America, Land Of The Dumbasses
ISIS, the Boston-based, now-disbanded rock group is being mistaken for the terrorist group.
ABC's Sarah Figalora writes:
Though the band is no longer together, the ex-members are being flooded with threats from individuals who believe them to be associated with the Islamic terrorist group, which recently claimed responsibility for beheading American journalist James Foley. The group has also slaughtered Christians, Yazidis and other Muslims who aren't members of the Sunni Islamic sect."It certainly caught us off guard," Aaron Harris, the band's drummer, told ABC News.
"Just like our fans, we've been watching the news in disbelief," Harris added. "We haven't commented on it because we haven't been an active band since 2010, even though our music does live on. We maintain our Facebook page to keep people up-to-date on our current musical projects."
The name of the band's official Facebook page was changed from "ISIS" to "Isis the band," potentially as a way to distance themselves.
via @edmorrissey
No word yet on how many statues of Isis have been desicrated....
Ppen at August 22, 2014 11:29 PM
Anyone remember the chocolate diet chews called Ayds?
flbeachmom at August 23, 2014 6:10 AM
Anybody remember the Egyptian goddess, Isis - mother of Horus and wife/sister of Osiris?
Later Egyptian mythology has Horus born of a virgin birth to avoid incest between Osiris and Isis - a story which traveled out of Egypt with the Hebrews and which some speculate was the origin of Christ's virgin birth.
And Horus' birthday was said to be December 25th.
Conan the Grammarian at August 23, 2014 8:30 AM
Funny, I never heard the myth explained THAT way...I mean, isn't MOST mythology from 3,000 years ago or more loaded with stories of siblings marrying (as Cleopatra did, in real life) or at least uncles marrying nieces? (Yes, I remember Ovid - who was born in 43 B.C. - "condemning" incest more than once in "Metamorphoses," but I don't remember his trying to imply that Jupiter and Juno weren't siblings, as they clearly were in earlier accounts.)
Not to mention that, while Osiris supposedly was murdered before fathering Horus, from what I've heard, Isis wasn't QUITE a virgin when she conceived Horus - and I somewhat doubt that the details were supposed to make her look like one!
Here's what I mean:
http://www.academia.edu/300384/IN_SEARCH_OF_THE_LOST_PHALLUS_ON_THE_NEED_FOR_ISIS_TO_MATE
Scroll down to page 2.
Another version says it was made from gold - representing the sun.
lenona at August 23, 2014 8:45 AM
There is no way to overestimate the stupidity of people.
Jay at August 23, 2014 9:09 AM
I don't know if Isis was a virgin or simply gave birth through parthenogenesis. Different legends vary. The important thing was the later Egyptians wanted to get rid of the incest in the legend that the earlier Egyptians accepted. So, Isis became Osiris' wife instead of his sister and/or Horus' was born of parthenogenesis, depending upon the legend.
Egyptian mythology was around for a very long time and changed over the years as the kingdoms united, fought, and evolved.
In the beginning, each city-state had its own pantheon, the Upper and Lower kingdoms had their own, etc. As they become one kingdom, there was a need to unify the pantheons. As a result you had Osiris as king of the underworld and Anubis as god of the dead (and adopted son of Osiris).
Horus was necessary because, as an adopted son, Anubis could not take over his father's position on his death. Horus, as a born son, could.
At one time, Egyptians had multiple sun gods; the stronger of them were later merged into one, Amun-Ra. There was an off-shoot attempt at monotheism by Akhenaten to instill the worship of Aten (another sun god). Akhenaten's heresy was defeated and Aten was merged into an "aspect" of Ra.
Aknaten's monotheism heresy was probably known to the Hebrews through stories or legends and traveled to Judea with them, along with the virgin (or not) birth of Horus.
The Bible says the Hebrews were monotheistic before they arrived in Egypt. Were they? Or did they leave Egypt with a new religious outlook? Or were they ever actually in Egypt?
Conan the Grammerian at August 23, 2014 10:53 AM
When they started talking about Isis I was thinking of the Saturday morning kids show From the 70's. I watched it way back when.
Now I am thinking differently.
Jim P. at August 23, 2014 11:06 AM
Actually Conan my understanding is that it's been pretty well accepted that the Hebrews didint get influenced by the Egyptian legends of Aten. First Akhenaten never truly made Egypt monotheistic, not socially and not in a technical sense either so it didn't have much of an influence outside his control and it was short lived anyways because Egyptians hated that shit.
Virgin birth are common enough in the area that they pre-date Horus' birth.
Ppen at August 23, 2014 12:02 PM
Maybe they should get the band back together, and tour?
I R A Darth Aggie at August 23, 2014 12:21 PM
Conan: "Anybody remember the Egyptian goddess, Isis - mother of Horus and wife/sister of Osiris?"
Actually, Conan, when I first heard of ISIS, I was thinking about the irony of the news media calling this fanatics group by an acronym that was the same as the ancient Egyptian Goddess.
But, then I realized perhaps I was the only history geek around. Thanks for mention Isis!
Charles at August 23, 2014 12:53 PM
Bottom line is: Is there ANY well-known version - by a famous ancient author - of the Isis myth that involves parthenogenesis? (The 20th-century retelling by Roger Lancelyn Green was G-rated, so that wouldn't count anyway - that is, it's pretty much implied that Isis got pregnant in the usual way before Osiris was murdered.) Offhand, I don't remember seeing one.
BTW, on page 23 of "god is not Great," Christopher Hitchens wrote (regarding Jesus):
"Yes, and the Greek demigod Perseus was born when the god Jupiter visited the virgin Danae as a shower of gold and got her with child....Horus was born of the virgin Isis. Mercury was born of the virgin Maia. Romulus was born of the virgin Rhea Sylvia. For some reason, many religions force themselves to think of the birth canal as a one-way street, and even the Koran treats the Virgin Mary with reverence."
And, again, I don't remember ANY versions of the last three particular myths that imply those mothers were virgins - given how much attention is paid to Greek myths, in particular, you'd think we'd know just what form Jupiter took this time when he fathered Mercury. (I mean, I also can't remember any myth in which a child has a virgin mother but no father at all, so I'd rule that out.) Not to mention that, as I understand it, Rhea Silvia was forced to become a vestal virgin by her tyrant uncle Amulius so she wouldn't HAVE children - and when Mars seduced or raped her, she was killed for "breaking" her vows.
I do, however, remember that in Roger Lancelyn Green's book, it's claimed that the real-life queen Hatshepsut was born to the sun god Amun and the virgin queen Ahmose Nefertari.
lenona at August 23, 2014 1:18 PM
America, Land Of The Dumbasses
Scotland puts their country in the hands of idiot Peronists; the oh-so-literate French have a labor code for which the table of contents runs for more than eighty pages, run 1/3 of their personal income through 'social protection' schemes, and wonder why they have permanent double digit unemployment; Germans put pictures of JFK on their mantlepieces, and the once austere and decent society that was Ireland has a new national icon:
http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article2191736.ece/alternates/s615/sex-act-at-Eminem-concert.jpg
But we're the dumbasses. And we have that on the authority of someone who lives in Southern California, where everyone has a real bitchin' command of all that makes a man erudite.
Art Deco at August 23, 2014 3:01 PM
Offhand, without being able to cite the details, I've always heard the Osiris-Isis Horus birth myth as one involving parthenogenesis. It was a fairly common theme in Egyptian mythology.
However, there are several versions of almost every Egyptian myth, so I can't say with any authority that my remembered version is absolutely correct.
Stories of parthenogenesis occur in almost every religion in almost every region of the world. Maybe there's something deep in the recesses of the collective psyche of the human race that we're trying to bring to the surface.
Conan the Grammarian at August 23, 2014 3:51 PM
Probably not. But it's a fun speculation.
On a side note, it's amazing how many themes and myths the world's religions actually have in common.
If you can get through all four volumes, Campbell's The Masks of God is a pretty interesting examination of the commonality of and variations in the world's mythology:
Conan the Grammarian at August 23, 2014 3:58 PM
I'm fascinated by zoroastrianism.
Ppen at August 23, 2014 6:21 PM
I would not say I am a member of ISIS, if I am not. It is now open season on members of ISIS. No bag limit.
Dave B at August 23, 2014 11:04 PM
Apparently the Fellowship of Isis wrote an angry letter to the terrorist group asking them to stop using their Goddess's name...
NicoleK at August 26, 2014 9:53 AM
I'd always heard Osiris was murdered and cut into pieces by his brother set. Isis gathered the pieces, but his phallus was missing, so she made one for him. Then, they made Horus the usual way.
Nicole k at August 26, 2014 9:56 AM
If you count conception with a recently-dismembered dead guy with aftermarket essential parts as "the usual way" then ... well ... ew.
Conan the Grammarian at August 27, 2014 9:12 AM
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