Cain's realpolitik corner

[Cain]

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to watch a little video.  I know you get links to Youtube posted on here every day, and if you are like me you don't click on many of them (slow connection, relatively speaking).  This one, however, is only two and a half minutes long, and is important to the rest of the post.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07WX3F7UQWA is where you can watch it.

Are you done now?  Yes?  Good.  Pretty scary, of course, but nothing you haven't seen before, right?  Of course not, we are all wordly people here, and we know the face of batshit insanity when we see it.

But lets put a little spin on this otherwise unremarkable piece of information.  Obviously, this mother is indoctrinating her son into Dominionist political theory - that is to say the political theology of the religious right, which blends into such insanity as Christian reconstructionism, a belief system that would quite happily have every single person who posts here on this site stoned to death for Apostasy.

This child will then grow up, get fairly good grades despite his obvious lack of knowledge about the real world, and go to a University like Patrick Henry, where he will be further indoctrinated to become a Soldier of Christ.  He'll likely get a degree in something like Political Science or Social Policy and his University will arrange for him to have an internship with a Member of Congress.

Quite likely, this child will excel in their role of intern, being used to having to work long hours with little payoff and total obedience to authority.  Internship is also the quickest way towards getting onto a Congressman's staff.

Now, as I'm sure we know, Congressmen are not exceptionally smart or knowledgeable.  Some are, but the majority are little more than glorified salesmen, whose product is themself.  Instead, they will rely on their staff to present them with the data and facts on upcoming votes and subcommittee discussions on various topics.  And who will be giving them this data?

That's right, its the little shithead who believes evolution and global warming are liberal lies and homos deserve to be stoned to death.  Now remember, these Christian Universities are likely producing tens of thousands of these little shitheads every single year.  Think happy thoughts, and remember to become acquainted with your local reverend.

[Thurnez Isa]

I think i said before, but it was during the rebuilding if i remember currectly, we have to find members on here that live close to those universities... I think some of our rants here would be so radically different from anything they have been exposed to, being so raw and in many cases can be viewed unrational, that there is a slight possibility that we could start something... even just some small underground ideas... you know the type of shit that they will hide under the pillows when the professors or their parents come to visit.. cause I can guess some probably already have something like that....
but due to distances theres nothing I can do
and our religious university here isn't at all that crazy (Ive tought some students from there)

[Cramulus]

In the long run, I think hope that creationism will eventually be drowned out or marginalized as the antiquated beliefs of country bumpkins.

I hate metrocentric thought - the idea that big cities are really where culture is happening, and the further you go from cities the further you get from what's Really Going On. (anyone who's been to NYC understands me here) But, perhaps because most media is produced in cities, cities generally foreshadow trends in the masses.

I don't have any geographic data on creationism, but I know there's not a lot of creationist thought in NYC. NY and LA are both pretty, uh, irreligious? I mean, I think evolution side of the debate is winning (?) because the metropolitan centers of the country are casting their vote with science.

/unfounded metrocentric conjecture

Still though - ugh. We'll see. In ten years we just may have a more hotly contested battle about the origin of the species. It's a mark of the Strange Times though, that these factions will continue to coexist. Maybe one won't win out, but they'll figure out how to exist side by side. You'll get to choose a school that teachers your agenda. And, as is common in the Strange Times, the agenda will just keep getting weirder. And we'll have a really weird reality, where people who hold drastically different beliefs walk side by side.

anyway, I'm glad the Pastafarian fuckwits are fighting the good fight here.

good post, Cain

[Cain]

As far as I can see, Creationism is just one part of the larger battle against Christian Reconstructionism.  While the Pastafarians may have done well there, its kind of like saying Rommel did well in Libya - he did, but overall, North Africa and the larger war was a clusterfuck of failure.  While there have been a lot of defeats on the grounds of creationism, its only dealt with a manifestation of the overall problem - the large scale infiltration of the American political system by theocratic wingnuts.

I suspect cities tend more towards science because there are more varying inputs selling different ideas, and so an empirical base of knowledge is necessary for one's personal beliefs.  If someone lives in Bumfuck Idaho for example, it would be a lot easier to limit their inputs and thus direct their teaching.  That is in fact the entire rationale behind Christian Home Schooling - isolating the individual and controlling their inputs until Christianity is ingrained on their psyche.

I suspect the next battle will be actual seperation of Church and State itself.  Both parties have leaders who don't seem to especially care for that divide, and with the Faith-based initiatives, I can see lots of money and influence to be won through this.

[fomenter]

If this image was a sticker it could be put on the cover of books on creationism(and other things) in schools and libraries . It might make a good  OMF.

[Requia ☣]

I deny that I was ever christian.  They'll have to stone me to death for heresy instead.

Also, another scary part of the problem, those same politicians are responsible for recommending who goes to military academies (Air Force in partituclar requires a recommendation from a congressman, not sure about the others), which is leading to an increasingly heavy fundamentalist/dominionist representation in the officer ranks of our military.

[Cain]

I thought heresy was deviation from the norm within a religion, whereas apostasy could also be considered opposition to the religion in question, in addition to leaving it?

Either way, Alternet has had a good series of articles about harassment in the Air Force in particular of Jewish, Atheist and Muslim servicemen and women.

Fortunately, the Armed Forces are mostly constrained by the chain of command.  Unfortunately, it seems the political people they are ultimately answerable too many be even more nuts than the extremists who have gotten into the military.

You have to admire the system, I must say.  I mean, its pretty clever, to realize the problem with bought politicians is they often upset people and get voted out, so instead controlling the office around them is the better method.  But the more you look into it, the more it seems to be that an entire parallel society has been created by the Dominionists.  Parallel schooling, entertainment, reading, theme parks, music...its like a whole different, and somewhat scary society, that exists side-by-side with what I like to call the reality based community.

[BootyBay]

Global warming (in that the entire globe is warming just because of us snooty Americans driving our SUVs and sipping our Big Gulps) is a lie.  Evidence: http://www.worldclimatereport.com/archive/previous_issues/vol4/v4n7/hot1.htm http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/ice_ages.html

[wade]

I remember hearing on BBC from some brit scientist that the cause of the ice age was a 2 degree increase in temperature... so that .6 degrees is suddenly quite a bit.

[Requia ☣]

I thought heresy was deviation from the norm within a religion, whereas apostasy could also be considered opposition to the religion in question, in addition to leaving it?

I'm a Gnostic, if not practicing, which is close enough to christianity to be heresy and was prosecuted that way in the middle ages.

[BootyBay]

I remember hearing on BBC from some brit scientist that the cause of the ice age was a 2 degree increase in temperature... so that .6 degrees is suddenly quite a bit.

True.  The larger picture (taken from the web site) is that we are in the next cycle of warming (the previous one being in the Middle Ages).  Between those periods, there was the "little ice age."

[Requia ☣]

The problem with that theory is that warming periods in earths history, before now, have been predictable based on orbital patterns (we get more sun, and things heat up), right now however, we're getting *less* sun, we should be moving into ice age. (the news is not all bad, that would suck even worse than the warming does)

[Cain]

But hey, what does the majority of the scientific community who have studied climatology know, right?  If we trust in the wingnut Christian Reconstructionists (and their financial backers who have been heavily touting the "its all natural global warming" via paid for 'research' institutes), we will all be saved!

[Adios]

While I think global warming is a real issue I have other concerns. There are 'super' volcanoes one of which is under Yellowstone National Park. IF one of these super volcanoes were to erupt it would cause almost immediately an estimated 5 degree drop in temperatures causing another ice age.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071108-yellowstone.html

While they say no eruption is imminent 'they' historically have been less than accurate.

[Cain]

True.

But we need not worry our pretty little heads about such things, because it will only happen Allah Jehovah willing.  And as long as we pray real hard and stone all the gays, nothing can go wrong.