#again as a man and as a jew-in-progress i am NEVER going to use this to justify anything | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

no-terfs-no-swerfs-no-fascists · 1 year

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I seriously dislike the "if you are anti-religion, that just means you grew up around Christianity and are equating all of religion with Christianity" and the "it's only okay to be anti-religion if you have religious trauma" philosophizing I've been seeing more often on Tumblr these days.

I know atheists get a bad rep (and if you know me, you've heard me criticize the movement atheism plenty of times), but there's one thing we are, in fact, right about - religion IS, by and large, bad.

That doesn't mean a religious person is automatically bad, but what you end up realizing after observing a variety of religious groups is that the concept of religion is, by its very nature, a breeding ground for abuse, bigotry, and anti-intellectualism like no other.

Half my family are Muslims, the other half are Eastern Orthodox Christians, and I've grown up around those groups + Catholics, Jews, and Seventh Day Adventists (and yes, three of those five groups fall under the Christianity umbrella, but trust me, cultural differences between them can be staggering). I've also studied these religions, as well as Judaism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Unitarianism, Mormonism, Scientology, Happy Science, the Unification Church, Wicca, and a variety of neopagan revivals, mostly through books written by authors of those religious groups.

I've read histories of those religious groups and followed them in the news, less so after entering the work force in full capacity, but I really did have an obsession of learning about different religions and what makes them tick for about ten or so years. And I didn't study them from the point of view of an atheist/nonbeliever. Hell, I didn't even subscribe to atheism until about five years ago (I am currently 40yo).

Again - a religious person is not automatically a bad person. Plenty of people I love are religious and almost everyone I know is religious too. Being religious in never going to be the reason why I dislike, don't trust, or won't engage with someone.

But a religious person does automatically support a lot of incredibly unsavoury things by the simple act of actively taking part in a religion, and especially if that includes monetary support. The easiest, most obvious example of this is, of course, Catholicism - you going to church services, giving to the collection plate, taking part in church-organized activities, it all shows tacit support for an organization that not only historically has oceans of blood on their hands, but to this very day actively supports, protects, and finances fascists, rapists, murderers, abusers, paedophiles, the anti-LGBTQIAP+ movement, the anti-abortion movement, and subjugation of women, indigenous people, and pretty much anyone who isn't a rich cishet white Catholic man, not only in their religious capacity but also by influencing lawmakers in every country they have even the tiniest modicum of power.

Whether you like it or not, whether you personally subscribe to those parts of your belief system or not, bigotry, subjugation, exploitation, and abuse are baked into the principles of religion as a concept.

Plenty of religious people simply choose to ignore those parts of their religion. They do not practice them, do not teach them, and consider them a vestigial part of the religion they belong to that is simply no longer applicable to them as they have moved on with the times and do not subscribe to those moral principles.

But they're still there, and plenty of people who belong to your religion still practice them, and use the same texts and teachings you do to justify them as morally just and correct. Where you had the fortune to be taught by progressive religious leaders, many others have not. You may share a religion and have radically different view on what it is while using the same words to describe it, and theirs is just as valid a reading of it as yours.

And then, of course, is the matter of the corrupting influence of power. Even the cursory look at the headlines surrounding any religion will tell you that, while individual religious people and even groups who belong to a certain religion can be the most wonderful, accepting, generous people, their religion is but a stone toss away from using its teachings, principles, and beliefs as an excuse to commit unspeakable atrocities. The most infamous example of this is Buddhism, a religion which has radical anti-violence as a core component of their teachings... which has not stopped Buddhists from committing genocides as recently as the late 2010s. Buddhism sells itself as the most enlightened, accepting, and kindest of belief systems, but in those countries where it has power and influence, it is often a willing tool of oppression of its believers and weaponized othering of outgroup people.

Being religious also leaves people vulnerable to various trappings of anti-intellectualism. A religious person is, on average, less likely to trust experts, less likely to be intellectually curious and seek out new knowledge, and more prone to adopting bigoted views and conspiracy theories. Religion has historically had moments when it has been at the center of scientific discovery and development of new thought and knowledge. Medieval Islam is a great example of this, having made incredible strides in the exploration and development of medicine, mathematics, and astronomy, as well as the amazing job it did preserving the scientific and philosophical legacy of Ancient Greece. But it is far more common to see religion as the active suppressor of scientific explorations of reality and free thought, and it is such a common occurrence that I genuinely do not think I need to list the myriad examples of this happening, both historically and in the modern day.

Now, there are people who would reply to everything I've written here by, for example, citing studies that contradict my statements, such as the ones that show being a part of a religious community is good for people's physical, emotional, and mental health, or the fact that there are religious groups that put great importance on pursuing science and arts, such as Orthodox Judaism.

To that, I would reply with - yes, but studies also show same health benefits people get from taking active part in a religious community happen if a person is a member of any actively social community (that is, that the benefits come from socializing with people you have things in common with and taking part of community activities with them, not from religion itself), and that, without exception, the religious groups that put an emphasis on study and creativity will just as often actively discourage their female members from being anything but docile submissive broodmares without ever considering themselves hypocritical or wrong for doing so. Trust me, it wouldn't take too much effort to find similar counters for any other argument against what I've written in this post.

I can appreciate that religion plays an important role in your life and that it is a positive influence for you. Life is awful, unfair, and cruel, and you will never hear me begrudge you any ray of sunshine you can catch or any coping mechanism that gets you through life's horrors. I will also not go around telling people that they should abandon their religion - it is neither my place nor my job to tell you how to manage your life.

But don't expect me to indulge the position that religion is a net-positive as a whole or that anyone who isn't blind to the fact that this is demonstrably not true is just a victim of Christianity.

Yes, absolutely, educate yourself on other religions, it will do you a world of good, just like most other honest intellectual pursuits, and you will learn a lot of fascinating and fun things, and broaden your cultural horizons.

But go into it with open eyes, study the history behind those religions too, and try to do so from as objective sources as you can find.

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nataliesnews · 8 months

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LARSEN IN THE GARDEN OF THE BEASTS 20.2.2024

I feel slightly more normal today as, at bottles, I told the story of my hearing aid....which I am going to order a new one today. One friend who helps me in the morning with the bottles. She said her son had been lying on the sofa when the cat jumped on top of him. His glasses went flying and they never found them again evn after he moved and completely emptied the house. Another friend said how, after a visitor had left, she found a bracelet which turned out to be that of the visitor and was not only valuable, but a keepsake. She put it away in a safe place.......and never found it again.

I am going for an eeg this week. Irit is going with me. I don't know why but they demand that I bring someone with me. After that I have decided I will go to my doctor again about not being able to eat.....it is not only not wanting to eat but even food I used to really enjoy is like dust in my mouth. Not that I think he can help me but I will do tests again. I just took the last Corona test. Sometimes I wonder if it is not a delayed reaction from the Corona I had about two months ago but hard to believe.

I went out to supper with friends.....all we could talk about was the war. Yesterday I went to see "One life" about Sir Nicholas Winton wbo brought nearly 700 children from Germany in the Second World Wars and for years no one knew anything about him. It is a very uplifting film about a man who in the end saves 1000s of Jews and in all modesty. And only in the last years of his life was this brought out because of a scrap book that he had kept of those terrible days. But both I and a friend of mine sat there and thought of the children of Gaza whom no one can help .Just as so many thousands of Jewish children who died with no one to help them. And yet so many of my friends who helped Palestinians were so disappointed that they got no expression of pain because of what happened at the beginning of the war. But this also is part of it .And we forget what they have gone through all the years of the occupation.

Not the best of books to listen to at this time and place but plenty of reasons to think and compare. It could be written about Israel today and I can only pray, not about Israel in the future. Netanyahu...what can I say. His rise to power was by democratic means but what is happening now is far from democratic. The way the police are trying to stop the demonstrations, the attacks on , not only Arabs but Jews, who do not agree with the government and who demonstrate for its downfall, who show sympathy for Gaza....look at what is happening to Arab society. Read about Lucy Harish whom " Education Ministry Withdraws Funding ofJewish Event Over Arab Israeli Host..." A woman who represents mixed marriage cannot represent Jewish culture' said the ministry about journalist and host Lucy Aharish, who is married toJewish Fauda star Tsahi Halevi; the Israeli council that hosts the annual event to 'promote a pluralistic,progressive and free Judaism' demands the ministry to retract its decision. Nuremberg Israeli style. Just the first three PDFs should give you the idea. Surveillance there is

more and more of that, as you can also see here.

By the way when you read the book you see how much anti-Semitism there was in the American government at the mind. And this is also what Netanyahu has caused to happen to Jews in the diaspora......only now the anti-Semitism that was so open then and has been latent in the last years, had been given the opening to express itself openly.

I travel on the bus and train and see the young soldiers and it pains me as I wonder how many will be alive at the end of the period which Netanyahu keeps telling us we will have to fight, which seems without end. Every morning when I wake up to hear that another soldier has been killed I think of Billy the Kid who put another notch on his rifle for each man he killed. I wonder how many notches there have to be in Netanyahu's chair before it will collapse. But horribly it seems that two of the worst leaders we have, he and Trump, will be re-elected.

As for not allowing the Palestinians in the occupied areas to work in Israel......the government wants to bring in foreign workers. The |Palestinians are in ghettos. They cannot get out to work and yet, only today, 10s of illegal workers have been found in Israel. CYNTHIA, read what I sent in answer to your question about israeli don't be surprised. How long do they think they can leave people to starve and die of thirst and be attacked daily by the settlers? No one could be surprised at the attack in Ra'anana. So the PDF don't be surprised is so true. Many Arab Israelis know that the truth but they do not only watch El Jazeera. But then, who are we to speak when so few Israelis have any idea of what is happening on the West Bank or care. People ask, will the Palestnians eventually just erupt. How can I when in the atmosphere of today I can imagine them simply being shot at as they come out of their villages. As it is. They are so threatened by the settlers that they hardly dare to leave their houses.We get continual requests for help, for food. One does not know where to turn. Villages have become ghettos.

For most Palestinians, October 7’s savagery is literally unbelievable. Blame the TV news?

Al Jazeera and others largely ignored Hamas atrocities, bolstering distrust of Israeli accounts; one poll found 97% in West Bank deny the monstrous acts committed against civilians

This is a story which I doubt will be published overseas

Father of fallen soldier: Terrorist decapitated my son, tried to sell head for $10,000

And the government, besides not making real efforts to bring them back also is not giving the support it should, delays giving them financial support. So hard to believe.

#LARSEN IN THE GARDEN OF THE BEASTS 20.2.2024

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hypnoticwinter · 10 months

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The End of History and what it means for you

A while ago, a political scientist named Francis Fukuyama wrote a book called The End of History and the Last Man. In it, Fukuyama argues that history is an essentially evolutionary process and that the modern Western form of liberal democracy is a fundamentally better system of governance than any of the alternatives. This is what he means by the 'end of history' - he's thinking of it in the same sense that Marx and Hegel were, where history is a linear progression or evolution through socioeconomic eras.

Fukuyama argues that, in the time since the French Revolution, this sort of liberal democracy has proven time and again to be a better system than other styles of government and as such there is no reason why there would be a progression from it to a better system. Rather than a literal end of history in which no more events occur, according to Fukuyama the end results of those events will be that liberal democracy becomes more and more prevalent in the world.

Naturally this is a very silly idea just to begin with and a lot of people made fun of Fukuyama for it, and to his credit he has mostly stuck to his guns about it since 1992 when his book was published.

With that being said, I think the world is approaching a much more literal 'end of history' than Fukuyama expected or anticipated. Keep in mind that he was writing in 1992. The Berlin wall had been torn down in 1989, the USSR dissolved right at the end of 1991. Apartheid would end two years later in 1994. It was an optimistic time.

Coming to the end of 2023 in the West, however, I am a little bit less optimistic. The politicization of the Covid pandemic and the resultant inflation and bailouts have driven the national debt in the US to record highs, with gas and food prices to match. Year after year, it seems, ever since 9/11 or so, everything gets very slightly worse; the quality and size of products for sale decreases, the cleanliness of our cities decreases, race relations take an ironic tumble ever since Obama was elected. Today we are faced with enormous government spending on foreign wars with dubious, if any, real benefits to American citizens.

Everyone with a brain knows that the geriatric pencilnecks in Congress are still living in a world where the Cold War never ended, and the American public has gradually come to terms with that, just like we've come to terms with a world where 'no-go' zones exist in American cities, where Flint, Michigan still does not have drinkable water (that's a bit of an exaggeration as the water does still have lead in it but it's below the EPA's maximum allowable level...but there isn't any safe minimum for lead exposure, which says something about the fact that there is a nonzero maximum allowable level of lead in drinking water supplies).

The last fifty years, and the last thirty in particular, have taught The Powers That Be (by which I mean whatever shadowy cabal of international political and economic entities really control the major Western countries - depending on your political leaning you can call them bankers, Jews, Soros, the Illuminati, big business, the CIA, whatever fits your worldview best) a great deal about what people in the West are able to come to terms with.

The end of history that I see approaching, or perhaps possibly already arrived, is a world and a society where The Powers That Be are able to implement whatever policy they want as long as they do it slowly enough so that the population and tax base of the countries they control do not complain. We have reached a sort of equilibrium now in the West where The Powers That Be have roughly calculated the amount of distractions the average pleb requires in order to overlook the policies that are being implemented that actively harm them. Pornography and video entertainment are available for free online, or require barely any effort to pirate; although more expensive recently, food is still cheap, especially for those poor enough to qualify for food stamps and other types of assistance. There are subsections of the population who do not even have to work as they are propped up by government subsidy for nebulous mental illnesses that have contradictory or seemingly nonexistent symptoms, while others simply live off of the largesse of family members or scam seemingly never-ending unemployment benefits from state governments. For those that do work, wages are stagnant and the price of gas and food and shelter (these people as a rule do not tend to qualify for any sort of assistance for these things, or if they do it is at minimal levels) increase steadily, but not at such a high pace that we do anything more than grumble about it and then accept things as just the way they are.

In five years, your car will be shittier and your apartment will either be smaller, or the same size but with two or three more roommates in it. There will be more people in your city that you have nothing in common with. There will be more crime, more government spending on items that do not have any meaningful impact on your life. Infrastructure will be worse. People in general will be dumber, either addled by prescription drugs that are entirely too easy to get ahold of or the product of a failing educational system. You will be in debt, but it won't be a big deal cause everyone knows unsecured debts don't really matter. In California people actually vill be living in ze pod and eating ze bugs and we will still be laughing at them but not quite as loud. Repeat ad infinitum.

There will always be a chunk of the population who does notice and care, but the portion of that chunk that is actually angry enough to try and do something about it will, it seems, always be too small to actually matter or to be able to coordinate in any meaningful way. The vast majority of people will be either too stupid to see what is being done to them and notice the gradual decrease in the quality of life, or too ground down by the monotony of daily life to spare any brainpower for things like that.

A situation like this can be maintained indefinitely so long as the distractions supplied are adequate. Totalitarian regimes in the past have tried to crush dissent and maintain control over culture in order to prevent a counterculture from forming, but the regime we live under has made the deduction that it is much easier to control people who actually have something to lose, who have lives that are relatively comfortable (key word relatively), and who ultimately see no reason to try and stand up to anyone. The spirit of '76 is long dead at this point, and even if there were enough red-blooded patriots left to revive it, very few of them would be willing to die for a country filled with people who are in effect collaborators.

Let's be perfectly clear: there is nobody in this equation who is innocent. Everybody who has stood by and allowed us to reach the end of history is part of the problem, everybody who has allowed themselves to become mired in racial and identity politics, everybody who has accepted a smaller shittier life on a yearly basis without doing anything more than grumbling is part of the problem. Everyone who has paid their taxes in the last fiscal year is part of the problem (and if you haven't and you're reading this, I congratulate you on being more based than I am).

The ironic thing here is that the power is still ultimately weighted towards the populations of these countries rather than with The Powers That Be. The Cabal needs footsoldiers and collaborators, and each of those footsoldiers is a weak link as the excuse of following orders only goes so far. To be clear: those outside the top 1% of wealth do not share the same values as the Cabal. Nobody outside the Cabal shares those values, and there are far more of us collaborators than there are of the true believers, at the end of the day. These are people with names and addresses, with families and business interests and properties. The people who work for them are the same, and so are the people who work for them all the way down to the lowest man on the totem pole, who is still, I might add, a collaborator.

But we all know, ultimately, that nothing like that is going to happen. It would require too much sacrifice; our lives are too comfortable to risk on something like that, even if we really did believe that the system we are entangled in is as evil and calculating as I am suggesting here that it is. We have reached a point where it is obvious that demonstrations and protests do nothing; these are easily ignored by The Powers That Be. If necessary they can be quashed by force, and the collective population of the West has proven that we will, ultimately, look the other way, as long as it is them getting quashed and not us, and especially if some new spectacle can be offered for our attention to shift to.

I said earlier that this system can continue on indefinitely and that is more or less true, barring some sort of cataclysmic outside event like an asteroid or one of these CMEs we keep hearing about finally actually knocking the internet offline for an entire hemisphere. The Powers That Be could also change their minds, or become too stupid to be able to continue the system as it exists today, but we cannot assume that if we just wait long enough things will change.

We are all collaborators because we have chosen so far to look the other way. We are all morally culpable for Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people because we fund the governments that fund Israel. We are all morally culpable for the systematic depopulation of the Ukraine because we fund the governments that fund Ukraine (or more accurately, that fund Zelensky and his cronies' lucrative embezzlement schemes). We are all morally culpable for every injustice committed by the countries we live in because we pay for it with taxes, because we look the other way when it happens, because we are unwilling to offer more than milquetoast dissent, because we are unable to sacrifice any of the comfort our lives in the West hold, even as they are gradually made more and more shitty as time goes on.

Until we, individually as collaborators, take action to undo that culpability, it is a stain that will follow us wherever we go and whatever we do. And even this, I'm afraid, is something we in the West will be able to learn to live with. Once we do, history will truly have ended.

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troybeecham · 1 year

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A Palm Sunday sermon:

Today’s Gospel at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Palms and reflection :

Matthew 21:1-11

“When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, `The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

"Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,

"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

Often, Palm Sunday sermons focus on the second reading, the trial of Jesus. This year I want to focus on the fact that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to signify his kingdom was one of peace rather than riding on a horse, which would indicate his intention to bring about his kingdom as a warrior. I’ve never heard anyone focus on where he got the donkey, and why it is significant enough to be such a focus in the Gospel. I’m going to focus on that this year.

The Gospel accounts tell the story of Jesus’ slow progress to Jerusalem from Galilee, teaching and healing all along the way, and always just outside the control of the Jerusalem authorities. He is now entering Jerusalem coming directly from Jericho, where he had just healed the blind man, and multitudes of Jews and Gentiles were following him all along the way up the steep pilgrim road to Jerusalem, shouting with joy, “Hosanna (Save us now!) Son of David!”, signifying that the coming of Jesus is for the salvation of all people, Jews and Gentiles, and also “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD”, echoing the Gospel saying of Jesus, “I am come in my Father’s name.” When they got to Bethphage, Jesus told his disciples to get a donkey, saying simply “The Lord needs it” if anyone asked what they thought they were doing taking a donkey.

Now, Bethphage was a small village created for the priests of the Temple, situated on Mount Olivet, one mile from Jerusalem. For the priests who ministered in the temple for their their apportioned time (there was a rota that shared out priestly duty amongst the priestly class), at the end of the day they would journey to this village to rest before the next morning’s worship commenced. Because it was commanded by the Law that none should travel on the Sabbath more than a mile, there were several such priestly villages.

Imagine the sight of thousands of people following Jesus into Jerusalem…the same Jesus who often preached in the Temple that God’s saving love was present in him. He preached always about repentance, that is turning away from the false idea that we can save ourselves and turn to God who alone can save, and about the coming kingdom of God, saying that if the people of Israel did not turn their hearts again to the LORD rather than to false dreams of political power and domination of their neighboring kingdoms being propagated by the Jerusalem hierarchy, that the Temple would be destroyed, because of the Judean hierarchy had corrupted the Temple and had been turning of the people’s hearts away from trust in the LORD’s plan of salvation and towards false dreams of overcoming their enemies by their own strength through war. This is at the heart of why the Judean aristocracy and false Temple hierarchy goaded Judeans to clamor and riot for the release of Jesus bar Abbas, a revolutionary military leader and son of a former high priest of the aristocratic Abbas family, rather than the gentle healer Jesus bar Joseph, who dared to call himself the Son of God. It was this corrupt cabal whom Jesus confronted openly and fearlessly, especially in their financial corruption of the Temple by requiring special Temple currency, an act which led to Jesus overturning the money changers’ tables and driving out all the animals being sold with an improvised whip.

Jesus was a controversial character, someone whose words or even silent presence required decision (the meaning of ‘crisis’), but amongst the poor, the outcast, the downtrodden, he had a great many sympathetic listeners, even within the ranks of faithful hereditary priestly clans, many of whom had become his disciples. (The current High Priests were not hereditary priests but aristocrats who had been placed in authority over the Temple after the Maccabean revolt, and who then took over the Temple after the defeat of the last Maccabean king by Rome. They broke with the Torah when they assumed religious roles given by God to the descendants of Aaron, and so there was division in the Temple). What an amazing act of faith, some might say defiance, on the part of the priests in Bethphage, some of whom, at least, were joining in with Jesus, seeing in him the long awaited Messiah. I imagine that they were terrified even as they felt the joy of throwing off the spiritual shackles of the corrupt, illegitimate Temple hierarchy, hoping, praying, that this Son of David would indeed bring salvation to the people of Israel and restore the true worship of God in the Temple.

This simple act of choosing to join with Jesus set in motion not just the events of Holy Week, including the Crucifixion of Jesus, but also the Resurrection! It set in motion a confrontation between the legitimate and illegitimate control of the Temple, which we read about in the first several chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, which includes the line that says because of the the Resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus, who was seen alive by thousands, and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, making the suddenly fearless royal heralds of God’s risen Son and the coming of the kingdom of God, performing miracles before the masses of Jerusalem, “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:7).

My friends, choosing faith, choosing which side to follow, choosing which Savior to love has never been easy. We all have family ties, religious and ethnic loyalties, political affiliations, and philosophical beliefs. Many of these, if not most or all, threaten us that if we make a break with them and turn wholly to God in Jesus our Savior we will be rejected and alone. I understand how hard these are. But this is the call being made to us. Sometimes all it takes is an almost unnoticed, anonymous act of lending someone your donkey to change not only your world, but the whole world. I pray that God will enlighten all of our hearts and give us the grace and courage to follow this humble Savior who came riding, not on a stallion for armed conflict, but on a donkey to show us the path of peace, faith, righteousness, self-sacrifice, and salvation.

Amen.

#father troy beecham #christianity #jesus #saints #god #salvation #peace #faith #early church #theology #new testament #second temple jewish theology

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beyondtsh · 2 years

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What Do “Progressive” Christians Believe? 9 Beliefs That Go Against God’s Word

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What Do “Progressive” Christians Believe? 9 Beliefs That Go Against God’s Word

Have you ever wondered what do “progressive” Christians believe? Have you thought about how to rebut or refute their beliefs using the Word of God?

The term “Christian” often refers to followers of Jesus Christ. But what do people mean when they use the term “progressive Christian”?

What Is a Progressive Christian?

The label “progressive Christian” can mean many things. Sometimes, it refers to a specific denomination or group of denominations. Other times, it refers to a philosophy or theology that is distinct from the historic, orthodox understanding of the Christian faith and doctrine.

The word “progressive” is often used as a synonym for “liberal,” but that is a limited definition of the term. Generally, when people say they are “progressive Christians,” they are referring to those who believe in certain beliefs that are in direct contradiction to the Bible.

Get this Christian t-shirt here!

So what do progressive Christians believe? Here are 9 beliefs of most progressive Christians and why they go against the Word of God (Note: Get out your Bible!):

1. ‘Jesus was a socialist.’ The Ten Commandments speaks against envy, which is really the basis for socialism.

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2. ‘Jesus’ vision was for a transformed society, not an ‘afterlife fantasy about heaven, but a vision for a new society that would be better than the one we live in now.‘ John 14:1-4 completely refutes this errant belief:

“1 Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. “2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

Jesus was talking about Heaven, not a ‘heaven on Earth,’ but HEAVEN above with God the Father.

3. ‘Jesus didn’t want to start a religion in His name, but rather He wanted to advance His message through a movement.’ Read Matthew 28:18 and 16:18. Jesus wants a Relationship with His children, not a Religion or even a movement. His desire is for a personal relationship with each of us.

4. ‘Jesus didn’t come to die and reconcile humanity to the Father, because they’re one in spirit with God, and not separated from Him by sin.’ Read 2 Corinthians 5:19

5. ‘Christianity, as we know it, is really based on the “theories and doctrines of Paul” and not the teachings and life of Jesus, as Paul’s writings comprise 13 books of the New Testament.’

2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…”

2 Peter 1:21: “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

6. ‘The belief that Jesus was God the Creator in the flesh, in human form is false.’

John 8:57-58 57 “Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

John 10:26-30 “26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”

7. ‘Jesus taught that we all share in the same spirit that empowered His character and life.’ This belief is really far from the truth. Jesus and God are absolutely sinless! Conversely, humans are born in sin, so we obviously can not share in the same spirit – the Holy Spirit, who is also perfect and sinless.

Isaiah 64:6-7 “6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. 7 And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities.”

8. ‘Jesus didn’t teach that following Him is the only way to heaven.’ Oh, yes He did!

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

9. ‘Jesus didn’t teach that we should anticipate His second coming to “save the world and end suffering” but rather that we should take responsibility for saving the world and solving suffering ourselves.’

John 18:36 “Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

It would be very hard to save a world that is not here on Earth. The Kingdom of Heaven is not here on Earth and we mere humans can do nothing to save our world or save ourselves. Only Jesus Christ and His Father in Heaven can save us – even save us from ourselves!

So What Do Progressive Christians Believe?

Certainly nothing that can be substantiated in the Word of God, that’s for sure!

Get this Christian zip hoodie here!

What are your thoughts on this? Do you consider yourself a “progressive” or “woke” Christian? If so, you may want to start reading the Bible more often.

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wonderlandleighleigh · 2 years

Note

Could you make one of the "public" reacting to the Lenny/Midge relationship?

Or maybe Penny Pann seeing them and judging 😅

COMEDY AND CUPID?

by L Roy Dunham

Dear readers, it seems that our city's most tasteless comic has found herself a man.

That's right. Mrs. Maisel - she of the unfunny punchline and former burlesque MC duties, now currently in-house comic for Gordon Ford - has found a new romance with one Lenny Bruce. They were spotted walking hand-in-hand in Midtown a few nights ago, and even sharing what looked to be a rather steamy embrace.

Are we really surprised? Mrs. Maisel got her start opening for Bruce at the Gaslight when Sophie Lennon had tried to blackball her from the local clubs (a valiant endeavor). They've been popping up at each other's shows for a number of years at this point. It was only a matter of time before the relationship went public.

With her shiny new television spot and his run at Carnegie Hall followed by his Chicago charges being dropped, it's no wonder the two are now being a little less conspicuous about a relationship that has likely being going on for a while.

So what does this all mean?

Likely that she truly did get her start by opening for Bruce in a number of different ways. Certainly that comedy for Maisel has been a mere husband hunt.

And seemingly, she's found one.

Good for you, Mrs. Maisel. May you remarry, and go back to your Jell-O molds, never to grace our comedy clubs again.

The New Feminine School of Comedy, Jewishness and the Art of Minding One's Own Business

By Lenny Bruce

I suppose I can press pause on my history of comedy and the modern sense of humor series to address some things. Right? That's allowed. Sure.

Yes, I am seeing a very funny lady that I have known for a number of years. We have been friends for a while, and things have progressed into romance. They do that from time to time. It's fairly common actually, for consenting adults to one day look at someone they like or admire or even care for and think "Oh. It's you."

It even happens to us celebrities.

Let's get down to it:

Now, Timmy. When a man and a woman love each other very much -

Wait, wrong lecture.

Right.

This paper has printed quite a few articles about how unfunny Midge Maisel is. Her humor is not for everyone, I suppose. It's very feminine, which is a brand of comedy a lot of people just aren't used to yet. It's a new concept for women to go on stage at a smoky club and talk the way men do about their lives. Men have done it for decades, of course, but women are expected to stay in their home kitchens (god forbid they set foot in professional ones, right?), raise their children and die shortly after their husbands do.

But Midge Maisel decided to do something different with the very real pain of being left by a self-centered husband with two children and no job.

She got on a stage and she talked about how much it stinks.

How dare she! Trying things that men do. What nerve. What gall.

Maisel's brand of humor is also very Jewish. She is a Jewish woman who was raised in a Jewish community who is raising her own children in a Jewish community. And I wonder if these hit pieces that the Daily News sees fit to print are veiled attempts at antisemitism. It certainly feels that way sometimes. We are, after all, very easy targets. I bet you can find a few nice old men in Argentina who can confirm that fact.

As a Jew myself, I can tell you that I am deeply aware when I read something that feels strange; when you know you are being singled out because you are Other. Some of these articles feel that way. It's unsettling.

In regards to my relationship with Midge Maisel, that's really no one's business but ours. I suppose if you must pass judgement on two divorced people making a go at something new, you may, but it won't change anything. She makes me laugh. She makes me very happy. I like to think I do those things for her. Ain't love grand?

As a point of order, this will be the only time I address my love life in these articles. Next time, I promise: none of you will have to bother reading anything like this again. Next time, I'll just call my lawyer.

He won't mind hearing from me for a sixth time this week. We've become pals, you know?

Next week, we'll be looking at the concept of The Fool in a historical context and how it bleeds into our modern sensibilities.

Until then, readers.

#fic #au #tmmm #Midge/Lenny #Midge x Lenny

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earnestly-endlessly · 3 years

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Hi! I'm wondering if you can make a list of fics where Erik's jewish heritage isn't ignored? I just came across the fact that a lot of authors don't explore this part of him for some reason and i found it kinda upsetting so i'm wondering if you have any recs! I liked "As They Kiss, Consume" and "Who Shall be King Hereafter" by sherwoodfox, in case anyone who's reading this ask is interested in the same topic.

Hi Anon. I'm sorry for taking so long with this list but your request sent me on a wide search for fics that fit with your request. I tried to find a variety of fics where Erik's Jewish heritage is addressed. Some of them aren't necessarily cherik, but most of them are. I hope you enjoy this list.

Mistletoe, Latkes, and Long-Term Revenge Strategies – pocky_slash

Summary: Charles knows that Erik hates working at a department store in the best of times. Being Jewish in a department store during the holiday season is far from the best of times. He does what he can to help.

A Nice Boy (the Family Matters Edition) – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik's not sure whether the problem is that he doesn't want his parents to meet Charles or that he doesn't want Charles to meet his parents. Either way, he never invites Charles to brunch. Why should he? It's not like they're dating.

A Road Trip to Pennsylvania – Aainiouu

Summary: For a year Charles has nurtured the biggest and most embarrassing crush known to man towards Erik. They are friends and roommates and when Erik asks Charles to accompany him to home on Thanksgiving of course Charles goes.

In the Bleak Midwinter – keire_ke

Summary: It is not easy to find out, well into the second decade of the twenty-first century, that your mother arranged a marriage for you. It is even less easy to convince her that you have no interest in the very fertile Magda, she of the wide hips and lustrous auburn hair. Fortunately, with a good friend at his side over the holiday weekend, Erik is sure he will prevail.

Speech Making – phalangine

Summary: Modern Emma AU- Charles Xavier, accomplished matchmaker and headmaster of North America’s preeminent school for mutants, intends to add another notch to his belt: setting up his friend Moira. His oldest friend, Erik, has doubts about this plan.

Charles doesn’t share them.

This is life (and everything’s all right) – pocky_slash

Summary: Edie Lehnsherr came into Charles' life long before he ever heard Erik Lehnsherr's name, and her death left a gaping hole in the lives of everyone in Charles' family. As the first Purim without her approaches, he begins to get creative in his efforts to bring everyone out of their grief. Kitchen creativity, however, is not quite his strength....

Bashert – AvengingAngel

Summary: Erik and Charles meet and fall in love. I wanted to write a story where Erik had a huge family. Pretty fluffy (for me anyways). I suck at summaries.

Note: The summary doesn’t reveal much but if you’re looking for a fic where Erik is jewish and has a large family with a heavy dose of cherik fluff and angst then this one is for you.

Math Reasons – pearl_o, pocky_slash

Summary: "Mom says Erik always knows what he wants, it just sometimes takes him a little while to actually realize it," Ruth said.

Charles fell in love with Erik the first night they met, the first week of freshman year. Two years of friendship, adventures, arguments, hijinks, secrets, and summer visits later, Erik is starting to catch up.

Ser

It’s kind of our whole things – pearl_o, pocky_slash

Summary: After two years of best friendship, Charles and Erik thought they knew everything there was to know about each other. They're surprised, then, when their first summer as a couple reveals that they have a lot to learn about each other and themselves.

Sequel to Math Reasons

A Winter in New York – nextraordinaire

Summary: Charles and Erik have been childhood friends for as long as they can remember – Erik, living with his mother in Queens, and Charles in the big mansion in Westchester. For all, expect themselves, it was just natural progression that they'd end up together.

A series of ficlets from the same universe – can be read as separate and are out of chronological order.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside – heyjupiter

Summary: "It's just, this is my first Chanukah away from my parents. And it's--it's like 90 degrees out."

Erik Lehnsherr and Kitty Pryde celebrate a Genoshan Chanukah. It's a little different from the way it used to be in New York, but some unexpected visitors help them embrace the spirit of the holiday season.

Hold Back the Rain (front!strict mashup) – euphorbic

Summary: Charles Xavier: society darling, powerful political activist, well-known professor, and Dominant.

Erik Lehnsherr: anti-social, international motorcycle racer, and defiant submissive.

Erik is at Sepang in Malaysia for the fourteenth leg of the International World Championship. After doing poorly in qualifying, he's furious to find he has to take another VIP around the track instead of meeting Charles at the KL airport.

The Swan – waitfornight

Summary: In 1939 Erik and his sister Ruth are sent to Devonshire, England, during the Kindertransport refugee program to live with Kurt and Sharon Marko as foster children just before the start of World War II. Angry and wishing he could return home on the night of his seventeenth birthday, Erik meets a boy alone in the forest who is cursed to transform each day into a swan, only taking his true form by night.

Swan Lake AU.

The boy with the heart on his sleeve – euphorbic

Summary: Charles loses a high-stakes bet to Raven and is required to get a tattoo. However, when he makes a disparaging remark about the art form, Raven's acerbic mentor, Erik, steps in.

Or, the one where Erik and Raven are tattoo artists.

The Wurst Case Scenario – sareyen

Summary:If anyone asked why Charles, come rain, wind or shine, made the significant trek during his dismal lunch hour to dine at "Edie's Kosher Delicatessen", he would stubbornly say that it was because their pastrami on rye and potato knishes were absolutely to die for. He wasn't completely lying, because the deli's namesake, Edie Lehnsherr, made the best matzah ball soup Charles has ever had in his life. Still, Charles would rather shave his full head of hair off than admit that the real reason he would willingly walk through hail and fire to get to the corner deli was because of Erik, the insanely attractive man working the counter.

Sure, Erik has barely spoken two words to Charles other than "Hello, what can I get you?" or, after the third day in a row that Charles came to the deli, "Welcome back, what can I get you?", but Charles was more than happy to just ogle at the man from afar while devouring the juicy wurst Erik had put together with his (large and very capable) hands.

But, little does Charles know, Erik doesn't usually work the front counter. He only does it when he knows the cute blue-eyed man will be dining in.

This is life (and everything’s all right) – pocky_slash

c'est regarder ensemble dans la même direction – melonbutterfly

Summary: Since that day on the beach, Charles and Erik have learned to agree to disagree for the sake of living and working together. Then, for Christmas, and Charles gives Erik Hanukkah back a second time, and their relationship shifts a little further.

Terrible Hanukkah Sweaters and Other Life Challenges – professor

Summary: “Why am I here again?” Erik groans.

“I need you to lift things and glower at people over my shoulder when I tell people that it’s not ‘politically correct’ or a ‘war on Christmas’ to have a non-denominational winter holiday festival,” says Theresa Pryde.

Well, at least those are two things he’s good at.

Shrapnel – librata

Summary: It's late 1940, and tensions between the Axis and the Allies are tightening. Displaced and alone, 16-year-old German Jew Erik Lehnsherr finds himself employed as a servant by some snobby, terrible family in England whose house is far too big and whose money never seems to end. The worst part is, he isn't just mucking stables or cleaning plates–-he's tasked with tending to the whiny, disabled son named Charles, who might just drive Erik into absolute madness.

Or, the World War II fic in which Erik and Charles experience a changing world and a lot of teen angst.

Defying Expectations – Baamon5evr

Summary: Charles and Erik meet each other’s family. Neither of them gets what they expect.

table for three – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik should have known to call ahead to the Chinese restaurant--it's Christmas Eve and he lives in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, after all. But before he can go home to mourn the loss of another one of his mother's yearly traditions, he's accosted by a teenage girl with a strange proposition--that he should stay and have dinner with her and her mother, instead.

different from all other nights – metonymy

Summary: "This year we are slaves; next year we will be free." Kitty and Erik host a seder for Passover at the Xavier School.

Libertad – ariadnes_string

Summary: Erik knew the look, had seen it his whole life, even before the war. ”You, with your height and blue eyes and straight nose, you can pass. You can be free of us. You are not marked with your difference.” If you only knew, he’d thought then. He thought the same thing now. And it was that thought, as much as anything, that made him move towards the gate.

Wash Away – sebastian2017

Summary: One quiet, lonely morning, before Yom Kippur, Erik makes his way to the sea in search of forgiveness.

After? There is No ‘After’ – Unrepentant_Marvelist

Summary: Erik knows what he is for. He has known his responsibilities as a survivor since the moment he woke under a scratchy, lice-infested blanket in the Red Army hospital. His world is painted in lucid blacks and whites (so often splashed in red) and there is no room for uncertainty or indecision... until a certain sunburned Englishman throws himself into his world.

The Children of an Idle Brain – Margo_Kim

Summary: Sometimes, when he’s lucky, Schmidt can’t hurt him. It’s like there’s a room inside of Erik’s head that’s he’s usually locked out of, that won’t open no matter if he beats himself bloody against it. On those days, he endures. But sometimes—and Erik doesn’t know why, whether it’s that the stars align or some higher power takes pity or Erik screams loud enough to earn his reward—the door opens. Erik can duck inside and slam it behind him and watches himself through the windows as Schmidt slowly, methodically tortures him to strength.

These days, this past week, there’s a boy in the room with him and he tells Erik, “That’s horrible,” like that means something.

Somehow, across the world, Erik's and Charles' minds touch when they need each other most. They can't be sure that the other boy is real. They suspect that he is not. But that doesn't mean they aren't each other's lifeline until they lose each other and then for a while longer.

Tehillim – kvikindi

Summary: Erik, in Israel, afterwards: another life he could have had. If.

I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) – childishinquiry

Summary: Erik has worn long sleeves his whole life, even before they had to wear yellow stars. Marching along his arm, in neat, black, English letters, are the words "My name's Charles Xavier."

Precious Few Years – sherwoodfox

Summary: Erik and Charles (known only to each other by the letters inscribed on their wrists) are meant to be together, soulmates, destined for the most powerful kind of love and connection a human being can experience.

But they are separated in almost every possible way- by distance, by circumstance, by language, by war. Their chances of success- of finding one another in the labyrinth of the world- are very slim. There is a reason why most people never find their soulmates.

But of course, Charles and Erik aren't ordinary children-

They have their gifts.

#cherik #cherik fic recs #fic recs #Erik is Jewish #holocaust #asks #earnestly answers

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docholligay · 3 years

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Can I send a no-context Poignant Speech about how believing in Santa and the Tooth Fairy is integral to believing in justice and mercy because there’s some really great prose but the concept does not feel right to me (I can censor out all of the stuff that would link it to the actual work, I just want this ripped apart because I can’t put my discomfort into actual words)

Oh man is that the fucking Terry Pratchett Hogfather thing? I love Terry Pratchett, truly I do, but if I see that or the fucking boots thing linked ever again in my life as a way of shutting down conversation about the things we decide to do and value I will lose my mind. They are both excellent bits in their own right that I don't think Pratchett himself ever meant to be broad-based philosophy anymore than anything I have a character say, no matter how wise I might find it individually.

But yeah in general the idea that if you don't believe in Santa or the Tooth Fairy you can't believe in the concepts central to good human nature is silly at kindest, and inherently meanspirited at best. Can you imagine, as a person, thinking that if you don't believe in fictional beings, you can't believe that justice is a core value? I mean, fuck man! I actually see the other argument--lying to your kids about Santa and the Tooth Fairy will make them assume you're lying about things like God, or inherent goodness, and I don't ever want to tell Midgie I believe in something I don't*. To be even meaner, in a way I don't even necessarily believe but am willing to make the argument for, Santa teaches you that the only reason to be good is for the reward, and you get rewarded anyway. It's baby's first Jesus and the way parents never remove presents for poor behavior sets us up for the current nightmare of "I'm a good person because I feel like I probably am I don't set a wetland reserve on fire" The Tooth Fairy teaches 'I deserve to be rewarded merely for progressing through life.'

I dunno, I find the spirit of childhood innocence stuff to be very much lost on me, and I can't imagine this would be any different. I've known plenty of kids who grew up without Santa or the Tooth Fair that are devoted to work and justice and compassion. I think it's just a way of justifying WANTING to do Santa for your kids, and like, FRIEND I DO NOT CARE. Unpopular opinion: I'm not going to tell my kid she has to lie about Santa to preserve ~Christmas magic~ because she'll be fucking 4. But also I don't actually care if other people do it, if people want to raise their kids in a way I don't think is ideal...they aren't my fucking kids.

*Doc I thought you didn't believe in God? I'm a Jew, I change my mind about this like three times a day.

#Holligay rants and raves #Eight Days 2021 #eight days 2021

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hecallsmehischild · 3 years

Text

Recent Media Consumed

Books

Half-Bad by Sally Green. Man, this is grim. It’s good fantasy, and the writers breaks certain writing conventions to convey the story better, which is fascinating. But it’s so grim. There’s two more books in the series and I want to get ahold of those before I say more.

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. Did I say Half-Bad was grim? This is grim. Grimdark to the max. But also a fascinating premise, that the crime of murder and its accompanying guilt manifests an animal companion that marks you for the rest of your (shortened) life? If you can stomach some of the imagery and if you do well with being plunged into unknown terminology and figuring it out on the go from context, this is a good read.

Dropped titles: Pursuing God’s Will Together by Ruth Haley Barton and How Should We Then Live by Francis Shaeffer. One was a recommendation, one was semi-assigned reading because I’m a non-voting member of a ministry board. In both cases I got about halfway through. I have the gist of both books and I’m enjoying neither. At all. I started to avoid Audible altogether. The moment I gave myself permission to stop listening to them and pick up the next Thomas Sowell book on my list, I was right back on reading, because I’m actually interested in what Sowell has to say. Note to self: it’s ok to drop books that you find uninteresting. (this preceded a Sowell binge reading session)

Dismantling America (and other controversial essays) by Thomas Sowell. I was surprised at how much more of an edge Sowell has in this book, but the appearance of the edge here makes a certain amount of sense. This is the first collection of newspaper columns I’ve read by him, and he has way less time to make his point in a column than he has in a book. With that in mind, his points have much less groundwork than I’m used to reading from him when he spends a whole book on a topic (though I’d guess that each point he makes probably has a crapton of citations in the printed book, like the rest of his work. He’s quite thorough about his research). This is probably not the best title of his to pick as a first read, but it’s good and interesting. My main take-away point from this book is that politicians look out for politicians, and expecting them to do anything else is naive. And, in fact, many things attributed to a politician’s “stupidity” is far from stupid, in fact they are brilliant within their set of incentives and constraints. It just rarely aligns with the general public’s best interest. Thinking about it again, it MIGHT be a good first book. It sums up a lot of his views into bite-sized digests. It just doesn’t substantiate each and every claim as thoroughly as some of his other books do. That’s my grain of salt.

Compassion Versus Guilt by Thomas Sowell. More of the same, a collection of essays by Sowell. Different ones, on a different theme. A couple that sound like they could have been written by the authors of Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, his satire is on point.

Ethnic America by Thomas Sowell. This was a fascinating read for me. This book traces 8 groups of ethnic migrations to America. I descend from Scottish, Irish, and Russian Jewish immigrants, and seeing what the different groups had to content with over the years was very enlightening. A few things that stood out to me were; each immigrant group seems to have very different cultural strengths and foibles, inter-group violence is not new (but not always in the directions modern people would think), almost every group has its own upper class that disdains and reviles its lower class, and each ethnic group is far more variable and differentiated than the general category (“the Irish” or “the blacks” or “the Jews”) makes them out to be. More and more I’m coming to mistrust the general racial category as referenced by either political party because it seems to be a linguistic expediency that sacrifices the truth of a situation for a fast rallying point.

Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? by Thomas Sowell. I’m not even sure what to say about this book. It’s short and punchy and gives me a lot to think about. Sowell definitely has zero sacred cows. Toward the end of this book he addresses some of his critics who piled onto Ethnic America, which was interesting. Also, while reading this, I have begun to realize how much of a disadvantage I am at in analyzing arguments because I’m unable to understand how people slice numbers into statistics to make their point. I’m at the mercy of the conclusion they draw at the end of the statistics because, until they summarize their findings, I really don’t understand what the raw numbers are saying. I’ve had this feeling for a while, but in this book, Sowell dissects some of the foundational studies and statistics that buttressed later civil rights cases, and I realized that if I just read the statistics and data from those cases and the statistical rebuttals that Sowell has side by side, I would not understand what was being argued at all. I can only rely on the end conclusions put into words at this point, but the written conclusion is not the proof, the numbers are. This gap in my understanding is disheartening, but I hope to continue sponging up knowledge in the hopes that I will be able to think more critically in future years.

Maverick, a Biography of Thomas Sowell by Jason L. Riley. My parents pre-ordered this for my birthday a few months ago and it arrived a few days ago. I have torn through it. I think I got a more cohesive overview of Sowell’s progression through his body of work and added several titles to my wishlist. The biography is fairly minimalist on Sowell’s personal life and focuses more on his ideological clashes with… well, everyone, left and right, people he disdained and people he admired. Maverick, alright. Also Riley takes a look at how each of Sowell’s books (or grouping of books) came about, for what reasons, and what was going on at the time.

People of the Book edited by Rachel Swirsky and Sean Wallace. This is a compilation of Jewish sci-fi and fantasy short stories and can probably be summed up best by this paragraph in the introduction: “These stories allow us to identify with, although briefly, so many different characters and places, they entertain us and they give us comfort. And yet, the tales in this anthology often have a melancholic tinge, similar in tone to the minor keys of our musical liturgy. We don’t want to be too comfortable, too happy. Because that might bring some bad luck onto us, might tempt the evil eye.” I also sensed a whole lot of anger in the undercurrent of these stories, and that saddened me.

On deck/currently reading: The Brothers Karamazov, The Rational Bible: Genesis, re-read of Basic Economics, and War Nerd.

Shows

Dropped series: Hilda. The first season was lovely on so many counts. The second season’s antagonist… bothers me. So does Hilda’s behavior. And given how much time I spent on Star and its accompanying disappointment, I’m not really interested in continuing Hilda any further. I’m shelving it at this point. There are other things I’d like to watch.

Infinity Train Season 4: Now retitled “The Wormhole Judgment Line” I believe, lol. It’s hard to top season 3, but it was a solid story. Good. Interesting. The resolution with the villains int he last episode felt kind of out of nowhere and I’m really not okay with Morgan’s behavior even if the plot wants me to feel sorry for her, but those things aside, it was enjoyable. I hope Infinity Train is picked up again, I’d love to see more.

On Deck: The Mandalorian or Wandavision

Movies

Jiang Ziya. Okay whatever this studio produces in this line of movies, I will be watching it. I definitely don’t understand all the significance of what I’m seeing but it’s creative along COMPLETELY DIFFERENT lines than US animation and it’s an absolute joy to behold.

Raya and the Last Dragon. Suffice it to say, it would take an intensive blog post (or a movie review of the style I used to do as one half of The Storytrollers) to cover all the things that bothered me about this movie. I will take the thing that bothered me the most and be brief: I find the moral to be terrible. I take major issue with the idea that repeated blind trust in the face of repeated betrayal will reshape the world, given that I extended blind trust to people who never changed for many years. I take issue with the worldbuilding, I take issue with some of the designs, and I take issue with the moral. I was exceedingly disappointed in this movie.

Profile. Now THIS was a good movie. I would not be averse to seeing more movies shot like this, using the computer desktop as both film set and character. In addition this was an interesting topic, though I was tense for the whole movie, afraid the main character was going to slip up. Very good, very tense movie to sit through.

Mighty Ira. So, this is a documentary about one of the great leaders of the ACLU. It was interesting to see this, especially since it shed more light on the whole Skokie situation than I’d heard of before. Good watch. Informative.

#child loves movies #child loves shows #child loves books #recent media consumed #mind your peas and queues

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ladyfeldspar · 3 years

Text

By the power vested in me by my RNG, I give you...

6x09: Free Hat (aka the reason I broke the second disc of Season 6)

This is hella long, sorry not sorry.

Some days I think season 6 is my favorite season.

Tweek standing behind the other three at the SP sign will never cease to make me happy. <3

I hate ET because I think he's a creepyass little alien and I don't appreciate seeing him first thing in this episode. 😂

Okay but I love when Kyle's saying, "...to make ET more PC," he's doing little air quotes with his one hand, like:

Stan: "That's gay." Back when saying things like that was only mildly offensive and wouldn't cause riots.

I've never seen Saving Private Ryan, and I know that it's said that it can be really triggering for people who have actually been to war and everything and I don't want to diminish that in any way, but whatever I paused on here looks like some kind of nether realm squid ghost monster and it's amazing.

I love the progression of their expressions here: angry, unimpressed, concerned, and "why is this happening?!"

And they're all so excited for Star Wars, that's the cutest fricking thing! I would love to see Tweek and Craig watching Star Wars together, just try and tell me that wouldn't be adorable!

ALL OF THEM ARE SO MAD! I fucking love when Tweek gets the little angry eyebrows.

I will never ever not want to hug him whenever I see Tweek shiver like crazy while the other kids just stand perfectly still.

The message in this episode is actually so good though. "Movies are art and art shouldn't be messed with!"

"Yeah we could form a club that takes food stamps from poor people and then we could sell them back to the government for a profit!" Tweek’s face here is priceless.

Poor Tweek. There's kind of a pattern in these episodes where multiple times he tries to stand up for himself or walk away from the main kids, but Cartman bullies him into staying and it just breaks my heart. As opposed to Craig in the Pandemics who's just like, "Fuck this." And as much as I adore all of the S6 Tweek episodes, I'm really glad he didn't stay hanging out with them for any longer and that he went back to the group of guys that are actually his friends. <3

"I'm not, I'm not a team player!" 😭 That being said, I could listen to Tweek talk all day.

"You have to offer fabulous prizes if you want people to show up to your stupid crap!" is just the S6 version of, "More people will come if they think we'll have punch and pie!" 😂

Stan: "Tweek, you go make fifty hats." Look, okay, I don't hate Stan, all right, but what the hell dude, go make your own hats! Why would you give the anxious kid a big responsibility like that!? At least have Kyle help him or something. Like you say you need to get the gymnasium ready which means what, make a banner and set up some chairs? And you're telling me you couldn't have split up the making of the hats? Jesus Christ.

(Yeah, okay, I know, chill out, they're 8.)

I posted this on my Tumblr before, so I'm not going to do it again, but that TINY LITTLE SHRIEK THAT TWEEK DOES after his dad says his name. I just. Literally. Die. Of cuteness. Every single time. It's my favorite Tweek shriek of the entire show, hands down.

On another note, his bedroom is so empty in this episode compared to in Tweek x Craig! I wonder what changed between here and then.

Tweek being able to calm himself down with some meditation is honestly so cute. And look at his happy place! I would love to have this on a shirt or a bag or just like as a piece of art hanging on my wall or something.

Cartman's giant face showing up there. 😂 I remember the first time I saw this episode that actually startled me so much.

"I was up, all night, making hats! I only slept for an hour- and then I DREAMT about making hats! But I only made fifteen!" - This has been one of my favorite lines since forever. I make it my status on things a lot and then everyone asks me why I was making hats all night. 😂

I love Stan's expression here.

"I don't have nearly 1000 hats!" "They're gonna kick your ass, Tweek!" 😡😡😡

Look at this shot! It really looks like Stan is the only one remotely concerned about Tweek's well-being here.

We get so much of Tweek yanking on his hair in this episode. </3

How am I less than five minutes into this and I have talked this much?

The townspeople are literally so stupid. Good job, Skeeter.

Stan makes good speeches when he wants to. Although, you know, you shouldn't make promises without fully knowing what you're doing.

Only Tweek would think going on a TV show is terrible news. (Just kidding. I agree with you, Tweek.)

I've never understood the "1-2-3, dibs!! "Knee!" thing. Like I know what dibs is, but where I come from knees were never involved.

Typical Cartman. I feel so bad for Tweek, but I love when he looks down to see "Advocate of Toddler Murder" underneath him. Cartoon logic is the best logic.

There's also a lot of good Tweek shrieks here too.

"It's easy!?" "Yes... It is easy."

"We believe that films have to be taken away from people like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas because they're insane." The way Kyle matter-of-factly delivers this line kills me every time.

They honestly made SS and GL look so creepy. 😂

I like that Cartman's voice kind of cracks when he's like, "That's Steven Spielberg and George Lucas!"

Someone just let Tweek go home, please!

"Uh, we thought we were speaking for the children." "Yeah, we're children."

"I'm not a Jew!" 😂 Thank you, George Lucas.

Okay, full disclosure, when I first saw this I hadn't seen Raiders of the Lost Ark and I didn't get the big deal. 😂 But I do now!!!

"He...killed 23 babies in self-defense?" "Hat was attacked maliciously and unprovoked by a gang of babies in West Town Park. When that many babies get together they can be like pirahna!" 😂 I say this all the time.

Skeeter. 😂 Honestly, you are no help at ALL.

Second time this episode Tweek tries to say no and walk away.

"People aren't that into you, Tweek. They find you kind of annoying." This is so meta because I remember people complaining all the time that Tweek was a one-note character and that he had nothing really to add to the show and I just want to say SUCK IT TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE BECAUSE LOOK HOW LOVED TWEEK IS NOW. Everyone who was on board the Tweek train from the very beginning say, "Cupcakes!" 😂<3

These kids, man. I love that it’s so easy for them to just get into all these places.

"Get it, Tweek!" "Huh-uh!" I love the way Tweek says no. But, I mean, AGAIN, he tries to say no and Cartman bullies him. I don't think he ever really wanted to be in their group in the first place. I think they picked him arbitrarily in Professor Chaos because they saw him as weaker than them, and then Cartman just didn't let him quit.

The little debate about melting his icy heart with a cool island song is also something I quote often. AND THEIR LITTLE OUTFITS! I love that Tweek's is green and pink! I don't know what the hell is going on with the sleeves on everyone else's though.

"Those rams can do to us what they will, Mr. Lucas." 😂

Oh, George Lucas. You were so close to being a hero.

Stan: "Fuck you Steven Spielberg!" I've watched this censored so many times that hearing it uncensored is so fricking satisfying.

RUN TWEEK RUN!!!

The walkie talkies are such a nice touch. 😂

"The one with the cocaine problem escaped, Mein Director."

Mannn, I miss when they used to throw live action "commercials" into the episodes like this. This also is from the time where I was like hella attracted to Trey Parker so seeing his face is always welcome. 😂

"We always meant to have Imperial Walkers and giant Dewback lizards in the background, but simply couldn’t afford it."

Oh my God, I'm always so proud of Tweek for talking to this huge crowd of people and trying to get them to help him! His little talking through his teeth, like, "We are not talking about Hat right now, okay?!" He's trying so hard!

"Oh God, I'm gonna have to do this myself! Oh, God!" just breaks my heart! YOU CAN DO IT, TWEEK! 13 seasons from now you'll have someone who helps you believe in yourself, just hang on!

Tweek with the bazooka, oh my gosh, always makes me so happy. I can't tell you how much I wanted him to just blow them all the fuck up the first time I saw this.

"All I want are my friends. Except for Cartman, you can keep him." YEAH, TWEEK!

I hate that Steven Asshole Spielberg manages to talk enough crap to make Tweek hesitate. He was so close! I wonder how he would have felt if he actually did it though, Maybe it's better he didn't? It might have made his anxiety worse if he actually blew people up now that I think about it.

"In the tropical isles with the coconut trees, the air is fresh and the people are free, but here in the mountains there's no freedom like that, there's a man in prison and his name is Hat!" This gets stuck in my head so often.

It makes it so much better having actually seen Raiders, especially for this part. I honestly thought the melting faces was just a South Park thing but nope.

I also really love what they look like turned away with their eyes closed too. <3

Like what even is going on in this scene. 😂

Oh my God, okay, and I know that Hat is a terrible person and I want to clarify just in case, I do not think killing babies is funny, but just the way that baby crawls up the person's arm to avoid getting passed to Hat is always so so funny to me and I can never explain why.

Tweek being the only one to be appropriately horrified by the fact that Hat is being given a baby.

"Sometimes the things we do don't matter right now. Sometimes they matter later. We have to care more about later sometimes, you know? I think that's what separates us from the Steven Spielbergs and George Lucases of the world." This is still so relevant.

The ending of this episode is also so much better after actually seeing Raiders. 😂

And we close off with a 9/11 joke. Perfection, Matt and Trey, thank you & goodnight.

#south park #free hat #tweek is the best character fucking fight me #thus endeth another nonsense episode rewatch #southpark #sp #south park free hat

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stephenjaymorrisblog · 3 years

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Sex Pistol Used to Kill a Politician

(Lies Against Former Governor Cuomo)

Stephen Jay Morris

August 14, 2021

I was angrier than a Libertarian who didn’t receive his government stimulus check. I wonder if Americans can spot a phony sex scandal when it’s right in front of their eyes. The “Me Too” movement was noble in it’s original intent; until it was the perfect set-up to entrap a political opponent. Women claim they were sexually abused and they are deemed credible, regardless. Guess what I found out? Women lie just like men do! How about that? Oh, do you know what else I have seen? Black cops beating the shit out of a Latino man. Now, for citing that, I am seen as some Conservative racist. American politics can be more oxymoronic than a Eunuch buying a condom for itself, or campaigning against circumcision. But this regressive rhetoric really gets up my ass.

This is not going to be a colloquy treatise or some graffiti on the toilet stall wall. Or, then again, it could be both. Here it goes…

Dirty campaign tactics have been ongoing in this greatest country in the universe for decades. The most renowned tactic was used in the 1930’s. An attractive young woman, clothed just in a robe, and a photographer show up at a rival candidate’s apartment door. They knock. The poor, unsuspecting schmuck then opens the door and, before he utters a word, the woman throws off her robe and jumps into his arms. The photographer snaps the money shot and it ends up on the front page of the newspaper. Consequently, the victim loses the election because sexually, hung-up WASPs believe that sex outside the confines of marriage should be outlawed. But, he wasn’t having an affair with this woman—heck, he’d never even seen her before—it was all staged! They ultimately stopped using this tactic when Hollywood put it in the movies. Those damned Jew elites—trying to make Republicans look bad! Ah...wait a minute. Most Hollywood Jewish moguls were registered Republicans. They weren’t stupid! Don’t believe me? Look it up.

Opposition research is a team you hire to search for dirt on an opposing candidate. If they can’t find anything, then they set him/her up. One former opposition research team was the so-called “Washington Plumbers.” Prior to the 1972 presidential election, they bugged phones and broke into the Washington DNC headquarters at its Watergate Office building, to look for dirt on Nixon’s rivals.

When Covid reared it’s ugly head in 2019, our heroic former president, Trump, just brushed it aside, declaring “It’s just a flu.” When I first heard that, my memory of famous quotes was stirred—like when the Nazis marched Jews into the gas chambers, they told the soon-to-be victims, “Don’t worry...it’s only a shower.” When the U.S. caseload worsened, Trump said it would be gone by April, or August. Then, in New York, Governor Cuomo stepped up, and like an army general, he marshaled his state’s citizens into a full-blown battle against the disease. I was a new resident at the time, and I witnessed some splendid leadership. He took the State’s infection rate, from its peak in April 2020—and the nation’s epicenter—to the nation’s lowest! For months, he held daily briefings on television, for both the public and the press. When Trump noticed that Cuomo was getting higher approval ratings than he was, he tried holding daily briefings also, but the ratings were lower than the sea level at Death Valley! Trump wanted revenge on Cuomo, so he employed opposition research on the governor. Suddenly, during the press Q&A sessions following his daily briefings, reporters from Right wing media would repeatedly ask Trump about COVID death rates in New York’s senior citizens’ nursing homes. For weeks, they continued to ask about New York’s policy of returning the elderly who were recovering from COVID to those facilities. And Trump continued to answer the same questions over and over again, just to plant allegations of Cuomo’s mismanagement into the public’s head. Even the New York Times got into the act! Anybody who says the New York Times is Left wing needs a new brain, or they should just replace their dick with an American Flag!

All of this was occurring, of course, under the buzz of New York’s gubernatorial election in 2022, for which Cuomo was planning his re-election run. Now, the nursing homes ruse didn’t work out quite as efficiently as they’d wanted, but the New York State Assembly continued investigating the matter. The Conservative mind set is very Experiential, like Mike Lindell suffering from AADHD (Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). So, what did they do next? In February 2021, the State Attorney General initiated an investigation into multiple sexual harassment allegations by employees of Cuomo’s Executive Chambers, retaining private attorneys to conduct an independent investigation of the matter.

Well, once the media got a hold of it, it was the beginning of the end. Right wing operatives played the Establishment Democrats like a cheap violin. Even some progressive Democrats got into the act, ragging on the Governor and proclaiming his guilt. Democrats from city councilmembers to President Biden called for him to resign. There was no trial, just women who were bad actresses with fake tears, and corporate and independent media proclaiming Governor Cuomo’s guilt. I hope that New York elects a Fascist Republican for governor and all the liars choke on their own puke!

Do you ever notice that when a Democratic man is involved in a sex scandal, it’s always about inappropriate remarks or behavior, touching, and groping. However, whenever a Republican male is the subject, the scandal involves homosexuality, underage girls, sadomasochism, foot fetishes, sex trafficking, and other perversions. At least Democrats are normal males with a normal sex overdrive.

Governor Andrew Cuomo was the best governor New York ever had! And, hey—I am not a fan of the two-party system. This is purely from my objective observations. If you don’t like my opinion, you can stick it where the sun don’t shine!

#sex scandal #dirty politics #2 party system #American politics #poets of tumblr #Stephenjmorris

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aarongoldenwrites · 4 years

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My statement: I am sick to fucking death of people misquoting my holy book to justify their bigotry. Stop. Stop doing it. You don't know what the fuck you're talking about. A response: Honestly I would be interested in learning about this as I have no religious view point so I like to learn about them, (but) I don’t know where to start. My response: Okay. Well.

Judaism first sprang into existence about six thousand years ago; we've got our own calendar that we use to track these things. We got our start when a dude named Avram wrecked his father's business and changed his name to Abraham while touring the middle-east with his sister, Sarah. Their family history was chronicled in what we call the Old Testament, which is a collection of stories, fables, and legal doctrine that informs the Jewish people as to what they are and how to behave, but a good chunk of it is dedicated to doubting what you think you know and finding out what is true. It's based around taking responsibility for yourself and your community and living to a high ethical standard, and trying to figure out what that means in relationship to yourself and your community. The first five books of the Old Testament are called Torah and are collected in massive scrolls that Jews consider to be literally living documents, and we're supposed to argue the meaning of the text within context to the time it was written and the times we live in. It's fabulously progressive for its time, and features a commentary track (Talmud) and in-depth expansion (Midrash) that we use to give things further context.

A lot of it boils down to "try to leave the world better than you found it, take care of the people around you, don't expect people to live to the standards you set for yourself, take responsibility for yourself and your community."

Now, the Old Testament was written in a language called Aramaic, which features no written vowels, is supposed to be sung on a six-note scale, and translates well into nothing else. It was eventually translated into Greek, then Latin, and then the various romance languages.

Here's where things get weird: when a Torah is penned, it's transcribed by one guy using a special ink and pen. A single mistake means the Torah is given an actual funeral and buried. We do not want mistakes being made about this.

About 2000 years ago, there might have been a Jew named Yeshua. The Romans (who kept meticulous records about EVERYTHING) have no records of this particular guy, but there were Jewish revolutionaries fucking around to find out during the Roman occupation every five minutes or so (it got so bad that the Romans eventually said "fuck these people in particular" and spread the Jews all across the empire, which is the start of what we call the Jewish diaspora and led to about two thousand years of shit-kicking and scapegoating).Now, if Yeshua existed, he was a rabbi (a Jewish priest) who pissed off the Romans and got himself killed. A dude who admits to never having met him led a splinter sect of Jews into a death cult that believed Yeshua was going to return from the dead next week and defeat the Romans.

This is the start of Christianity.

A big part of faith is doubt, I think. You need to know on some level that you could be wrong, and inflicting your beliefs on others isn't a great thing to do. We're all doing the best we can, but insisting you're right and everyone else is wrong to the detriment of others is, well, bad.

And that brings us to the crux of my issues with Christianity.

The core of the Christian doctrine is that Jesus (a mistranslation of the name Yeshua, not that many Christians know that - and let it sink in that they do not know the name of the god they are worshiping, or how the name changed) was the literal son of God and also somehow God and maybe also a third thing called the Holy Ghost that is a mysterious mixture between the two of them, and that he died for the sins of humanity.

See, Christians believe that when Eve got Adam to eat the apple in Eden that GOD CURSED THEM BOTH AND ALL THEIR DESCENDANTS TO HELL TO SUFFER FOR ALL ETERNITY, and then they have the audacity to say that the Old Testament God is the mean one.

So, basically, until Jesus dies, every human ever born is condemned to hell where, again, they will suffer for all eternity. Once Jesus dies, though, he goes to hell and reclaims good people provided they are willing to swear allegiance to him. Keep in mind there is no proof that any of this has happened, and the person telling the story admits full-stop that he never met Jesus and didn't believe Jesus was real until thirty years after Jesus' death when he was riding a camel through the desert and fell off due to heat exhaustion.

Now, a big part of Christian doctrine is that living a good life is meaningless - the only way to get into heaven is to swear your soul to Jesus, who is watching you at all times. If you're bad and believe in Jesus, you'll spend time in a place called Purgatory, which is hell-light, until Jesus can swing by and pick you up. If you're the best person ever and you don't believe in Jesus, you are still going to hell for all eternity.

What this means is that, if you are a good Christian, the kindest thing you can do is convert non-believers to save them from an ETERNITY IN HELL, and provided you have sworn your soul to Jesus any sin you commit will be forgiven and you will go to heaven. This leads to things like the Spanish Inquisition, enforced conversions against, well, everyone, and more atrocities than you can shake a pointed stick at.

Politically, this is useful because you can't just say you believe in Jesus, you have to believe in Jesus the *right way.* This is originally the Catholic Church, but other people argue with them about the right way to believe in Jesus and so we now have a bunch of different flavors that spout the same ideology and conversion practices, but each of them claim that they're the special ones that got it right and everyone else is going to hell for all eternity or maybe purgatory until they figure out the right way to praise Jesus.

And people can and will do anything to prove their faith, and see a lack of evidence as proof of concept, and obey whatever the it leaders tell them because they've been conditioned to ignore the world around them in favor of our mistranslated holy book.

The thing is, according to Christian theology, Jesus was a Jew and the whole thing starts with the Old Testament. So they twist the Old Testament to fit their narrative, building upon things lacking in the original text, installing bits that go against Jewish faith, and ignoring/killing/converting Jews that point out that they have no business doing what they're doing (see Jenn Sara, above, for the lightest version of this practice).Because spreading the good word is so important and any sin can be forgiven provided you're following Jesus in the right way, Christians have historically co-opted the holidays and religious practices of others in order to further their own agenda (see: Christmas trees, the Easter bunny, et al). Also, because they are a strict hierarchy - the Church determines who is praising Jesus right and no one can fight them - they ended up becoming a politically powerful presence that has controlled much of Europe and Russia and informed the structures that ruled those places, including (but not limited to): the Romani pogroms, the Inquisition, the witch trials, the crusades, the Russian pogroms, the Atlantic slave industry, native genocide, save-the-man-kill-the-indian, the holocaust...The list goes on.

When people in the west say "Religion is the root of all evil," they are often talking about their own experiences with religion (Christianity, because none of the other ones count). This also applies to Christian atheism, which is when a Christian assumes all religion is basically Christianity decides they don't believe in religion, and the religion they don't believe in is the only religion (Christianity again).It's incredibly frustrating and tends to result in a lot of people dying.

Shall I continue?

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santaclausdeadindian · 4 years

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Sorry for doing it this way, I think OP deleted their post or blocked me like a mature, balanced person would, so I have to tag you in

@mr-laugh

Oh boy, lot to unpack here.

So you didn’t even know there were that many subgenres of fantasy, one of the most popular classifications of fiction on the planet... And you think you know enough to tell ANYBODY what classic fantasy is?

And where exactly I attempted to do that, huh?

If you don’t even know the most common subgenres of this vast pool of fiction, why are you jumping into this discussion? You just admitted you don’t know anything!

There is no discussion, there is a stupid ass post. Don't flatter yourself, you don't know jack shit.

Me not knowing what exactly are the precize subgenres of a genre of literature, which, btw, are completely arbitrary and for your information, sword&magic is a legitimate category, has absolutely nothing to do with what that post you were so keen on agreeing with above. It was you who said pretty much any classic fantasy is like that: some poorly written, self-indulgent and borderline racist.

Did ya read the link, buddy? Howard talked about knowing what burning black man smelled like. He was quite approving of these things! And the books are pretty racist, it’s not hard to see, unless you ain’t looking.

Yes, I started reading and by the end of the first paragraph I was convinced he was ahorribly racist man. And? Still doesn't change the fact, that for my 12 year old self, there was nothing racist about it. I definetly wasn't looking for it, that much you got right. If I'd read it again, I'm sure I'd catch on to it now, that I know what kind of asshole he was. So the implied racism would be there. You got a point for that.

Rugged individualism? It always amuses me how that argument always pops out of the mouths of guys who are aping what they’ve heard their buddies say. If ten thousand mouths shout “rugged individualism”, how individualistic are they?

Then you should amuse yourself by looking up why this thing crops up as of late. It's coming from certain, supremely racist yet unaware of it publications that claim ridiculous shit like "rugged individualism" is a hallmark of white supremacy, among other, equally laughable things, like punctuality. It's a joke.

Again, I will give Howard to you, if someone that racist writes a black man saving the hero of the story, I bet there was something else still there to make it wrong.

Conan’s not some avatar of rugged individualism.

Uhm, yeah, he pretty much all that.

He’s as unreal and unrealistic as the dragons are,

It's called fantasy for a reason, buddy.

but more dangerous because White Men model their ideas of reality on Big Man Heroes like him;

Glad you are totally not racist, yo!!! It's such a relief that White Men are the only ones with this terrible behavior of looking up to larger than life, mythic superpeople and nobody else. Imagine what it would be like, if we would have some asshole from say, hindu indian literature massacering demons called Rakshassas, by the tens of thousands, or some bullshit japanese warlord would snatch out arrows from the air, or a chienese bodyguard would mow down hundreds of barbaric huns without dropping a sweat, or some middle eastern hero would fight literal gods and their magical beasts in some quest for eternal life.

it's a poison that weakens us, distracting us from actually trying to solve the world’s issues, or banding together to deal with shit.

This is what you just said. It's up to the white man, to get their shit together, be not racist and solve the world's problems, because those poor other people's just can't do it. If we would just not be oh, so racist, then China would surely stop with the genocides they are doing now, or blowing more than half the greenhouse emissions into the athmosphere, the muslims would stop throwing their gays from rooftops or ramming trucks into crowds and would just start treating women as equals, India's massive rape problem would be gone, subsaharan African would be magically bereft of the host of atrocities committed there on a daily, yeah, you sure have that nonracism down, buddy!

A rugged individualist would be smart enough to realize that even the most individualistic person needs others; no man’s an island, and a loner is easier to kill.

Individualism doesn't mean at all what you think it means, it's a cluster of widely differeing philosophies that puts the individual ahead of the group or state, it's ranging from anarchism to liberalism and is also has nothing to do with my point.

Central Europe? What, Germany? Because let me tell you, historically they are SUPER concerned about race!

Germany traditionally considered western european, central europe would be the people stuck between them and the russians, to put it very loosely. We are equally nonplussed by the self-flagellating white guilt complex and the woe me victim complex of the west. We did none of the shit those meanie white people did to the nonwhites and suffered everyting any poc ever did and then some. We don't give a shit about your color, we care about what culture you are from and if you respect our values.

I’m an American from a former Confederate state; trust me, race is everything. It always is.

No it really isn't. How old are you? Asking without condescension, genuinly curious, because if you are in your low twenties at most, it's understandable why you think like this.

See that hike? Do you know what happened at that time that made virtually all american media suddenly go all in with racism?

Occupy Wall Street, that's what. It's a brilliant way to sow victimhood and hate and desperation amongst the people who have one common enemy, the powers that be, the banking sector, the politicians, the megacorporations.

Can't really blame you if you are in your early 20's at most, you grew up with this bullshit hammered into you. If you are older, step out of your echochamber please!

If you actually believe, that mankind doesn't progress naturally towards a more accepting society purely on the merit of there being more good people than bad and sharing a similar living with all the hardships in life, seeing that our prejudices inherited by our parents are baseless, that's how we progress, not virtue signalling courses and regressive policies. I was raised as any other kid, I had a deep resentment towards the neighbouring nations, I said vile, racist shit against people who I actually share a lot of genes with, of which fact I was in deep denial about, and then as I gradually got exposed more and more actual people of these groups, I started to realize I was wrong and everybody should be judged by their individual merits. It works throughout the generations, my grandma was thought songs about Hitler and how all jews are evil in school, she legit thought all black people at least in Africa are cannibals and shit, my mother stillsays shit that would get her cancelled in the USA, and I will probably have a mixed race kid as we stand now.

This whole racism is an eternal problem is laughable and disingenuous and I am actually sorry for you that you feel like that.

Moving on. As for Dany, the “noble white girl sold to scary dark foreign man” is a very popular trope, especially in exploitation films, which Martin draws on much more heavily than most authors do.

No, he fucking doesn't. I already wrote a bunch of examples from the books you seeminly ignore willfully. First of all, she is sold to those olive skinned savages by a white man, who is a terrible, increadibly evil man. He want's to fuck the then 11-12 ish Dany so bad, she picks his slave most resembling her and rapes her repeatedly, "until the madness pass." He also maimes children and traines them as disposable slave spies by the hundreds. There is no boundaries colour here, GRRM prtrays all kinds of people as reprehensible, evil and disgusting. Just like you can find plenty of examples to the opposite.

What is he drawing from your exploitation movies exactly? He writes about the human anture, he writes about the human heart at war with itself, that's his central philosophy of writing.

ASOFAI is basically just a porn movie with complicated feudal politics obscuring it, which is probably why it worked so well as an HBO series (up until the last two seasons or so.)

There is no gratuitous sex scene in the books, the rapes are described as rapes, they are horrible, they are very shortly described and usually just alluded to.

The people commiting them are not put into generous lights and one of the single most harrowing stories hidden behind the grand happenings of the plot is a girl named Jeyne Poole, whose suffering although never shown, is very much pointed out, along with the hypocrisy of the people who only fight to try and save her, because they think her a different person.

Honestly, if you actually read the books and they came of to you as porn, you might want to do some soulsearching.Btw, the HBO series was a terrible adaptation, it immedietly started to go further and further from the books with every passing season and the showmakers made it very clear to everybody, that they didn't understand the very much pacifist and humanist themes of Martin. And neither did you.

We also get no indication Essos will eat it when Winter comes; hell, they seem to not know Winter exists, given the way people act, even though that is also unrealistic and weird. Essos was just super badly designed, and Dany is a terribly boring character.

to be continued

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jewish-privilege · 5 years

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In October 2015, I found myself in a frightening situation: My name and face on a Neo-Nazi website identifying me as a Jew along with several hundred other Jews in politics, civics, and philanthropy. The website, which I will not name, warned its readers that Jews were too influential in American life; that we were a corruptive influence on America. While it didn’t advocate actually killing me, I was marked as a person to be silenced.

“How likely are these people to actually kill me?” I asked the expert at the Southern Poverty Law Center, an anti-hate group that researches white supremacist groups. I had called them seeking answers. My husband was sitting beside me, his face full of fear. I felt a tiny kick, a flutter inside me, my hands dropping to my belly. “I should probably mention that I am 8 months pregnant.”

There was a pause at the end of the line. “It’s very rare for these threats to escalate offline,” the nice man began. “They want to scare you. They want to scare you so much you decide that you never want to write again. That’s their goal. What you decide to do next is a personal decision.”

You can see that I decided to keep writing. But thinking back on the advice he gave me, it almost seems quaint: In the four years since those threats, especially since the 2016 election, white supremacists spewing anti-Semitic hatred have marched in Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us,” shot up synagogues in Pittsburgh and California, and murdered gay Jewish student Blaze Bernstein. Anti-Semitic assaults are up 105% since 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit on American anti-Semitism. More Jews have been killed in anti-Semitic violence around the world in 2018 than in the last several decades, according to the Kantor Center, based out of Tel Aviv University, which researches and analyzes global anti-Semitism. In New York City, a major center of Jewish culture and life, the NYPD has reported an 82% spike in anti-Semitic hate crimes in 2019. In fact, Jews are reporting the highest number of religion-based hate crimes — this is particularly troubling given that Jews are only approximately 2.2% of the U.S. adult population.

And while the majority of incidents and assaults are committed by white supremacists on the right, there has been a concerning spike in incidents and rhetoric from the left wing, too...

As a child growing up in Boston, I knew anti-Semitism existed. I even experienced it from time to time — including when my childhood synagogue was defaced with a swastika. But overall I felt safe in America... I was grateful for a country that had provided Jews with peace and prosperity. America was a rare safe place for us.

Today, that’s different. The baby I was pregnant with is now a thriving, rambunctious toddler. But when we tour Jewish preschools, my first question isn’t about education philosophy, recess or student teacher ratios — it’s always about security. In just a few short years we’ve gone from history to fear.

To understand what can be done, first we need to understand what it is: Anti-Semitism is the hatred of Jews as a distinct people, as opposed to anti-Judaism that targets our religious beliefs and practices. Anti-semitism is a conspiracy theory. It depicts Jews as a cabal secretly controlling the world for evil ends, hurting innocent people to further greedy, cruel agendas. How those agendas manifest changes based on your worldview. If you are far left, it may be that Jews are imperialists who start wars to enrich themselves. If you’re a white nationalist, it’s that Jews are the ringleaders of the White Genocide. If you’re Minister Louis Farrakhan, it’s that Jews were the secret orchestrators of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Anti-Semitism is an ancient, chameleonic monster. It adapts to circumstances and seemingly new excuses for age-old prejudices to take hold. This is especially true in periods of political and economic insecurity.

...It doesn't help that we are also living in an era when conspiracy theories can so easily spread (from anti-Obama birtherism to Pizzagate to QAnon). President Trump and his cohorts on the far right capitalize and promote them, fomenting hatred and division through fake news and an assault on the truth. They accuse prominent Jews like George Soros of treacherous crimes, while consorting with and justifying white supremacists and their actions (“very fine people” Trump called them.). They act shocked and appalled when fear mongering, the mainstream legitimization of white nationalists, and dangerously lax gun control leave them with blood on their hands (as it did at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue).

And yet while I fear anti-Semitism on the right will lead to more violence, I fear anti-Semitism on the left will cause that violence and hate to go unchallenged. As American Jews face rising hate crimes and domestic terrorism, progressives have grappled with a string of unsettling scandals. At first, it was the way left wing groups downplayed anti-Semitism. In the wake of the 2016 election, for example, the Women’s March conspicuously left anti-Semitism off its unity principles, while left wing groups erased it as a core issue in Charlottesville, and were silent during hundreds of JCC bomb threats. Then it got worse. The anti-Semitism scandal surrounding Women’s March leadership unfolded over several tense months, during which they publicly associated with anti-Semitic Farrakhan and engaged in anti-Semitic dog whistling and bullying.

This controversy was followed by statements by freshman Representative Ilhan Omar, in which she fell into anti-Semitic tropes referencing dual loyalty, foreign allegiance, and Jewish money in her criticisms of Israel. Omar had many defenders who dismissed the charges because Omar herself faces Islamophobia and racism. But such tropes do feed the beast. As Ilhan Omar struggled to contain criticism and put forth multiple apologies for her comments, David Duke, the Grand Wizard of the KKK, came to her defense dubbing her the “Most Important Member of Congress.” It’s not to say that Omar should be held accountable for the words of David Duke. But it does indicate the way anti-Semitism — be it from the left or the right — can connect to amplify the threat.

While the Women’s March has taken positive steps to mend fences, like expanding Jewish leadership in the organization and including Jewish women in their Unity Principles, and Omar and the New York Times have apologized, the situations have led to increased division as anti-Semitism continues to spread, and becomes a political wedge issue, all of which creates increased danger for the Jewish community. In a time of increased concern about Jewish security, these scandals have had a devastating emotional impact on the Jewish community. We were taught by our grandmothers to watch for signs of danger — hateful words from across the political spectrum is one of them.

Over the past three years, I have seen anti-Semitism break and undermine strong community relationships and budding movements for justice. This what anti-Semitism does: It attacks democracy and transparency, giving authoritarian actors scapegoats for national problems. It endangers women, people of color, and immigrants as it strengthens and animates white nationalism, xenophobia, and extremist movements.

American Jews know this intrinsically and are frightened. The jump from hate speech to exterminatory violence has been a short one in the history of global Jewry. Many of us were taught about the dangers of anti-Semitism and how quickly it could rise against us from very young ages, especially for those of us who had family who were Holocaust survivors or who endured violence against Jews in the Middle East or Soviet Union. We need Americans to listen to our fear and take a stand.

The first step is to call it out when we see it in our houses of worship, living rooms, libraries, college campuses and kindergartens. This doesn’t mean we dismiss or “cancel” our friends, families, colleagues, and community leaders who engage in anti-Semitism. It means we tell them they are wrong. We educate. Jewish history is over 5,000 years old, and learning what narratives have been used to oppress Jews can be lifesaving. And then, let’s build relationships between communities that are under attack and frightened.

...This is what we need to do for each other: Come together to fight not just anti-Semitism but racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia. If we learn each other’s histories, warning signs and dangers and fight for each other, we can make the monsters afraid of us.

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quakerjoe · 5 years

Text

LAST CALL ON FACEBOOK

I’m done. I’ve had it with Facebook, so fuck this shit; I’m out. Here’s the final publication...

THE LAST CUPPA JOE SERVED ON FACEBOOK: TUESDAY 10 MARCH 2020

Perhaps you’ve noticed that it’s been quiet around here despite all the political excitement. If you’ve guessed “He’s in facebook jail again”, you’d be right. Being put in a childish “time out” because I pissed off someone who came to MY page uninvited is the name of today’s game, and I’m done with it. I already lost the original Quaker Joe page with well over 10,000 followers without an opportunity to say good-bye, so I’m doing so here and now to you all and to share some final thoughts about what I’ve learned about America, its people, and the political process in a collection of simple, straightforward observations. Here it goes.

First, it has become abundantly clear that America simply does NOT want to make this “a more perfect union” as prescribed in the Constitution that everyone claims to hold so dear. My whole life I’ve watched the GOP sink the economy and destroy civil rights and worker & environmental protections while making massive money grabs. While doing so, they’ve enacted shit laws to benefit the rich while screwing “the help”, meaning YOU in general.

This brings me to “Democrats are feckless” and suck-ass at delivering a clear message or any sort of show of strength. While they’re busy trying to clean up the mess left by the GOP every turn of the tide, the GOP points at them and they shout “Look at the mess the Dems are responsible for!” and Dems say nothing. Civility, I guess. It only goes so far before you get the reputation for being wimps. You know, like today.

Democrats are yesterday’s Republicans. They’re scared, angry and afraid of taking chances. Bold leaders like Bernie Sanders want to bring us ALL to a new, all-time high. Democrats are now his #1 enemy, trying to tear an honest man down. “He hasn’t accomplished anything” the same way Jesus didn’t in the N.T. No, I’m not comparing the two, but it’s funny how a “Christian Nation” isn’t rallying behind a Jew who is a former carpenter and is trying to lead a movement to tend to the poor and heal the sick. Fuck, Bernie could walk on water and turn water into wine all while bringing a dead man back to life and the Dems AND GOPers would still shit on him.

Liz Warren. She’s a brand. Granted, her brand is taking a royal shit on the rich and powerful by calling them out on their bullshit, and she used to be a hero to me, but we’ve got to face it- she ignored the call in 2016 when Bernie urged her to run for POTUS. She was either afraid of Clinton or she was playing the “But I’m A Woman” card and secretly wanted to back HRC. Either way, Warren was out for Warren, not a Progressive agenda and clearly wasn’t behind the cause. When Sanders picked up the torch for the Progressive Cause, she fucked him over and backed HRC, all while calling herself a Progressive. Again, she saw HRC as the inevitable victor and ponied up with her, probably hoping for a cabinet position. She’s doing it now, only more cautiously. This round, however, she thought it smart to shit all over Sanders EARLY in the game and when she did it cost her and her campaign tanked. She’s dropped out. So why hasn’t she openly endorsed Sanders, a fellow Progressive? She won’t. She’s waiting to throw in with Biden after the Primaries and we ALL know it. She’s no champion of the Progressive cause. She’s a brand and she’s looking out for her own ass and nothing more. She’s fallen from grace, if she ever truly had some. She WAS GOP before and clearly nothing’s changed much.

Biden. Fuck me, are we seriously considering fronting this next generation “W”? Why not just hand the election to trump now and get it over with. 2016 all over again. He’s already lining up his potential cabinet with Wall St. tycoons, and has OPENLY admitted that he’s going to slash Social Security (even though the Fed. OWES it a fuck-tonne of payback from all the times it has dipped into YOUR paid-in benefits) and Medicaid/Medicare, but do Americans find this a threat? With typical GOP mentality on BOTH sides of the aisle, it’s only a threat when a Dem. wants to do it, but if the GOP tries, well then it’s all good and fine. Biden is a fucking REPUBLICAN. Just because he CLAIMS to be a Dem, it doesn’t make him so. He’s racist, and twats like Kamala backing him already after the whole “I was that little girl” jab in the debates only shows that she’s not for “We the People” but her own ass. Shocker.

I could go through the list of formerly anti-Biden hypocrites who’ve jumped on board to support Biden and shit on Sanders. All the moneylenders are organizing and ganging up on the ONE true delegate trying to save YOU and not the RICH. Again, this is a CLEAR example of how America doesn’t WANT to be saved.

This has taught me that Americans are not only deluded and hypocritical, as a people in general, but that they seem to LOVE being put into position of strife and misery. It’s where they’re the happiest; embracing the stupidity and ignorance instead of trying to find a way to make us ALL safer, healthier, and happier. Americans HATE being happy with the “others” are happy too. Instead of reaching down to help a fellow American up, it’s the “American Way” to punch down and blame the poor and powerless for their own failings while the rich at the top keep pissing and shitting down on them all while making money grabs.

Next, there’s all this infantile bullshit about “Bernie Bros”. Seriously, shut the fuck up. Hypocrisy in action, yet again is what this is. I’ve found in my personal experience that if I call out another Dem on their bullshit, I’m labeled a “BB”. No matter how you try to point out how Pelosi’s asleep at the wheel or Schumer’s a babbling idiot or how Biden’s a declining fuckwit who can’t string words together and that trump will eat him alive on the debates if he’s the nominee, because I back Sanders, I AM THE ONE getting labeled. The media and the fuckwits out there who are tender little snowflakes who can’t handle criticism or having dirt on their picks dug up and called out cry and cry and cry until someone puts an admin in FB jail for days or even weeks or months.

So to them I say- “Fuck ALL y’all!” I’m done here. Cry me a river because I’m sailing off of Facebook and leaving you all with this cesspool of social mania run by a cunt who backs trump. It’s bad enough knowing that the game is rigged when electing who’ll be our nominee in the Dem. party, but it’s fucking stupid trying to fight the battle here on social media when there are thousands of people following who don’t have a problem with my postings, the description WARNS that I cuss here, yet it only takes one or two fucktards to shut down your page. Fuck this bullshit. I’ve got better shit to do, and my posts on other platforms like Tumblr and even Twitter never get me blocked or locked out. Childish as this whole notion of social media is, at least virtually every other platform is infinitely less riddled with whingers, bitchers and cry-babies who can’t take the heat and instead of clicking to go elsewhere they feel the need to fuck up a page. Enough is enough.

So for those of you who’ve even made it this far and still want to follow me, you can find me on Tumblr, a much more grown-up platform, here at https://quakerjoe.tumblr.com/. If you’re into Twitter (yuck) I’m there too for who knows what reason. https://twitter.com/QuakerJoe2020 will get you to me. I hope to see you all at one of those places. It’s been a real adventure and learning experience, but all I’ve learned is that America is a dirty, filthy nation with a dark and sinister past that it refuses to acknowledge and accept, let alone apologize for because admitting that you’re wrong is UNAMERICAN. Trying to do some form of penance is considered weakness, and turning to truth instead of lies and deceits only leads to the revelation that you’re all up to your eyeballs in selfishness, racism, misogyny, all sorts of phobias, and that you’re only happy as a nation in general when you’re literally given the liberty to tear each others throats out legally.

Good-bye, Facebook. I hope you ALL get a chance to get the fuck out and perhaps regain some sanity one day because if there’s one thing that trumplefuckstick did that was good, it was that he took off the covers and the gilded paint and showed us all what Americans REALLY are, it we’re not pretty.

-Quaker Joe

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