I Miss Republicans Two
written by popmonkey
I was writing a comment to Kung Fu Monkey's excellent "I Miss Republicans" but it just kept getting longer and longer... So instead a Modern Slave post grew out of the comment. Please read the above linked article. It's quite excellent.
A friend of mine whom i sent the link to this posting to just asked: "I thought of apollo 13 nerds and how they must have been pipe smoking republicans... what DID happen?"
So i was thinking and here's a theory.
In the 60s and even 70s religion was an unquestioned part of america. "unquestioned" as in assumed. And science was tolerated because clashes with religion were contained and controlled. Atheists were hiding in caves and university campuses. And you could go to the moon and still wonder at God's great creation.
In the last decade that has completely changed. While, as the polls have clearly shown, the U.S. is still mindbogglingly predominantly christian, there have been huge amounts of clashes between science and religion. Evolution may have been taught for a long time, but never with such difficult to dispute facts. And never in direct opposition to The Good Book and other pillars of christian faith.
And then you've got your furor over the gay gene. You've got Terry Schiavo. You've got stem cell research. Amazing advances in medical science. Brain research. Mind research. There's an erosion of every aspect on which christian faith is based.
In addition we have gotten used to affluence in this country. Used to the post war booms. We fret over the DOW going down 1000 points like it's another Great Depression. We The People don't give a crap about fiscal matters unless we are directly effected as individuals.
Popular media may be fucked up, but has sided mostly with the liberal side. Fahrenheit 911, ridiculous a film as it is, would have been impossible to imagine in the 60s. And can you imagine Queer Eye between Gilligan's Island and the Brady Bunch?
I think the religious masses feel they are under attack. It is clear when you see the fervor with which they protest lately. Stem cell research, Schiavo, evolution, the growing acceptance of homosexuals.
But religion remains very strong in numbers. And now they've got resolve too. They've become a mob again. A mindless, idiotic, mob.
So what happened is the christian right began voting for more and more radical christian candidates. To push a religious agenda. And their candidates just happen to be registered in the Republican Party.
And now we're stuck with nutjobs because of their stance on very specific, but in long term totally irrelevant, issues. Like gay marriage. You're kidding yourself if you think that the gay marriage issue didn't get a ton of otherwise apathetic christian voters out last november.
So these christians went out to vote against gay marriage, not for $200 billion dollar missile systems. Oh sure, they'll defend the decisions of their candidates. Just as they will defend completely contradictory aspects of their faith. Because they are forced to.
Sometimes i truly wish jesus christ would have just gone and banged mary magdelene and saved us all this pain.
A friend of mine whom i sent the link to this posting to just asked: "I thought of apollo 13 nerds and how they must have been pipe smoking republicans... what DID happen?"
So i was thinking and here's a theory.
In the 60s and even 70s religion was an unquestioned part of america. "unquestioned" as in assumed. And science was tolerated because clashes with religion were contained and controlled. Atheists were hiding in caves and university campuses. And you could go to the moon and still wonder at God's great creation.
In the last decade that has completely changed. While, as the polls have clearly shown, the U.S. is still mindbogglingly predominantly christian, there have been huge amounts of clashes between science and religion. Evolution may have been taught for a long time, but never with such difficult to dispute facts. And never in direct opposition to The Good Book and other pillars of christian faith.
And then you've got your furor over the gay gene. You've got Terry Schiavo. You've got stem cell research. Amazing advances in medical science. Brain research. Mind research. There's an erosion of every aspect on which christian faith is based.
In addition we have gotten used to affluence in this country. Used to the post war booms. We fret over the DOW going down 1000 points like it's another Great Depression. We The People don't give a crap about fiscal matters unless we are directly effected as individuals.
Popular media may be fucked up, but has sided mostly with the liberal side. Fahrenheit 911, ridiculous a film as it is, would have been impossible to imagine in the 60s. And can you imagine Queer Eye between Gilligan's Island and the Brady Bunch?
I think the religious masses feel they are under attack. It is clear when you see the fervor with which they protest lately. Stem cell research, Schiavo, evolution, the growing acceptance of homosexuals.
But religion remains very strong in numbers. And now they've got resolve too. They've become a mob again. A mindless, idiotic, mob.
So what happened is the christian right began voting for more and more radical christian candidates. To push a religious agenda. And their candidates just happen to be registered in the Republican Party.
And now we're stuck with nutjobs because of their stance on very specific, but in long term totally irrelevant, issues. Like gay marriage. You're kidding yourself if you think that the gay marriage issue didn't get a ton of otherwise apathetic christian voters out last november.
So these christians went out to vote against gay marriage, not for $200 billion dollar missile systems. Oh sure, they'll defend the decisions of their candidates. Just as they will defend completely contradictory aspects of their faith. Because they are forced to.
Sometimes i truly wish jesus christ would have just gone and banged mary magdelene and saved us all this pain.
posted by popmonkey at 11:42
1 comments
