Holy Blasphemy

This week a student at Idaho State University, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, took some shots at the White House, apparently in an attempt to assassinate Obama, whom he saw as the AntiChrist. Soon after, the bizarre video he’d made as a statement of his philosophy and desperate plea to get on the Oprah Show surfaced (you can watch it below). The video raises some interesting topics about American foreign policy, legalization of marijuana, and the dangers of the religious mindset.

First of all I’d like to point out that Ortega-Hernandez doesn’t seem crazy to me at all. Trying to assassinate President Obama was not a crazy/irrational action. It was the logical consequence of his beliefs – beliefs he shares with millions of other people. He does, however, go to an extreme when he claims to be the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ… I think you could probably make a firm case for narcissism or inflated sense of purpose; and yet feeling that history has a plan and that God is using you for a specific purpose, and is guiding you to it through signs and symbols, is also extremely common for the religious.

Ortega-Hernandez argues that marijuana shouldn’t be illegal and that Americans were forced into conflicts they didn’t choose because of the USA’s ruthless desire for oil. I don’t disagree with him on either point – although I don’t see why Obama is to blame for either.

I expect Ortega-Hernandez is going to be used for a long time in the future as an example cited against marijuana use (“See? Smoking pot leads to Presidential Assassination!”) But religion, faith in God and in Jesus is obviously just as important to Ortega-Hernandez as marijuana… so by the same logic we could argue that religion leads to violent, anti-governmental behavior and should be outlawed.

“You see Oprah?” Ortega-Hernandez says, “There is still so much more that God needs me to express to the world. It’s not just a coincidence that I look like Jesus: I am the modern day Jesus Christ that you all have been waiting for. Please cast me on your show Oprah, I’m begging you, (he actually gets down on his knees) please cast me on your show, it is so crucial that the world hears God’s world, for the fate of humanity, for the fate of the world.”

It’s touching. I feel sorry for the guy; however there are a few gaps in his logic I can’t really forgive, which are these:

1) The AntiChrist is supposed to bring peace; Jesus comes back bringing the wrath of heaven with him. Ortega-Hernandez seems to think Obama is the one creating the violence, and he hopes to restore peace himself… so he’s got things reversed.

2) If Obama IS the AntiChrist, it’s really important for him to finish all his business (one world financial system, mark of the beast, restoration of the Third Temple) before Jesus can come back and push his ass in the pit of fire. If you kill the antichrist and stop him from doing all of this, you’re fucking with God’s plan and stopping the 2nd Coming (If Ortega-Hernandez really was Jesus come back, he would have come back from the heavens without being born and growing up. Duh – it says so in the Bible.)

3) OK, marijuana should be legal. And American foreign policy is vile. But when the world runs out of oil, shit is going to get ugly, fast. Although it may not be the moral thing to do, and although we’re certainly screwing over everybody else, stockpiling oil will insure America’s future. I don’t condone it, but it’s probably a smart, well planned move… like when you’re playing Risk and you take over Australia and just camp there until everybody else kills each other…

Side note: You know who else shot a president recently? The kick-ass heroine of “The Hunger Games”… who, after seeing that nothing was ever going to change, kind of went psycho and assassinated the new president with her bow and arrow. Hardcore. And yet the book is brilliant, and we sympathize with her… which means that A) sometimes murdering a leader is the only way for real change B) it isn’t necessarily evil C) even though most people will never understand it and call you a criminal. Worth thinking about… especially in light of modern Middle-Eastern revolutions (which, unfortunately, have taken a turn for the worst with Chaos allowing conservative Muslims the chance to take over and implement stupid and archaic gender discrimination laws.)

Anyway, watch the video.