This egregious, psuedo-fundamentalist-for-cash organisation seems to have its feet firmly under the table in certain areas of British and European politics. Its chief counsel Jay Sekulow (also drumpf's lawyer), has a long history of grifting and anti-democratic practices.
"The Fundie Baby Voice
As soon as Senator Katie Britt started speaking, I knew exactly who she is. She is so many of the pastor's wives and Sunday School teachers I knew growing up in an Evangelical church. Be sweet. Obey."
I decided I wanted to do a frame-by-frame analysis of the Super Bowl "He Gets Us" ad, getting into the iconography and meaning of this recruitment attempt tailored to attract moderate to liberal non-Christians and cultural Christians into the fundamentalist evangelical belief system.
It got long. REALLY long. Long enough that I'm dividing it into several posts. Here's part one:
If all cops are bastards, then that includes the social media police.
The tone police.
The people who get on here & attack others for using the wrong verbiage.
The certain users who get online looking for an argument.
The what-about-ers who insist you're a bad person because "you didn't take into account this particular demographic that I am interested in."
The users who get on here & tell other people how to navigate their relationships.
Ironically, Mastodon, which boasts of being free and caring for freedom, often ends up being fundamentalist. Herd thinking is inevitable when thousands of people identify with some. It seems that if non-free or centralized networks are on one political side, then Mastodon automatically has to be on the other side.
The biggest problem is not the algorithm or the advertising, it is not the surveillance. The problem is that we are the same ones who go from one network to another carrying and migrating our data and with them our biases.
I see people trying to make this place a kind of refuge from the burning world, but they bring the fire in their backpack when they come.
The main reason I joined was to follow programming and hacking people and topics, but then I met autistic people and people who are almost philosophers.
It's inevitable, we are like that. But it would be interesting to remember that the restrictions, aggressiveness and turbulence that keep us away from other platforms must be left there.
Maybe no one cares, but I still wanted to say it.
"Negativity is part of life. Unfortunately, social media is increasingly becoming toxic, and I think that it infects all of us if we stay there too long. Just like if you stay in a gas leak too long, you're gonna die. It's not like you're going to die being on social media, but I think you'll be changed."
--Roxane Gay
This is 100% accurate.
The fediverse has a chance to be different. I hope we take it.
In our powerlessness as we watch the world crumble, it's easy to feel that if we can speak our piece online...making sure everyone is using the right language...which is a purity concept--it's easy to feel that if we do this, we've gained a measure of control and we're changing the world for the better.
But really, it's just another form of toxic negativity and #fundamentalism.
Policing others' language very easily turns into a secular form of #PurityCulture.
"Yes, I grew up in a church that, for instance, taught perniciously harmful things about women. AND I grew up in a church that was a tight knit community of people who saw each other several times a week, who ate in each other’s homes and cared what happened in each other’s lives. While I have healed from the former, I have yet to find a substitute for the later. Not entirely."
--N Bolz-Weber
In the late 80s, my now-retired #ornithologist husband spent time bird-watching with #margaretatwood (whom he called Peggy) and her husband, Graeme. Occasionally, he even stayed with them in their #toronto home. Fast forward to today: I am mailing a hand-written note to this literary giant, thanking her for speaking out against the #fundamentalism that defined my first 40 years - and asking her to be a guest on my Divorcing Religion #podcast . Wish me luck!
@jeffowski
Is this opinion based on socio-anthropological research? Or pure animus?
Honestly, this #Episcopalian doesn't begrudge anybody animus toward religion, given its representatives 😒🤦🏻♀️
But I find it impossible to set aside my lived experience, or my desire for a community focused on seeking Truth & Equity
And I consider #fundamentalism of Every Sort to be the opposite of that, dividing us into US vs THEM, & demonizing/dehumanizing 'them'
My #glowup I was raised #Pentecostal & eventually #Mennonite. #fundamentalism ruled my life with an iron fist - until a series of calamities broke through my #cognitivedissonance. Eventually I divorced religion & set myself free. Now I’m a professional counsellor devoted to helping others on their journey from sacred to secular life. I founded CORT (the conference on religious trauma) & host the Divorcing Religion Podcast.
Plagued by unrelenting shame for “normal” activities like masturbation, sex, or enjoying time doing nothing? SHAME IS OFTEN FUNDAMENTALIST RESIDUE. Wipe that sh!t off your shoe and give FREEDOM a try. Start small & work your way up to Big Ticket items. Life is a grand buffet - don’t starve to death because of religion. #ReligiousTrauma#shame#fundamentalism#suffering#freedom#humanism#joy#exchristian#explore
Thoughts on watching the Duggars exposé series "Shiny Happy People":
Why there's David Zaslav, now in the news as an éminence grise behind Chris Licht at CNN, as CNN tries rebranding itself as the alternative FOX. There's David Zaslav, in the thick of things as the Duggars vault to fame on the Discovery network, of which he's CEO.
What's that about, the Zaslav link to both of these stories?
Those who respond, "Well, they have a right to their peculiar religious beliefs," spectacularly miss the point. The point is that they intend to impose these beliefs on you and me by law, and they are working tirelessly to achieve that goal.
Spot the people of color in the footage of IBLP gatherings or young IBLP folks being groomed for political power. I challenge you to find them in any of that footage.