Here's some karma for you

[Shebengal]

J.D. Vance's book "Hillbilly Elegy" is on a list of books targeted by the DOD for removal from the schools here and abroad that children of military members attend. The reason for the target is due to "gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics" in the book. You know, the stuff that the Republicans don't want to acknowledge. It has not been pulled yet, but could be. 

 

I'm against book bans in general, and I haven't read this book (nor do I intend to), but this one, if if winds up being banned, I find that hilarious. 

 

https://www.newsweek.com/was-jd-vances-book-pulled-pentagon-schools-what-we-know-2034098

 

 

[Jamie_B]

My favorite is the Bible ban in Utah (that got reversed) because of violence and pornographic material.

 

They were doing general book bans for that and apparently nobody had ever read their bible.

 

[T-Dub]

6 hours ago, Jamie_B said:

My favorite is the Bible ban in Utah (that got reversed) because of violence and pornographic material.

 

They were doing general book bans for that and apparently nobody had ever read their bible.

 

 

Too busy using it to bludgeon whoever they're blaming for all their problems this week to actually read it.  If you volunteer much you've probably encountered a lot of church folks and even walked in on a few prayer circles. I respect the deeds, but a whole lot of self-professed Christians are entirely performative if not actually the most selfish and hateful people you'll ever meet. Always the loudest ones.

 

Vance in particular has always struck me as a fake. He was selling poverty porn - folks love to be told that the suffering of others is due to some moral failing so they can feel ok about ignoring it.  Even better if you paint it as weakness, cowards love the idea that strength means hating weakness and that compassion or empathy are also weak. See people admiring our Rapist-in-Chief's "strength", the obsession with being feared because no one will respect them for any other reason. The whole "most of them choose to be homeless" line, that kind of dismissive bullshit comes from the same place I think. Absolving ourselves of any obligation (Christian duty?) to help because they somehow deserve their suffering. 

[Cat]

8 hours ago, Jamie_B said:

My favorite is the Bible ban in Utah (that got reversed) because of violence and pornographic material.

 

But that's the good kind'a violence and porno! All wholesome and above board because God said so.

[T-Dub]

36 minutes ago, Cat said:

But that's the good kind'a violence and porno! All wholesome and above board because God said so.

 

There's some wild, sick shit in there.  Any book that routinely orders you to kill people for breaking a long list of rules should be read as allegory & fable at best, and it's pretty good at that at times from what I could gather.  I can't claim a cover-to-cover deep reading but I've read parts of it - around the same time I was reading the Dune series & I stalled out around book 4 or 5 there, too.  I'd rate both poorly as books to live your life by - better at least than, say, Atlas Shrugged but not as good as maybe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

 

My main objection is the idea that any of them give us either the authority or basis by which to govern others.  If you want to flog yourself for "dat ass" crossing your mind or shaving your beard (or not carrying a towel) that's your business. Just don't expect everyone else to do the same, and if you want to force that issue well I'm afraid we're going to have a problem.

[Shebengal]

8 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 I respect the deeds, but a whole lot of self-professed Christians are entirely performative if not actually the most selfish and hateful people you'll ever meet. Always the loudest ones.

 

 

I worked with a woman many years ago who was one of these Christians. Wore a cross around her neck and was horrified when someone would cuss around her. She had been snippy in some of my interactions with her and also to some of my clients. When she turned in her two week notice to go to a competitor, she promised that she would not try to poach any business. Last day of work, she put flyers for her new company in all of our clients’ mail boxes. I replaced her in her position and very quickly made our clients forget about her. 
 

She came back some years later when our company had new management. Since we had a new computer system, she had to train on it and wound up training with my former assistant, who is one of the most foul mouthed employees in our company. 😂😂She only lasted about 6 months once she was in her own office.

[T-Dub]

1 hour ago, Shebengal said:

I worked with a woman many years ago who was one of these Christians. Wore a cross around her neck and was horrified when someone would cuss around her. She had been snippy in some of my interactions with her and also to some of my clients. When she turned in her two week notice to go to a competitor, she promised that she would not try to poach any business. Last day of work, she put flyers for her new company in all of our clients’ mail boxes. I replaced her in her position and very quickly made our clients forget about her. 
 

She came back some years later when our company had new management. Since we had a new computer system, she had to train on it and wound up training with my former assistant, who is one of the most foul mouthed employees in our company. 😂😂She only lasted about 6 months once she was in her own office.

 

I figure literally anyone can put a cross around their neck.  Living by those principles is a much bigger challenge & isn't one of the main lessons there that everyone falls short of them?  How exactly one goes from claiming to live by those ideals, to thinking it's a license to control others or gives them the authority to punish people, IDK.  Then I look at who they seem to idolize and I can't help wondering why they still identify as Christians at all, or why that should mean anything to me, based on their example.

[Cat]

17 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 

There's some wild, sick shit in there.  Any book that routinely orders you to kill people for breaking a long list of rules should be read as allegory & fable at best, and it's pretty good at that at times from what I could gather.  I can't claim a cover-to-cover deep reading but I've read parts of it - around the same time I was reading the Dune series & I stalled out around book 4 or 5 there, too.  I'd rate both poorly as books to live your life by - better at least than, say, Atlas Shrugged but not as good as maybe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

 

My main objection is the idea that any of them give us either the authority or basis by which to govern others.  If you want to flog yourself for "dat ass" crossing your mind or shaving your beard (or not carrying a towel) that's your business. Just don't expect everyone else to do the same, and if you want to force that issue well I'm afraid we're going to have a problem.

So much I could say here, but I don't want to start an argument with someone who truly does have faith - but as @Shebengal has pointed out, how over the top hypocritical the Christians I know and have known during my life has really pushed me away. I was raised Catholic. So I'm going to leave this quote here from George Carlin that hit me right in the heart after years of feeling like I was going through the motions and pretending.

 

"I want you to know, when it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really, really tried. I tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize, something is fucked up. Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades."

[Shebengal]

44 minutes ago, Cat said:

So much I could say here, but I don't want to start an argument with someone who truly does have faith - but as @Shebengal has pointed out, how over the top hypocritical the Christians I know and have known during my life has really pushed me away. I was raised Catholic. So I'm going to leave this quote here from George Carlin that hit me right in the heart after years of feeling like I was going through the motions and pretending.

 

"I want you to know, when it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really, really tried. I tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize, something is fucked up. Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades."

I, too, was raised Catholic and still go to church. What I find is that Christians who do live their faith, by volunteering to help the less fortunate, or work on social justice issues, do so anonymously and don’t need public affirmation, as Jesus preached in the Bible. So-called “Christians” who proclaim how Christian they are, but then cut spending to help those in need, tend to take their cues from the Old Testament, not the Gospels and New Testament.