A young psychiatrist back in
the early seventies shouted
from the rooftops that violence

on TV is ruining our society.
(And he had the stats to back
it up.) Except for a few, he

was politely ignored. Of course,
his cry came as an echo down
through the ages from another —

the cry of the Israelite children
in Babylon who rewrote the
redemptive violent creation

story shouting, “God is good
and kind and peaceful and that
good God created out of nothing,

goodness and the idea that
redemptive violence will save
us is just a joke.” Well, they

didn’t say that exactly, and
but for the few Jews, it was
ignored (and time and time again,

they ignored it, too). We have
decided that the stories from
Greece and Rome and Babylon

are spot on and the hero rises
up from weakness and vulner-
ability to violently slay

the dragoness — evil in the
form of the female rising
from salty waters. Oh, Lordy,

watch out for those witchy
women. And now, we have little-
fingered Donald screaming bloody

nuclear murder and disrespecting
women all the while calling him-
self a good Presbyterian when he

is really just an ancient Babylonian.

*With nods of appreciation to
the late Walter Wink