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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Funny thing is that there are conservative voices in nearly all eras that tried to warn the GOP that their racist policies were bad and that they should make more of an effort to court minority voters, but they always got ignored, whether it be black conservatives during the Goldwater era or Arnold Schwarzenegger only a decade ago.
Edited by Draghinazzo on Mar 8th 2019 at 12:03:00 PM
The real thing is that conservative values are a thing that aren't actually very consistent but an unholy alliance that corrupts all of the others.
There's nothing inherently wrong with capitalism—it generates wealth and more wealth is good for everyone, except there's crony capitalism that wants to horde it.
It gets stuck with people who believe it should be kept from brown people. They influence the former. The outright racists have always been there but they've grown bolder and more overt.
Then there's the evangelicals who used to have a lot of charities and social justice programs before they made alliances that restricted them to not going after any of those but focusing on abortion, homophobia, and transphobia. Diverting them from any meaningful actions.
There's the Objectivists who are an ideology that Ayn Rand envisioned as anti-Christian but they pretend is perfectly in-line with it.
Throw in the libertarians too who envision a Road Warrior dystopia as their ideal government except for white-male run farms with harems of barefoot womn as well as a military to keep other nations out.
These contradictory aims means that there's only one single uniting factor: "Win."
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Mar 8th 2019 at 8:15:18 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Possibly preaching to the choir, but I would argue that you if the define 'Anti-Christian' as 'contrary to Jesus' teachings, as according to the Bible', then the evangelicals are also pretty Anti-Christian, so 'anti-christian, but they just kind of pretend it's not' actually ends up describing a good portion of that.
The evangelical movement's drift to radicalism is not just something that has always been but in large part directly related to their involvement in politics. Though in the case of Objectivism, I'm not using hyperbole in my anti-Christianity statement but Word of Ayn Rand.
Ayn Rand was a anti-theological (for lack of a better term) atheist who wrote that religion was not only wrong but harmful to society and indeed rejected all of Christianity's values in particular as anti-progress. Ironically because she associated it with communism.
(She was the original "Greed is Good" with altruism stated to be a mind-poison)
So it's weird to the point of Straw Hypocrite that virtually every Republican big wig cites the Bible and Atlas Shrugged as their foundational texts. Like citing how much you love fire underwater.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Mar 8th 2019 at 10:13:26 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.The idea that fundamentalists and evangelicals are somehow "anti-Christian" is honestly just a bit galling to a lot of non-Christians. It always sounds to me like it's equating "goodness" with "Christianity", then othering away the *bad* actions of Christians with a No True Scotsman.
...That said, a strict reading of Christianity really doesn't line up with a conservative *economic* ideology. Some of the most famous and celebrated scenes in the Bible glorified feeding and healing the masses at no charge, and condemned the hoarding of wealth.
Humans are good at holding beliefs in spite of cognitive dissonance, so it's perfectly possible for someone to think the Bible is perfect and holy and always right while at the same time supporting an ideology that was created in direct opposition to it. They just have to come up with excuses, like "Well, sure, Jesus didn't ask for money, but this is the best way we mere mortals can help the poor". Or more to the point at hand, "Sure, Rand was wrong about Christianity, but that doesn't mean we should just immediately discard everything she said, and even if her intent was to oppose Christianity in her philosophy she failed because she was just a fallible human and the Holy Spirit is stronger than her will" or some such drivel.
But overall, yeah. The Republican party really does seem to be a coalition of anyone who's opposed to the policies of the left. Which is hardly surprising. Fiscal conservatives realized a long time ago that their best path to victory was by allying themselves with racists. The Southern Strategy is a well-documented historical fact and goes a long way to explain the bizarrely contradictory nature of American conservative ideology.
Edited by Ishntknew on Mar 9th 2019 at 12:21:13 PM
Reminds me of a blogpost from last year: A Message from Jesus to “Christian” Trumpers
On an unrelated note, Milo Yippyskippyfuckface has been banned from entering Australia
.
Edited by TVRulezAgain on Mar 9th 2019 at 12:42:01 PM
See, that's why I didn't phrase it as 'they aren't Chirstian' but rather 'they go against everything Christianity is supposed to stand for'. And, like, denouncing people who use your religion as an excuse to horrible things that the actual Holy Text in question directly tells you not to do is pretty standard operating procedure for any religion.
Like, it's the same principle as Islam saying that terrorists aren't a proper representatives of their beliefs.
That brings to mind a hilariously galling case where the guy in charge of this conservative college outright banned a liberal Christian speaker from his campus, escalating to shouting he'd have the guy arrested and sued if he showed up at all.
He's...really setting himself up as one of the hypocritical priests in Jesus' story a lot.
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Apparently Milo Yackadappleis is aiming to restructure his career into...gospel singing? That's a career nonsequitur if I ever saw one. I'd have figured he'd turn into a smug, detestable soundcloud rapper.
Edited by NickTheSwing on Mar 9th 2019 at 12:56:52 PM
After week of controversy, Rep. Ilhan Omar says her criticism of President Obama was distorted
"You know I will talk about the family separation or caging of kids and people will point out that this was Trump — I mean this was Obama. I mean I'll say something about the droning of countries around the world and people will say that was Obama. And all of that is very true," Omar, who posted audio of the specific portion of the interview on Twitter, said.
"We can't be only upset with Trump because he's not a politician who sells us his policies in the most perfect way. His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than he was, and that's not what we should be looking for anymore," Omar added. "We don't want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished, we want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile so that we can understand the kind of negative impact, or positive impact they will have on us for generations to come."
After many took Omar's comments as a harsh critique of Obama, who remains widely popular across the Democratic Party, she took to Twitter to clarify the comments, writing, "I'm an Obama fan! I was saying how Trump is different from Obama, and why we should focus on policy not politics."
Ok, so I like Omar a lot better now. I know the feeling of disliking a few parts of a person's politics but still being a fan of and voting for that person. I feel like she correctly identified some of the policies that I didn't like about Obama and I want her to be able to say things like that while still remaining someone who is seen as a fan of Obama and on his side politically. Pointing out the problematic parts of your own party isn't easy and I'd hate for the lesson she learns from this to be 'never admit you think your party was wrong about something'.
Edited by Soban on Mar 9th 2019 at 8:47:50 AM
The Prosperity Gospel and Big Box Churches (i.e. religious corporations) that have emerged are hard to take seriously from any sort of theological standpoint. Especially as many outright exist solely to repeat Republican talking points while taking money they never apply to social justice, just their own expansion and proliferation.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Mar 9th 2019 at 6:07:41 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.![]()
For starters, completely mishandle the situation in Syria.
Overall though he did a pretty good job. He didn’t rock the boat, which is obviously what he was aiming for to make sure the legacy of the first black president was a positive one.
Edited by archonspeaks on Mar 9th 2019 at 6:09:39 AM
They should have sent a poet.
Megachurches etc always make me wonder if these guys ever heard the story of Jesus and the money changers
.
Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Mar 9th 2019 at 3:10:49 PM
We learn from history that we do not learn from history

Draghin has it right: if this is to be done at all, it is the work of other white people, not the very same people they literally want enslaved or dead.
Edited by PhysicalStamina on Mar 8th 2019 at 11:01:35 AM
i'm tired, my friend