On my way home from work, I happened to flip to a Christian radio station, and the talk show host was interviewing a guest who apparently had written a book using the metaphor of Hollywood monsters to describe different personality types. So, for example, a “werewolf” would have one set of problems in his or her social relationships, while a “vampire” would have a different set, and so on. When I tuned in, the guest was describing how some people were a “mad scientist” type, who tended to give people advice out of a sense of pride and superiority rather than out of sincere compassion.
This led the host to say, “You know, there’s another type of person, and I don’t know, is there a monster for this one? It’s the kind of person who wants to give you advice because they know the right answer. You know what I mean?”
“Oh yes,” says the guest, “They want to tell you what to do because they know the right—they THINK they know the right answer.”
“They’re so sure—”
“They’re so sure they have all the right answers, and it never occurs to them that other people might be in different circumstances, or have different needs…”
“Is there a name for that monster?”
“Well, no, no, that would be a good one but I don’t have a monster for it.”
And I’m laughing out loud, because I’d recognize that monster anywhere.
It’s called an evangelist.
If it was a call-in show, you really should have called.
I do believe you have nailed it. Evangelists aren’t special effects and makeup monsters, but the sincere (and evil) evangelist, as well as the confidence artist tent revivalist are well-established tropes. And certainly are monsters.
I’m going to school in west South Dakota, sometime my transit to Rapid City takes close to an hour. And when I return to MN it’s a long stretch. Anyway, on the FM the ratio of xian to non is about 50/50, I listen to it sometimes. My reaction is always either laughs or scoffs. There is never, ever a religious program that makes sense to me. It’s either ‘the bible is correct’ or ‘I’m going to make stuff up’, that’s it. There are no rational religious programs, which I’m sure isn’t a new observation.
with a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound
he pulls the spitting evil-lutionists down
helpless people on a subway train
scream for mercy as he looks in on them
he picks up a bible and he throws it back down
as he wades through the buildings toward the center of town
oh oh, they say, heaven’s the way to go
go go Evangezilla, yeah