long comment threads don't always suck

TBogg has helpfully pointed out the unusually entertaining comment thread that ensued from his Alec Rawls post.

Mr. Rawls is remarkable, not only for the loopiness of his contention that the winning design for the Memorial to Flight 93 in Pennsylvania is actually a crescent invoking Islamic something or other, but for his obtuse and dogged defense of that contention in the aforementioned comment thread. For me, this one gives a good sense of my own reaction.

Blissfully unaware of Rawls, I was. Blissfully, I tell you. Now I have to read all of his crap so I can realize that, as always my dear TBogg, you speaketh the truth.
# posted by newscoma : 3:23 PM

Meeting Mr. Rawls on his own terms, Shiva reveals the next obvious conclusion.

Alec raises a reasonable point regarding the orientation of the circle-thingy. But he neglects to mention that the memorial site is surrounded by roads, each of which intersects with another at a right angle.

THEY'RE CROSSES!!! AND THEY SURROUND (AND CONTAIN) THE BAD ISLAM SYMBOL!!!

The architects have subtly shown that the power of Christ is all-encompassing.

Plus it gets traffic in and out quite nicely.
# posted by Shiva : 3:56 PM

Possibly my favorite, though, both for level-headed sanity and pop-culture wit, was from Brian C.B.

And [Rawls'] comment doesn't even touch whether the crescent is an Islamic symbol. I remember when the French government banned overt religious symbols in public schools they were left scratching around for an Islamic symbol to cite as an answer to the prohibition against wearing obvious crosses or stars of David as pendants. (Best they could do: the Hand of Fatima--which I note, is suspiciously like that "shared resource" icon you get in Windows OS. I always knew Bill Gates was on the Other Side.) It's tough for a faith that rejects all graven images to come up with a symbol--which is why the crescent isn't truly taken as religious one. It has been associated with the most powerful Islamic state (the Ottoman Empire) and spread throughout that modern empire when Committees of the Red Cross were formed in it, and when the committee organizers realized that the appeal of a former crusader symbol was pretty small and maybe organizational success required something else. But, purely Islamic a crescent is not. In fact, I'd guess that the Muslims who most vigorously reject the crescent as an Islamic symbol are the very fundamentalists who applaud, and might join, al-Quaida.

I'd write more but... "Well, I have to - I have to go now, Duane, because I, I'm due back on the planet Earth."
# posted by Brian C.B. : 3:40 PM

some friends may be stopping by

Neddie is nothing if not appreciative. His kind words are appreciated as well, although his link to this humble blog leaves me with little to say, and even less that's decent to wear for what will surely be a torrent of visitors.

Below, you see a depiction of crude local pottery being produced. If you are in the market for crude local pottery, be sure to engage the crudest local potter available to you.