America is currently faced with a type of extremism we don't know how to deal with. It's not like the Reconstruction Era terrorism, the 1920 "Red Scare," or the 1960s civil rights violence. This is new, it's on a much larger scale -- and religion is driving it.

I know a few people who grew up in Christian fundamentalism, Mormonism, or other WIM type religions or groups and were able to eventually shake off and overcome their upbringing (not just the dogma, but the hate that goes along with it) -- but very few.

I know how fundies think, but not really "why" -- not from an emotional standpoint.

I don't have that type of fear in me.

It's just not there.

I grew up with people living on military bases of every color of the rainbow and who came from all four corners of the Earth but were all on the same team -- the American team.


When I was in high school ("prep" school for me), some of the kids in the science club got to go on a school nature trip to another school down South -- one of those "segregation" academies (yes, they still exist). It was their homecoming week, and there were all kinds of local groups with booths at the school dance and football game. One of them was for the Klan Youth Corps. I didn't think that anything like that still existed, especially at the dawn of the 21st Century, but yep, those nuts are still around. It was even more shocking that people would regard it as just another civic organization.

When the El Paso shooting happened at the so-called "Mexican" Walmart, I knew exactly where it was -- because we used to go there just about every weekend. Ever see one of those "Karen" videos where some pushy woman freaks about another language than English spoken in her presence, or about being surrounded by brown or black people while shopping or at a restaurant? I didn't freak out that people didn't speak English as a first language nor did my parents (after all, the Mesilla Valley was once part of Mexico, folks have family on both sides of the border), or that even the Army recruiting and beer ads are all in Spanish -- or "Spanglish" really as that's the lingua franca in that part of the country. I didn't think anything was being "stolen" from me, or that I was being "wiped out" or "outbred" or that god "promised" the land to me and "they" were secretly scheming for the "Reconquista" to join Mexico again, or anything like that. There are good people and bad people wherever you go. Most folks just try to get along.

I was driving through Connecticut on the way back from Boston when the Sandy Hook shooting happened. The town wasn't too far from the interstate, and I'd gone off the main highway to stop for gas. Streets were blocked off and cops were everywhere. I remember one woman from a news interview who was exasperated by the tragedy who shook her head and said, "we just gotta get right with god." I didn't know what she meant at first, but eventually figured out that she and many other fundies see mass shootings, bombings, and other unfortunate events as the "wrath of god" for "ignoring: and/or "condoning" "sins" like marriage equality, race-mixing, interracial marriage, female reproductive rights, individual bodily autonomy, and so on. In this respect, they are no different from the Taliban or the mullahs in Iran. Same induced fears, same desire for authoritarian dictatorial leadership to make the sources of "fear" disappear.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUPkoMsAtLI

Adrienne LaFrance, executive editor of The Atlantic, traces political violence in the U.S. over the past century in her latest article. She joins Walter Isaacson to discuss what's different about "the new anarchy."



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2023 01:06AM by anybody.

I have never hated anyone.

I have no qualms about being hated because I'm going to believe that it's cuz I successfully stood up for someone or something.

I'm specularly a "The sun will come out tomorrow" kind of guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vECTQYde84k

I hate lots of people. I always have. I always will.

I have struggled with it, always have, always will.

I finally decided not to fight it. I am responsible for my behavior, but not my feelings. If I am in a hateful mood, I let the hate stay with me a while, until I find something more important to occupy my mind. As long as I don't act on my feelings I figure I'm doing okay. So if a hateful feeling washes over me, a memory from the past surfaces, I just stay with it until it fades away.

The person I hate the most is my father, but anyone would hate him if they knew him as well as I did.

Hate can be a very useful feeling, if you know how to use it right. It is very energizing. Love, on the otherhand just makes you feel peaceful and a little self righteous. I am suspicious of people who say they are full of love. Usually, if someone says they love you, it means they want something.

I heard one woman quote Jesus saying you should love your enemy. Her particular enemy was alcohol, so she decided she should try loving alcohol.

She ended up loving it a lot. So there's that.

The only people that I cared little for where the Jocks (cough Jerks) from High School, otherwise I have never found a reason to hate anybody because of color or culture.

But I have to admit those red faced screaming super right fundies tend to creep me out.

I assume most people here know who I did hate for a long time, but now live with him.

Now, the leaders of the church who got us in this situation, I have no love in my heart for them.

Hate is a tough word to contemplate for me. I intensely dislike people who have done me or my family wrong...and forgiveness for those people is unlikely.
I HATE cancer. I've lost far too many family and friends to it. My wife being at the top of that list.