Stuff You Didn't Want to Know About Me

I have mentioned before that I was raised particularly anti-Christian. As odd as it sounds, it's true. I'm Jewish, and my parents experienced just enough antisemitism in their lives to try and give me a healthy dose of caution to use in my day-to-day dealings. What wound up happening is that I managed to grow up wondering if all the people in the world who actually believe that Jesus died for their sins, literally - and that's a LOT of people! - were really, really stupid, naive, or a combination of the two. This is probably too harsh an opinion. I promise I try not to judge someone based solely on religion. No really, I do try.

Anyway... I've been raised anti-Christian*, but I'm not anti-values. I really do feel like we have to take responsibility for our own behavior, and that following the glamorously named "golden rule" does indeed make the world a better place for everyone. Still, despite my personal vows not to kill other people (at least, not needlessly), I'm still guilty of a giant dose of schadenfreude. Oh, yeah, I love watching people who pretend to be righteous get busted.

Throw on top of that ice-cream base a hot fudge topping of "I can't stand crap art that doesn't make you think" and you'll see why I was thrilled at the following story in the LA Times:

Dark Portrait of a 'Painter of Light'

Thomas Kinkade. While I know people who like him, I wonder why. I cannot stand his stuff.

In sworn testimony and interviews, they recount incidents in which an allegedly drunken Kinkade heckled illusionists Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas, cursed a former employee's wife who came to his aid when he fell off a barstool, and palmed a startled woman's breasts at a signing party in South Bend, Ind.

What's that noise I hear? Is that the air coming out of someone's "I paint with the light of God" statements?

See, I told you that you didn't want to know this about me.

* This passage has been edited, because the original phrasing just wasn't correct, and it was really bothering me.