Hoo boy...I'm in trouble now.

[anahata56]

This morning, my brilliant niece (and I'm not being sarcastic here--she IS brilliant in almost every respect) posted a link on Facebook where some blogger on the Fox News website was decrying, once again, the rise of the Pinko Commie Fag-Loving folk in the Obama administration who are going to target "Right Wing Extremists" for surveillence and

Comments

[rickvs]

If I toodle down the mental path of, "what would it take for *me* to act that way" ... I'd guess that one could build a pretty strong sense of us-versus-them camaraderie by crying wolf, whether one believed that any actual danger existed or not.

But yeah, if I ever decided to take up the Christian belief system again, I certainly hope I'd get more comfort from it than I see in some self-professed Christians.

[anahata56]

I just don't get it.

I mean, I've been online long enough to know that people love drama, but someday you have to grow past that, yanno?

I guess, in a way, it is a certain kind of bonding--but there's the same kind of bonding in a pen full of sheep in a thunderstorm, and that isn't a particularly admirable analogy.

[venischazeik]

All I can say in response to your post is: Amen!

[anahata56]

There is a part of me that hopes that someday this girl wakes up and turns into a screaming radical left wing moonbat.

But I don't think so.

In the meantime, I think the whole scenario appeals to her young female melodrama.

Me? I'm too old to be attracted to being afraid.

[noelleleithe]

The people who live with that level of fear have had it pounded into them by church leaders their entire lives. They've never learned any other way to be. It's a control issue, plain and simple: the people in charge are desperate to hold onto their power, so they scare the crap out of their followers to keep them in line. (Much like the people running the Republican Party these days.)

On a smaller scale, far too many people seem to misconstrue the Biblical instruction to "fear God." The meaning of "fear" here is "be in awe of," not "be afraid of." Very, very different meanings.

[anahata56]

The thing that I find most amusing is that back when I was a "Jesus Freak", the hallmark of a good Christian was boldness. Was audacity. Was fearlessness. It was very strongly driven home that being a Christian meant that you didn't have to be afraid of anything, because we were never, ever left alone by our God.

That was only 30 years ago.

It astonishes me that the philosophy has done a complete 180 in such a relatively short time.

[griffen]

Well, the boldness-audacity-fearlessness bit worked as long as the world seemed to be going along with the ideology. That all started to fall apart with the advent of the Christian Coalition and the Moronal Majority in the 1970s and early 1980s.

[anahata56]

Yeah, and see, that's what pisses me off. Because it's the classic set-up--you get people scared, and then you can get them to do whatever your agenda dictates.

It's not about religion--it's about politics. And political power-play to be more specific.

When you mix the religious with the political, you get a situation where you can lead people by the nose into absolute destruction, and let them feel completely justified, martyred and holy as they're led to the slaughter.

And the slaughter is not for GOD. The slaughter is for Tom Freakin' DeLay and Rush Limbaugh.

How SAD is that? And why can't they see how badly they are being manipulated?

[browngirl]

I so love the way you see the Universe.

[anahata56]

It was quite a little while ago that I figured out that my attraction to or acceptance of a philosophy was directly correlated to the level of fear contained within it.

I will not willingly submit to a philosophy of fear. Just the thought of it makes my hackles go up and my heels dig in and my neck stiffen.

I get nuts when I see people I care for being made to feel such fear, even if they are willing collaborators in it.

[siliconshaman]

Mind if I snaffle that idea ? I've a zazzle account that'll let me make T-shirts like that.

[siliconshaman]

Given that I don't think there's a generic symbol for religion...it would have to be that !!