Seven Twitterverse Takes
Wrapping up the week with Amanda Knox's Existential Tightrope, TGC, Hershey's Misogyny, Content Production, Shutdown Routines, and So Much More
It is Friday, praise be. Why does every week feel like it is five weeks? The days both creep by and careen like a bus driven by someone with a death wish. So anyway, I have bunches of takes. Let’s get going.
The First Take
Following up on that TGC thing from yesterday, it was interesting to see Twitter redivide along predictable lines. The memes petered out (as far as I could tell) and the loud call of ‘literaliegh misogyny’ began, in the usual way, to prevail. K du Mez authored a ridiculous take:
What is that called, when you say something that’s not true? TGC does not have a “No Girls Allowed” sign on their door. The new Keller Center is not “Men Only.” There are a lot of interesting and bright women in top editorial positions over there. Butler has women endorsing his book. And it’s not “internalized misogyny” for women to agree with his take on marriage and the gospel. In fact, and please bear with me here, it is possible for people—even women—to disagree with each other over the substance of the thing. If you want to be accepted in “Christian spaces” it would be beneficial to take seriously the ideas and views of other people—even women—instead of just crying about the patriarchy all the time.
Setting that to one side, I was shocked that some people who had endorsed Butler’s book are now trying to walk it back:
Why does this shock me? Because, well, I mean, did you not read the book before you put down your name? Is it only once you see the issues as described by Twitter that you now don’t agree with them? It takes an unarticulated mob to clear your head? Whence thou, oh discernment ministries?
Do Better, is what I say. Just kidding. I would never advocate doing better.
The Second Take
For women’s history month, Hershey is coming out against women:
I’m gonna go ahead and keep saying out loud that men trying to be women is colonizing of women. It is not stunning and brave. It’s misogynistic and hating of real women. I’m saying this so that, later, when I say it again, you will still know what I think. Good thing I don’t buy Hershey stuff anyway. What I do is buy dark Aldi chocolate and melt it and mix it with cream, an egg, and a dash of Brandy (a la Nigella, basically) and then I pour the mixture into little cups and then for breakfast, I take them out of the back of the fridge one by one and eat them. It’s low-carb and so it’s healthy and suitable for Lent.
The Third One
I linked this yesterday but I’m putting it here again. It is a really heartbreaking thread—fascinating, even a bit beautiful, but so tragic:
I’ve always been interested in this story because I happened to, as a child, have lived in Perugia for a summer. My dad was learning Italian, and I was there also, eating pizza and ice cream and doing my best not to grasp even a vague sense of that beautiful language. I found the only English boy in the town and played with him, much to the chagrin of my linguist/anthropological parents. That, however, is not why I was so interested in this thread. Rather, Amanda Knox is articulating, near perfectly, the new American Religion that is taking the place of Christianity. This tweet, in particular:
And this one:
And finally:
Observe how very closely this picture of the world lines up with the truth. It is true that right now matters. This moment is the critical moment. You can make a choice. You can act—if you want to. But that is only because of what is to come. The ability to stand up and be in this life only comes from the eternal power of God. You, as a Christian, find your balance because of the kingdom to come. It feels like a tightrope across a bottomless abyss, but it isn’t because you are actually following in the footsteps of Jesus who, by his death and resurrection, walked ahead of you.
The Fourth One
Even so, apparently, you should try to achieve peak productivity for some reason. So loved these tweets:
Ha ha ha. No. I’m not starting my “morning routine” the night before. All I’m doing is going to bed because I’m exhausted. Still, let’s humor him:
Or, walk in the kitchen, eat a cold dead tater-tot, yell at your kids to clean up after themselves, and then walk upstairs and go to bed:
That’s what I do. I write down all the ways I “crush it." You know what’s even better than being grateful for how awesome the tacos were? Asking God to help you with your life and stuff. That’s because “gratitude” isn’t like a computer program. Feeling grateful is indicative of a relationship. That, for those who might feel disoriented by what I’ve just said, is where two people talk to each other, open themselves up to each other, or even, in the words of the modern evangelical “do life together.” By some strange miracle, God invites you into that sort of “space” with him. You can tell him about yourself and he will be with you in the darkness of your discouragement and despair. You don’t have to get some “mindset of abundance” somehow. You can just ask him for what you need and he’ll give it to you in the way that he knows best because he does know you even better than you know yourself.
Ok, this is my last favorite one:
Or—hear me out here—commend your soul to God and go to sleep. Read a nice book. Pray for someone. Count others as more significant than yourself. Say Compline. Literally do anything more interesting than this, please.
The Fifth One
Not to overload you, but I also do love this. I don’t know how to embed it, but I beg you to click and watch because I want to make a blogging pledge to you:
I solemnly promise never to produce content like that for the following reasons.
First, because I cannot understand what she is saying, nor what is on her screen. My technological stupidity prohibits me from creating a month’s worth of “content” in advance.
And Second, because I don’t want to.
The Sixth One
Things are hotting up over there in England:
I read somewhere that Meghan’s approval rating is something like 17%. What I want to know is, why is taking the approval ratings of people like Harry and Meghan even a thing? Who has that job? What a strange world this is.
The Seventh One
And finally, as a parting gift, here is my favorite thing of the week:
Have a nice day!
"Do Better, is what I say. Just kidding. I would never advocate doing better." Love that! :D
How did we come by the spelling "literaleigh" ???