But That Myrrh Lasts You Only So Long

October 1, 2023 6:11 AM

What if my dad was, like, Bill Of Nazareth, just, like, a guy with a truck and a snake? From Nepo Baby by Megan Amram [The New Yorker; ungated]
posted by chavenet (12 comments total)

I know this isn't Christian studies, but the author seems to conflate Joseph (the carpenter) and God (the god).
posted by Platypus3333 at 6:48 AM on October 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

Okay but the whole thing is worth it for this: “I can turn water into wine, but my buddy Eric can turn water into piss. Why aren’t people obsessed with Eric’s dad?”

I’m wiping tears from my eyes over that.
posted by heyitsgogi at 6:54 AM on October 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

I don’t even technically have my own birthday! I share it with Santa, which is antisemitic.

I understand being upset with Bruce Springsteen’s version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” because that song is an auditory atrocity, but Jesus fucking Christ I doubt actual Jesus Christ gave a flying reindeer fuck about how we do or do not celebrate his probably not birthday.
posted by y2karl at 8:42 AM on October 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

The Tweet (Xweet?) thing is just weird. Usually I can see the point of ironic racism, even though I don't think it's particularly funny. I used to make Polish jokes sometimes because I am part Polish, then one day I just realized it's not funny and it doesn't even particularly make sense to others, because how is anyone supposed to know that some of my ancestors were from Poland and even if they were... ??? So I stopped. Probably some time in my 20s, way too late. Way before social media.

But the Asian joke thing she was doing? My guess is she was trying to be outrageous by pretending to be an anti-Asian person? She was playing a part. I can see how that might be her point, but FFS, it's just full-bore asinine. I'm kind of surprised there's no pile-on regarding those shitty Xweets.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:48 AM on October 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

Revisiting Mayan Amram’s three year old unconditional apology is a MASSIVE derail and also exactly what I knew I’d see when I opened this thread. Way to be useless and predictable, Mefi.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 9:05 AM on October 1, 2023 [19 favorites]

I know this isn't Christian studies, but the author seems to conflate Joseph (the carpenter) and God (the god).

Joseph is still technically His stepdad. It's like if God were Robert Kardashian, Joseph would be Caitlyn Jenner.
posted by jonp72 at 9:06 AM on October 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

Was there a Bible story related to the line in the article about Jesus having a fancy horse and a lot of people's dads making them horses for their sixteenth birthday?
posted by Reverend John at 9:11 AM on October 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

I don’t want anyone to feel too sorry for me, but the nepo-baby thing makes me really insecure. People are just so ready to tear you down and say, “You don’t even deserve to have a really popular book about you.” I struggled with impostor syndrome for so long, but then I was able to cure it, because I can cure any disease, because I am magic, because of my dad.

Megan Amram is so damn good.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 10:01 AM on October 1, 2023 [7 favorites]

Based on her previous forays into writing/tweeting about religion, I think she needs to find a different subject. Not a derail, but a comment— are we all to have only the same views here on the Blue?
posted by Ideefixe at 2:35 PM on October 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

Her previous writing forays into religion? Like the afterlife themed TV show The Good Place? The TV show that, while not finding the largest audience, was possibly the most positive and uplifting pieces of media i've experienced in the last 5 years?

We don't all have to have the same views, and if you didnt like the show, that's great! I support people's freedom to avoid stuff they don't life. But for a young writer and producer to take part in creating a show the receives positive reviews and runs for 4 years, it's hard to see that as anything other than unmitigated success? I genuinely don't know why that would dissuade her from ever writing about religion gain. What am I missing?
posted by midmarch snowman at 3:15 PM on October 1, 2023 [11 favorites]

This is delightful
posted by thivaia at 3:21 PM on October 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Some quick notes: An earlier multi-flagged derail on this was removed without a note (not sure why, maybe a glitch or just other circumstances). The derail was about how Amram shouldn't write about religion, because of an apology they offered for some racist (not religious) tweets from ~2012. Apparently Amram was trying to be funny in those tweets, but was racist instead. In aid of keeping this thread more on the posted link, I'd say people who would rather discuss the old tweets or Amram's apology should probably make a different thread for that. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 10:33 PM on October 1, 2023 [4 favorites]