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oraxx's avatar

It comes as no surprise this happened in a small southern town. The brains of most of those kids in the marching band are still developing, and they lack the ability to put things in perspective. Come graduation day most will know better, and there will be an exodus of young people who go running for the cities as fast as they can. It is this exodus that keeps concentrating religion in small towns. Few people want to move to these towns, and those who do seldom stay. Thus, religious sentiments keep getting more conservative.

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Sko Hayes's avatar

This happens in many small towns across the US, not just the south.

I'm living out west now, but spent almost 20 years living in SW Virginia and North Carolina.

It's amazing how similar things are- everyone is related to or has known everyone else in town for decades. The Sheriff has held office for 2 decades and is as corrupt as the day is long.

3000 people in town. SEVENTEEN churches. A trip to grocery shop is 35 miles one way.

One huge difference is that down south, people are a LOT friendlier. ;)

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cdbunch's avatar

I grew up in one of those grocery store towns, but the town my mother grew up in, that her brother and her sister as well as one of my cousins still live in only survives because the state located a prison there. Pretty much every male in the family has worked there at one time or another, several have retired.

Down here in the south, they may be friendlier to your face, but it's all for show, especially if you're not a cookie cutter image of them.

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Sko Hayes's avatar

I never had any problems in the south, after they got over the shock of me being a Catholic.

When I moved out here, everyone assumed I was a lesbian because I was single and in my 40s.

:D

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

When I was in Georgia for the Army, I got a lot of crap, not so friendly crap, just for being a yankee. Imagine what folks who weren’t as palatable as I was had to go through. Being a good, white, ostensibly catholic young lady, I wasn’t good enough since I grew up in the great white north, MN.

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Sko Hayes's avatar

I had far more insulting comments from being Catholic, LOL. And then I was working in a male dominated field (cattle farming), and got even more crap for that!

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

How much crap came from the cows?

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I was in Texas for Basic Training and Tech School. Never got bad vibes from the locals. Guess I was lucky.

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oraxx's avatar

Texas was part of the Confederacy, but it's a different culture from most of the deep south. There has always been a large hispanic population, and there is the western half of the state that's oil and cattle ranching. I've lived in the DFW metro for over a decade, and have found the people pretty nice over all.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Bless your heart.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

During the mid-70s, I lived in a town in Illinois where the nearest grocery store was 10 miles away. Back then, it had a Dairy Queen and a diner; last I looked, they now have a Subway. The elementary, junior high, and high schools were in different towns.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

"Come graduation day most will know better, . . ."

Don't count on it.

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oraxx's avatar

Those little towns struggle to hold on to their populations. By eighteen kids are at least beginning to be able to put things in perspective. Getting out of those little towns speeds that process.

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Sko Hayes's avatar

This is true where I live, a small rural town in western Kansas. The kids go to college and never come home (some of the farm kids do to come back and help run the family farm) except on holidays.

I can't blame them, there's nothing here for them.

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oraxx's avatar

Living in larger cities has a way of moderating those small town opinions.

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Sko Hayes's avatar

See, I did it backwards- I grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia and went to cow college (Virginia Tech) in Virginia. I spent a lifetime working on ranches and farms, so I've lived in rural America for about 40 years.

I love it out here, but it's a cultural and culinary desert.

I miss museums, and plays and 50 choices for a restaurant, and public transportation, but I don't miss the congestion or traffic or developments full of McMansions or all those people!!

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oraxx's avatar

There is nothing wrong wil living in a small town if that's what a person really wants to do.

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Bill Lawrence's avatar

Excellent points.

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Dec 7, 2023
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oraxx's avatar

That certainly hasn't been my experience. I live in the DFW metro-plex, and those kids I spoke of go running for the city to get away from those stifling little towns. They may not completely lose their religion, but they definitely want to escape the extremism of the small town. Few go back to those towns to live.

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cdbunch's avatar

Actually, many of them will, because they want to eat and there are no jobs in those 'shithole' towns. That's why they're dying.

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Sko Hayes's avatar

And the people who are made uncomfortable by these overt displays in a public school setting will rarely say anything out of fear of retaliation. Life in a small town.

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ericc's avatar

Until the town dies. But the folks who complain "why is our town dying" are the same folks who are likely saying "we don't want their kind here"...yet they fail to see the own goal they are kicking.

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Sko Hayes's avatar

Exactly. When I moved here to Kansas in 1999, it was VERY WHITE OUT HERE. Coming from rural North Carolina where most of my neighbors were people of color, it was weird.

But this town would not have survived without an influx of immigrants working on the farms and feedlots and in the meat packing plants and the oil fields.

They work in local businesses, buy homes and cars, send their kids to school, open their own businesses, pay taxes.

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Old Man Shadow's avatar

At first I thought they were making fun of fundamentalist revivals with those signs and outfits.

Dawning horror as I realize they're not making fun of it.

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Vanity Unfair's avatar

Just perhaps there's an Elmer Gantry dancer hidden away there out of camera-shot. Does anyone still read Sinclair Lewis?

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Kay-El's avatar

One of his best. I believe Elmer and Jospeh Smith were somehow related. 😂

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Nobody parodies Christians like Christians. Mainly because they're completely unaware that they're doing it.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

While making those signs, no one thought this might not be a good idea? Like screaming “SINNER” in all caps is a normal thing in public? What kind of people think it okay to scream judgement like this? Were no parents involved in the development of this?

The gendered clothing is troublesome, but the tent revival comes from a small sect of Christianity, and plenty of Christians try to avoid the judgement inherent in these images, so I’m surprised that there weren’t Christian parents taking issue with this theme.

So, this was a competition, did they win? What are the rules? Should they have just been disqualified for this? Perhaps the governing body of the competition could address the themes by ensuring they are constitutionally consistent. If it’s public schools participating, then public schools should have to follow the constitutional guidelines of the first amendment (the establishment clause specifically). You can’t tell me the entire band came up with this and that it wasn’t the band director.

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ericc's avatar

𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎? 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 “𝑆𝐼𝑁𝑁𝐸𝑅” 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐?

At least the sign next to it doesn't read "Juden find hier unerwunscht"

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cdbunch's avatar

No. If it said anything that explicit, it'd be Leviticus 18:20.

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Knitwish's avatar

They’re holding that one for NEXT season.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I can't find the footage now, but I remember the Nazis in Germany marching in a nighttime parade that included forming an illuminated spinning swastika.

This on-field Christian Tent Revival reminded me of it.

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Kay-El's avatar

Their Charlottesville cousins would approve.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I looked at that rotund guy in the middle and thought "This fat fuck wouldn't last a day in Hitler's army."

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NOGODZ20's avatar

They'll be lucky if they don't all accidentally put a round in each other.

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Dec 7, 2023
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NOGODZ20's avatar

Wonder which thing will do Trump in. His own gun or all that junk food.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Christianity does far more to damage the brain than football concussions.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

The reason they push so hard in the football leagues is because those kids are already halfway there.

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

Livin' on a prayer.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Earworm.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

(in the voice of Rosie on M*A*S*H): "I get you for this, Chauncey!")

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NOGODZ20's avatar

SINNERS BEWARE

Oh, really? "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Remember that one, cristers? You should. You'll find it in Romans 3:23. You pious, self-righteous hypocrites are just as much sinners as those you so readily condemn.

Speaking for myself, I can honestly say I've never sinned. Sin is an imaginary construct devised by Christians.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

You skipped maths lessons ?

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cdbunch's avatar

Opposite over hypotenuse π/2=1

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

https://images.app.goo.gl/CeDKCAZGdqfHpSoVA

Au Moyen Age l'octroi à l'entrée des villes fortifiées contribuait à la cherté des matières premières alimentaires dont les métiers de bouche avait besoin. Cela impactait non seulement le commerce inter cités mais conduisait également à des traffic et de la contrebande (parfois de nourriture impropre à la consommation)...

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

𝘎𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦: 𝘈 𝘕𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤

https://www.amazon.com/Gunpowder-Empire-Novel-Crosstime-Traffic-ebook/dp/B00AEBZPQY/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Gunpowder+Empire&qid=1701971818&s=books&sr=1-3&unfiltered=1

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Daniel Rotter's avatar

OT: Hunter Biden is going to be indicted (again) by the Department of Justice, this time on tax charges. When will the partisan weaponization of the Biden DOJ ever end?!/s

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Whitney's avatar

The other half and I talked this evening about how the subtext seems to be "Lay off Trump, and we'll lay off Junior".

We agreed that we didn't trust any such thing to happen if the charges against Trump were dropped.

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Holytape's avatar

As a conservative, white male southern, that picture does disturb me. There is just so much wrong with that picture. I almost don't know where to start. That picture implies that are girls going to school. That's so wrong, I am almost at a loss of words. And that those girls are not in direct supervision of their fathers, their brothers or if they are over 10 their husbands, or if they are in Alabama all those. And they are showing off their ankles like wanton harlots. Beware, these are the daughters of the queen of Babylon!

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Yep, and where the hell is the Stars and Bars? *spits chaw*

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ericc's avatar

Indeed. Did you see how close they are standing to unrelated men?

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Holytape's avatar

If this was Mississippi, don't worry. The nearest unrelated man is about four counties away.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Even at 73 years old, I'm going to quit pretending that I have, to use the well-worn phrase, "seen it all," certainly as it comes to religious chutzpah. Of COURSE, they had to pull a high school marching band into the mix and of COURSE they had to proselytize in 4/4 time! What was the band playing, "Onward, Christian Soldiers?!?"

It's good to see that the FFRF has fallen on these idiots with both feet. I hope the organizers of this foolish exercise find themselves in court about this, though I'm sure than any court costs will come out of the city's coffers. Heaven forfend that those responsible should have to pay out of their own funds. 🤦‍♂️

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Bob Riggins's avatar

Y'know, I can almost see this as a clever parody. But the problem with parodying Christian fundamentalists is Poe's Law kicks in:

"Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is utterly impossible to parody a Creationist in such a way that someone won't mistake for the genuine article."

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Roland's avatar

I was at the competition in Indianapolis where this performance took place and saw it with my own eyes. I also sat next to the mother of one of the band members.

I can offer some insight into several things that posters here have been curious about.

Firstly, this music, choreography and theme were created by one person, the band director. This was told to me by the mom that I sat next to and spoke with. She was quite proud of the fact that "he didn't have to pay anyone to make it for us."

Secondly, she told me that this was their routine that they had been working on all year. It was not a one-off or part of a "showcase of religious themes." This was it, this was the whole show.

Last, the BOA competition rules say nothing about excluding religion as a theme. I checked.

I will say that the atmosphere in the stadium while these kids were performing was...tense. One could feel the cringe.

Overall, it was entertaining to watch. The young man playing the fiddle was very good. I had the exact same reaction that some here have posted: what about those kids who didn't buy into the Christian theme? I chose not to engage the mom about any of that at the time due to the setting.

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Whitney's avatar

I remember high school band, it was awesome and awful in equal measure. I also remember what a jerk the director was, and how every year he designed the program we would run with zero input from anyone else; those were HIS programs. Memorizing Malaguena was a problem there for a bit, but hey, we did it. We started practicing two weeks after school let out for the summer, so yeah, we had some time.

I'm not too proud to admit my heart is breaking for these kids. They've worked very hard to learn and polish a set that the director should have known better than to allow. They've been putting up with this blatant attempt at indoctrination for at least six months now if they're going to national finals. This is all to say nothing of the expense involved with 𝒃𝒖𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔 specifically for this year's performance; they ain't cheap and unless someone offered to make or buy them, the band may be short funds for a few years to come. (I'll spare you folks the shenanigans that happened when I was in band.)

I'm glad that the FFRF is getting involved, but they need to beware: Band kids are often conditioned not to stick out. Uniformity is what makes a marching band work. Here's hoping that if they need to, they can find a kid willing to go against the machine, as it were.

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Cathy G's avatar

One could either view this as a cynical attempt to indoctrinate teenagers or it could be viewed as satire poking fun at the fundamentalists. Either way, it has no place in a public school.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

I am not sure this one is accurate but I am not sure about the meaning "Are we going to end up some day with hate and insults"

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

In the French lyrics Hoshi ask if the hate and insults will end.

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Robert Jaffee's avatar

Why would anyone be surprised by this. We have a Catholic Supremicist Court, in which at least five justices believe that there is no separation of church and state and have been ruling in favor of religious zealots.

We have a messianic Christian speaker in the house, and Trump also added more than 230 federal judges, most of whom will ignore the constitution, and rule in favor of religious whack-jobs.

Bottom line: there aren’t any consequences to ignoring the law, since most of these cases will be adjudicated by Trump judges in the Confederacy of Dunces, I mean the Confederate states of America.

And even if they ultimately lose, which is suspect, the courts will just give them a slap on the wrist and continue to ignore the law.

Not to mention, who’s going to enforce the law? The same constitutional sheriffs who believe they are the ultimate legal authority and answer to no one; not even governor’s or the federal government and attend these evangelical churches, and probably coach the football teams...:)

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