The religious right is fighting a rear-guard action and attempting to accomplish through the courts and legislatures what they have failed to achieve from their pulpits. Year by year they cede ground they will never recover, but cling to the delusion they can impose their religion on this country. No one with an understanding of the horrors that have been perpetrated by Christians in the name of Christianity would promote Christian moral values.
Some people within the Dominionist movement have advocated putting as many as half of all the people in the U.S. to death, because it would be so pleasing to their loving Jesus.
No they aren’t. They’ve already progressed beyond that.
Jan 6 was just a last-ditch effort when their subversive attempts to commit fraud to steal the election failed. Going the courts route is just for show, while they commit every crime imaginable behind the scenes accomplish their megalomaniac goals.
We have billionaires running the RNC who also pour MILLIONS into religious, right-wing conspirators actively seeking to undermine this democracy. The RNC Puppets installed by NeoNazi Fascists (“Libertarians” and “Dominionists”) are organized and funded at every level of government. While individuals may think religious influence is waning, they have not taken into account the EXPONENTIAL influence of Fascists through “Citizens United.”
We should be extremely concerned that CPAC has been hosted as the personal guest of dictator Viktor Orbán for several years now.
He and Tucker have struck up quite the relationship. Why is an organization like CPAC, with the power and influence it has in this country, holding its annual conventions in a country like Hungary that’s hostile to democracy and is under the thumb of an anti-democratic, anti-American authoritarian and dictator like Orbán?
There are only two political parties in the US: the GOP & the Democrats. We should be deeply suspicious that a demagogue like Orbán has such outsized influence on the GOP. Orbán is an unapologetic enemy of liberal democracy. He makes that no secret. Why is CPAC so interested in a dictator like that other than its Putin exerting his influence over the right, again.
Because it is Trump's wet dream to be like Orban and have his power. Therefore CPAC, which long ago forfeited the right to call itself a 'conservative' organization, also likes Orban. He's more dangerous than Putin.
I’ll agree with you that Lara Trump and that tool from the NCRC are truly fascistic since they are now the ones in charge of the RNC Casino. They love all things trump and will ream the RNC of every dollar sent to it to pay his fat behind out of all his many legal woes.
Oh, and most of us(who are woke)are very much aware of the harm that Citizens United has done in its lifetime and try our darndest to fight against it but Justices on the take are difficult to overcome. John Oliver is trying though. I’ll give him that.
Libertarians do not play well with authoritarian regimes. Your inclusion with Dominionists and Christian Nationalism is antithetical to libertarian values, which are primarily Free Will and choice.
To desire a less invasive government would not comport well with the highly restrictive values of a theocracy. And, for the most part all the libertarians I know, myself included, are Heathens, Atheists, or Nones.
Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-corporate capitalism political philosophy that emphasises self-governance and small businesses and workers' self-management and Choice in all matters.
I believe no citizen can be free without their basic needs met; food, housing, medical and elective education. I'm the sort of Libertarian who would back universal basic income over the highly regulated benefit programs today.
The fact is that the numbers of (what I presume are) actively religious people in the US has been dropping consistently for well over a decade. The PROBLEM is that those who remain are more active, more outspoken, and more radical. THOSE are the people I suspect who are the supporters of Christian Nationalism (and by association, Donald Trump).
And THEY are the people that we need to maintain an unrelenting focus on.
Actively religious equates to living a biblical worldview life. According to George Barna, a respected religious pollster, less than 7% of Americans hold the values of a biblical worldview.
Religious Active Americans are synergists; they pick and choose biblical segments that they like, mixthem with popular values, a bit of other myths, legends and superstitions … and Voila you've got the American Religion. That is why Trump can lead these deeply devout to bullshit fanatics over a cliff like the lemmings they are.
There may be less than 7% of them, but they're showing up in unfortunate and problematic places, like the Office of Speaker of the House and the Supreme Court. Worse, they get cootchie-cooed by organizations such as the Federalist Society and right-wing billionaires like Charles Koch and Elon Musk. They are a minority group with a disproportionate amount of clout, and they need to be actively countered until they can be voted out of office, impeached, or otherwise rendered inconsequential. Big ask, I know.
Declining influence? Are these people oblivious to the Dobbs ruling? Moreover, in about 40% of our states, legislators who are ranchers, farmers and realtors, have presumed that their judgment is superior to that of the AMA and American Academy of Pediatrics. In turn, they have banned the care of gender incongruent adolescents, which conforms to the clinical practice standards of every mainstream medical association. That is a direct pander to Christian yahoos. Oh, and come to my state (Florida) and behold the banned books and the banned academic discourse. All in Jesus's name.
I just read an article where they investigated these book bans that started in counties around Kansas City (locally, no legislation passed statewide).
Turns out, most of the people asking for books to be removed were from a Moms for Liberty group in Missouri. One woman wanted 30 books removed from one school library and admitted she hadn't read any of them. Nor did she live in Kansas.
Almost exactly what happened locally — except the wing nut has been a locally prominent wing nut for at least a decade. Keeps running for school board and keeps losing. But the district spent a small fortune having a formal review of 35 books that she said she hadn’t read. She didn’t need to read them because Moms had already done that.
Many (not by any means all) do seem to believe that. And I’ve always puzzled at how such a belief can arise: are they not free to join the religion of their choice? Are their churches and religious services subject to regulation by the government? No, of course not. So I now have to conclude that to those who feel ‘persecuted’ believe that simply living in a constitutional order which allows and requires both freedom of religion and freedom from religion is itself a violation of their religious freedom. IOW, they are NOT playing with a full deck. And they’re not being honest, either.
People who put their faith into action to achieve positive results: food pantries, EMT services, prison and hospital counseling, anti-violence efforts, and re-entry work.
That feels like forcing vulnerable people to accept religion because they have no other options. Some don’t believe in god & don’t view religion as a positive influence. We can’t assume that everyone would be open to dealing with church groups. If I were in hospice dying and a cleric appeared to “counsel” me, I would definitely decline. If I had to go to a “Christian” food pantry I would go without. Some of them make these people sit through a church service to get a meal. I NEVER get that hungry.
Not everyone has a positive experience with religion. We can accomplish all of those things you mentioned without involving religion. Secular charities really do a fine job. And they don’t include the element of coercion.
But I do respect people who do good things through their house of worship and houses of worship that focus on such activities rather than conversion and politics.
Speaking of RW nonsense, I noticed I got my regular batch of far right advertising push on Facebook this week. I have noticed that every few months there are a bunch of ads that really don’t fit my feed, I see PragerU, Ben Shapiro, and others that are obvious and I hide them and report them and after a week or so of this, they go away for a while. But they always come back, maybe not the same Facebook page as before, but the same right wing tomfoolery.
Well, I got a survey yesterday from some college, (Hillsdale College) I saw a few ads from the college to attend and ignored them until I got the survey. The survey was on this very subject, is the government interfering in your religious freedom. I decided I would see what I could do to curb the problems I see with our government and religious freedom, and clicked on the survey.
Oh lord.
Every question I saw was right wing propaganda, nowhere could you say that you didn’t really believe the government was persecuting you, nor could you say the government is pushing too much Christianity. It was literally a push poll designed to fearmonger the Republican agenda of leftists coming to take your Bible.
I think this type of concerted effort from Facebook and these grifty organizations is what is driving the results of the Pew poll. The fact that I regularly have to clear out the misinformation campaigns, and well known propaganda outlets that clearly have nothing to do with my preferred media on Facebook means that Facebook is pushing these things rather than just allowing the algorithm to find the trends. You know that folks that consume PragerU and Ben Shapiro are not cleaning out planned parenthood ads, actually I know they do not because the folks I personally know follow the propaganda indicate as much.
But then the non-lunatic media do not do much to inform the public of this threat. They give platforms to folks like MTG, Lauren Boebert and even Donald Trump before they got their positions, when they were non-influential people which lead to them becoming the influential people they are now. Trump never would have gotten elected if the media reacted the way they should have, as a fucking footnote. He’d run before, and they didn’t hang on his every word, why did they do it in 2016?
Okay, I’m ranting and I better stop. I should get back to work.
Hillsdale College, while it does have an actual campus attached to it, faculty, student body, and everything (unlike Prager U), is really just another right-wing propaganda mill masquerading as a place of higher learning.
Case in point: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/ (𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭'𝘴 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥-𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘬. 𝘋𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘩𝘰𝘭.)
That is one of their publications. Those articles aren't just posted online; they're mailed out individually in a multi-page pamphlet format as well, and they must be getting their mailing lists from other right-wing organizations because I caught one in a conservative family member's incoming mail pile a few months ago- someone who has no connection to Hillsdale College that I've been able to find. It was the "Inside the Transgender Empire" one (because 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 it fucking was)- professional printing quality, glossy finish, the whole nine yards; obviously not the product of a backroom operation. This shit goes in the "worse than Fox News" category of right-wing hatespew. It's about one goose-step short of being something 𝘎𝑜𝘦𝑏𝘣𝑒𝘭𝑠 would've written.
Just as a heads-up, in case they're making a push to expand their reach or something, because this is the third time I've run into a mention of Hillsdale or their bullshit in the last couple weeks. The fact that they're an accredited college, and not just a troll farm with a youtube channel that someone pasted a suggestive name on, could make them 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 dangerous if they get a foothold in mainstream discourse.
I’m sure they’re paying Facebook to push their ads, but I also think Facebook is courting the right wing propagandists over anything centrist or left. Especially with the habit of facebook cracking down on folks criticizing men in their comments while not just ignoring rape threats, but claiming there’s nothing wrong with rape threats when they’re reported. And despite the religious folks breathlessly repeating that Zuckerberg hisself banned mention of God and prayer, ie the Lord’s Prayer, and Jesus and such. Facebook is a haven for the right. I also have to go search for TYT and other left leaning media every couple of weeks, not just cull the rightwing crap.
Yeah, I had someone on one of the social media platforms—forget which now—that was trying to score debate points on me by citing a Hillsdale resource. Then wanted me to give them citations about why Hillsdale was bad.
Nope. Blocked that person because not interested in going down the sealioning route. This was an education discussion, BTW….
“On a scale of 1 (very angry) to 5 (blindingly outraged), how upset are you that Biden’s open border policies are allowing sex trafficked opioid smugglers to be secretly transported in by stealth aircraft to become registered Democratic voters on welfare?”
I’m at 35, I don’t have the adjectives to describe my anger over the false narrative, manipulation tactics, propaganda, and pure evil of the folks making these surveys.
Your question was a fairytale, so -49, nowhere near concerned about nonsense lies.
Ron DeNazi is trying to remake New College of FL into Hillsdale; he even appointed one of their vice presidents to the New College's Board of Trustees.
Have you ever looked at your demographic profile that Facebook has for you? It's not your information that YOU provided more like what boxes THEY have checked for you to sell ads. If you look way into the personalized advertising information and just keep digging you'll find it eventually. It could be that they have checked the wrong boxes OR if you DON'T have targeted ads turned on that's probably what's happening. I don't know what the official term for this is, I call it a "shadow profile". I don't allow targeted ads and they basically seem to try to get you to change your mind by showing ads that it's obvious aren't your interests. They had me as Republican and Christian and a Trump voter.
I get a lot of this stuff too. I have always attributed it to my identity as a white male living in a deep red district with 6 Mormon churches within 5 miles of me.
I like how it says “at least for a little while”. That’s the issue though, I can stop the nonsense but then it reverts back, and far too often.
I get how to change my preferences, but I’m taking issue with the way Facebook is aligning with the right wing. It’s an attempt to radicalize those who don’t know better, similar to the rural talk radio takeover by the right wing media. By constantly pushing the far right media and resetting our preferences regularly, Facebook is working to wear us down, so we either give up and ignore it until that all we get and we succumb to the lies, or we walk away leaving Facebook to the fascists. Like Musk did to Twitter. And because Facebook isn’t just Facebook, there’s very few places reasonable people can consume social media, or find the media sources that push back on the Nazi narrative.
We’re losing the war against fascism because they’re incessant. Same way we lost Roe.
Too many Americans are either oblivious or too dumb to figure out what is going on out there, apparently. It may have always been the case, which would be why Ben Franklin, when asked by a woman, "What kind of government do we have?" replied, "A republic, madam, if we can keep it."
In fairness, if you're not paying close attention, many times Christianity's media lies make a certain amount of sense. They claim to be more moral, they claim to have direction from a higher power, they claim they know more about what matters to people and how to reflect the love of the divine better - it can sound like a pretty sweet deal, really. If you're not in one of the hated groups, then you might not understand just how deceptive Christian claims can be and how detrimental their political positions are.
If you don't know the truth, the history, the ongoing abuses and financial shenanigans, then it's easy to believe the pretty lies. Christianity often sells the sort of deceptions that people want to believe, that they've been forgiven of their errors, that they'll wind up in a better place, etc. That's a major part of why it's so easy to get into and so hard to get out for most people; not only does Christianity take over the social aspects of a person's life, it also takes over a lot of the emotional well being systems.
So far as I can tell, the only way to help folks with their religion problem is to be as honest as possible with them; what that says about religion should tell anyone all they really need to know.
Arguing with one is like arguing with a pool of used motor oil. Just as slippery and just as dirty. One minute they have a church f god. The next minute it is a church of man. One minute, god has a perfect plan and the next minute man has free will. They hold these dichotomies in their heads yet never get bothered by these opposites both being true at the same time.
Obviously, they have been taught the must NEVER QUESTION RELIGION OR END UP BEING PUNISHED FOR ETERNITY. WHY are their omnieverythinggods so afraid of questions? They are most likely just cowed into fear of asking questions.
Here in Floriduh, they they want children taught about the evils of communism starting in kindergarten. I kid you not. Okay, if they want a class for that, then I think they should also have a class that teaches the atrocities committed by kkkristianity.
The answer for many is clearly the angry invisible white guy overly invested in the sex lives of young women. I don't understand. Why would I invite a new bossy invisible embodiment of patriarchy into my life?
Well, when I was single, I was invested in the sex lives of young women, but only because I wanted them to provide me with a sex life, as I did not have one.
Yeah that's tricky enough without inviting some weird third party in who can't be pleased unless I follow creepy rules that only apply to some people. To be clear any color of sky daddy is not cool with me, it's just the one I am usually hearing about is a white dude. It depends on the dudes wanting me to buy in. Weird how that works.
The latest horror is the “trad wife” movement. (As if Quiverfull isn’t sufficiently misogynist!) Are these the people who think that slavery was a good deal for the slaves?
If you want some dude owning you, if you want a relationship in which you are required to ask your husband for permission to go to the grocery store, when do you start donning the prairie dress?
Just when I think the right has gotten as low as it can, they drop the floor another 12 inches. How can it get any worse?
I’ve been saying they’ve targeted divorce to keep women under men’s thumbs. Because you know damned well that this isn’t about men who abandon their wives.
Don’t forget, the most dangerous time in an abused woman’s life is during pregnancy, second is right after she leaves. This law would lead to a rise in DV deaths. Probably a pretty dramatic one.
It’s not like they weren’t warned about how the abortion bans would affect women’s health and lives. They pretended not to hear but they were practically glowing with the thought of it.
(Just a fact check a republicon wouldn't want to know, abortion was tolerated during most of the Middle Ages as long as the fetus couldn't be felt moving)
I was going to say that there aren't any boll weevils in Missouri, but it looks like the cotton belt covers extreme southern Missouri, especially the boot heel.
Partial toward Vienna. Every Friday was fish fry and every meal went with Vienna bread. Never served the heels, and I loved the heels. The crust is the tastiest part of the loaf. I would dip part of the heel in melted butter and fairly swoon. I was a teenager and cholesterol was never a concern in the 1950's. Lake perch filets were about 7 inches long. By the 70's you were lucky to find them 4 inches long an too expensive to try selling. IF a filet broke in the fryer, well, it went to Mister Hoover here... 8^O
Folks seem to have learned the 750+ million dollar lesson don't they? I've noticed they been stepping in whenever anybody mentions the big lie these days. Sometimes cutting people off in midsentence. It must be terrible for them to have to acknowledge the truth for a change.
The religious right is fighting a rear-guard action and attempting to accomplish through the courts and legislatures what they have failed to achieve from their pulpits. Year by year they cede ground they will never recover, but cling to the delusion they can impose their religion on this country. No one with an understanding of the horrors that have been perpetrated by Christians in the name of Christianity would promote Christian moral values.
Some of them DO understand the horrors that have been perpetrated. And they WANT to perpetrate them again. This frightens me.
Some people within the Dominionist movement have advocated putting as many as half of all the people in the U.S. to death, because it would be so pleasing to their loving Jesus.
Let's let Jesus decide. He will communicate this through pastors, priests, and Republican officials.
If Jesus wants to talk to me he can show up anytime and do so. In the mean time, I've no use for the people presuming to speak on his behalf.
He won't speak to you. As David Graf told us the other day in his post, only God knows who are believers and who are not.
Seems to me YHVH would want to talk to atheists more than his alleged followers. We're the ones he needs to win over.
Of course he's going to find that extremely difficult, given his track record.
Those are the “good old days” to them, which they’re trying to bring back.
How many among us have the "understand of the horrors that have been perpetuated by Christians in the name of Christianity...".
Those who know the history. Which means very few.
No they aren’t. They’ve already progressed beyond that.
Jan 6 was just a last-ditch effort when their subversive attempts to commit fraud to steal the election failed. Going the courts route is just for show, while they commit every crime imaginable behind the scenes accomplish their megalomaniac goals.
We have billionaires running the RNC who also pour MILLIONS into religious, right-wing conspirators actively seeking to undermine this democracy. The RNC Puppets installed by NeoNazi Fascists (“Libertarians” and “Dominionists”) are organized and funded at every level of government. While individuals may think religious influence is waning, they have not taken into account the EXPONENTIAL influence of Fascists through “Citizens United.”
This is especially true here in Texas. Right wing billionaire Christian nationalists have totally broken our politics.
Now abetted by Elon Musk.
Exactly, citizens united was one of the biggest blows out of the corrupt scoutus.
We should be extremely concerned that CPAC has been hosted as the personal guest of dictator Viktor Orbán for several years now.
He and Tucker have struck up quite the relationship. Why is an organization like CPAC, with the power and influence it has in this country, holding its annual conventions in a country like Hungary that’s hostile to democracy and is under the thumb of an anti-democratic, anti-American authoritarian and dictator like Orbán?
There are only two political parties in the US: the GOP & the Democrats. We should be deeply suspicious that a demagogue like Orbán has such outsized influence on the GOP. Orbán is an unapologetic enemy of liberal democracy. He makes that no secret. Why is CPAC so interested in a dictator like that other than its Putin exerting his influence over the right, again.
Because it is Trump's wet dream to be like Orban and have his power. Therefore CPAC, which long ago forfeited the right to call itself a 'conservative' organization, also likes Orban. He's more dangerous than Putin.
Girl, a whole country of new suckers to grift! They probably want to set up some sort of right wing media there, and then the grift begins.
I’ll agree with you that Lara Trump and that tool from the NCRC are truly fascistic since they are now the ones in charge of the RNC Casino. They love all things trump and will ream the RNC of every dollar sent to it to pay his fat behind out of all his many legal woes.
Oh, and most of us(who are woke)are very much aware of the harm that Citizens United has done in its lifetime and try our darndest to fight against it but Justices on the take are difficult to overcome. John Oliver is trying though. I’ll give him that.
Libertarians do not play well with authoritarian regimes. Your inclusion with Dominionists and Christian Nationalism is antithetical to libertarian values, which are primarily Free Will and choice.
To desire a less invasive government would not comport well with the highly restrictive values of a theocracy. And, for the most part all the libertarians I know, myself included, are Heathens, Atheists, or Nones.
Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-corporate capitalism political philosophy that emphasises self-governance and small businesses and workers' self-management and Choice in all matters.
I believe no citizen can be free without their basic needs met; food, housing, medical and elective education. I'm the sort of Libertarian who would back universal basic income over the highly regulated benefit programs today.
As American religiosity declines, the extremism will increase. The Handmaid’s Tale wasn’t supposed to be a glimpse into America’s future.
The term, "cornered rats" comes to mind.
The fact is that the numbers of (what I presume are) actively religious people in the US has been dropping consistently for well over a decade. The PROBLEM is that those who remain are more active, more outspoken, and more radical. THOSE are the people I suspect who are the supporters of Christian Nationalism (and by association, Donald Trump).
And THEY are the people that we need to maintain an unrelenting focus on.
Actively religious equates to living a biblical worldview life. According to George Barna, a respected religious pollster, less than 7% of Americans hold the values of a biblical worldview.
Religious Active Americans are synergists; they pick and choose biblical segments that they like, mixthem with popular values, a bit of other myths, legends and superstitions … and Voila you've got the American Religion. That is why Trump can lead these deeply devout to bullshit fanatics over a cliff like the lemmings they are.
There may be less than 7% of them, but they're showing up in unfortunate and problematic places, like the Office of Speaker of the House and the Supreme Court. Worse, they get cootchie-cooed by organizations such as the Federalist Society and right-wing billionaires like Charles Koch and Elon Musk. They are a minority group with a disproportionate amount of clout, and they need to be actively countered until they can be voted out of office, impeached, or otherwise rendered inconsequential. Big ask, I know.
Doesn't change the necessity of it.
Declining influence? Are these people oblivious to the Dobbs ruling? Moreover, in about 40% of our states, legislators who are ranchers, farmers and realtors, have presumed that their judgment is superior to that of the AMA and American Academy of Pediatrics. In turn, they have banned the care of gender incongruent adolescents, which conforms to the clinical practice standards of every mainstream medical association. That is a direct pander to Christian yahoos. Oh, and come to my state (Florida) and behold the banned books and the banned academic discourse. All in Jesus's name.
I just read an article where they investigated these book bans that started in counties around Kansas City (locally, no legislation passed statewide).
Turns out, most of the people asking for books to be removed were from a Moms for Liberty group in Missouri. One woman wanted 30 books removed from one school library and admitted she hadn't read any of them. Nor did she live in Kansas.
Almost exactly what happened locally — except the wing nut has been a locally prominent wing nut for at least a decade. Keeps running for school board and keeps losing. But the district spent a small fortune having a formal review of 35 books that she said she hadn’t read. She didn’t need to read them because Moms had already done that.
I am so glad I missed the US news that day. Those folks makes me afraid of the future. And happy for living on another continent.
Do you have a guest room big enough for my bride and me?
Sorry, not here at 62°n, it's big enough for two kids less than eight years. But I have a neighbour with a room like that.
Up north at app. 70°N I have a house with several guest rooms, but (almost) no work.
Many (not by any means all) do seem to believe that. And I’ve always puzzled at how such a belief can arise: are they not free to join the religion of their choice? Are their churches and religious services subject to regulation by the government? No, of course not. So I now have to conclude that to those who feel ‘persecuted’ believe that simply living in a constitutional order which allows and requires both freedom of religion and freedom from religion is itself a violation of their religious freedom. IOW, they are NOT playing with a full deck. And they’re not being honest, either.
Religion would be doing better in America if it wasn't so full of bigots, grifters, and nut jobs.
...but without the bigots, grifters, and nut jobs, who'd be left to run the religions?
People who put their faith into action to achieve positive results: food pantries, EMT services, prison and hospital counseling, anti-violence efforts, and re-entry work.
That feels like forcing vulnerable people to accept religion because they have no other options. Some don’t believe in god & don’t view religion as a positive influence. We can’t assume that everyone would be open to dealing with church groups. If I were in hospice dying and a cleric appeared to “counsel” me, I would definitely decline. If I had to go to a “Christian” food pantry I would go without. Some of them make these people sit through a church service to get a meal. I NEVER get that hungry.
Not everyone has a positive experience with religion. We can accomplish all of those things you mentioned without involving religion. Secular charities really do a fine job. And they don’t include the element of coercion.
That's quite true.
But I do respect people who do good things through their house of worship and houses of worship that focus on such activities rather than conversion and politics.
No faith required. Just hard work, commitment and a half decent moral compass.
Right...a moral compass can have many sources.
Speaking of RW nonsense, I noticed I got my regular batch of far right advertising push on Facebook this week. I have noticed that every few months there are a bunch of ads that really don’t fit my feed, I see PragerU, Ben Shapiro, and others that are obvious and I hide them and report them and after a week or so of this, they go away for a while. But they always come back, maybe not the same Facebook page as before, but the same right wing tomfoolery.
Well, I got a survey yesterday from some college, (Hillsdale College) I saw a few ads from the college to attend and ignored them until I got the survey. The survey was on this very subject, is the government interfering in your religious freedom. I decided I would see what I could do to curb the problems I see with our government and religious freedom, and clicked on the survey.
Oh lord.
Every question I saw was right wing propaganda, nowhere could you say that you didn’t really believe the government was persecuting you, nor could you say the government is pushing too much Christianity. It was literally a push poll designed to fearmonger the Republican agenda of leftists coming to take your Bible.
I think this type of concerted effort from Facebook and these grifty organizations is what is driving the results of the Pew poll. The fact that I regularly have to clear out the misinformation campaigns, and well known propaganda outlets that clearly have nothing to do with my preferred media on Facebook means that Facebook is pushing these things rather than just allowing the algorithm to find the trends. You know that folks that consume PragerU and Ben Shapiro are not cleaning out planned parenthood ads, actually I know they do not because the folks I personally know follow the propaganda indicate as much.
But then the non-lunatic media do not do much to inform the public of this threat. They give platforms to folks like MTG, Lauren Boebert and even Donald Trump before they got their positions, when they were non-influential people which lead to them becoming the influential people they are now. Trump never would have gotten elected if the media reacted the way they should have, as a fucking footnote. He’d run before, and they didn’t hang on his every word, why did they do it in 2016?
Okay, I’m ranting and I better stop. I should get back to work.
Hillsdale College, while it does have an actual campus attached to it, faculty, student body, and everything (unlike Prager U), is really just another right-wing propaganda mill masquerading as a place of higher learning.
Case in point: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/ (𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭'𝘴 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥-𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘬. 𝘋𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘩𝘰𝘭.)
That is one of their publications. Those articles aren't just posted online; they're mailed out individually in a multi-page pamphlet format as well, and they must be getting their mailing lists from other right-wing organizations because I caught one in a conservative family member's incoming mail pile a few months ago- someone who has no connection to Hillsdale College that I've been able to find. It was the "Inside the Transgender Empire" one (because 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 it fucking was)- professional printing quality, glossy finish, the whole nine yards; obviously not the product of a backroom operation. This shit goes in the "worse than Fox News" category of right-wing hatespew. It's about one goose-step short of being something 𝘎𝑜𝘦𝑏𝘣𝑒𝘭𝑠 would've written.
Just as a heads-up, in case they're making a push to expand their reach or something, because this is the third time I've run into a mention of Hillsdale or their bullshit in the last couple weeks. The fact that they're an accredited college, and not just a troll farm with a youtube channel that someone pasted a suggestive name on, could make them 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 dangerous if they get a foothold in mainstream discourse.
I’m sure they’re paying Facebook to push their ads, but I also think Facebook is courting the right wing propagandists over anything centrist or left. Especially with the habit of facebook cracking down on folks criticizing men in their comments while not just ignoring rape threats, but claiming there’s nothing wrong with rape threats when they’re reported. And despite the religious folks breathlessly repeating that Zuckerberg hisself banned mention of God and prayer, ie the Lord’s Prayer, and Jesus and such. Facebook is a haven for the right. I also have to go search for TYT and other left leaning media every couple of weeks, not just cull the rightwing crap.
I’m on Hillsdale’s mailing list. I regularly get those pamphlets. I’m happy to have them waste their money on me.
Yeah, I had someone on one of the social media platforms—forget which now—that was trying to score debate points on me by citing a Hillsdale resource. Then wanted me to give them citations about why Hillsdale was bad.
Nope. Blocked that person because not interested in going down the sealioning route. This was an education discussion, BTW….
“On a scale of 1 (very angry) to 5 (blindingly outraged), how upset are you that Biden’s open border policies are allowing sex trafficked opioid smugglers to be secretly transported in by stealth aircraft to become registered Democratic voters on welfare?”
I’m at 35, I don’t have the adjectives to describe my anger over the false narrative, manipulation tactics, propaganda, and pure evil of the folks making these surveys.
Your question was a fairytale, so -49, nowhere near concerned about nonsense lies.
But your ranting gets raves here. :)
Ron DeNazi is trying to remake New College of FL into Hillsdale; he even appointed one of their vice presidents to the New College's Board of Trustees.
DeSantis is Coming to Town! https://sweatingthesmallstuff.substack.com/p/desantis-is-coming-to-town
From the forthcoming MAGA musical Dictator for a Day!
Have you ever looked at your demographic profile that Facebook has for you? It's not your information that YOU provided more like what boxes THEY have checked for you to sell ads. If you look way into the personalized advertising information and just keep digging you'll find it eventually. It could be that they have checked the wrong boxes OR if you DON'T have targeted ads turned on that's probably what's happening. I don't know what the official term for this is, I call it a "shadow profile". I don't allow targeted ads and they basically seem to try to get you to change your mind by showing ads that it's obvious aren't your interests. They had me as Republican and Christian and a Trump voter.
I get a lot of this stuff too. I have always attributed it to my identity as a white male living in a deep red district with 6 Mormon churches within 5 miles of me.
Yes, if they're going by default I'm white and in Kentucky.
𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐀𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤
https://www.facebook.com/help/247395082112892/
or
https://www.bing.com/search?q=stop+targeted+ads+on+facebook&qs=NM&pq=how+to+stop+facebook+targeted&sc=10-29&cvid=CCAE0E4004FF475F82B16E0593AC51FB&FORM=QBLH&sp=1&ghc=1&lq=0
Props to Rachel.
I like how it says “at least for a little while”. That’s the issue though, I can stop the nonsense but then it reverts back, and far too often.
I get how to change my preferences, but I’m taking issue with the way Facebook is aligning with the right wing. It’s an attempt to radicalize those who don’t know better, similar to the rural talk radio takeover by the right wing media. By constantly pushing the far right media and resetting our preferences regularly, Facebook is working to wear us down, so we either give up and ignore it until that all we get and we succumb to the lies, or we walk away leaving Facebook to the fascists. Like Musk did to Twitter. And because Facebook isn’t just Facebook, there’s very few places reasonable people can consume social media, or find the media sources that push back on the Nazi narrative.
We’re losing the war against fascism because they’re incessant. Same way we lost Roe.
🎯Facebook is back to being a bought and paid for RWNJ whore.
Too many Americans are either oblivious or too dumb to figure out what is going on out there, apparently. It may have always been the case, which would be why Ben Franklin, when asked by a woman, "What kind of government do we have?" replied, "A republic, madam, if we can keep it."
In fairness, if you're not paying close attention, many times Christianity's media lies make a certain amount of sense. They claim to be more moral, they claim to have direction from a higher power, they claim they know more about what matters to people and how to reflect the love of the divine better - it can sound like a pretty sweet deal, really. If you're not in one of the hated groups, then you might not understand just how deceptive Christian claims can be and how detrimental their political positions are.
If you don't know the truth, the history, the ongoing abuses and financial shenanigans, then it's easy to believe the pretty lies. Christianity often sells the sort of deceptions that people want to believe, that they've been forgiven of their errors, that they'll wind up in a better place, etc. That's a major part of why it's so easy to get into and so hard to get out for most people; not only does Christianity take over the social aspects of a person's life, it also takes over a lot of the emotional well being systems.
So far as I can tell, the only way to help folks with their religion problem is to be as honest as possible with them; what that says about religion should tell anyone all they really need to know.
Arguing with one is like arguing with a pool of used motor oil. Just as slippery and just as dirty. One minute they have a church f god. The next minute it is a church of man. One minute, god has a perfect plan and the next minute man has free will. They hold these dichotomies in their heads yet never get bothered by these opposites both being true at the same time.
Obviously, they have been taught the must NEVER QUESTION RELIGION OR END UP BEING PUNISHED FOR ETERNITY. WHY are their omnieverythinggods so afraid of questions? They are most likely just cowed into fear of asking questions.
Here in Floriduh, they they want children taught about the evils of communism starting in kindergarten. I kid you not. Okay, if they want a class for that, then I think they should also have a class that teaches the atrocities committed by kkkristianity.
People have so few examples to follow! One just doesn’t know who to trust anymore!
The answer for many is clearly the angry invisible white guy overly invested in the sex lives of young women. I don't understand. Why would I invite a new bossy invisible embodiment of patriarchy into my life?
Well, when I was single, I was invested in the sex lives of young women, but only because I wanted them to provide me with a sex life, as I did not have one.
Yeah that's tricky enough without inviting some weird third party in who can't be pleased unless I follow creepy rules that only apply to some people. To be clear any color of sky daddy is not cool with me, it's just the one I am usually hearing about is a white dude. It depends on the dudes wanting me to buy in. Weird how that works.
The latest horror is the “trad wife” movement. (As if Quiverfull isn’t sufficiently misogynist!) Are these the people who think that slavery was a good deal for the slaves?
If you want some dude owning you, if you want a relationship in which you are required to ask your husband for permission to go to the grocery store, when do you start donning the prairie dress?
Just when I think the right has gotten as low as it can, they drop the floor another 12 inches. How can it get any worse?
Quiverfull actually causes an almost immediate gag reflex every single time I read or hear it. Just allergic AF to that mess.
They should just join an actual BDSM club, if they want to be a sub so badly.
Absolutely.
Let's remember that the leaders of these evangelical movement "honor the customs in the breach."
More OT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/15/missouri-law-divorce-pregnancy-violence-abortion
I’ve been saying they’ve targeted divorce to keep women under men’s thumbs. Because you know damned well that this isn’t about men who abandon their wives.
Don’t forget, the most dangerous time in an abused woman’s life is during pregnancy, second is right after she leaves. This law would lead to a rise in DV deaths. Probably a pretty dramatic one.
I have to try really really fucking really hard to not believe that this is their goal when making these laws.
Stop trying, they practically say it out loud.
It’s not like they weren’t warned about how the abortion bans would affect women’s health and lives. They pretended not to hear but they were practically glowing with the thought of it.
If it was only to protect women then the law would spell out that MEN cannot finalized a divorce but women can.
"The land of the boll weevil where the laws are medieval."
“Welcome to Missouri, the land of the boll weevils, where the laws are medieval and the women don’t matter. I’m your leader, a Republican.”
(Just a fact check a republicon wouldn't want to know, abortion was tolerated during most of the Middle Ages as long as the fetus couldn't be felt moving)
IIRC, 𝑅𝑜𝑒 𝑣𝑠 𝑊𝑎𝑑𝑒 existed because Republicans wanted it.
Then a Democrat was elected President and they all lost their minds.
I was going to say that there aren't any boll weevils in Missouri, but it looks like the cotton belt covers extreme southern Missouri, especially the boot heel.
Thanks Wikipedia and the UofM Extension folks.
https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g4255
just threw some big fat rib eyes on the bbq. First grilling day of the year.
Well, we are just beginning to move into slow cooker stew territory – with red wine and perhaps with dumplings.
Oats with yoghurt, biscottes* with hummus, tangerine.
* French dry bread.
Partial toward Vienna. Every Friday was fish fry and every meal went with Vienna bread. Never served the heels, and I loved the heels. The crust is the tastiest part of the loaf. I would dip part of the heel in melted butter and fairly swoon. I was a teenager and cholesterol was never a concern in the 1950's. Lake perch filets were about 7 inches long. By the 70's you were lucky to find them 4 inches long an too expensive to try selling. IF a filet broke in the fryer, well, it went to Mister Hoover here... 8^O
Not the Italian cookies sold at coffee shops?
Nope. Same word "baked twice", 2 different things.
https://images.app.goo.gl/ArD38rVimtZ5PcTk7
Oh, toast!
Non plus, except if you like your toast very dry and crunchy 😁
IOW, pre-chopped up croutons. :)
I sometimes eat them like potato chips.
My dad loved grilling rib eyes. He was still doing it at 90.
can't say I blame your dad, those are so freaking good.
Just the scent drove the neighborhood dogs crazy. :)
doing the reverse sear method. my parents will be over in a bit to enjoy it as well.
OT : 🤣🤣🤣
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-orleans-police-department-decay-rats-evidence-room-marijuana/
Presumably, the rats then stole all the Doritos and Chex Mix from the vending machine in the break room.
Rats need medical marijuana, too.
Don't the rats know that the cops are supposed to sell it after the trial?
Who taught the rats to roll a joint?
Maybe an heroine.
<Snort>
Get down from your high horse.
Neigh!
Let’s rein in this pun thread before it gets out of hand.
I am sure that hurts a lot of the people at the fox news network.
https://nationalzero.com/2024/03/17/fox-news-tacks-disclaimer-onto-trump-stolen-election-rant/
That entire network needs a disclaimer.
"Please change channel before loosing braincells".
Disclaimer: If his lips are moving....
Folks seem to have learned the 750+ million dollar lesson don't they? I've noticed they been stepping in whenever anybody mentions the big lie these days. Sometimes cutting people off in midsentence. It must be terrible for them to have to acknowledge the truth for a change.
sure Jan
https://nationalzero.com/2024/03/16/overt-heterosexual-wants-rally-audience-to-know-hes-heterosexual/
Saw that a little while ago. I think he doth protest too much somehow.
I wonder if his wife likes to sit in the corner and watch?
Or one of them to be the filling of a sandwich.
Bet Bernie visits with Aslan frequently in that closet of his.
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS closet!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac9e0b002a10642cb191dfd44b3fe79c1de228d8744a95318ec0e455042f32af.jpg
Flapdoodle & Codswallop, Attorneys at Law.
Trump's law firm.
Too competent for Trump.