But that's just it — such determinism is a death knell for the Christian idea of an omniscient, omnipresent *and* omnibenevolent deity. Most theodicies I've seen rely on some idea of a "free will" to make any sense — that God, on some level, relinquishes control over human choice such that evil and suffering must be…

The flipside of that was people reimagining the Greeks as noble savages and saying they founded Western civilization because they were more vital and swarthy and red-blooded than modern limpwristed citified Europeans — the Iliad and Achilles' rage and all that good stuff.

The flipside of that was people reimagining the Greeks as noble savages and saying they founded Western civilization because they were more vital and swarthy and red-blooded than modern limpwristed citified Europeans — the Iliad and Achilles' rage and all that good stuff.

It's the AV Club. You have to look far and wide to find someone who won't attract a fair degree of hate, especially anyone "hipsterish".

It's the AV Club. You have to look far and wide to find someone who won't attract a fair degree of hate, especially anyone "hipsterish".

The very fact that so many writers have left en masse with Harmon's exit signifies that they actually think he's more important to the show than you do.

The very fact that so many writers have left en masse with Harmon's exit signifies that they actually think he's more important to the show than you do.

If you don't think "serious" and/or "hard" science fiction has always had some kind of political message you're really not paying attention.

If you don't think "serious" and/or "hard" science fiction has always had some kind of political message you're really not paying attention.

No, again, I point you to Andrew Jackson, who soared into the presidency from his war hero status based on wantonly slaughtering Indians left and right — and conquering Florida from Spain as part of a war against Britain that was already over.

No, again, I point you to Andrew Jackson, who soared into the presidency from his war hero status based on wantonly slaughtering Indians left and right — and conquering Florida from Spain as part of a war against Britain that was already over.

I still wonder how the hell Seth MacFarlane got away with having his token black character end up with a spinoff for a show with a black cast aimed at black audiences who is played by a white voice actor doing a really really crappy version of a black-guy accent.

I still wonder how the hell Seth MacFarlane got away with having his token black character end up with a spinoff for a show with a black cast aimed at black audiences who is played by a white voice actor doing a really really crappy version of a black-guy accent.

You know, the biggest question everyone had about the film was "Why the hell did they let Shyamalan do it?", given his embarrassing string of failures, his status as a Hollywood laughingstock, and the fact that all of his films — his successes and his failures — were totally different from the accessible big-budget…

You know, the biggest question everyone had about the film was "Why the hell did they let Shyamalan do it?", given his embarrassing string of failures, his status as a Hollywood laughingstock, and the fact that all of his films — his successes and his failures — were totally different from the accessible big-budget…

Of course not, which is why it's so obnoxious she spends so much energy trying to convince me I could.

Of course not, which is why it's so obnoxious she spends so much energy trying to convince me I could.

You see, we have this expectation of "masculine" actors who wear multiple layers of clothes that are not soaked in water, and we as critics just don't know what to do with actors who fall outside those narrowly defined boundaries.

You see, we have this expectation of "masculine" actors who wear multiple layers of clothes that are not soaked in water, and we as critics just don't know what to do with actors who fall outside those narrowly defined boundaries.

Hey now, I remember the time she played a literal emotionless robot in The Outer Limits. I remember that she must have been okay at it, in that I don't remember anything else about that episode. So there's that.