Friday, November 18, 2005
Marguerite Perrin Appreciation Day
In a feeble attempt to make up for a week's worth of no posts, I have gone above and beyond the call of duty to collect for you, dear readers, the best the word wide web has to offer about self-proclaimed "God Warrior" Marguerite Perrin.

If you missed her episode of Trading Spouses, you can read a full recap here. Of course, Trading Spouses is a wonderful, uplifting show wherein families of conflicting backgrounds come together and learn valuable lessons about tolerance and acceptance. Right? Right? Errm... no.

Growing up in the Bible Belt, I became all too familiar with the sort of person known as The Fundamentalist Christian. Okay, so... I have total respect for religious diversity, and I stand behind a person's right to believe (or not believe) in whatever he or she chooses. As far as I'm concerned, whatever makes a person feel safe and comfortable is A-OK with me. However, I expect that respect to be a two-way street. Whatever an individual believes in, I don't think it's acceptable to be preachy or judgmental towards others about it, or to be forceful in attempting to "witness to" (read: convert) a person.

This behavior is what I've come to associate with The Fundamentalist Christian. As I said, growing up in the Bible Belt, I know how this particular plot plays out. Usually, the worst you can expect from these types is the whole Fire and Brimstone "you're going to burn in hell" speech, or the occasional Chick tract. Once, I got told I was going to hell for being a vegetarian (long story). It's tedious, and slightly offensive, but usually you can just walk away from it and go about your life.

Enter Marguerite Perrin. Sent to live with a vaguely Pagan family, she is sent into screaming spasms of holy righteousness by everyday things like gargoyles, stars, and noisy clothes dryers. And when I say "screaming spasms" I do mean SCREAMING SPASMS. You can see for yourself here and here. I really feel sorry for that woman's family. They all look terrified of her.

On the plus side, she's provided me with a new vocabulary word, darksided. As in, "The ideas expressed by Dr. Phil are darksided," or "My Ford Focus is a darksided piece of shit." Try and use it yourself. Make five sentences with it tomorrow, and the word is yours forever.

Oh, one last bit of amusement for you: a couple of Marguerite-themed YTMND sites:
This one turns her rants into a catchy little techno song.

And this one is just bizarre.

The whole damn situation is bizarre, though. The woman is completely batshit crazy, but she's become one hell of a pop culture icon. Well, for the next five minutes, anyway.
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