BP, The Gulf, and the Assault of God

14 07 2010

by Brian Walsh

The doctors seemed totally incapable of stemming the flow. This wound was too deep. The blood would not stop. The woman had been assaulted so violently that all of their medical emergency and trauma training was totally ineffective. This woman was dying. And all we could do was watch. Perhaps weep. Undoubtedely keep thinking up new techniques to save her. But in the meantime, all we could do was watch.

So we set up a camera in the emergency room where she was lying. We focused the lens on the wound where the blood continued to seep. We set up a 24/7 vigil and we posted it as a lives feed on the internet. Millions of people around the world logged in. At first they also wept. Then they stopped watching the feed around the clock, but only tuned in once in a while to see how this woman was doing. Read the rest of this entry »


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Main Street vs. Wall Street

24 09 2008

by Andrew Stephens-Rennie

Has anybody out there been watching the craziness down in the US? It’s driving me more than a little insane seeing the American government trying desperately to bail out banks and insurance companies, all the while leaving ordinary people in the dirt. If I were one to swear (and I suppose, sometimes I am) I’d be saying “what the eff is up with that?:

What is up, indeed. When this whole thing started, I had no idea it would go this far, and yet here we are, with a national government bailing out big business all the while leaving the poor and the sick starving and dying in the streets.

I’m being melodramatic. But really. How is it that we’ve gotten to a place where we’ll bail out a corporate entity, and not look a homeless person in the eye. We’re willing to take this debt into the public coffers, but we’re not willing to pay for half decent medical care. Read the rest of this entry »


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Neo-Con Economics and the Injustice of Rape

30 11 2007

On Monday November 26th, twenty people joined us for an engaging discussion of Naomi Klein’s newest book. We met together over wine and cheese to discuss Klein’s observations of what she terms “The Shock Doctrine,” watched the short film, and listened to two different responses to the book.

The following attachments are the presentations by Ericka Stephens-Rennie and Brian J. Walsh.

Ericka Steptens-Rennie’s presentation is entitled “Plots, Pressures and Penetration: Neo-Conservative Economics and the Injustice of Rape.” In it, she draws disturbing parallels between the biblical rape of Tamar, and the Chicago School of Economics’ treatment of Less Developed Countries. Definitely worth a read.

Plots, Pressures and Penetration: Neo-Conservative Economics and the Injustice of Rape

Brian J Walsh’s presentation, Entitled “From Shock and Awe to Shock and Grace” provides an analysis of Klein’s work, and pushes towards a liberated imagination that is not merely shock-resistant, but rather, shock-resilient.

From Shock and Awe to Shock and Grace


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Categories : Brian Walsh, Ericka Stephens-Rennie, Events

Upcoming Event

5 11 2007

Shock and Awe :: Milton Friedman, Naomi Klein and Jesus: A Salon Discussion

In The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein tells the story of the relationship between electroshock therapy, free market capitalism, and the suppression of democracy.

But what can protect disaster-shocked victims from the exploitation of shock and awe tactics? Klein suggests that we need an alternative story to orient us in the face of disastrous disorientation.

And so, with the prompting of this text, we will seek to tell an alternative story, with an alternative imagination, for an alternative Kingdom.

Placing Klein’s text in dialogue with political theory and theological reflection, we seek to retell the story, with eyes and ears open, as we ask one another the question:

What’s your story?

Location
Wycliffe College, 5 Hoskin Ave.
Monday, November 26, 2007
7.30pm

Schedule
Viewing “The Shock Doctrine Short Film”
Responses by
Ericka Stephens-Rennie, MA student in Political Science
Brian Walsh, campus chaplain and theology professor

Wine & Cheese to be served. Suggested donation: $5.00


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