The Bible and it’s mostly commendable teachings are an uncritically examined votive for a cargo cult that is being weaponised against America’s democracy. What the ten commandments are, or are not, is immaterial. The critical lesson is the hegemony of Christians over non-Christians and, most importantly, distilled to the naturalness/righteousness of hegemony/hierarchy.

It is a thin entering wedge that is intended to open up the possibility of inculcating children with divisive conceptions and undermining critical thinking.

Yes the ten commandments could be put up on the wall with egalitarian intentions but that is implicitly not the case with the MAGA movement.

I wasn’t trying to be argumentative just adding clarity. I hope.

Think of it more like the flu. If I caught the flu I might have a temperature, a sore throat, loss of appetite, and headaches. If you catch the flu you might get headaches, diarrhea, exhaustion, and a dry cough.

Fascism is built upon and characterised by the exploitation of the current fissures of a stressed society. It is unlikely to lead to gas chambers and Hugo Boss uniforms as they were part of the specific evolution of fascism in Germany after it was crippled by the loss of the first world war. Usually, there are all sorts of barriers to full blooded fascism that give it part of its local character too as it tries to morph into whatever conglomerate of memes that it can ride to power.

Right now in America the pressure for fascism is being built with the tacit support of a lot of evangelical christians. It is not the whole of the story. It is part of the conglomerate. So the pride flags come down and the ten commandments go up.

The impulse behind one act is inclusive, welcoming persecuted minorities. This is fundamentally egalitarian and strengthens society.

The other is intended as part of a drive for cultural hegemony where a specific ingroup is underlined as sovereign. A hierarchial society of a majority of innate winners and, importantly, subgoups of losers/outsiders (to be feared/hated) is the backbone of fascism.

Of course, a single piece of straw will not break society’s back and manifest fascism on its own but pressure towards it is created by an aggregation of such straw.

Do you not have otters?

Money is power. Just because that shower have the sense to sit outside of the spotlight of political scrutiny does not mean that they are apolitical nor does it make the influence they cast not strongly American in flavour.

And America too.

Hey hey hey!

Don’t be dragging granola into this fuckwit-ocracy. It’s a perfectly reasonable low effort breakfast for those of us that are unable to cook for ourselves because we can’t find our arses with both hands for the first hour of semi-consciousness in the morning.

Definitely. But it does depend on the severity of the trauma. A very strong trauma will be constantly trying to retake control of your bandwidthh.

You had been merciful to a fault.

This is my go to type of therapy. It’s about re-centering your focus so that your mind stops looping back to the trauma./ Where it becomes problematic is then weaning yourself off the game to healthier pursuits.

You have patience beyond the legibility of my app…

I have been trying to follow this discussion, but this is taking it a bit too far…

Would it be rude to suggest a ceasefire?

To acquire one unpaired valence electron.

I don’t call for an end to America over its hundreds of years of killings, murder, rape, slavery, genocide, ecocide, innumerable hypocrisies, and corrupting hegemony. I don’t come on here and sweatily proclaim that all I hope for is the fall of the American ascendency. I don’t because I recognise that America like Catholics or Muslims is a vast mix of people with a wide range of lived experiences and view points. And that not all of their history is terrible. Some of it is actually commendable. And the actions of the leaders often do not line up with the majority of their people.

Yes, true, Catholic church is outdated and reactionary with way more than it’s fair share bad actors but there are also hundreds of millions of Catholics, and people with Catholic backgrounds but no longer practicing, out there that are a wide mix of human beings that deserve a basic amount of respect.

You can, for clarity, include within the parameters of basic respect, to not have to endure your overgeneralising hostile invective.

I’m sorry but you come off as just another nutty reactionary to me.

Have a good day.

It’s perfectly legitimate to have issues with any organised religion but damning everyone brought up in their traditions is myopic.

I was brought up a catholic in Northern Ireland during the troubles. Similar prejudice was routinely trotted out to justify treating us as second class citizens. So surprise, surprise even now as an atheist, I find it a bit triggering, as anyone mght imagine, to hear someone singling out my persecuted community in such a toxic mischaracterisation. I didn’t ask to be catholic but I was brought up in a community of caring and open minded people. Sure there were arseholes but guess what every community has them.

What if they’re not actually short but have been squatting all this time!