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jasonderoga86I recently became a member of the blogging website called Medium. It's a place where I can find different perspectives on various topics by various people. I mostly read about mental health topics, the comic book industry, and sometime politics. I checked my account today for updates, and well, again the horror in Maine was front and center. But the article also had an interesting title: ""God isn't fixing this:" The Controversial Headline That Divided America".
This article pretty much spelled what I've always tried to explain to others about my views toward this shameful normalization of gun violence and forced living in fear. What really spoke to me in this article were two words that both political parties (the Republican Party more than the Democrat Party) always use every time a mass shooting happens: "thoughts and prayers".
Every time.
I knew that these platitudes were worthless, but I couldn't find a way to express how. But this article, by a guy called Dan Foster, did the work for me.
As everyone knows, America considers itself a Christian nation above all else. And Republicans like to consider themselves devout Christians. But when one looks at them, it doesn't take a deep thinker to see through the facade. Foster goes even further and digs out a Scripture from the Book of Isaiah, which tells a story about the People of God (whom I will refer to as People, for simplicity) who ask why God has not blessed them and fixed their problems. The People had done everything to please him, be it fasting, worship, and other pious actions. They believed they were doing everything right, so why weren't they receiving and abundance of blessings and solved problems? Welp, the Almighty had two basic answers.
One, God had expected them to end injustice, to liberate the oppressed, and relieve the struggling of their burdens.
Two, God had expected them to stand up for and give unconditional support to the poor.
Pretty obvious where I'm going with this, eh?
For as long as I can remember, the Republican Party has done the exact opposite of those two expectations. They have relentlessly oppressed all marginalized groups. They are still passing laws to negate the significance of these groups. There are still invalidating the lives of these groups. They are relentlessly trying to maintain the status quo of systemic and institutional racism, sexism, and bigotry. And above all else, they are obsessed with maintaining a country where White, Christian, heterosexual Americans reign supreme.
For as long as I can remember, the Republican Party has always put their own personal gains above the American people -- including their own voters. They have always neglected those who struggle to provide for their families, and they heartlessly shun those who live on welfare and other benefits, dismissing them as lazy and not working hard enough (easy for them to say, they're rich and don't HAVE to work as hard), They are still trying to gut any kind of government assistance benefits like Social Security and the Affordable Care Act (remember, one time they tried to gut it, but had nothing to replace it at time). I can actually remember when Mitt Romney was running against Barack Obama in 2012. He also was dead-set on killing Obamacare. When he was asked what Americans could do when in need of critical care without Obamacare, he responded with, "They can always go to ER."
Seriously?
As a guy who had to go to the ER many times in a pinch because I had nothing better at the time (no real health insurance) and had to be sacked with hospital bills up the wazoo demanding 1,000 to 1,200 dollars each, I resent that completely.
But I'm getting off topic.
As I was saying, Republicans consider themselves staunch Christians with an unshakable devotion to God. But whenever a crisis happens and American people demand action, whether it's a natural disaster or a mass shooting, they are as silent as a nighttime grassy plain with only crickets chirping. The truth is, they aren't devoted to God, but rather hiding behind his name to shield themselves from the "heretics and nonbelievers out there who are the true sinners." Well, their Lord and Savior DJT was quoted saying that he "never asked for -- or needed -- forgiveness". And with their loyalty to him and him alone, I gotta ask them, "You guys really have the balls to talk about devotion to God?"
And that's to say nothing of a political party that believes gun violence is the best, or only, way to solve disagreements, the whole "good guy with a gun" (who's never been there when needed in a mass shooting, or is already gunned down in such an incident by the bad guy -- or guys -- with guns) simply because they have a noose around their necks by the gun lobby, and because in an indirect way, letting these bloodbaths continue helps them with this cockamamy "race/culture war", as most of them target marginalized/ethnic groups. They believe wholeheartedly in the Great Replacement Theory (a bogus concept if I ever heard one) and that's the best way for them to prevent it, regardless of how many casualties it takes. Ron DeSantis and Marjorie Taylor Greene can attest to that, with Greene wanting to kill Democrats and DeSantis inciting racial/bigoted hatred and murder through so-called "legislations".
I will end with this quote from Foster's article, which itself is from C.S. Lewis, the author of the Chronicles of Narnia books and a real Christian:
“If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man’s outward actions — if he continues to be just as snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before — then I think we must suspect that his ‘conversion’ was largely imaginary; Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in ‘religion’ mean nothing unless they change our actual behavior.”
One thing is certain above all else, and we've known it all along: the Republican Party is full to bursting with heretics and repeat sinners, and they're proud of it, because it gets them everything they want. And contrary to what they would have us believe, they show that America is not -- and never was -- the greatest nation on Earth.
This article pretty much spelled what I've always tried to explain to others about my views toward this shameful normalization of gun violence and forced living in fear. What really spoke to me in this article were two words that both political parties (the Republican Party more than the Democrat Party) always use every time a mass shooting happens: "thoughts and prayers".
Every time.
I knew that these platitudes were worthless, but I couldn't find a way to express how. But this article, by a guy called Dan Foster, did the work for me.
As everyone knows, America considers itself a Christian nation above all else. And Republicans like to consider themselves devout Christians. But when one looks at them, it doesn't take a deep thinker to see through the facade. Foster goes even further and digs out a Scripture from the Book of Isaiah, which tells a story about the People of God (whom I will refer to as People, for simplicity) who ask why God has not blessed them and fixed their problems. The People had done everything to please him, be it fasting, worship, and other pious actions. They believed they were doing everything right, so why weren't they receiving and abundance of blessings and solved problems? Welp, the Almighty had two basic answers.
One, God had expected them to end injustice, to liberate the oppressed, and relieve the struggling of their burdens.
Two, God had expected them to stand up for and give unconditional support to the poor.
Pretty obvious where I'm going with this, eh?
For as long as I can remember, the Republican Party has done the exact opposite of those two expectations. They have relentlessly oppressed all marginalized groups. They are still passing laws to negate the significance of these groups. There are still invalidating the lives of these groups. They are relentlessly trying to maintain the status quo of systemic and institutional racism, sexism, and bigotry. And above all else, they are obsessed with maintaining a country where White, Christian, heterosexual Americans reign supreme.
For as long as I can remember, the Republican Party has always put their own personal gains above the American people -- including their own voters. They have always neglected those who struggle to provide for their families, and they heartlessly shun those who live on welfare and other benefits, dismissing them as lazy and not working hard enough (easy for them to say, they're rich and don't HAVE to work as hard), They are still trying to gut any kind of government assistance benefits like Social Security and the Affordable Care Act (remember, one time they tried to gut it, but had nothing to replace it at time). I can actually remember when Mitt Romney was running against Barack Obama in 2012. He also was dead-set on killing Obamacare. When he was asked what Americans could do when in need of critical care without Obamacare, he responded with, "They can always go to ER."
Seriously?
As a guy who had to go to the ER many times in a pinch because I had nothing better at the time (no real health insurance) and had to be sacked with hospital bills up the wazoo demanding 1,000 to 1,200 dollars each, I resent that completely.
But I'm getting off topic.
As I was saying, Republicans consider themselves staunch Christians with an unshakable devotion to God. But whenever a crisis happens and American people demand action, whether it's a natural disaster or a mass shooting, they are as silent as a nighttime grassy plain with only crickets chirping. The truth is, they aren't devoted to God, but rather hiding behind his name to shield themselves from the "heretics and nonbelievers out there who are the true sinners." Well, their Lord and Savior DJT was quoted saying that he "never asked for -- or needed -- forgiveness". And with their loyalty to him and him alone, I gotta ask them, "You guys really have the balls to talk about devotion to God?"
And that's to say nothing of a political party that believes gun violence is the best, or only, way to solve disagreements, the whole "good guy with a gun" (who's never been there when needed in a mass shooting, or is already gunned down in such an incident by the bad guy -- or guys -- with guns) simply because they have a noose around their necks by the gun lobby, and because in an indirect way, letting these bloodbaths continue helps them with this cockamamy "race/culture war", as most of them target marginalized/ethnic groups. They believe wholeheartedly in the Great Replacement Theory (a bogus concept if I ever heard one) and that's the best way for them to prevent it, regardless of how many casualties it takes. Ron DeSantis and Marjorie Taylor Greene can attest to that, with Greene wanting to kill Democrats and DeSantis inciting racial/bigoted hatred and murder through so-called "legislations".
I will end with this quote from Foster's article, which itself is from C.S. Lewis, the author of the Chronicles of Narnia books and a real Christian:
“If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man’s outward actions — if he continues to be just as snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before — then I think we must suspect that his ‘conversion’ was largely imaginary; Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in ‘religion’ mean nothing unless they change our actual behavior.”
One thing is certain above all else, and we've known it all along: the Republican Party is full to bursting with heretics and repeat sinners, and they're proud of it, because it gets them everything they want. And contrary to what they would have us believe, they show that America is not -- and never was -- the greatest nation on Earth.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-28 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-28 08:10 pm (UTC)That is, if what Tim Burchett from Tennessee said wasn't telling enough when he bluntly stated that absolutely nothing will be done about this issue from the GOP, instead calling for a fully Christian-controlled America (I can instantly see the intentional racist and populist undertones here) -- immediately after 3 school staff and 3 children were all murdered in a mass shooting in a Christian school by an AR-15 in his own state. And to drive it home, my new case manager was originally from Lewington -- as was some of his family -- and on our first meeting last Thursday, a day after this horror happened, he expressed anger and disappointment as it really hit home personally for him. Really shows us all what these people are, and not even what happened to Scalise was enough to sway them. What'll probably happen now is Maine Republicans will loosen the already weak gun laws there ASAP, as is their custom. I don't know if it's an inbred sickness or retardation or lack of actual brains here...
And then there's the defining question concerning this Party of Hate: Once they've eliminated whatever or whoever it is they hate so much, will they finally settle down, put down the AR-15s, and be at peace? My answer is no, they will find something or someone else to hate and destroy. Hatred repeats itself if not reckoned with, and history has a near-infinite number of events that prove that. That goes ESPECIALLY for Christianity, because some of the greatest crimes against humanity (the Europeans' blood-soaked conquest of the land to become America, the Holocaust, the American Civil War -- hell, even the invasion of Iraq) were committed in a perverted view of this religion. One participant at my job lamented why so many people hate Christians these days. I'll spare disillusioning him with this reasoning, 'cause he's one of the TRUE ones, and I respect that.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-28 07:34 pm (UTC)And it makes total sense that they're based in Christianity. We all know what atrocities the Catholic Church was involved in throughout history.
Also, Medium is a great website. I've read numerous fascinating articles on there.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-28 10:55 pm (UTC)And on the subject of religion, it is my honest opinion that MANY of the world's bloodiest wars, conflicts, and massacres were waged based on a perverted view of Christianity. To see that this perversion is still running rampant is truly saddening.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-28 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-28 10:18 pm (UTC)