Fred Phelps Is So Impotent
I haven’t posted a blog in a while. I’ve been missing it, but I’ve
also not had enough (can you imagine it?) angst to really write. And I
still don’t!
I’m really, really happy right now. I’d like to take a picture of
myself right now so that I can remember: This is what happiness looks
like!
I’ve asked for some ideas about a blog post, and they’re good ideas.
I think I’ll follow up on a couple of them. But I want to post on this right now.
Nate Phelps is the son of the infamous Fred Phelps, the awful
(pardon my french) ASSHAT pastor of the website God Hates Fags. I’m not
linking to his site. This really struck me:
Yet when my father turned his instructive fist on my
mother, I instinctively felt internal conflict. For me, it was
intuitively wrong that a 6 foot 2, 250 pound man be allowed to beat up
a woman barely half his size. But we dared not intervene or even
question his actions, because his behavior was sanctioned by god.In one instance, as my father was stalking our mother at the top of
the stairs, she stumbled and started to fall. Reaching out to catch
herself she ripped her arm out of the socket. My father refused to let
her get medical treatment to repair the damaged muscles and tendons.
In subsequent, years when he was angry with her, he would inevitably
grab for that injured arm. On a few occasions he managed to get hold
of it and re-injure it.
I’ve always known instinctively that Fred Phelps is a bad person.
But to hear his son tell the tale, it is even more horrific. There is
something about this mix of power, anger, and religion that kills me
the most.
I’m reading a book of essays by Edwin Friedman right now, of Family Systems fame, called The Myth of the Shiksa.
Friedman interviews Satan as the “first family therapist.” Here’s an
excerpt (the interviewer is in italics, Satan in regular font):
Very well. As I said, one of the major differences
between a God and a human being, according to Genesis, has to do with
power. A God just speaks and things come into being.“In the beginning was the Word.”
Unfortunately, it was kind of slurred. Actually, in the beginning
was a thought. A God doesn’t have to speak. In true omnipotence, all
you have to do is think the thought, and your will becomes reality.Sounds like the fantasy of some people I know.
Where do you think they get it from?
Transforming thought into matter is the hard part, isn’t it?
You are talking about creativity. I am trying to focus on
relationships. Haven’t you ever noticed that the worst symptoms in
families always show up in communities marked by intense will conflict?
Schizophrenia, suicide, anorexia, abuse, and many physical
deteriorations almost always show up in families where people are
trying to will one another to change. They harp, they cajole, they
seduce, they argue, they implicate, they preach, they warn, they
threaten, they remind, they guilt, they charm, they accuse, they point
out. Find me a polarized relationship and I will show you the will
conflict.And the same would be true for institutions?
Exactly the same. Almost all forms of neurosis and psychosis come
about from the effort to will what can’t be willed. You can will going
to bed, but you can’t will sleep. You can will going to the dinner
table, but you can’t will appetite. You can will physical contact, but
you can’t will orgasm. You can will being together, but you can’t will
togetherness or symptoms or relationships or morality.So by seducing everyone into willing, you make them deny that they are not omnipotent.
Omnipotence always leads to impotence.
So, there you have it. Fred Phelps is impotent.
May it ever be.