Thank God for South Park. Is it okay to say that? Will I be smitten by the nearest lightning bolt? No? Phew! Okay.

Every once in a while, there comes a time when the only solution to a mounting problem is to slap on the closest relevant South Park episode. Today I had to watch Smug Alert (Season 10).

For those of you (meaning mostly me) who've seen the episode, an explanation is unnecessary.
I'm out in Colorado in an area rife with wealth, an area where people can afford to be Progressive and Ecofriendly and 100% Organic. Commercially, of course. Not necessarily morally. They drive their Hybrids; they buy their price-gouged organics; they tout their values--and they are Smug.

Don't get me wrong: I'm all for ecofriendly behavior and progressive attitudes and organic crops. But once such ideas become fads, and once people get lofty dispositions because they buy ONLY organic food, they lose any favorable stance they might have had.

There's a law of Judaism that says that charity must be anonymous: It doesn't count if there's a nametag. I agree with that particular facet. Do good, but don't point out to others that you're doing good. Being ecofriendly, progressive, and organic is good. But don't strut your stuff.

My landlady, God bless her soul, is a prime example of a smugger. She always flaunts her hybrid and her organic-only diet, and claims to embrace eastern religions. However, she hasn't the first foggy fucking clue that her attitudes toward other people don't even touch--aren't even on the horizon of--those mostly-ignored prophets of ALL religions whose culture she and other westerners like her--and other easterners for that matter--try to embrace because it's the cool thing to do.
If someone says they are Buddhist, they are probably lying. Ask them what enlightenment means. If they answer anything other than "enlightenment is realizing there is no enlightenment and that people are people, for better or for worse," they haven't even begun to understand Buddha's teachings--which generally tend toward There Are No Teachings.
The same thing is true of the other religions. Teachings twisted, prophets pushed out. Goddamn, this could turn into quite a rant. Anyway, you know what I mean. Or maybe you don't. It doesn't really matter.

When you're eco-smug, progressive-smug, or organic-smug (or religion-smug), you're no better than the assholes who think only about their own massive bank accounts and private jets when it comes to politics. There's a word that I think a lot of people misunderstand that really applies to Smugness: liberal fascist. Please don't be one.

In other news:
I had a great visit with the family. It was a nice, refreshing break from the doldrums of work. We hit up lots of great beyond-my-budget restaurants, and I took them climbing. Having the dogs stay with me was nice too. Except landlady's attitude toward dogs in the house opened my eyes wider that she's a blesséd hypocrite and far more stiff-necked than she claims.