I go on record by saying that Facebook is not the forum for political discourse. Usually, I avoid engaging there because no one wants to have a real discussion and it just isn't worth losing "friends" over differences of opinion. But sometimes someone posts something that I find so outrageous that I just cannot help myself and I have to call them out.
A few weeks ago a "friend" posted the following meme and I was shocked:
If you look at the meme as a whole, it purposefully conflates Islamic extremist actions with fundamentalist Christian rhetoric. I could not help but be left with the impression that Bible-thumping Christian extremists are currently hanging people in a public square somewhere in the world for sins against the Bible. That is just how bad the Bible and Christians are.
I posted a comment to please tell me where this is happening! I pointed out that the recent photo suggests that this happening now. My "friend" admitted that he wasn't really looking at the photo together with the words. He was more interested in the truth in the words and that the photo was of no consequence. It was obvious that I was just "obsessed" with the photo and we should just "agree to disagree". Seriously, he did not even notice the photo. I was particularly confounded by that because he is a theatre professional who gets paid to put words and images together on stage.
Anyway, I see a lot of this kind mindless propaganda being posted lately. Dozens of memes like this are posted weekly and it is disturbing. Though this may be incendiary, it is very similar to the way the Nazis used artists to create posters of hooked-nosed Jews to wreak havoc. I refuse to "agree to disagree" on stuff like this.
I admit that I probably over-reacted, but let's discuss.
A few weeks ago a "friend" posted the following meme and I was shocked:
If you look at the meme as a whole, it purposefully conflates Islamic extremist actions with fundamentalist Christian rhetoric. I could not help but be left with the impression that Bible-thumping Christian extremists are currently hanging people in a public square somewhere in the world for sins against the Bible. That is just how bad the Bible and Christians are.
I posted a comment to please tell me where this is happening! I pointed out that the recent photo suggests that this happening now. My "friend" admitted that he wasn't really looking at the photo together with the words. He was more interested in the truth in the words and that the photo was of no consequence. It was obvious that I was just "obsessed" with the photo and we should just "agree to disagree". Seriously, he did not even notice the photo. I was particularly confounded by that because he is a theatre professional who gets paid to put words and images together on stage.
Anyway, I see a lot of this kind mindless propaganda being posted lately. Dozens of memes like this are posted weekly and it is disturbing. Though this may be incendiary, it is very similar to the way the Nazis used artists to create posters of hooked-nosed Jews to wreak havoc. I refuse to "agree to disagree" on stuff like this.
I admit that I probably over-reacted, but let's discuss.
31 comments:
Bev,
I know the feeling. Though, I've reached the point where (most of the time) I simply roll my eyes and keep scrolling my timeline.
I too have some militantly atheist friends. That picture represents the views of a sizable chunk of Christians in some parts of Africa and maybe the Middle East but not the rest of the world.
In the U.S. the debate is about whether businesses should have a legal right to not serve gays on the day they are getting married. I disagree with that movement and think down that route lays madness but while making gays persona non grata on their wedding days is petty silliness, it's orders of magnitude less severe than hanging them.
Groups get beaten with the idiocy of their biggest idiots as a matter of course. In my social circle there's a running joke about high profile failures 'setting back the race'.
I am having a really busy day and will respond letter. Please feel free to change the subject while I am away...;-)
Bev, This is why I hate the left. They lie, distort and mislead as a matter of principle and they are smug about it. They also have no sense of proportion. Hence, I will simply equate them all with their intellectual parents, the Nazis because that is who they emulate.
Bev,
If you want a muse for Thursday's post, google a boolean search of "Oberlin" and "C. H. Sommers".
An alternative: "Oberlin" and "Christina Hoff Sommers"
I think Jesus had a friendlier experience before the pharisees and Sanhedrin.
Sommers on twitter: "Students at Oberlin yelled & jeered throughout my talk.Except for those with mouths taped shut in first three rows."
A link to an article on the event: LINK
Why? She claims that the wage gap is caused by women's choices in careers and work hours & that the Left's claims about rape statistics are overblown.
Trigger Warning for my above Link: Includes examples of Leftist idiocy.
;-)
A book has come out which alleges Clinton traded favors for cash back when she was Secretary of State. Shocking,
Also, Clinton has been quoted about the need to topple the top 1%. I'm sure she'll be the scourge of the powerful.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2015/04/21/video-discussing-alleged-clinton-revelations-in-upcoming-book-n1988402
Yep, the problem with the internet as a medium for discussion is that you cannot see facial expressions or hear tones of voice...that being said, some people have no sense of proportionality....My view that homosexuality is a chosen thing does not equate to Dachau.....
I've got nothing tonight, folks. Sorry. There just wasn't anything to write about unless you count people being more pro-gun than 10 years ago.
Dammit, Andrew! Now, how am I going to get my fix?
Sorry Kit. Talk to the powers that be. There just wasn't anything interesting. :(
Waaaaaay back in 1970, a bunch of us teenagers in my hometown of Doniphan, MO spent an entire day cleaning up our river, some old roadside parks and dump sites around the county...I think it was mostly Key Club, Beta Club and Student Council, That started a tradition that lasted for well over 20 years......why it died I don't know..but I find it amazing that I hear liberals around me talking like myself and other conservatives are the bogey-man when it comes to stewardship of our planet. For twenty years as a scout master I always had my scouts out cleaning up roads, ditches etc...funny, I never saw any Young Democrats out there,,,
The fine Charles C.W. Cooke on C.H. Sommers at Oberlin.
LINK
A highlight:
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Once upon a time, our protestors at least had the courage of their convictions. Like our friend at UNC, they admitted openly that they wished to silence their enemies and to punish their competition. “No free speech for fascists,” the signs would read, and the entrance to the school would be blocked with bodies. Now, our campus activists have at their disposal an entire superstructure of veritable nonsense, within which liberty can be rendered as slavery, speech can be sold as censorship, consensus can be transmuted into dissent, and words and violence can be made indistinguishable from one another whenever the occasion suits.
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Also, for Earth Day, Captain Planet!
LINK
God, what an awful theme song!
Yey! Earth Day!! I love the Planet Earth, but sometimes I get the feeling it doesn't always like me so much. Hurricanes, tornados, drought, floods - do you ever get that feeling that we are just irritating fleas to Earth?
As an Eagle Scout and a father I have a ton of respect for the Earth and think Earth Day is a cool idea, but after my troop cleaned up mountains of garbage after an Earth Day event I've never been able to take the holiday seriously.
I have a soft spot in my head for Captain Planet. It's insane and incoherent but it's so earnest I kind of admire it even as I laugh at it.
I too like the Earth, though I have a few complaints. Why are all the things that are good for you in the bad tasting foods and all the calories in the good tasting foods? Is that like an inside joke?
Critch, Intellectually, leftists are full of crap. They invent realities all the time which make them the good guys even when they are the bad guys and convert their own failures into those of their enemies. I have no tolerance for that crap anymore.
ALL HAIL MARS!!! ALL HAIL MARS!!!
#REDPLANET4LIFE
Pave the Planet. One country, one people, one big slab of concrete.....(bumper sticker I saw once)
Rustbelt - Its EARTH DAY! No other planets are allowed to be honored on EARTH DAY! It's a rule...gaaaaah!
The coach who threatened to burn down the pizzaria has been fired.
Critch, I liked "Shave the Whales."
I used to wear a t-shirt to AMMO parties that said, "Nuke the Gay
Whales", it had a mushroom cloud above a paisley whale....it pretty much made everyone mad.
Okay, I admit it. Whenever I see stuffed animal plush toy baby white harp seals, I hit them over the head. Yeah, and I am not sorry either!
Anthony - That's good to hear. One more example of the need to read, think, then post...
Mars will rise again, puny earthlings! The Planet of War respects no rules of Earth Day!
#REDPLANETRULEBREAKERS
Rustbelt, What a coincidence! I don't respect any rulers of earth either!
Bev, LOLOLOL!
I used to have a shirt with a baby seal on the front and a glass of whiskey in his little flipper,,,,yep, it was a Canadian Club ad...I think I bought from National Lampoon.
As a believing Christian I felt compelled to respond to that picture and comment. You are right in saying that all those things..and more....get the verdict of "death" in Bible. But you're wrong when you say it's the "christian" who declares this. It isn't the believer, but God who declared these consequences for all things that are in rebellion against Him....and....according to the Bible....we are "all" guilty. Every one of us including the believing Christian. What this says is that there is a Holy Righteous and Perfect God...who is Good......and we...are not. So what does a Holy and Perfect God do with the likes of us...imperfect and sinful humanity...and we're getting worse as the years go by. What do you think this Righteous and Holy God is going to do with us ? These things are declared to us (all those things on your list and then some) to be sin....so that we the sinners....might by some miracle see our condition before a Holy and Perfect God...and then humble ourselves before Him because what choice do we have ? For...."God is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to salvation by Jesus Christ...for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him". There had to be payment for sin (His perfect righteousness demands it...else He wouldn't be Righteous).... and God Himself made it for us by the sacrifice of His only Son...for those who seek Him. God is coming...and with Him His judgement against all of humanity.....only those covered by His Grace through Jesus Christ...and that is offered to "everyone" but only those who accept His grace...will receive it. So it is NOT an exclusive offer, but a completely "INclusive" offer....for it is offered to all of humanity...no matter what your sin. There is nothing any of us has ever done that He is not willing to forgive...if you seek His forgiveness.....but you have to see your sinful state before you can even understand. Too many misunderstandings out there about the faith, most perpetrated by those who profess Christianity, but never actually read the Bible nor seek to understand. Not meant to create arguments but to shed a little light about what being a Christian actually is. It's just that we (humanity) don't like to be told what to do or what not to do, even by a God who created us.....sad really
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