Joseph > Recent Status Updates

"She's not a boy! What does a woman want with brains?"

UGH. Is this gonna be one of those books?

"Oh! How perfectly pomiferous!"

???

Are these pearls...apple-like, in some way?

Typo: missing quotation mark before "I once had..."

Ozma finally shows up in a story that theoretically revolves around her, and it's just to tell us that she's currently useless.

Well, still better than when she's in Deus Ex Machina Mode.

You know, they don't need to spend so long repeating things we already know. You can just say something like "And then the two groups exchanged stories" and save us a lot of time.

"And we've scarcely begun!"

And yet we're more than halfway through the story. I felt like the pacing was off.

Typo: Unnecessary extra quotation mark in the middle of a character speaking.

"Four times his size?" Since when is Roquat/Ruggedo only a foot tall?

"Four times his size?" Since when is Roquat/Ruggedo only a foot tall?

I hardly think this counts as EVERYTHING that happens in the world if Oz is covered by three sentences.

Does this mean, by logical extension, that he was the ONLY person in Oz with something on his mind?

"Dorothy, Betsy Bobbin and Trot had fainted dead away."

PLEASE. My girl Dorothy has faced worse than this. I see what Thompson is going for, trying to make it like she has PTSD from the tornado, but her main reaction to that was that it was BORING. She is clearly underplaying Dorothy's spunk.

I don't know if it counts as a deus ex machina when it helps the villain, but still. This would have worked better if he just stole it from the Wizard or something.

Am I just missing some sort of magic/pun about why summersaults drive away the Figure Heads?

...Is it supposed to be "sum assault?" Because that's a stretch.

Elephants can't sweat.

(Yeah, I know they can't talk either, but we've got magic to explain that.)

"...although fourteen books of history have been written about it, only half the story has been told."

This would imply, incorrectly, that the series will stop at book #24.

(Also, that it's only counting the novels and not the "Little Stories," etc.)

Typo: question mark that should be a period.

"Its uniqueness is that for the first time in religious history[...]provides for the authorized interpretation of [h]is Word, and ensures the continuity of the divinely appointed authority with flows from the Source of the Faith."

I think the Sages of Judaism would disagree. And the pope. And the Orthodox Patriarchs. And—

Also, gotta say, Baha'is actually having a plan to create a "New World Order," laid out in EXHAUSTIVE detail...I get that it's mostly a combination of utopianism and poor choice of words, but this reads less like an apologetic and more like someone took The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and copy/replaced "Jews" for "Baha'is."

SHUT UP ALREADY! You're going on and on and on with a level of ecstatic grandeur that other religions reserve for actual miracles and divine revelations. It's your religion's FREAKING BUREAUCRACY! Baha'ullah saying "Hey, our organization should have local, national and international levels!" is not some ineffable knowledge that only God could have devised! The Catholic Church does it too! And secular governments!

(Also, in a lot of cases, these movements have been gaining ground at specific times and specific places. I can certainly point to some parts of the world today that disprove the idea that feminism/ecumenicalism/etc. are on the verge of utopian victory.)

The war thing is, again, nonsense ("the two worst wars in history prove that he brought world peace!"), but the other examples are movements that were happening before Baha'ullah.

There's a lot to like about Baha'i ethics, but jumping on a moving bandwagon doesn't somehow make you the driver.

"I acknowledge that I did not offer any actual proof of my claims, so here are other books that supposedly do."

Jesus: There are going to be many false prophets, including ones who will claim to be me.

Esslemont: This prophecy proves that Baha'ullah is a real prophet and also Jesus, somehow!

Once again, I am very confused by the arguments he chooses to make.

"Had [h]e come there as a free man, people might have said that it was the trick of an imposter."

Yeah, well, you cite "his name means 'glory of God'" as evidence, and he DID pick that name.

"Baha'ullah brought world peace!"

*WWI happens*

"This somehow proves it more!"

*WWII happens*

"THIS SOMEHOW PROVES IT MORE!"

More anti-Semitism. Yaaaaay.

"...we may expect that none but the appointed Messenger of God will be able to break the seal and disclose the meanings concealed in the casket of the prophetic parables."

I get the feeling this is leading up to, "Our prophets are true because they say they're true. Who are you gonna believe, them or your lying eyes?"

"The measure of agreement between this view, which is founded on careful scientific research, and that of the Baha'i teachings, is truly remarkable."

N.B.: This comes after a long digression about how science has apparently proven the existence of telepathy.

I'm pretty sure a lot of these other examples are also BS, but I don't have time right now to do a thorough investigation.

I will say, though, that it's funny that he ends with "even ESPERANTO wasn't instantly accepted as a great idea!" Yeah, those skeptics sure have egg on their face now, right?

"Columbus was laughed to scorn by the so-called scientists of his day"

NO HE WASN'T.

EVERYONE KNEW THE WORLD WAS ROUND SINCE AT LEAST THE ANCIENT GREEKS. Columbus' contribution was thinking that the world was small enough for him to sail around it to Asia. Which he was wrong about.