#and for that reason ALSO the Bible should be in public schools

[fluffmonger]

So, in my experience growing up as a deeply curious child in an Evangelical (tm) church..... We *did* read the Bible, we had Sunday school, and Bible studies, all kinds of things. My church used the New International Version as a standard, which keeps some of the poetics of King James, but is a lot clearer and cleaner to read, more modern English. Reading the Bible wasn't the issue at hand.

What we weren't taught was how to interpret the Bible in Context, as a document that was written by historic humans in historic societies and cultures, across several hundred years. There's... Depending on the church, and pastor or Bible study, you may get some emphasis on the difference between the gospels and the letters, or a rundown of the "parts" of the old testament ... But that's usually it. There's no digging into it, and absolutely no questioning. There's very little, if any, acknowledgement that it is in fact, a bunch of separate texts all compiled by a small group of Christians, decades or more after the death of Jesus. To many Christians, I'd wager it feels like the Bible just appeared fully formed out of the air one day, as their holy book. And of course you can't question it, it's *the word of God* so it has to be correct and right, and if you question you're Doubting and not Having Faith (etc).

I hadn't connected the fact that many of the writings of Paul, and John the Revelator were done in the Reign of Emperor Nero until recently, when my classicist partner saw the dates and went "wait what". And if you know anything about Nero well..... Is it any wonder that Paul might have some Concerns about things like morality, and public display of faith and other things? And again! I'm someone who was asking questions and such, all the time, even back then. I was deeply nerdy about it and trying to read it like I read in English class. This made me..... Unpopular. And also felt kind of blasphemous? Like, I always felt odd about that approach while I was in the middle of it because it was *not* standard.

Likewise, a lot of the old testament gets written off as "a collection of stories" and treated more like.... Parables or fables?? Instead of a written collection of Jewish oral history about their history, laws, traditions, and culture. It's all set vaugely "in the past, in Bible times" without any rooting to real history or landscapes or cultures. And of course, because the Bible is all that matters, most Protestants and evangelicals don't think at all about any of the scholarship that goes back millennia on any part of it, the writings of Rabis and later on Christian scholars. The Bible as I was taught, wasn't a living document or a record, it wasn't something to be debated about or argued with, or even questioned, no matter how weird it outdated it seemed. It was *law*, ironclad, and to the claims of many, perfect as is (despite being a work in translation with a lot of nuance and no understanding of translators bias or how a translation should work).

It's.... Pretty fucking dire, and horrific, especially to me now, because the things I've learned about the time periods that the Bible is from? Are actually fascinating, and make it *so* much richer as a text! And then understanding the world of early Christianity, how it became what it is today, how those beliefs and practices became established.... Man, it's fascinating. But again, there's this culture of "Christianity has always been like this and will always be like this" that's very present in those spaces that make it really hard to gain sight of it all.

And... Of course at the end of the day.... The reason people like me didn't realize some of this, is because we weren't told. We werent given the tools to ask the questions we needed to. You can't explore what you don't even know exists, and when you're just told that we don't associate with "those people" and are discouraged from thinking about other faiths except to convert them..... Well.

So yeah. It's not (just) that people don't have reading comprehension.... It's also that they quite literally arent taught the context and origins of their faith for.... Reasons. Also, American Christianity has always just been... Very extreme. Probably bc of the puritans but hey.

Since posting that "how many mass graves and extinct cultures" post last month, I've had multiple Christians in the notes whining that there isn't a "specific instruction of belief that Christianity needs to wipe out every other religion in the world" in Christianity's teachings, and that it's all just The Church/King James/etc.

And every time, I point to the literal text of the passages of The Great Commission.

And nearly every time, that shuts them up; the only time it didn't, it was to engage in some disgusting semantical goalpost moving.

But it's like...

Why do Christians not know the content of their own texts? Is your faith really so tribalistic and totemic around the concept of "Jesus" that you all don't bother to actually read the religious texts?

It feels like it must be--I've heard of too many instances of Christians walking out of readings of The Sermon On The Mount because they think it's "liberal nonsense" and the like, but I just find it baffling and more than a little sad that I, a Jew, apparently knows the New Testament's text better than the people who swear by it and ostensibly believe and follow it.

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

to alienate students from Christianity is to alienate them from their own national history/heritage

[beardedmrbean]

So I recently heard about a law in Oklahoma being passed that required the Bible being taught in school? And that it had to have the US constitution in it to be acceptable at schools. And the only bibles out there that fit the requirement is Bible's Trump is selling. Is there any truth to that?

This is the first I'm hearing of it so I had to poke round and find something that didn't look biased, which is not easy when it comes to something like this.

This one is from July so nothing about the Bibles in there, other than can it be taught, which yes it can under certain circumstances.

I don't know this publication but they've linked everything for their fact check to other sources and it's not all the same one, they seem to be pretty even handed on everything.

TL:DR; is it's complicated, but the one bit I'm going to post from the check is going to be the thing that most other outlets will likely leave out.

We researched state and federal laws and court rulings to fact-check claims Walters has made about what state law allows him to do and who has the legal authority to make decisions on classroom curriculum. 

Claim: The Oklahoma state superintendent has the authority to require specific content be taught in public schools.  Source: Walters told NBC News he has the legal authority to require the Bible in classroom instruction and that teachers who don’t comply could lose their teaching licenses.  Fact check: Mostly false

The Oklahoma Attorney General’s office has said that Walters has no legal authority to require certain content be taught by sending a memo to school districts. 

State law gives local school districts the exclusive power to determine “the instruction, curriculum, reading lists and instructional materials and textbooks.” 

The Oklahoma Board of Education, which Walters chairs, is responsible for adopting academic standards. The standards set a basic framework for what students should know by the end of each school year, according to state law. The Board of Education also has the power to revoke teaching certifications for willful violations of state or federal rules.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education did not respond to The Frontier’s questions about the legal grounds for Walters’ authority to require schools to include the Bible in classroom lessons. -Brianna Bailey ____________________

State Superintendent can't force compliance, school districts get to make that choice.

I would like to point out this is a good thing and one more reason why the federal department of education needs to be shut down, they shouldn't be determining curriculum either, keep that local.

I hope this answers your questions though

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Pavlovitz at The Beautiful Mess:

So, what is actually happening here?

In the wake of the first presidential debate, I’ve watched members of the media, high profile talking heads, and millions of voters frantically pushing the panic button, calling for Joe Biden to step down and encouraging sky-is-falling histrionics. Now, I expect this from a cultic Republican Party prostrate before a traitorous sociopath and a myopic media intoxicated on the circus of sewage he daily generates, but seeing it from supposedly rational people who claim to be awake and paying attention to the issues is disheartening. Yes, Joe Biden is old. He was old when he won four years ago. He’s also an intelligent, compassionate, reasonable human being who has served this nation faithfully and is currently serving it at an extremely high level.

He is a proven leader who understands the diplomacy, nuance, and compromise required to get things accomplished. He deftly led this nation following an insurrection, through COVID, and out of an inflation that much of the world is still in the throes of. He has continued to combat price gouging, student loan debt, gas prices, and a myriad of attacks on human rights, while contending with the most openly corrupt, brazenly traitorous, and violently predatory cadre of Republicans in Congress in our history. And the most shortsighted (and frankly ignorant move) for any Americans of voting age not swept up in the MAGA cult, is making this about Joe Biden alone to begin with. This is about the team of qualified and responsible adults he has surrounded himself with and the agenda of his party as a whole—which when contrasted with the alternative shouldn’t require a second thought.

Joe Biden is old. Republicans stacked the Supreme Court with lawless monsters. Joe Biden is old. Republicans joyously overturned Roe V Wade and are targeting IVF and birth control. Joe Biden is old. Republicans are putting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Joe Biden is old. Republicans are coming for marriage rights, voting rights, Social Security, and Medicare. Joe Biden is old. Republicans are legislating the Bible. Joe Biden is old. Republicans are banning books and outlawing gender-affirming care. Joe Biden is old. Republicans are protecting guns instead of school children. Joe Biden is old. Republicans are planning Project 2025 to immediately establish theocracy. Joe Biden is old. Donald Trump is a court-established rapist and fraud who paid off off a porn star he was sleeping with in order to manipulate an election, and he is likely guilty of high crimes against this nation and is being shielded by judges who are beholden to him.

[...] If the Dems lose in November, America loses. And if the Dems lose, it won't be Joe Biden or the DNC who will be to blame. It will be Left-leaning voters who allowed the media and the Right to manipulate them into fueling the firestorm of meaningless distractions of age and public speaking prowess—when they should have focused on the human, civil, and environmental protections they will be pissing away with a Republican victory. The sole reason Biden ran in 2020 was that he saw the urgency of the moment, realized Trump would likely win, and wanted to spare America a second disastrous second term—and he did. It seems far too many people want to toss this fact aside as prisoners of the momentary news cycle. If President Biden decides to step out of the race then we should passionately embrace whoever replaces him but until that moment comes or if it does not, he and his Administration and party are all that stands between America and its demise.

President Joe Biden (D) has my support as long as he is our party's nominee. If he decides to step down or quit the race, then VP Kamala Harris or whoever Biden and the DNC pick to be the nominee has full support, as defeating Donald Trump and his plans for lawless tyranny is imperative to keep America free.

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

This kind of stuff bothers me greatly because it's narrative bullshit from democrats. So let me go over a bit of stuff from this post and why I think Dems should be put in jail for election interference. And before some moron Says, "Oh so you think we should jail political opponents then? Wow what a fascist". Except I'm not. Not even remotely. What I mean is that actually lying about political rivals, as in objective lying, should result in legal repercussions. You have a responsibility as a public servant to represent the people.

There's a point of interest in this. Once upon a time it was illegal to propagandize the the american people. Obama and his administration decided to repeal this.

This is actually important for a number of reasons. Biggest of which is the fact that the Media is a mouthpiece of the Uniparty. Primarily of which is controlled by the Democrats.

Next of which, was the supposed rape. Trump actually was only found liable for sexual misconduct. But this was tainted by several other problems. One of which is the fact that it was a NY city Jury. NY has been gunning for Trump for a while now and is MOSTLY all Dem leaning. I've discussed this in another post, however, when it comes to the radical left there is not such thing as a fair trial. Only threats. What I will say to further this point is that they had no evidence of anything in regards to this case. What's more the Jury did not find him liable of rape at all. So this is just factually incorrect.

As to the OK think with bibles. I agree with separation of church and state. However I don't think it's "Indoctrination" to teach faith in schools. Hell if anything our country needs more freaking faith. Mind you mandating it in schools I'm not ok with. So at least in this regard, I agree with that part of the post. As to the "Trump" themed bibles, I don't care that much. I'm a prior christian myself and while I think it's a dumb gimmick and a bit self centered but considering how many things have his family name on it, I'm not remotely shocked. Then again, the bit about "Misinformation" annoys the shit out of me because that's a point of perspective when it comes to the bible and faith. I'm not here to make arguments for or against the bible. But to call it "Misinformation" is a bit of an arrogant take.

As to the "Affiliate of Epstein. We know very little about this. We have seen pictures of the two together. However what we don't have proof of is Trump taking trips to Epstein's island. However we do have a world tour list of Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, and many many others. Several Dems and Hollywood elites, specifically all on the same side.

Then let's talk about the racism claims. These are just false. More than anything, The democrats are far more racist than Trump has probably ever been in his life. The Democrats have a LONG history of racism. Trump has long history of being very verbally abrasive. Racism though? Not really. Especially not when you consider a lot of his past helping one of the first bids for a black president long before Obama was THOUGHT to the Bush family. A racist, AN ACTUAL RACIST doesn't do that. The man is crass. He's not a racist.

As to the abortion stuff. I've discussed this into oblivion but abortion is not a health RIGHT. It's the termination of a viable child in the womb. IT IS a life regardless of if you think it is or not. And I continue to say this as someone that is not strictly pro life. It's not "Healthcare". I've explained this before but stillbirth removal isn't an abortion. Saving the mother's life while trying to save the child is also not an abortion. A miscarriage isn't an abortion. And moreover, the lie that has persisted that Trump is going to ban abortion is a lie. The idea that he's going to ban IVF is a lie. Harris has consistently lied about this over and over.

Another thing that drives me up the wall with this post is the fact that there are no "Hundreds of court documents proving trump to be a racist, sexist, rapist- etc" Trump got the Kavanagh treatment of, "it happened years ago, I don't remember when, or how, and even the prosecutor doesn't believe it",

I'm honestly just frustrated with all of this. Between the lies of Mainstream Media and the lies of the Democrats, it's about time we start actually enforcing the law. Illegals on the voter roles, the pro hamas losers burning ballots, and the DOJ preventing the removal of actual illegals on the voter roles. The amount of crap that has managed to seep into discourse and the sheer lies is reaching levels I'd never have thought. Democrats, the NeoCons and the Media is tearing this country apart just to retain power so that it can rule over the ashes.

Finally let me say this. If you vote democrat, and we end up in another war, specifically pushed by the clearly pro war party that Dick Cheney has endorsed as well as a NUMBER of generals and DOJ officials, You should be the first to be put on the front lines. No jail for not going. You should have a choice. Go get deployed to the warzones you voted for. Because I sure as hell refuse.

[gatekeeper-watchman]

Daily Devotionals for August 5, 2024 Proverbs: God's Wisdom for Daily Living Devotional Scripture: Proverbs 22:5-6 (KJV): 5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. 6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:5-6 (AMP): 5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the obstinate and willful; he who guards himself will be far from them. 6 Train up a child in the way he should go (and in keeping with his individual gift or bent), and when he is old he will not depart from it. Thought for the Day Verse 5 - The forward (rebellious) person will end up on a path that is hedged in with thorns and snares. Many young people reject or ignore the advice of their parents and elders to their own hurt, learning everything the hard way. That way of living is like walking at night down a path full of holes that is overgrown with thorny bushes, and without a guiding light. Young people who love the Lord and have respect for authorities will "keep" or "guard" their souls. Those who are chaste and keep their virginity escape the ravages of sexually transmitted diseases and scarred emotions. When they meet their mates, their paths can begin together without the snares of pain and guilt because they have no past sexual sins to mar their relationship. Verse 6 - We are told in this verse to "train" our children in the Lord. Many parents grieve over children who have gone astray from Christian teachings. They wonder why they do not walk in what they were taught. One possible reason is that they were not trained to walk in God's ways, but only "told" about the things of God. There is a big difference between teaching and training. Parents must help their children find the right path through teaching (giving information); and then help them stay on the right path through training (integrating the teaching into the lifestyle); third, pray and ask the Lord to help them recognize their children's God-given gifts and direct them into the callings He has for them. Training involves enforcing and reinforcing what is taught and requires discipline, diligence, and commitment from parents. When parents abdicate the position of a mentor, their children derive their values from the world; from humanistic teachers in public schools, from babysitters, secular movies, videos, CDs, games, books, magazines, and last but not least, their own peers. The Bible commands children to obey their parents in all things if they want to please the Lord. (Of course, this means in all moral and right things. Some corrupt parents would ask their children to do evil things, and a child should not obey those things.) Parents are also told not to provoke their children to anger, and thereby discourage them. Parents are to be kind and good to their children, since the Lord is kind and good to us, His spiritual children. "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged" (Colossians 3:20-21). If we call on Him, He will give us the wisdom, love, and patience to raise our children properly even in a wicked world, so that when they are grown, they will not depart from God's ways. Prayer Devotional for the Day Dear heavenly Father, we thank You for all You have done for our children and grandchildren. Lord, we are grateful that they all know You. It was Your love and grace that made that possible. Lord, we do pray that You keep each of them in Your Hand and keep them from the evil influences in this world. Help us to continue to be that mentor and model for all of them and most of all, help us to always show love to each of them. Lord, lead each of them into the ministry that You have ordained for them. May they find the right mate, so they can walk together in their life's calling. Protect them all. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Did you hear about the person in Utah who got the Bible banned in school for sexual and gross content? What are your thoughts on this?

Yes, I posted about it previously. It's funny because atheists have been saying for years that the bible is inappropriate for children.

Xians worry about the magical themes in fictional fantasy like Harry Potter, while their own completely "true" moral guide to life and the universe has demons, witches, magic spells, god making bets with the devil, talking animals, genocide, sex-slaves, dragons, incest, violence, and two bears murdering 42 children.

That said, I don't support banning it. Or any books.

However, there's a difference between "banning" a book and schools not including a book in their libraries. Schools are public in the sense that they're operated for the people, but not in the sense that anyone can just waltz in and expect access and services. They're protected spaces for children. So it's not unreasonable to classify books and other materials according to age-appropriateness. Just like we already do for films and TV shows. (Of course, private schools, such as Catholic schools, operate to their own criteria.)

If a book is deemed suitable for say, only 15 and older, then it doesn't need to be in elementary/primary schools. Especially when it talks about "vagina slime" and masturbating with a sock. Or casually endorses medicalized child sterility with "that's cool." That's not "banning" it, it's saving it for when it's actually appropriate. Although, when a book like that is ever appropriate, I have no idea.

It's also true that schools, especially elementary/primary and secondary often do not have the space or resources to carry every damn book. It's not unreasonable for any books being introduced to be justified in terms of budget and educational value. If the school doesn't carry it, go get it from a bookstore or public community library instead.

None of these could or should be considered "banning," if whatever criteria or rules are made transparent and applied consistently.

It should also be mentioned that elementary/primary and secondary school teachers do not enjoy "academic freedom," nor freedom of expression or speech in their capacity as teachers. They're government employees, and don't have the right to teach whatever they want however they want any more than Kim Davis had the freedom of religion to deny same-sex couples marriage licenses according to her personal beliefs. Teachers, like Davis, are agents of the government, and they are to do what they are told. As public servants, they're answerable to the parents and taxpayers, not some higher being or agenda.

Teachers who teach their own religious, political or ideological beliefs either as curriculum, or embedded into it, or exhibit a compulsion to make their faith, beliefs, personality, identity or politics central to the classroom are unfit and should be removed. They're an authoritarian narcissist getting their rocks off to a vulnerable captive audience. Which in many cases seems to be the point.

"Not until gentle Jesus, meek and mild, are you told if you don’t make the right propitiations you can depart into everlasting fire. One of the most wicked ideas ever preached and one that has ruined the lives and peace of mind of many, many children…preached to them by vicious, child-hating old men and women in the name of this ghasty cult."

-- Christopher Hitchens

The nun gleefully beating children with her strap, and the TikTok teacher boasting of confusing children with her imaginary pronouns are both enemies of children and education.

If they want academic freedom, they can go to the tertiary sector. But there they'll run into people who can and will argue back, which seems to explain certain categories of teacher.

For the same reason, the expectation that every preferred book must be accommodated in a school library and made available to children is completely unreasonable. Schools are spaces which must cater to the kids, not to the sensibilities, superstitions and egos of the teachers.

[proxylynn]

Hi Lynn, I'm sorry for the mistakes (I'm using a translator). But can I get canon info about Don and Roy from you?

[No worries. The only issue is, Fuboo tends to rewrite her lore a lot. Like, A LOT a lot. So when it comes to knowing what is and isn't canon is entirely a guessing game till she discloses her "YB Lore Bible". So I will share some Don and Roy stuff, but I have no clue how much is still true. So I'm going to pick some stuff that I believe she's kept intact.]

Karen was raised spoiled, was the popular girl in high school, and faked being pregnant twice to make sure Don didn't date anyone else. The first time was in high school and the time was when Roy was 5. She even tried again when Don started divorce proceedings but he snapped back "We haven't had sex in 2 years! So either the kid isn't mine, or you're full of shit. I know how a uterus works!".

Don also didn't fight for custody of Roy and never visited.

The main reason is that he didn't want to see his ex since she would make things more difficult.

His ex is literally the reason why they don't have a good relationship.

Karen's parents disowned her after she spend half a million in Vegas back in high school, and she never talked to them since. Roy visits them once a week when he found them. And Don only met them once because of well…Karen.

Roy is not a fan of his mom. She helicopter parented him so hardcore when he hit 13, humiliated him intentionally in public in hopes to "shame him in his place", and even removed his bedroom door because he started locking himself in his room.

Narcissistic and manipulative are two deadly combos that should never go into one being. Despite all of Karen's flaws, she does have some positive qualities. She might be a bitch to others, but when it comes to the physically or mentally disabled, she's a total sweetheart. She works at a school where she teaches and helps special needs students.

Don's height is Don 6'4" to 6'6", Roy's height is somewhere at 5'11" to 6'0" (Fuboo being Fuboo with heights), and Karen is 5'4".

If they were animals, Don would be a bear and Roy's animal is a coyote, but we don't know what Karen is. (my guess is a leech or some other annoying parasite)

Roy's means of self-defense is a taser and Don's is a crowbar.

What's sad is Don fell hard after the divorce. Beer became his friend and it took a while to pull himself out of needing it. He also feels like Roy is 100% done with him for how things went, but it's not the case. Roy actually wants to be in his dad's life and reconcile. They just need to be put in a room and be allowed to talk.

A really sweet thing is that Don has a single tie. Roy got it for him on Father's day, saying that "You always look sad, so I hope this makes you happy." Don kept it ever since. The tie has smiling suns on it.

Don is not a fan of kissing but likes to receive them. Roy is a shy kisser, afraid he'll do it wrong.

Don's mother was Hispanic.

In looking for a partner, Roy would like someone more free-ranged and open. Someone who actually trusts him and gives him his space. As for Don, he'd like someone who can take care of themselves and not rant all the time…someone humble too. Basically, they both want someone the opposite of Karen.

Don secretly heads out to the back alley of the building and feeds stray cats.

Don had a pet cow when he was a kid working on his uncle's farm.

Don's favorite game is Checkers and Roy's is Sorry.

[duskys-dreams]

We were battling our way through the forest, trying to obtain a specific suit of armour and also avoid someone who was chasing us.

We had a teleporter that looked like a book that would randomize our location, and it put us here. Rarity was the one who kept a hold of it. We were trying to make the most of it while we were here.

There was this one girl that kept following us as we travelled. She was called the Neutralizer, or the Equalizer, depending on who you asked, but she didn’t have any abilities that pertained to that name. All she had were elemental powers, and her favourite move was to create lava under her feet and run around, jumping on enemies.

There was a strange cliff that had a giant inanimate skeleton wearing a suit of armour stuck on the wall, and it looked intimidating. The rest of us decided to take five minutes to set up camp just past the cliff, in a small and perfectly circular area that was only a couple metres in diameter.

After resting and talking for a few minutes, we packed up against and went back outside to face the Neutralizer. We started attacking her, and she was doing very well for a young child. She dragged away each person into the fog until only I was left.

I knew I couldn’t win against her. So, I tried something different.

When the Neutralizer came close, I complemented her and told her that she was a very powerful fighter. She was taken aback by this and awkwardly thanked me.

I told her that I didn’t want to fight her. It turns out that she doesn’t like fighting either, but she does it because it’s all she’s known. I told her it was okay, and that I forgave her. As a show of peace, I offered to show her our campsite. She followed me down the short path, explains that we had already packed up but this was our campsite.

We found Reuben the tiny creeper-ping hiding behind a rock, and the Neutralizer was instantly in love. I let her carry him around, and I gathered up my team again and said we should move on.

Rarity started fiddling with the teleporter. It offered to take us to Mexico, a random forest, even to Bible. We weren’t sure what that meant, so we did not go to Bible.

I looked over at the huge and creepy skeleton wearing suit of armour still stuck to the wall, and asked the Neutralizer if she knew anything about it. She shrugged, and I was hit by a realization. “WAIT… WAIT OH MY GOD IS IT-“

Luna and Noah grinned at each other and shrugged cheerfully. This was the creepy warrior rabbit I was hearing about.

We decided not to use the teleporter just yet and walked back into camp. The suit of armour stood up and followed us, but it seemed harmless.

The Neutralizer petted Reuben and said that one of our teacher at school planned to attack us with Gigas in the hallway. Not even during class, just in the public hallway with other students wandering around.

We wouldn’t stand for this. So, Rarity teleported us all to the school and explained this to Gabriel. Gabriel then went to Dumbledor to explain the situation, and he gathered up a bunch of students that would’ve been in the line of fire, including our group. He explained that we were going to be tested on our brake prowess, and we were all teleported to the place we were before. Everyone was excited to show off their abilities, and we all went down the path toward the battle area.

Gabriel and Dumbledor sat down together, and Gabriel asked if this plan was actually a good one. Dumbledor started to explain his reasoning, but stopped as he noticed the girl at the end of the group carrying Reuben. He frantically pointed her out to Gabriel. “That girl…! That’s the Equalizer, and she has Reuben!”

They joined the group, and gave everyone some silent instructions. Then, the stone giant appeared, and everyone was ready to fight.

The Neutralizer ran to one side and launched an attack at the giant, but all the students near her casted spells that hit her or came very close to it. She ran back to the other side, and the same thing happened.

She came over to me and said that everyone was targeting her, and I suggested that it might’ve just been an accident. But she said that one spell was an accident. This was not.

Dumbledor came over and explained that it was because the Equalizer was very powerful, and therefore very dangerous. He took Reuben from her, and I argued that her magic was hardly different than anyone else’s, and he was being unfair. But Dumbledor disagreed: the Equalizer had untapped power that she didn’t know about, and it would be devastating to us all if she unlocked it.

@morningdewflop came over and dropped an Ultimate sketch page, saying that if we coloured over it with her, it would fix everything. So, we started doing that.

As we started going over the sketch lines with purple marker, the landscape changed. Beyond the hill that we were fighting on, a huge dark city spread across the horizon. The black national anthem played over it, which seemed like a strange choice for battle music but I sang along anyway.

[ppgxrrblove]

Warning From Paul Washer...Years Ago.

This is from an old, old video that was recorded of when brother paul - pastor to be more, was having a serious discussion with the christians in the place that he was at - believe it was a church or somewhere, can't tell because the video is just old. just the matter that he warned about this topic years ago....really displays of how great the lords wisdom is, and that everything is going to according to gods plan. ..so if you aren't a christian yet want to read what paul has to state go ahead =o, and for those who are and yet to have this be told to you..here you go; i do want to also add on to this that..everything he has stated so far has been progressively becoming real..if you notice that people choose lies, deception over the truth it just leaks everywhere, it even goes as far as to physically attacking people - man..wake up. The church in America is going to suffer so terribly. And we laugh now But they will come after us. And they will come after her children. They will close the net around us while we are playing soccer mom and soccer dad.

While we're arguing over so many things and mesmerized by so many trinkets, the net is even now closing around you, and your children, and your grandchildren, and it does not cause you to fear.

You will be isolated from society as is already happened.

Anyone who tries to run for office who actually believes the Bible will be considered a lunatic until finally we are silenced.

We will be called things that we are not and persecuted, not for being followers of Christ, but for being radical fundamentalists who do not know the true way of Christ which of course is "love and tolerance."

You'll go down as bigots and the greatest haters of mankind in history.

They've already come after your children, and for most of you they got them. They got them through the public schools and indoctrination, and the universities and indoctrination. And then you wonder why your children come out not serving the Lord. It's because you fed them right into the Devil's mouth.

So little by little the net is closing around, and then it's not little by little. Look how fast things are going downhill just in a matter of weeks; a matter of weeks!

But at the same time know this: persecution is always meant for evil, but God always means it for good. And is it not better to suffer in this life to have and extra weight of glory in heaven?

You must settle this in your mind! This is the one thing I want to say over and over: Do not believe... down through history you have a wrong idea of martyrdom and persecution. You think that these men were persecuted and martyred for their sincere faith in Jesus Christ. That was the real reason, but no one heard that publicly. They were martyred and they were persecuted as enemies of the state. As child molesters. As bigots. As narrow-minded stupid people who had fallen for a ruse and can contribute nothing to society. Your suffering will not be noble.

So your mind must be filled with the Word of God when all people persecute you and turn on you. And then Spirit of God and common grace pulls back and you see even your children and your grandchildren tossing in the lot that you should die. This is no game.

You want revival and awakening but know this: for the most part great awakenings have come preceding great national catastrophes or the persecution of the church. I believe God is bringing a great awaking. But I believe that He is raising up young men who are strong in trust in the providence of God to be able to wade through the hell that is going to break loose on us. And it will be on us before we even recognize it. Unless -- unless! -- in God's providence He is not done.

Now note that this is not silly talk. Apart from a great awakening these things are going to come up on you. Be ready to lose you homes, your cars, and everything"

[gxlden-angels]

Shiny Happy People Thoughts: Episode 4

TW: The Duggar Family and their crimes

- All gang here we go again

- To recap, we left off on the discovery of Josh Duggar's business hard drive with CSAM on it and the affects of anti-sex and strict enforcement of hierarchies

- The episode starts with the phone call about the investigation and the discovery of CSAM linked to Josh Duggar's business IP address

- This episode is known for being the hardest to get through so be warned if you decide to also watch

- They use the term "child pornography" but I will be using the terms CSAM or child sexual abuse material

- Jen of Fundie Fridays described the Snark community's look into the investigation

- Fucking Covenant Eyes

- I think I talked about it before, but it's an anti-pornography and accountability software program where your porn use is sent to a trusted program partner

- There's a lot of talk about having to be happy at all times, which was also enforced in my households. My dad never enforce it, but other family members would insist on me smiling or they'd make me smile (meant as a threat)

- Theres also clips of Josh and Anna's courtship and how they weren't even allowed to kiss before marriage

- Bobye, Jill, and all of the other victims are incredibly brave for speaking up both during the trial and now in this docuseries

- Jim Bob ran for senate in Arkansas during said trial, which is fucking wild. I knew he did, but I didn't realize it was during the trial. They genuinely believe the issue is Josh was caught and arrested rather than the fact that Josh did these horrible crimes

- There's a firm belief in individualism and handling issues at home so they don't have to acknowledge the greater patterns of abuse in these circles else they make their christianity look bad

- It explains the "Culture War" and what's essentially meant to be a new version of the crusade. Even in my small town black churches we sang song after song about being soldiers in the army of Christ and being willing to die for him

- The greater "Culture War" is for white, cishet evangelicals. My family might follow the exact same principles, but they would never be accepted by these groups in the same way because we're black

- A lot of black people hold the fear though that if they stop following these groups/mindsets, their children will be the next victims, rather than the black kid that got overlooked. There's no positive outcome, just a fear of the worst negative

- This is why there's been an attack on education as a whole, especially in places like Florida. They started with homeschooling, grew up and graduated, then became politicians and leaders and lawyers that could make public school just like their homeschooling or gut it so much that anyone not in these groups or people that can't homeschool their kids lose significant power and educational opportunities

- I was never homeschooled, but I was told by my churches that school will teach us things like evolution that we should ignore. The pastor and his wife at one church homeschooled their kids and advocated for it

- They are specifically referring to white, homeschooled, IBLP-trained evangelicals but this shit influenced the entire christian culture of the bible belt in the US

- There's a reason these people are gun-carrying, anti-choice conservatives and why they're making up lies and attacking schools for being "leftist indoctrination camps"

- Its all a fear tactic. I even got this talk when I was in high school and planning for college. We were told to keep close contact with the church and to not even join other christian groups your parents don't know in case they teach the "corrupted" versions of christianity

- Its Madison Cawthorn. It's Matt Walsh. It's the current Supreme Court. It's Donald Trump. It's all of these people that plan to take away autonomy from people so they can enforce this christian hierarchy throughout the world

- I'm at the Paul and Morgan part of the docuseries. Their interview was about their marriage and the role of the wife. They say it's a choice to submit to their husbands, though they feel like christian women always should

- The editing was incredible in this part. It goes from them talking about the role of the wife and being a light in the world to the jump cut of Morgan screaming about how it's impossible to "be a they/them"

- This part is what is making Paul and Morgan pitch a fit because they feel like it made christianity look bad, but all they did was edit in their own words from their YouTube channel

- "This is the Joshua Generation" gave me chills

- Its Girl Defined and the Rodrigues family and tiktok influencers and so on and so forth and all of them are white evangelicals who are trying to enforce this strict hierarchy and claiming it's the only way to save people

- Its why people say be careful when looking into cottagecore and tradcore and the "soft life" movement because a lot of it is ran by evangelicals trying to make strict hierarchies look trendy

- Its incredible to be a stay at home mom and traditional housewife, but only if it's your choice. All of the insistence that feminism is "destroying motherhood" and whatnot is all a ploy to take more women's autonomy. It's why feminism advocates for things like maternal leave, universal basic income with benefits for parents and children, universal daycare, universal healthcare especially for birthing parents. All of it should be a choice you can make for yourself

- The insistence on a family of a Working Father, a Housewife, and 2 or 20 kids was spread by a cult leader who never even had a wife or kids. Gothard sexually abused multiple minors during his time as an IBLP leader

- Josh Duggar was of course found guilty.

- It hurts knowing that his victims were expected to forgive him and let him back into their lives

- A lot of the family and friends are completely shut out of the picture now for advocating for Josh's arrest

- Amy Duggar reading from IBLP hurt, especially with the cut to Anna Duggar, Josh's wife

- They talk about why she still advocates for him and stays with him. She doesn't have a way to leave since this is all she was raised for. Find a nice, godly man and have his babies. No proper education. No source of stable income for herself. No privacy

- That goes double for her as the wife of a well-known person. She will never get privacy because she only sees herself as property of god, Josh, and the TV contracts Josh signed for her and unless she gets serious therapy and a safe, long term environment where someone takes care of her, thats all she'll ever see herself as

- My therapist pointed out to me today that whenever I burp, I completely change as a person for a split second. Despite all the work I've done and my transition as a transmasculine person, I still attempt to hide my burps, cover my mouth, completely straighten up, say excuse me very articulately, and even raise the pitch of my voice

- I know that seems like a weird tangent but it's an example of how even the smallest of things gets trained into you. Burping wasn't feminine so I got called a pig and a man in an insulting way when I burped loudly enough to be heard. I still burp in that polite way that makes me nauseous so I won't be heard unless I'm completely alone

- You can't just leave these cults. It comes with you. It stays with you even in these little habits and I was lucky enough to get the chillest parent of the family. Anna cannot and will not leave unless she is forced, and even then she will still be stuck. She won't suddenly have 12-13 years of education. She won't have the skills to get a good paying job in the current economic landscape. She won't have people to save her. This is what cults do. This is what they want. They want her to be helpless because it's a message: Next time, don't let him get caught

- "My only hope was to cling to my faith."

- That's all she has. It's all that belonged to her. Everything else was her father's or her husband's

- Tia Levings describing the situation of getting her kids and leaving the husband that was going to get his gun was honestly the hardest story to hear

- I never experienced abuse like that, but I remember hearing over and over "well why wasn't she under her father/husband's watch" "why didn't she just leave?" "Why didn't she just trust in god?" and have this fear set in me of what if I never left? Is this where I would've been?

- Around my teen years I got very uncomfortable around most couples in my family. The husband would joke about wives submitting and the wives would snap back about how it's a choice they could take away. The husband retorts with a bible verse about how they shouldn't. They laugh it off and the tension sits in the air. They seem to hate each other, but they made a promise to god.....

- The lawsuit against IBLP and Bill Gothard and it being dropped because of the statute of limitations leaves such a helpless feeling, but I hope this documentary helps at least a bit

- "His eyes were open"

- "It was just a man the whole time."

- Brook and Emily's stories really hit. There's a sudden realization that these people are not gods. They are people that wanted power and they got it. They abused and crushed people, not because they are powerful gods of knowledge, but because they wanted to abuse

- WAS

- "I ended up in jail anyways."

- That's how it goes. I felt the need to lash out when I first got out. I didn't do well with my therapist at the time. She was a practicing christian recommend by my doctor who used to go to our church and also treated all of my family with insurance she took. She thought my family was a lil strict but couldn't quite believe me when I said it was so much more than that

- I did lash out, mostly towards myself. I'm not going to talk about my self harm in detail here. Lara talks about lashing out via shoplifting. I will say this is normal. If you feel like you need to do a 180, I won't say do anything and everything, but you might have to. I am a firm believer in harm reduction over flat out denial at all times. Sometimes it all just needs to get out. Sometimes you need to regain a sense of control

- I didn't realize until I started seeing my current therapist that I realized what I was raised in. I made jokes about my family being a cult before then, but it never actually hit until I said "Oh. I never had a childhood, did I?" and teared up for the first time in his office

- I honestly couldn't say the stuff about deconstruction better myself. It's exhausting but so so freeing. A lot of the people in the docuseries used instagram and tiktok. I use tumblr as my platform of choice.

- I honestly have to thank the religious trauma tumblr tag for getting me to where I am today. If you look at my main blog, you can even see that my first few posts are scattered with bible verses if I didn't already delete them. I hope my blog helps someone else the same way that tag helped me

- I get a lil personal here sometimes and probably should save more of it for my therapist, but I think it's helpful sometimes. I think he'd agree. My therapist knows about this blog and thinks it's good

- I've heard about Jinger's book but never read it so I can't say anything about it. I also haven't seen any of the casts' tiktok pages so I can't say anything about them either. I might look later but this episode was a lot so Ill leave it for now

- I figured Bill Gothard would decline further comments. He denied everything and will most likely never see a single punishment. It's how these things are built

- I think the final statement from Jim Bob and Michelle help really seal just how terrible both of them are. They rather side with their child who abused than the victims that spoke out because it makes them look bad that all of this got out

- Final thoughts? Great series. Very therapeutic. Very validating.

- Its the small stuff that gets you. Hair needs to frame your face and honor your father. Be a soldier for Christ. Be fruitful and multiply. I still have awkward pictures of my permed hair and scratchy easter dresses

- I also told my therapist about this show and my recaps here and he thinks it's great. I'm glad I did it. It's really motivated me and helped me see just how far I've progressed

- I'm glad I also learned Nope is on Prime cause I rarely use prime video lol I mostly use it for twitch and prime delivery on cat supplies in bulk

- Good luck all you blasphemers, apostates, heretics, and sinners out there! Be good people, commit to the bit, and love without remorse!

[astropithecus]

Hot take: stories like this are actually where all that anger towards sex education originates.

To be fair, I can't find any evidence the story presented here isn't apocryphal, but there's no reason to doubt it - kids that have fact-based education about sexual abuse are three times more likely to report their abuser. That means age-appropriate sex ed is the last thing "groomers" want, because sex ed outs sexual predators and empowers victims. Admittedly, I'm already a little suspicious of anyone that expresses effectively that they would prefer kids stay "soft targets" for groomers, abusers, and sex traffickers.

Considering a staggering 93% of sex offenders are religious conservatives though, it gets hard not to draw a connection when voices in the right-wing camp vehemently want to ban books that protect children. Even as an Evangelical Christian I couldn't get 'riled up' about age-appropriate sex education, so the raging fury I see about books like It's Perfectly Normal is hard for me to empathize with. To me, it just seems blatantly motivated by fears that public school sex education is going to make it harder to get away with abusing kids. It'd be funny if it weren't so disgusting, like dogs convincing Republicans to ban leashes or turkeys astroturfing a right-wing boycott of Thanksgiving. But if I'm right, the even more disturbing implication would be that so many ostensibly decent people can't see right through it.

I can't prove it, of course - I guess some people really could have so much Christian guilt around sex that even acknowledging we have bodies is shameful, and that shame creates fear that turns into anger. But if you believe in intelligent design, then you also have to believe that each of the 10,000 nerve fibers in a clitoris were put there intentionally by a creator for no other reason than to make sex feel really good. If you believe the bible is the perfect "Word of God," then the perfect word of God includes 2000-year-old erotic poetry. There's no good theological reason that learning about our own bodies should be taboo, if anything Christian tradition suggests the God of Abraham sees our sexuality as something to celebrate. So it can't be that, right? What else would it be?

[beardedmrbean]

“Another may have to do with the volumes of information we have and have had for a long time about the various countries and regions in Europe where as Africa was mostly split up between the desert and not the desert, learned some German history in High School but did you learn about Chad or Kenya. That's a thing that's getting better too. “

Yeah that the thing (thanks social Darwinism) for decades we had bare minimum information about Africa in the Americas which cause a identity crisis among

Now for claiming Africa, well for centuries black Americans were told that Africa was only a shithole by white supremacists and the only “African” empire that was known was Egypt

Though an extremely fetishized as AC Origins discovery tour pointed it Egyptmongy was very different to what it is now.

Actually tangent, Dave from here posted a video of black teens selling cornstarch on tik tok. I pointed it out that that been happening in my family for generations

Then he found an article saying a lot of central Africas eat mud.

…Also did my research and learn black Americans especially in the north eat corn starch because we couldn’t make the same conditions for eating mud.

Well at least I know it genetic!

Now after women king came out, I think you posted a screenshot where dna ancestry can show us what tribes black Americans with slave ancestry came from….tbh I should have realize that because Assassins Creed is based off pseudo science inspired by dna ancestry

But I notice in general that black Americans are taught a 60’s pan Africa style of African history (almost like our education system is shit) which is why a lot of native Africans complain about the look of Wakanda and why Americans think their living in 600 bc

Because…that how we were taught in public school systems. Only vauge references to African kingdoms beyond Egypt

Do you really think we would have lionized the Dahomey if the fact they are reasons my people were slaves much like Jews know about their dispora cause by Hadrian?

Are there any African tribes that worked with the French to stop the Dahomey? I got a idea

Now for claiming Africa, well for centuries black Americans were told that Africa was only a shithole by white supremacists and the only “African” empire that was known was Egypt.

Ethiopia gets a mention here and there too, been around a long time but they're just a stones throw away of the Arabian peninsula they didn't get too far south cuz malaria and such though, even Egypt didn't go too far south.

We don't get a lot about the history of SubSaharan Africa because nobody knows what it is.

MENA, most of Asia, and Europe we have written records for, stuff we can cross check with other written records if people want to start in on 'oral history' stuff which there's no concrete way to prove.

That dirt thing was new to me, if it works though why not.

But I notice in general that black Americans are taught a 60’s pan Africa style of African history (almost like our education system is shit) which is why a lot of native Africans complain about the look of Wakanda and why Americans think their living in 600 bc

I know we covered the Zulu's when I was in school, but again they're easy since not only are they kind of recent, as kingdoms go, they also were interacting with the European powers, and getting their asses handed to them at Rorkes Drift, one reason the whole we'd have had wakanda if not for colonialism dies really fast, one of the main things Europeans traded to Africans was guns and other bits of technology that they didn't have.

The Americas were still basically in the stone age portion of the global technology tree, not a lot of metalworking going on.

Iron swords and armor were a superweapon at the crossover point of the bronze and iron ages and we showed up on the continents with steel.

On the information front it would be interesting to get the oral histories collected, not that it could be taken as factual information, Bible is fairly accurate but has its issues as well, mostly embellishing the size of armies and such, but getting stories from there would be nice I think get that tossed into the world history courses.

Do you really think we would have lionized the Dahomey if the fact they are reasons my people were slaves much like Jews know about their dispora cause by Hadrian?

might have had a tougher time selling it, but remember it was a white woman that put that film together so it may well have still happened.

If they want something good with a group that actually fought for freedom against those who were enslaving them, you have to step out of Africa and into Mexico but the Yaqui Indians, the federal government of Mexico was scoping them up and selling them for $1 or less to sugar plantations that would literally work them to death.

This is after kicking France out mind you, and they were doing this up into the 20th century, because the Yaqui refused to submit to Mexican rule at least that's one reason they were sold to farmers. ___________________

That's another thing they don't teach in school for you.

Many Yaqui were sold at 60 pesos a head to the owners of sugar cane plantations in Oaxaca and the tobacco planters of the Valle Nacional, while thousands more were sold to the henequen plantation owners of the Yucatán.

By 1908, at least 5,000 Yaqui had been sold into slavery. At Valle Nacional, the enslaved Yaquis were worked until they died. While there were occasional escapes, the escapees were far from home and, without support or assistance, most died of hunger while begging for food on the road out of the valley toward Córdoba.

At Guaymas, thousands more Yaquis were put on boats and shipped to San Blas, where they were forced to walk more than 200 miles to San Marcos and its train station. Many women and children could not withstand the three-week journey over the mountains, and their bodies were left by the side of the road.The Mexican government established large concentration camps at San Marcos, where the remaining Yaqui families were broken up and segregated. Individuals were then sold into slavery inside the station and packed into train cars which took them to Veracruz, where they were embarked yet again for the port town of Progreso in the Yucatán. There they were transported to their final destination, the nearby henequen plantations. ____________________

There's more of them in the US than Mexico, in a twist of irony they came to the US to escape slavery and ethnic cleansing.

Are there any African tribes that worked with the French to stop the Dahomey? I got a idea

Ya whichever ones the Dahomey were using for slaves likely linked up with the French on that one, much like with Mexico it was Cortez and 300 Spaniards as well as 30,000 pissed off locals who were tired of having their children hauled off to be human sacrifices.

Enemy of my enemy

[llycaons]

okay I've had breakfast. mtefil 37 - 41 midpoint

OH I THINK I KNOW WHO THIS IS

honestly I don't even think lust should be a woman. this is a general thought, not a specific critique of this story, which I think does it well. obviously women are capable of sexual violence, but it's not they're usually the primary beneficiaries or the people who maintain the systems of power that its involved in. also lust isn't even a bad thing, it's about power abuses. it's complicated given other factors ie race, class, etc. but like if you want to embody sexual predation for whatever reason I just think it makes more sense to be a man. but ig we already had mannon with his white-heteropatriarchy-as-greed thing. but really. every single depiction of lust that goes for hot woman with big boobs is missing a chance. out of universe, it's centering the het men who are responding to the lust depiction and not everyone else who's at risk of being victimized by the het men themselves.

also I saw a defense of fma lust by saying 'she's not lustful herself, she's BLOODLUST' as if that's not just semantics or 'she INSPIRES lust' as if that's an argument that makes sense for literally any other homunculi. does wrath inspire wrath? not really, unless he's doing something to piss you off. does sloth inspire sloth? no, unless seeing him sleepy makes you sleepy. does pride invoke pride? only if you're his mom. it's a stupid argument defending a choice made for a shonen adventure story based on a DEEPLY flawed and misogynistic mythos. which THIS story is deconstructing (well....maybe?) and examining with a lot more insight and thoughtfulness than fma ever did, ha. BUT big boob lady is a better chance for a character design. and in this story it'sthe actual sins tempting people, not just a homunculous being cheeky

she IS a high schooler. good for her!

SCHOOL ARC!!!

hm 🤔

escort means something in english that it might not in japanese....also how does priest know how to speak japanese? I thought this manga started somewhere in europe. oh well it's not important. also I just checked and the opening scene w the priest (in northern italy, bc that's near rome, duh) is him quoting bible verses at some kids who are bullying him and using the scripture to explain why he wasn't fighting back. aw buddy

WEEPING

OH NOOOO. and just when I was thinking aw it's so nice that priest has a non-exorcist friend his age who's a human 😭

sometimes it feels like the series doesn't leverage the horror of the youth of its characters against the backdrop of violence enough. also I've only ever seen this done by hisoka :(

why is he like thi- oh you know what I know already

oh help I thought this was verge doing a picture of dante and I was like oh I believe this of him but dante's not even here rn so who's he doing this for

im already sick of this bitch. he's officially passed my tolerance level for using the word 'cute'

he just wants to wait until dante is there right. using the public is an odd excuse tho - why would witches care about that?

I didn't screenshot this back then but like...this isn't always technically true I think :( in terms of a body's purely physical responses to stimuli, as far as I know it's a really well-documented phenomenon. this IS a technicality tho and I get why the author included it

oh my god she thought she'd have to be the girl in between two yaoiboys. no imuri, the yaoi is happening elsewhere it seems

just by body language you can tell how uncomfortable he is....he's so little and they're all just looming over him

ah, the odious locker room talk....little do they know....and it's not like priest would ever join in on this even if he didn't have trauma AND guilt around this topic. after seeing so many anime treat women/girls and their (and others'!) sexual harassment like a joke (...yyh) this is such a breath of fresh air. even if it is painful obvi

LIARRRR

well if that's how it works....then yeah. the incarnations as temptation etc. that makes sense. I looked up gravure models and they're more mature/sexual than high school idols tend to be

oh...? makes it even easier to see why he ripped out his own eye. aw man :( also this is the same trauma that firo from baccano has shoutout to firo from baccano. being mistaken for a woman made him kind of misogynistic tho...back to the trauma. 80 years later and he still hasn't slept w his wife who loves him which is a bit sad honestly....alas. he's immortal so he has time. this is all light-novel stuff btw, nothing made it to the anime

OHHHHHH IMURI....

genuinely one of the best-case scenarios for him. leave the church and reorganize his relationship to himself and the world and sex. demonic seduction as a salvation and liberation rather than corruption and loss...wow...

imuri IS pretty suspicious isn't she. everyone's picked up on it except for priest. priest sees her as a victim, but only a threat has been issued....and then nothing. satan should probably attack her again to keep the defenses up and priest around

they're so cute they're like a lesbian pirate and robo-nun

:(

oh? church reforms to prevent abuse? now that IS bold

the priest is right under the pop himself, huh. and yeah, everyone IS cute hehe. I like how he included dante's scar

and not just for you guys

ngl I'm surprised that the catholic church disapproved

[he-i-mean-they]

I wish more people considered how difficult it is for trans people to access education... Everything is so expensive these days and it's even harder when you're limited in the work you can do. And, as crazy as it sounds, I went to a university where you had to stay closeted. There was one guy who was out as gay and he ended up being put on academic probation; I can't imagine what they would decide to do with me. The school doesn't receive any funding from the state so it's allowed to teach and regulate itself however it wants. The high school I went to had the same rules.

On top of the financial stress, the social stress is a lot too. Do you remember going through puberty? People taking hrt have an additional puberty which can be exciting, scary, and wonderful all at the same time. This is a sensitive period in someone's life and it's important to have all the support that we need. There's a lot of pressure from "the outside" to conform to a false image of self, or to have a perfected self image. Both of these extremes tend to ignore reality.

There's also a lot of intersectionality. If someone is both trans and disabled, for example, they will experience things differently. There will be events that people who require mobility aids cannot access, GSA or other queer group meetings held without interpreters, and the world is so overstimulating for the autistic individual.

The biggest challenge, in my experience, has been dealing with student services / disability services and professors that disagree with or prevent students from accessing accommodations. I have experienced, more than once, professors denying reasonable accommodations on the basis that I should just "try harder". I would love to believe that my sex or my gender doesn't play a major factor in it (these are vast, broken systems) but I can't say for sure. I still remember a public speaking professor during my freshman year tell me that god made men and women differently for a reason while repeating a mistranslation of the bible. I hope that one day education will be more accessible for everyone.

I decided to go back to school this year and finish the degree I started in 2014. I'm applying for a scholarship to help pay for it so everyone wish me luck

[sagekjs21]

The reason I say it's classical conditioning is because I'm trying to make a connection between my child going unaccompanied out into the street and the stimulus of mild pain. Pat loves dogs with salivate simply at the sound of the bell. I would want my child, only if necessary, to make the connection between going unaccompanied out into the road and excessively mild pain.

And as to doing it to an adult. I mean the only reason I wouldn't is because I wouldn't have to but if for some reason I did have to, sure I would do that to an adult. Giving them a mild slap on the wrist or on the butt? A slap that would sing for about 10 to 15 seconds? Sure, if there was a reason of course I do that to an adult. There would just be no reason for it probably. But I do agree with you; if you wouldn't do it to an adult, no it should not be done to a child. But you're assuming that I wouldn't do it to an adult.

But you just said it yourself, you said that it CAN cause trauma for the victim, not that it WILL or DOES. The word can does not make an automatic conclusion, it does not make an every single case scenario. I fully admit that it absolutely can traumatize somebody, but not that it always does. Like I said, every single adult ranging from roughly their 80s down to probably their 50s in the United States who went through the public school system would be traumatized if that were the case and that's just simply not true.

See, this is where we differ. You're saying that what I'm advocating will actually harm a child and I am saying it absolutely will not. It will not under the right circumstances, no not simply because of the amount of pressure applied but more importantly the already established relationship between the child and the parent. If the parent is good, if the parent is attentive, loving, nurturing, under all other circumstances except an instance that would probably happen between one to five times and the child's entire life, no this is not going to traumatize a child. They will love and trust their parent and know that their parent is not abusive. If there was other abuse going on of some sort, then yes, this would only serve to aggravate the problem.

I don't doubt that there have been people traumatized by spanking, probably many of them. That was never in question for me. I doubt that spanking my child like I said a total of probably five times maximum and yet providing them with a stable and nurturing environment for the rest of their childhood is going to cause them to have severe trauma by any means, if any trauma at all. Do I have proof of this? In all fairness and honesty, no I don't. But I do have common sense. I also have the Bible which I strongly prefer to research.

I'll give you an example of how flawed research can be. Take the COVID-19 vaccines. If I want to, I can go online and find a ton of research advocating their effectiveness but I can also go online and find just as much research advocating how much damage they can cause. The point is, with the Internet these days, it is hard to tell what research is legitimate. I'm not saying that the research on spanking isn't legitimate, I'm sure most of it is. But you have to consider the type of study done, was it blind or double blind, What was the bias of the researcher going into such research, there are just so many different factors. I don't have faith in science. It's too biased, it's too easily falsified these days, it's to flawed.

Let me correct you there, I'm not trying to convince the rest of the world of anything. I'm responding to a whole bunch of people who chose to respond to me. I stated an opinion. I stated one opinion. Now? I'm responding to a bunch of people who don't like my opinion. I'm not trying to change any of your minds. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. I'm trying to convince you that you're not going to change mine.

And as to what punishment is and isn't acceptable, again that is my opinion. If there was a law preventing such punishment then of course I would adhere to it. I do believe in following the law. But as of now, what I am talking about has no type of law preventing me from doing so. 

Everyone is so quick to state that something is abusive. Abuse requires motive, either motive or excessive harm. The motive behind abusing a child is to hurt someone who is powerless and defenseless, someone who is apparently supposed to be weaker than yourself. That's not what I'm talking about doing at all. I'm talking about taking a very small and mild preventative step to try and ensure that my child lives. I am doing this for my child safety, not for some kind of weird sadistic reason. There's a very big difference between this and abuse.

It's OK, you can make my position clear as you say. I think if anybody goes to my blog my position will be fairly clear there as well. But yes, I have made up my mind. And I sleep very well knowing that it provides my child with an extra measure of safety. That a maximum of like three minutes of mild pain in my child's entire childhood could possibly save their life? Yep, all I know is I'm going to make a very good mother, not a perfect one but a good one. 

When people get pregnant, they will give up smoking, give up alcohol, give up coffee and soda, give up fondue and raw cheese, give up cold cuts and sushi, all because they have heard somewhere, from someone, that these things can be bad for the baby. They don’t know the research, haven’t looked at the studies, can’t talk about sample sizes and control groups. But their dedication to their future child’s safety is so strong, their caution is so overpowering, that they give up these things just in case. 

So it baffles me when those same people will insist on spanking their kids. 

Even when they are shown the research.

 Regardless of what the experts in the field say. 

No matter who says it. 

Or how it is said. 

People are so invested in this ability to hit their kids without judgement or consequence, that it absolutely confounds me.