http://trog.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] trog.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] politicartoons2013-04-12 03:42 pm

Religion is a mental illness



Photo: Orthodox Jewish Man Covers Himself In Plastic Bag On Plane

Why is he doing this? Don't read further. I'm telling you, you do not want to know...



We don't often see the classic Twin Peaks phrase "wrapped in plastic" taken so literally—but a Redditor posted the above photo of an Orthodox Jewish man who did just that on a recent flight. Poster "FinalSay" initially assumed the man was covering up because he was in front of women, but others pointed out that it is much more likely that the man is a "Kohen", who are holy priests (or descended from them).

Kohens are prohibited from flying over cemeteries ("A kohen initially was not supposed to approach any dead body, and if he did so he became ritually impure"), which as you can imagine, could be a major problem for travel. According to Haaretz, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, the leader of the Lithuanian Haredi community in Israel, "found a solution to this issue, ruling that wrapping oneself in thick plastic bags while the plane crossed over the cemetery is permissible."



Source: http://gothamist.com/2013/04/11/photo_orthodox_jewish_man_covers_hi.php

[identity profile] anfalicious.livejournal.com 2013-04-13 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
Replace "God" with "Mr. Magoo" and you're going to find yourself medicated and given that we have as much proof for god as Mr Magoo, then I can see where the argument comes from.

Having said that, I don't think we should shame, mock or marginalise the mentally ill, that's something we should reserve for people who don't believe they have a mental illness ;) /troll

[identity profile] macychick.livejournal.com 2013-04-13 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
Replace "God" with "Mr. Magoo" and you're going to find yourself medicated.

Not true.
I have a degree in psychology, and I know for a fact that we don't classify people as mentally ill if their symptoms do not impair their ability to function.