The Power of the Blogosphere

January 10th, 2013 by Scott Lemieux

Only a few hours, and Erik already got Louis Giglio’s head on a pointed stick.*

*Note: Louis Giglio was not actually decapitated. LGM and its legal subsidiaries do not favor the death penalty for anyone with the possible exception of people who write contrarian pieces praising Michael Bay or Jewel. We have never been at war with metaphor.

[Erik] My power cannot be overstated. Who should be my next target? I’m open to suggestions.

Posted in General | 58 comments

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58 comments on this post.

  1. Glenn:

    January 10th, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    My God man, you mean Erik has Giglio’s head on a stick without even decapitating him? He’s even more of a cruel monster than we knew!

  2. Marc:

    January 10th, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    Well played.

  3. Lindsay Beyerstein:

    January 10th, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    Guns don’t kill people, words evoking stick metaphors kill people.

  4. rea:

    January 10th, 2013 at 1:52 pm

    I’m just a Giglio and everywhere I go,
    People know the part I’m playin’.
    Pay for every dance, sellin’ each romance,
    Ooohh what they’re sayin’?
    There will come a day, when youth will pass away,
    What will they say about me?
    When the end comes I know, there was just a Giglio
    Life goes on without me.

  5. Malaclypse:

    January 10th, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    I expect royalties for all revenues associated with this blog post.

    LGM and its legal subsidiaries

    Exploiting the Control-Group-Entity loophole, are we?

  6. quercus:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:05 pm

    >> Louis Giglio was not actually decapitated.

    Typical pansy-ass liberals.

  7. Giglio's head on a stick:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:27 pm

    ‘Coz I ain’t got no body…

  8. Barry Freed:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    +1

  9. DrDick:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    Went full Vlad Tepes on him, I guess.

  10. greylocks:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:40 pm

    …got Louis Giglio’s pointed head on a pointed stick.

    FTFY

  11. greylocks:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:41 pm

    The second “pointed” was supposed to have been struck thru. I guess the s tag doesn’t work?

  12. greylocks:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:42 pm

    …got Louis Giglio’s pointed head on a pointed stick.

    Try that

  13. Pestilence:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:43 pm

    gruesome. possibly deserved, tho

  14. Scott Lemieux:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:44 pm

    Ah, well done!

  15. Pestilence:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:45 pm

    we have always been at war with simile?

  16. joe from Lowell:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:45 pm

    Harrumph harrumph.

  17. joe from Lowell:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:45 pm

    Like, totally.

  18. cpinva:

    January 10th, 2013 at 2:51 pm

    i expect outraged emails, to loomis’ employer, demanding he be fired. further, i expect a public statement, from the president of loomis’ employer, stating that loomis doesn’t speak for the university, and that said university in no way condones not actually decapitating people, prior to placing their head on a non-existent stick. further, that mataphor-on-a-stick has no place on their campus.

    i note that, given the public opportunity, giglio didn’t repudiate his previous sermon.

  19. sam:

    January 10th, 2013 at 3:02 pm

    Or how about a picture of his head on a bumper sticker with a pointed message?

  20. Breaking News From Memorandum on Anti-LGBT Pastor Who Was to Pray at Obama Inauguration | ZION'S TRUMPET:

    January 10th, 2013 at 3:05 pm

    [...] Joe. My. God., Pharyngula, The Raw Story, Good As You, Daily Kos, Towleroad News #gay and Lawyers, Guns & Money [...]

  21. RedSquareBear:

    January 10th, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    As if!

  22. sibusisodan:

    January 10th, 2013 at 3:21 pm

    Well, kudos to LGM. You’ve gone from ineffectual capita-stick conjunction desires of only a few short weeks ago to successful cranial spike implementation within a few hours of voicing the wish.

    I am in awe. What will you do next week? How short will the gap be in future between the wish and the head-besticking?

    OT: Am I the only one to see a real oddness about the TP reporting on the issue? It’s like they’ve never seen a Christian before.

    One of their less convincing points was outrage that a pastor, in a sermon about sex, mentioned Leviticus! I know! And other parts of the bible which talk about it!

    By all means pile on about the very silly suggestions about ‘therapy’ and the unhelpful talk of ‘agendas’ and ‘lifestyles’, but trying to manufacture extra outrage about a pastor quoting scripture – which is all they doing, since they’re not talking about his interpretation of it – that’s just weird.

  23. Jon H:

    January 10th, 2013 at 3:22 pm

    Don’t worry, Erik’s a dedicated catch-and-release man.

  24. sharculese:

    January 10th, 2013 at 3:23 pm

    Fuck, and I unloaded all my headstick futures last week.

  25. Hogan:

    January 10th, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    It’s been going on longer than a very long thing indeed.

  26. Anonymous:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    what is wrong with Jewel?

  27. BikeCrasher:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:02 pm

    Should’ve attacked him with fresh fruit

  28. Warren Terra:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:03 pm

    My metaphor futures are literally soaring.

  29. actor212:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:09 pm

    Looking at Giglio’s most common photo, I would surmise that he is well-acquainted with giving his head to pointed sticks.

  30. DocAmazing:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:13 pm

    Barbless stick.

  31. Substance McGravitas:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    Her head remains ON.

  32. Joe:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:21 pm

    Pastor Giglio was asked to deliver the benediction in large part for his leadership in combating human trafficking around the world.

    … anyway, we still have Hagel, so the anti-gay crowd should be happy, that is unless they know what our overall record is outside of such symbolic gestures. Anyway, kudos. Let your efforts and pointy sticks do something a bit more concrete in the future.

  33. Hogan:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:22 pm

    In the old days, Dave Noon used to post more than once every two years or so. It was a fundamentally better time.

  34. GFW:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:41 pm

    Come on, brandish that raspberry!

  35. sharculese:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:53 pm

    Surely there’s someone out there doing work on human trafficking who isn’t an awful human being. I mean, it can’t be just him and Nick Kristoff.

  36. Malaclypse:

    January 10th, 2013 at 4:55 pm

    One of their less convincing points was outrage that a pastor, in a sermon about sex, mentioned Leviticus! I know! And other parts of the bible which talk about it!

    It would be mean of me to mention that, in giving a lecture about sex, he did not quote:

    1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
    2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
    3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
    4 they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
    5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: Lev. 20.10 · Deut. 22.22-24 but what sayest thou?
    6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
    7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
    8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
    9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
    10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
    11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

    But everybody knows that the person who said that is completely tangential to Christianity, and is not qualified to illuminate its doctrines.

  37. Joe:

    January 10th, 2013 at 5:11 pm

    His views in the 1990s were pretty awful on this issue, but I need to know more before determining he simply is an awful human being. I’m sure you can find someone though as a symbolic nod to evangelicals, it is a bit harder given their views on gays.

  38. The prophet Nostradumbass:

    January 10th, 2013 at 5:22 pm

    Try that with a pineapple down your windpipe.

  39. Malaclypse:

    January 10th, 2013 at 5:38 pm

    Another day, another pointless atrocity…

  40. Malaclypse:

    January 10th, 2013 at 5:41 pm

    Who should be my next target?

    People who use cell phones in fundamentally anti-social ways. Alternatively, everybody remotely responsible for Project Runway.

  41. Alan in SF:

    January 10th, 2013 at 5:53 pm

    While “heads on pikes” is an attractive image, for the sake of historical accuracy I should point out that the actual process of impaling had nothing to do with heads. When Erik starts metaphorically doing this to his enemies, then we’ll need to worry.

  42. Matt_L:

    January 10th, 2013 at 7:34 pm

    BULLY PULPIT on a stick!

  43. STH:

    January 10th, 2013 at 8:19 pm

    What I want to know is where all the NON-evangelical pastors are hiding these days. If we must have a religious person doing whatever at the inauguration, why can’t we get a moderate Episcopalian or something?

  44. STH:

    January 10th, 2013 at 8:21 pm

    No, no, the New Testament is too loving and not judgmental enough. Not nearly enough smiting.

  45. MAJeff:

    January 10th, 2013 at 8:24 pm

    A man who hung out with 12 other dudes and preached loving other people and providing service to inmates and sick people is no match for hating faggots. Just ask the god, Reagan.

  46. efgoldman:

    January 10th, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    Was there supposed to be a titillating link there?

  47. Malaclypse:

    January 10th, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    Not nearly enough smiting.

    Let me introduce you to the writings of John the Maladjusted of Patmos.

  48. efgoldman:

    January 10th, 2013 at 8:36 pm

    Speaking of anti-gay forces…
    The state treasurer of The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations today replied to the Bishop’s anti-ssm screed of yesterday by coming out foursquare in support of the pending bill to allow it.
    The governor said that if the legislature takes the coward’s way out, and passes a bill putting a referendum on the ballot, he will veto said bill.

    A coalition of more than 100 clergy and 13 denominations reaffirmed its support for same-sex marriage Monday, saying “all loving, committed couples should be recognized, respected and treated equally under the law.”

    The speaker of the house says the bill will receive a vote next week, and he hopes it will pass.
    The state senate president has appointed a ten-member committee (with both outspoken opponents and supporters) to hold hearings.
    Maybe we’ll finally join the rest of New England and do the right thing, and Loomis and I can hold our heads up, without the assistance of pikes.

  49. efgoldman:

    January 10th, 2013 at 8:37 pm

    Argh. Forgot the link.
    http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/gay-marriage.html
    Editeditediteditediteditediteditediteditedit………..

  50. MAJeff:

    January 10th, 2013 at 8:39 pm

    The Roman Catholic Bishops are rather odious individuals, aren’t they? Rather lacking in moral compasses.

  51. Erik Loomis:

    January 10th, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    I have major problems with Chafee, but he’s good on issues like this.

  52. Alan in SF:

    January 10th, 2013 at 10:27 pm

    I always try to spare providing a link to something I wouldn’t want to see myself — a David Brooks column, for example — but okay, if you insist….

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impalement

  53. STH:

    January 10th, 2013 at 11:18 pm

    Thank you, but no. Got my fill of wacky Christian bullshit in Catholic school. Have now moved on to lefty politics and fornication.

  54. STH:

    January 10th, 2013 at 11:20 pm

    Not sure where my comment went, but I’ll try again. What about the National Cathedral in DC, which is going to start conducting gay marriages? Don’t they have a minister that can do a nice little blah blah blah about God loving all his children?

  55. The Dark Avenger:

    January 11th, 2013 at 10:40 am

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijD_WnhNnZs

  56. sibusisodan:

    January 11th, 2013 at 2:01 pm

    “It would be mean of me to mention that, in giving a lecture about sex, he did not quote…”

    It wouldn’t be mean of you, Mr Macalypse. It would be observant, and entirely to the point.

    The selection of relevant texts for an argument is itself a form of interpretation, before one even gets to discussing details. And if that passage wasn’t mentioned (I don’t particularly care to listen to the sermon to find out for myself), that’s something which is worth ragging very hard on indeed – for all the reasons you imply.

    But TP’s unfortunate framing doesn’t work hard enough to separate reading or referring to a text – which is a thing that is unremarkable – from a particular interpretation of a text (which can often be horrific). That’s sloppy.

  57. Michael:

    January 11th, 2013 at 11:27 pm

    [Insert joke about impaling Heidi Klum with a stick here]

  58. marc sobel:

    January 15th, 2013 at 6:20 pm

    Metaphors be with you.

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