I didn’t believe this story was true at first — thought it had to be a spoof. But it turns out to be true. The great banks of the world have gone on a p.r. counteroffensive in Europe, and are sending spokescrooks in shiny suits into churches to persuade the masses that Christ would have approved of the latest round of obscene bonuses.
Goldman Sachs international adviser Brian Griffiths explains it this way: that Christ’s famous injunction to love others as one would love oneself actually means that one should love oneself as one would love oneself. This seemingly baffling outburst by a Goldman executive in what appears to have been a prepared speech — someone actually wrote this, and thought about it, before saying it out loud — gets even weirder when one tries to figure out what could possibly have motivated this person, and by extension his employer Goldman Sachs, to make such statements in such a place as St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Matt Taibbi: Goldman One-Ups Gordon Gekko, Says Jesus Embraced Greed
Update: Anyone who’s been reading this blog for a while will be familiar with The Family. Reader Joe points out in the comments:
This shouldn’t be surprising for anyone who has read Jeff Sharlet’s book _The Family_. This rhetoric is straight out of their play book. This guy is likely a member (he *spoke at* the funeral of Wallace Haines, The Family’s ‘man in Europe’, in 2007). http://www.wallacehaines.com/inmemoryof.htm
The plot sickens.
November 5, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Well, hopefully some of the intended audience has actually read the Bible: “…I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
November 6, 2009 at 6:39 pm
This shouldn’t be surprising for anyone who has read Jeff Sharlet’s book _The Family_. This rhetoric is straight out of their play book. This guy is likely a member (he *spoke at* the funeral of Wallace Haines, The Family’s ‘man in Europe’, in 2007). http://www.wallacehaines.com/inmemoryof.htm
November 6, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Joe – I’ve been following Sharlet’s work (but haven’t read the book yet) have blogged about the Family a bunch. I was wondering if this guy was a member.
Have you seen this? http://mutateweb.com/archives/2009/10/06/bible-is-not-conservative-enough-for-conservatives/
November 6, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Sharlet’s original article on the Family from Harper’s (“Jesus Plus Nothing”) had long been my favorite article ever from that magazine. I just finished _The Family_ this week, so it was fresh on my mind. As soon as I saw the Taibbi piece, I immediately googled “brian griffiths doug coe”, and that ‘in memoriam’ page came up. I left a similar comment on the Taibbi article, but it seems to have been overlooked by most of the commenters. I think it’s an important connection that makes the whole thing no less outrageous, but less surprising and certainly more telling.
I might bring this up in an upcoming podcast episode.
PS: The Conservapedia bible-rewrite is hilarious. I think I came across that a few weeks ago on the disinfo feed.
Thanks Klint!