Devil in the Details: The Real Problem With History Channel’s Satan
By James PoniewozikMarch 19, 201321 Comments

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HISTORY CHANNEL
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I guess this counts as progress in our political rhetoric: rather than arguing whether President Obama is Satan, we’re arguing whether Satan is President Obama. After the latest installment of History’s miniseries The Bible, a raft of viewers–including noted Biblical scholar Glenn Beck–claimed that the show’s version of Satan bore a striking resemblance to the guy who usually appears as Satan only on Glenn Beck’s show.

The cry got so loud that History, as well as co-producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, issued denials in a press release Monday. “This is utter nonsense,” said Burnett. “The actor who played Satan, Mehdi Ouzaani, is a highly acclaimed Moroccan actor. He has previously played parts in several Biblical epics– including Satanic characters long before Barack Obama was elected as our President.” Added Downey: “Both Mark and I have nothing but respect and love our President, who is a fellow Christian.”

Should we believe them? Believe whatever you want. I doubt they intended any resemblance to the President, but if they did, it’s a silly controversy, and if they didn’t, it’s a silly controversy. (See also: the George W. Bush-like head on a stake in Game of Thrones.) Either way it will not jeopardize History’s status as the preferred channel of conservatives, as a study found last year.

The question for me is: Why portray Satan as a dark-complected figure in a dark hood to begin with?

The whole history of associating evil with darkness in general, and dark skin in particular, is a fraught one to begin with–much more so when one is making an adaptation of The Bible that is not generally particular about casting all its human characters as the darker-complected Middle Easterners they presumably were in real life. It’s not that every Bible actor has been a fair-hued European–the miniseries had a black Samson and other actors of color here and there–but it has gone with white Europeans for many more prominent roles, notably Jesus. (And, well, Roma Downey as Mary.)

Satan, of course, is not a human of any sort, Middle Eastern or otherwise. But if the casting were more diverse in general, the dark-equals-evil signifiers wouldn’t be as glaring.

That leads to a broader problem with the kind of storytelling History’s The Bible is doing. The Bible—the book, I mean—doesn’t tell us what Satan looks like, period. It doesn’t say he’s a shadowy guy in a hood. It doesn’t say he has red skin, a Vandyke and a pitchfork. It describes Satan, and Satan-like figures–variously and metaphorically. Sometimes a serpent, yes, but also a creature of light (or lightning), or a being perfect in beauty and covered in precious stones. “Even Satan,” says 2 Corinthians, “disguises himself as an angel of light.”

That’s part of a grown-up understanding of morality: evil doesn’t come billboarded with stereotypical wardrobe and art-direction cues. (Which seems the obvious intent of depicting a hooded or cowled figure–see any drawing of the Grim Reaper, e.g.) There’s no such thing as “evil-looking.” Evil is as evil does. You have to discern it.

In History’s The Bible, though, Satan is presented–regardless of the actor’s skin, through his enshrouded appearance and cues of direction–as a sinister figure of menace, to be feared and mistrusted. is Why not depict him as physically nonthreatening, seductive, even? (You could do that, by the way, by using precisely the same actor but not dressing him like a Sith Lord out of Star Wars.) Why not put the moral emphasis on his words and promises, not his appearance?

When you depict Satan as a figure who screams “Danger!”–whether by giving him cartoon horns or goat’s legs or the Emperor Palpatine’s hood–it’s because you want to hold your audience’s hand through the storytelling. You do it—like the medieval artists who devised pictures of the devil as a horned, bestial monster–to make sure that there is no risk they fail to recognize evil or reach the wrong conclusion through independent thought.

That’s how you tell a story to small children, and it seems like that is ultimately how The Bible’s producers are treating even their adult audience. (Maybe believing doing anything else, introducing any kind of sophistication, would offend that audience.) All the rest–the casting and hooded costumes–are byproducts of that sensibility. Whether or not they intended to make Satan look like Obama, they did intend to make him a dark-shrouded bogeyman. And that’s the real sin here.

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Read more: http://entertainment.time.com/2013/03/19/devil-in-the-details-the-real-problem-with-history-channels-satan/#ixzz2O4lwyBON

A housewife, who allegedly masterminded the gruesome murder of her husband in Port Harcourt, is now being interrogated by the Rivers State Police Command.

The woman, whose identity could not be ascertained as at press time, was said to have plotted the assassination of her husband ( name withheld) on Wednesday night, at their house in Mgbeosimiri, in Agip area of Rumuolumeni.

The deceased, who was a prominent businessman and contractor with Nigerian Agip Oil Company, was killed at his country home, Mgbeoshimiri, Rumuolumeni, in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the State.

Saturday Sun gathered that the woman hid the alleged killers in their house before her husband returned from work, having told them that he was “a strong man” whose powers needed to be neutralised before they carried out the operation.

According to a source, when the deceased returned home from work at about 11:30pm, the wife asked him what he wanted to take for dinner and her husband requested for oatmeal.

She was said to have drugged the meal, which weakened the man and paved the way for the assassins to murder him without resistance.

Shortly after the incident, one of the perpetrators was arrested and handed over to the police by members of a vigilance group, who noticed bloodstains on his clothes.

The woman, who later confessed to the crime, was said to have fainted at a police station, when she sighted one of the suspects in the murder. She was said to have confessed to conspiracy to kill her husband.

According to her confession to the police, she decided to eliminate her husband when she discovered that he was making plans to marry a woman who was already pregnant for him.

When the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Benjamin Ugwuegbulam, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), was contacted, he told the reporter to give him some time to confirm from the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the area. Subsequent efforts made by Sun News’ reporter to reach him on phone however proved abortive.

[SunNews]

Psalm 35

Of David.

1 Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.
2 Take up shield and armor;
arise and come to my aid.
3 Brandish spear and javelin[a]
against those who pursue me.
Say to me,
“I am your salvation.”
4 May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
be turned back in dismay.
5 May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away;
6 may their path be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
7 Since they hid their net for me without cause
and without cause dug a pit for me,
8 may ruin overtake them by surprise—
may the net they hid entangle them,
may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord
and delight in his salvation.
10 My whole being will exclaim,
“Who is like you, Lord?
You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them.”
11 Ruthless witnesses come forward;
they question me on things I know nothing about.
12 They repay me evil for good
and leave me like one bereaved.
13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth
and humbled myself with fasting.
When my prayers returned to me unanswered,
14 I went about mourning
as though for my friend or brother.
I bowed my head in grief
as though weeping for my mother.
15 But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
assailants gathered against me without my knowledge.
They slandered me without ceasing.
16 Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked;[b]
they gnashed their teeth at me.
17 How long, Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their ravages,
my precious life from these lions.
18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly;
among the throngs I will praise you.
19 Do not let those gloat over me
who are my enemies without cause;
do not let those who hate me without reason
maliciously wink the eye.
20 They do not speak peaceably,
but devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.
21 They sneer at me and say, “Aha! Aha!
With our own eyes we have seen it.”
22 Lord, you have seen this; do not be silent.
Do not be far from me, Lord.
23 Awake, and rise to my defense!
Contend for me, my God and Lord.
24 Vindicate me in your righteousness, Lord my God;
do not let them gloat over me.
25 Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
or say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26 May all who gloat over my distress
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and disgrace.
27 May those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “The Lord be exalted,
who delights in the well-being of his servant.”
28 My tongue will proclaim your righteousness,
your praises all day long.
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