#he's a con man with the depth of a teaspoon

[stormofneurosis]

I have a personal beef with him

his church had their local branch of their church every sunday in the hall of our very openly lgbtq+ friendly school, and they would some of the most disrespectful cunts I can think of.

"You cannot go backstage, you are only renting the front part of the hall" "you cannot use the kitchen by the drama room as that is for staff and students only" "you must not touch any props or costumes if you do go backstage or into the kitchen"

I believe 3 of my yearmates had a mask project ruined when they went into the kitchen, where they were tucked away to dry. Several important props for various plays were broken. They always left gross coffee gunk in the kitchen, and they were super condescending to anyone who tried to call them on this.

During Covid lockdowns he and his wife fled to bsaically his isolated ranch estate, but told his church to ignore gathering restrictions and that masks were a lie. It's only thanks to the other lockdowns that he didn't cause several super spreader events, but FFS!

In case anyone else is getting footage of a "Maori haka dance in support of Israel", the context is pro-Israel protests organised by far right Christian fundie nutcase and self-proclaimed bishop Brian Tamaki.

Brian Tamaki is also known for blaming natural disasters on gay people and porn, requiring an unbreakable oath of loyalty from his church members, and leaching money off his congregation.

The footage I've seen prominently emphasises his Man Up programme, which supposedly promotes anti-violence but actually tells perpetrators of domestic violence that it's their victims' fault.

[starmage-constellar]

anyone talking about the secondary musical reference in thisisnotawebsitedotcom?

i dare say i'm stretching it but

with a capital "T", and that rhymes with "P" and stands for "pool"? or, even, words like.. like "swell?" (trouble, trouble, trouble.)

or, if you want to go even further, he's got a girl in every county [...] and that's 102 counties!

the speech predates the musical by a whole 5 years but i think that's the least of our concerns

(more nerdass explanations down below)

if you're not familiar with what musical is being referenced here, i don't blame you. it was a broadway phenomenon in the late 50s-early 60s in america, later had a (rather stellar) hollywood adaptation, and an at-home movie adaptation in 2003.

it's called "the music man," and the only reason i even know of the musical is because it's one of my dad's favorites.

now, i could just stop here, leave you with the information, and go on my merry way. but as someone who is (for better or for worse) very well acquainted with the story of "the music man," you bet your bottom dollar that i noticed some parallels right quick.

the protagonist of "the music man," harold hill, is a traveling con man who's so well-versed at the art of sales that he can put up with the speedy advancements of society without an issue. he seems to have a particular scheme of promising to set up marching bands all around illinois, then running with the money before they get a chance to check him out for anything.

though, of course, professor hill proves himself not a con man for the sake of one person. a lovely librarian and pianist, marian paroo. she's a skeptic and sees professor hill for the scam artist that he is, and attempts to distance herself from him and prove he's a liar. sounds familiar, doesn't it?

(though, of course, ms. paroo doesn't set professor hill on fire, and emmaline doesn't start dating the pseudo-alive silas at the end of the story.)

now, there's already enough comparison to make here already, even if half-assed, but i'd like to take a deeper look at the specific song that silas was mentioning here. "ya got trouble."

professor hill, a little bit after settling into our story's setting of river city, illinois, is informed that the billiard room was just hooked up with a new pool table. this sets off his plan to rally river city to his side: convince them of the trouble that could arise from such "sinful" activities such as your teenaged kids sneaking off to... play pool!

"Just as I say; it takes judgement, brains, and maturity to score In a balkline game; I say that any boob Can take and shove a ball in 'a pocket And I call that sloth; The first big step on the road to the depths of deg-ra-day I say, first: medicinal wine from a teaspoon ... then beer from a bottle!"

the narrative of the song follows professor hill deluding the crowd into his point: don'tcha see what we've come to? the new pool tables here? heck, pool at all, for that matter! do you want your kids bein' enticed by sin like that, hm? influencin' their fickle, innocent minds with this sort of stuff when they can't fight against the devil, unlike us adults?!

(note, "mass-staria" is a portmanteau of "mass hysteria")

silas does almost the EXACT opposite, in terms of message. isn't conformity boring? society, law; it's all so mundane! conformity's made in order to hide what you're REALLY meant to be: a crazed, sinful animal! you were MEANT to act on your impulses, every desire you've had. stop following the flock, and follow those who renounce society, like me.

take a listen for yourself, too, i'm sure you could find even more to it if you looked deeper, dug further.

and i'm sure i have more thoughts, but i think i might've lost my own plot on this one.