth or does not exist?
If he were real, someone would have some good argument to support it. Yet to hear one.
Personally, I'm not sure if HE exists or not. But I bet if HE does, HE has a sense of humor.
Evidence, I see that you're as fond of putting words in God's mouth as you are of putting words in ours. Leave him alone, God is big enough to speak for himself. His word stretches over 24 billion light years, 12 billion years into the past and untold trillions of years into the future. It is so much bigger than your prejudices and that book you're so fond of.
"He says in His book do not blaspheme Him or His name."
Yes, but in Dawkins' book, he says "blasphemy is a victimless crime".
They are both books.. should I believe yours or mine?
I presume you will answer that there is a fairly stiff penalty for not believing yours. As has been much discussed on BB, believing your book because I was hedging my bets against being punished, would make me less than rightous.
I am as sure as my reason and knowledge let me be, that there is no god.
If the heavens opened and s/he/it (don't say that, all as one word, quickly) walked in and told me in no uncertain terms that there was indeed a god, I might be a bit more open to it, but so far, not so much.
#34
Very nicely said Nelson.
Evidence, when I said please join us in our enjoyment of the rest of BB, I ment help us further our enjoyment, I did not mean continue to evangelize. You had your thread for that, now please show some real personality, it will make all our lives a little happier.
Disch you poser,don't make Me smite you. Yes. Me.