In the Daily Brief yesterday I stated, quite provocatively, that the righteousness quotient had risen in the SCV as Master’s College students returned to the SCV. One reader took offfense:
So Jeff….you have “witnessed” TMC students all over town? How do you know they are from TMC? Are they all carrying Bibles, wearing signs and singing hymns? Are you stereotyping? I thought flaming lib types didn’t stereotype.
First of all, I’m honored you’d think of me as a “flaming lib.” I’ve worked hard to earn that title and it’s nice to see my work hasn’t been all for naught. I would have accepted “bleeding heart” or “commie pinko” as well, but I’ll settle for “flaming lib.”
Secondly: yes, it is just that obvious, literally. Let me give you an anecdote.
My wife and I (moreso my wife) are foodies. We love and appreciate good food. And as such, we appreciate Fish Tail, a Copperhill/Newhall Ranch Road Asian Fusion restaurant that specializes in great seafood entrees at a decent price.
One night we had a Fish Tail craving, but it was getting late. At 8:50 I rang the restaurant and begged them to take our order as we skedaddled north in our flaming liberal Subaru Outback, the official car of SCVTalk. They graciously said they’d stay open past 9 pm, as long as we ordered our food to go.
And when we arrived, they were true to their word, handing us a bag of delicious fishy entrees wrapped in styrofoam containers and bidding us adieu.
Naturally, we wanted to eat on site, but the restaurant was closed. So we snuck into the outdoor Chipotle dining patio, hoping our brown bags of food would fool the ever-present and helpful Chipotle employees. We had the entire patio to ourselves, and I looked forward to a great meal with the best of company, my lovely wife.
But then it happened. One by one, clean shaven, clean-looking college youth poured out of Chipotle. They said “Excuse me,” as they bumped my chair. They politely asked if we were using all our chairs. One of them did in fact carry a gold-leafed Bible. They didn’t cuss or swear and they wore crosses around their neck. Some of them had Southern accents, not unlike the ones I imagine Fred to have.
Soon, five of them grew to ten. Then 15. Then 25. We were surrounded by cleanly shaven, well-behaved college students. It was a Master’s College confab right there in the Chipotle patio. Naturally I blurted out, “Hey, are you Master’s College students and is this welcome week?”
“Yes” a few of them stated, grinning ear to hear, “How could you tell?”
So dear reader, to uninformed SCVers like you, maybe it’s not very obvious which college a 20-something youth in the SCV attends, but it is to me. When I worked as a bag boy at Lucky’s Grocer, I could totally tell the Master’s students apart from the CalArts student. The COC student, in contrast, looked like a high school student (I plead guilty), but Master’s students and CalArts student dressed the part and were easily identifiable by their behavior, dress, and mannerisms. Not that CalArts students weren’t well-behaved.
I think it’s really great that SCV has one of the most conservative Christian colleges in the USA (one or two steps left of Bob Jones U) and one of the most renowned, liberal art colleges in the USA too. It all adds to the spice of SCV life and makes me look forward to the fall season.
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If you splash them with holy water- they don’t melt.
Like I said, its the bewildered and naive homeschooled looks on their faces.
Wow! thanks Jeff. It is refreshing to hear a “flaming lib” actually make obviously positive observations about conservative Christians. Becoming a Christian later in life and knowing/having rebellious behavior, I certainly know first-hand the difference b/w say CSUN students (where I was going to attend) vs. Master’s (of which I am proudly a graduate), but believe you me there are definitely wolves in sheep clothing who attend as well! If you haven’t attended any of their music performances, I would highly recommend it; even the recitals are top notch and worthy of, say, a date night for your charming wife.
Sounds like slight of hand missionary work going on here……egads.
Sounds like a good college for an overly protective mother to send her daughter to.
Overly protective mothers should keep their kids away from church organizations… as their children would be 600% more likely of being sexually assaulted.
Then 1000% more likely of a group effort to cover it up.
Wow.
Did a nun hit you too hard with a ruler growing up or something?
If I remember right, aren’t you the kid who holds to the conspiracy nutter view of history?
Are you the guy that believes in a talking snake?
damageinc,
Hate to be the one to tell you, but God doesn’t need a church to bring you to Him! I was working in a tanning salon…
Oops! I meant to reply to GangFang and his missionary comment – God does not need a church or Christian College! Chalk it up to a busy homeschool mom, or dizzy blond! However, statistics show that most molestation is done by someone the child knows and 1/3 of abuse is done by someone related to the child. Needless to say, I would not leave my child with a “church” which calls their leaders to remain celibate – it only sows temptation and is, most importantly, unbiblical.
Funny you believe molestation only happens in Catholic churches… it happens in all churches of all denominations. And when it does happen the church looks the other way to protect itself from scandal!
Hmmmm… didn’t mention Catholic, but I would be willing to wager that a large percentage of the molestation committed in churches would be from them. And I am not surprise nor unwilling to admit it goes on EVERYWHERE – that proves the doctrine of total depravity! Christians are simply sinners saved by grace – a church still has sinners and unregenerate ones as well! Christians will have to wait for Heaven to experience complete sinless living.
I know you are mistaken about all churches “looking the other way.” I know of 2 specific examples of such incidences where it was dealt with immediately, soberly, and seriously, but with love and discretion for the sake of all involved. This grieves the heart of godly men/pastors! See here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/may21/10.19.html
I think the tanning machine deep fried your brain…
Thanks for giving me an excuse for my absent mindedness or irrational thinking!
While I get what you are talking about I seriously doubt the validity of the 600% statistic. If this is legit would leave to see a link to quantify it.
For instance, according to this site – http://www.darkness2light.org/knowabout/statistics_2.asp
…30-40% of sexual abuse victims are abused by a family member. This certainly doesn’t fly with the “600% more likely…” stat you are throwing out.
It says “another 50% are abused by someone outside of the family whom they know and trust.” While this number certainly includes clergy etc it would not be exclusive to that. There are many instances of teachers or coaches being the ones who fit these descriptions.
So while I would agree with your premise that there are too many instances of child abuse by trusted religious figures I seriously doubt the legitimacy of your statistic.
Damage is abbreviating the statistic. There are currently six times (600% sounds more shocking) more reported cases of child abuse in churches than in public parks in the US. (Remember though that stranger child abuse is quite rare and continually dropping.)
Well that is a completely different statistic isn’t lol? I agree that there is a serious problem with child abuse at the hands of clergy or trusted individuals at churches. But to say that they are 600% more likely to be abused in church than anywhere else is misleading at best. As you mention Tim, the majority of these abuses take place at the hands of family members.
Yes, as our society and the world get more and more evil, bizarre and corrupt, those who aren’t stick out more and more like sore thumbs.
I am just thinking what an ass you are for eating another restaurant’s food at Chipotle. Just because it is outside it is not right. They still have to clean anything up you may have left behind.
You are assuming Jeff and his bride left trash everywhere ? Or they ate on the ground and left food remnents?
Anyone else notice that the September 2010 message from the Mayor and City Manager has not one word about September 11, 2001 remembrance.
Is that appropriate? Is Santa Clarita still a part of the USA?
Oh… probably because the City Manager isn’t a morbid SOB who wants to keep bringing up a tragedy that happened 9 years ago.
Jeff – thanks for your humorous response to my posting. But for clarification…it wasn’t offensive to me. I was more curious how after all this debate on stereotyping people based on how they look…you did the same thing about TMC students. Personally, I am quite proud of how well I can spot a TMCer from a far…. I just didn’t think you, as a proud anti-discrimination liberal, would stereotype in such a way.
Now….as for me being uninformed. This is where you are quite wrong. As someone who has painfully experienced “WOW”, also known as “week of welcome”, I am very experienced in identifying fellow alum. However, I am not always a “proud alumni” so I don’t share this freely.
Homeschoolers are another story, much easier to stereotype and…often hilarious!
Hanging out at the Aquatic Center with my girls after school started, I thought we would have a pretty empty or toddler heavy pool experience, in my many years away, I hadn’t realized how many homeschoolers there are in SCV. It was pretty obvious even to my 12 year old which kids were homeschooled and which were like herself just there to catch their last few days of freedom before returning to school next week. What I found even more funny was how the non-homeschool parents like myself socialized with one another and I bet the homeschool parents easily picked us out as well.
I wonder if you saw my homeschooled boys jump off the high dive? The Aquatic center is one of the coolest places in Santa Clarita and I am still blown away that they chose to put it in Canyon Country – yeay for us! Of course, you do see many women who should not be allowed to wear bikinis or who think they are still 16 by the attire they choose – a bit disturbing! Yeah, us homeschool parents never talk to anyone… a new description to add to the list.
Wow. I said was that I socialized with the non-homeschool parents, and I enjoyed meeting and speaking to several public and private school folks who were pleasant and friendly regardless of their attire. I grew up in Saugus and love to see and hear about what is going on in my hometown. My parents and sibling still live there. I’m sorry you are so easily offended, but no not one homeschool parent talked to me on any of my visits, and I wasn’t even wearing a bikini!
I think it is the homeschooling subject that makes me a bit prickly – I actually am supportive of all types of education, homeschooling is simply the best fit for us presently. I, as well, appreciate the friendly comments in between watching my 4 kiddos (which usually holds most of my attention)
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You are clearly the diplomat of the family
i know a guy at masters who has tattoos that have nothing to do with christianity or the bible, drinks beer, swears sometimes, yells in a noisy post hardcore band that sounds like the jesus lizard, is a Bible major by choice, agrees with the core doctrines that masters holds to, and loves Jesus.
just watch your stereotypes. they’re telltale in just how much you do or don’t know about a demographic.
and yes, we all know majorities are majorities, but ye best be damn well sure that those majorities are actually majorities before you go making a published commentary on them.