Sometimes it’s excreted, but…
“Shit happens.” It always amazes me how much christians hate that phrase. Is it because it has a swear word in it? Well, that must be partially true of course. Although goodness knows why your creator would be offended at the mere mention of something you do every day.
I have always suspected that they hate it because they fear it, because it points out that not everything happens as a direct result of the guiding hand of a benevolent force. They are christian because they need to believe everything happens for a good reason–this expression is the antithesis of that. “Shit happens” represents acceptance–the final stage of coping; in this case, that means coping with reality. By saying it, we say that we’ve faced the worst reality has to offer, and we’re over it. Those who believe that reality is only survivable with the help of an imaginary, all powerful friend have decided they are too weak to cope, and forcefully reject the suggestion that you might have come to terms with life on your own.
Of course, taken literally, it also offends Victorian sensibilities that would like to pretend we are all barbie dolls without orifices. Just admitting the existence of feces is difficult some people to handle. Accepting that some feces exist for no good reason, well, that’s out of the question.
September 3rd, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Or, as the “Argument from Design” would put it: the existence of shit implies the existence of a shitter.
September 5th, 2010 at 6:29 am
For a while there, Christians were displaying bumper stickers that read: Blessings Happen. My view is that there are good things and bad things in this world – and one should not spin either into the realm of obsession. Take everything for what it is – and no more.
September 5th, 2010 at 6:43 am
Boris: Sonja, what if there is no God?
Sonja: Boris Dimitrovich! Are you joking?
Boris: What if we’re just a bunch of absurd people, who are running around with no rhyme or reason?
Sonja: But if there’s no God, then life has no meaning. Why go on living, why not just kill yourself?
Boris: Well let’s not get hysterical; I could be wrong. I’d hate to blow my brains out, and then read in the papers they found something [pointing upwards].
–from Woody Allen’s _Love and Death_ (movie: 1975)
September 5th, 2010 at 10:11 am
To imply that merely acknowledging the existence of bad things is somehow “being negative” is new age logic that I do not accept.
“Shit happens” is a rationalist’s answer to the problem of evil, masquerading as a bumper sticker slogan. It is the question and answer all in one. “Why do bad things happen? They just do!”
“Blessings Happen” is not an answer, but an evasion. “Why do bad things happen? Because god chose not to bless you.