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highplainsdem

(48,731 posts)
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 10:02 AM Nov 2017

Frank Schaeffer: The siege mentality among evangelical Christians has led to self-induced dementia.




The siege mentality among evangelical Christians has led to a sort of self-induced dementia. Bit by bit they're literally going out of their minds, sliding from "Values" to Trump, from Trump to Roy Moore. It started with wanting to save babies and ended with support for a rapist
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Frank Schaeffer: The siege mentality among evangelical Christians has led to self-induced dementia. (Original Post) highplainsdem Nov 2017 OP
No it is not from some one good intention gone wrong. What does saving babies have to do lunasun Nov 2017 #1
Southern Baptists endorsed the War on Iraq Kolesar Nov 2017 #3
Exactly. The "saving babies" think was full of blood and gore Merlot Nov 2017 #8
I thought it referenced the abortion issue. -nt CrispyQ Nov 2017 #15
Projection. AtheistCrusader Nov 2017 #17
it starts with racism and sexism. ginnyinWI Nov 2017 #2
that's also the effect NewJeffCT Nov 2017 #6
Hence the decades of phony Clinton "scandals" not fooled Nov 2017 #9
agree. it's not about the 'evangelical' subset of the trump/moore base and i'd say certainot Nov 2017 #11
I have been saying this for 30 YEARS NOW Tumbulu Nov 2017 #22
thanks. i think pushing our universities to get sports out of RW radio could certainot Nov 2017 #23
This is the fruits of the Reagan repeal of the Fairness Doctrine. olegramps Nov 2017 #26
yes. many trolls blame clinton and the tel com act, but it came in 1996, like fox certainot Nov 2017 #29
And now they're trying to Wag The Dog the Roy Moore situation... Initech Nov 2017 #4
It was never about "saving babies" as much as it was anger at women rejecting ehrnst Nov 2017 #5
Very similar to radical Islamic thinking hueymahl Nov 2017 #16
Was never about 'saving babies' it was about oppressing women and gays. SharonClark Nov 2017 #7
Not being able to control women efhmc Nov 2017 #10
We are literally witnessing evolution (de-evolution) in action Roland99 Nov 2017 #12
It didn't start with saving "babies". It started with keeping blacks out of schools and churches. dawg Nov 2017 #13
Exactly!! onlyadream Nov 2017 #33
The anti-abortion whack job meme is more about misogyny than it is about "saving babies" Texin Nov 2017 #14
It didn't start with "wanting to save babies"... JHB Nov 2017 #18
'values' was always a charade. it's always been about money and power. KG Nov 2017 #19
Not that far of a slide, really, as "saving babies" was a euphemism for forced pregnancy paulkienitz Nov 2017 #20
What regulates women's sexual behavior better than a pregnancy? ehrnst Nov 2017 #21
He is discussing the "Moral Majority", along with The Contract on America by Newt/GOP Hestia Nov 2017 #24
"Psychosis" is not spelled that way. No d relayerbob Nov 2017 #25
See Frank's 1st book bobbieinok Nov 2017 #27
Check slacktivist blog at patheos bobbieinok Nov 2017 #28
you mean Falwell's morally corrupt majority mdbl Nov 2017 #31
If Satan created a religion, what would it look like? ThoughtCriminal Nov 2017 #30
Its not dementia, its willful stupidity. milestogo Nov 2017 #32

lunasun

(21,646 posts)
1. No it is not from some one good intention gone wrong. What does saving babies have to do
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 10:17 AM
Nov 2017

with ugly gay and Trans hate or hating someone for the color of thier skin?
They are just evil slime and full of hate not merely misdirected IMO

Kolesar

(31,182 posts)
3. Southern Baptists endorsed the War on Iraq
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 10:32 AM
Nov 2017

This apostate Catholic never could relate to their apocalyptic uptight credo.
Wow, that came out way more polite than the clauses I had in my mind.

Merlot

(9,696 posts)
8. Exactly. The "saving babies" think was full of blood and gore
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 11:00 AM
Nov 2017

It was another extension of their delusion. They need something to fight.

ginnyinWI

(17,276 posts)
2. it starts with racism and sexism.
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 10:24 AM
Nov 2017

Anti Obama, anti Hillary. It becomes tribal--these are their guys and they are sticking with them. They are all convinced that the media is their enemy and is telling them lies.

My brother isn't a rabid right winger, just a low information voter. Voted for Obama the first time, but not for re-election. Voted Trump over Hillary because he didn't like Hillary. Last night he said, "how can you know who is the best one? They all seem the same."

Huh?? So he took a chance on Trump because he knew less about him and more about Hillary which he didn't like. I have no idea where he got impressions of either candidate. Is not a news watcher. So there you are--voting based on a vague impression of who the candidates were.

NewJeffCT

(56,827 posts)
6. that's also the effect
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 10:55 AM
Nov 2017

of the nearly 30 year long RW media machine's propaganda campaign against Bill and Hillary Clinton. A casual observer might think that with so many investigations into both of them, there must be *something* there.

not fooled

(5,791 posts)
9. Hence the decades of phony Clinton "scandals"
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 11:08 AM
Nov 2017

Even the lowest-information voter has been exposed to a decade or more of a steady stream of news "coverage" of supposed Clinton scandals, concocted by GOPee propagandists and fed to the media. So, without even trying, many if not most voters have imbibed a vague, inchoate impression that Hillary has been involved in serial wrongdoing.

That's the endgame for the GOPee--poison voters' minds against her. GOPee congressconehead kevin mccarthy slipped up in 2015 during an interview with hannity and stated as much--the reason for e.g. BENGHAZZZIIII hearings was to hurt her poll numbers.

And many 'Murican voters fell for it. I know a lot of voters with the same attitude as your brother--they just "didn't like Hillary". And, of course, the copout "They're all the same". If they have been paying attention at all since dump was installed they should be recoiling in horror from that one.

I get very pissed at these voters (no offense meant towards your brother)--they are catastrophically propagandized and misinformed, but have opinions and vote. The founding fathers realized that for this country to work, the voting populace needed to be well informed. The train left the tracks on that one a long time ago, and look where we are now.




 

certainot

(9,090 posts)
11. agree. it's not about the 'evangelical' subset of the trump/moore base and i'd say
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 11:41 AM
Nov 2017

it has a lot more to do with the racism and sexism and anti-liberal talk radio lies that have dominated 40 states with 80 senators for 30 years, and is possible only because the left/liberals/dems continue to ignore those 1500 coordinated radio stations.

and now they're calling for more harassment of hillary possible only because dems stupidly continue to ignore talk radio.

most of the anti-hillary anti-obama animosity was created with 25 years of lying from a few hundred blowhards on 1500 radio stations that were never challenged, corrected, or protested by dems. today the moore supporters are analyzed as 'evangelicals', but all those pundits have to do is listen to limbaugh defending him to know where the bulk of his support comes from.

dems will not collectively be able to say they're getting hillary's or any other dem's back until they stop ignoring talk radio, the biggest political mistake in history.

now the republicans will be enabled by those same few hundred blowhards and the near captive audience they misinform and mobilize, to assault the clintons and the obama admin to create another distraction and create leverage for extracting compromises from dems to get trump and family off.

the special prosecutor these motherfuckers now are calling for, even at the sessions hearing right now, will be a republican hack and they will time their actions to distract from the trump investigation, and they will drag in obama, clinton, lynch, comey, and even mueller.

and we even let 88 major universities support 257 limbaugh stations.

Tumbulu

(6,267 posts)
22. I have been saying this for 30 YEARS NOW
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 03:06 PM
Nov 2017

And for some unknown reason, the liberals in the cities have completely ignored those of us who live in red states or rural blue states. We are the ones who are villified and bullied by this banter. But it remains utterly ignored if not sort of protected as "free Speech" !!!!!!!!!!

Why is using public airwaves to incite violence and hate red of women and minorities protected?

And if it is protected, then how about going after the businesses that support the hate mongers?

I know there was a push to not advertise on Rush, but nothing happened because Rush is supported financially anyway. Advertising is just extra.

You said it far my eloquently than I did.

Thank you!

 

certainot

(9,090 posts)
23. thanks. i think pushing our universities to get sports out of RW radio could
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 03:28 PM
Nov 2017

have major impact.

one or two unis doing the right thing would shame others to follow. hundreds of the loudest rw radio stations in the country would be forced to offer balance or go to other programming in order to maintain those associations and the advertisers that come with it, or avoid general advertiser flight.

 

certainot

(9,090 posts)
29. yes. many trolls blame clinton and the tel com act, but it came in 1996, like fox
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 08:51 PM
Nov 2017

ater 9 years of blasting the country with bullshit about "liberal media", deregulation will lower cable costs, corporations are people, money is free speech, etc, and with a republican congress that made limbaugh an honorary member in recognition of his part, it was easy to pass it, push clinton into not vetoing it, and making the fox lies acceptable.

the only silver lining is that reagan basically destroyed the republican party with trump. but we're going with him if the dems and left keep ignoring rw radio.

unfortunately the dem party can't even poll for talk radio and instead they blame 'evangelicals' or white economic anxiety..... and media do the same.

Initech

(99,915 posts)
4. And now they're trying to Wag The Dog the Roy Moore situation...
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 10:38 AM
Nov 2017

By going after the Clinton Foundation because of a bullshit Fox News / Russian bot news story. Ain't it great?

 

ehrnst

(32,640 posts)
5. It was never about "saving babies" as much as it was anger at women rejecting
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 10:53 AM
Nov 2017

men's seed, and having sex for "mere pleasure" like a she-demon, without the threat of pregnancy to quell that lust.

Those girls' lust was luring Moore into that trap. He was the victim of these girls' siren song.

Support for men being unaccountable for their attraction to women, and women - especially young ones - luring men to entrap them is the same mindset.

hueymahl

(2,415 posts)
16. Very similar to radical Islamic thinking
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 01:06 PM
Nov 2017

Women must be covered up, kept out of public, prevented from interacting with men, all to avoid "tempting" men.

efhmc

(14,709 posts)
10. Not being able to control women
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 11:11 AM
Nov 2017

drives all these fundy religions. That is why you find no women in positions of power unless they are echo chambers for their sexist tenets. Ala Kellyanne.

Roland99

(53,342 posts)
12. We are literally witnessing evolution (de-evolution) in action
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 11:53 AM
Nov 2017

A sizable portion of our society is evolving there way to extinction.

dawg

(10,610 posts)
13. It didn't start with saving "babies". It started with keeping blacks out of schools and churches.
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 11:58 AM
Nov 2017

They only switched focus to abortion when too many churchgoers started being repelled by the racism.

This isn't about rank and file evangelicals trying to impose their beliefs on the rest of us. It's about evangelical voters being used by a cynical elite to put Republicans into positions of power. (So they can pass tax cuts and benefit reductions.)

Texin

(2,585 posts)
14. The anti-abortion whack job meme is more about misogyny than it is about "saving babies"
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 12:31 PM
Nov 2017

At the heart of this lies the fury and anger of a huge number of older (traditionally, and it now has grown to net in their offspring), male Americans who were being sidelined in the work force by women with better educations and better, more professional-level skills and experience. As the males grew older and their jobs began to vanish to offshoring and mechanization of labor, they grew more and more furious. This is about forcing women back into the home and into one gestation cycle after another until menopause. As women had more freedom from traditional roles within the home and a better more open choice in partnering, males felt their influence and control over women were diminishing and making them feel more and more powerless. The bottom line is the simple fact that they don't give a damn, royal fuck about babies, unless they speaking about themselves as men babies.

JHB

(37,132 posts)
18. It didn't start with "wanting to save babies"...
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 01:48 PM
Nov 2017

...it started with wanting to save their segregated "Christian academies". "Saving babies" was a "Catholic thing", and they didn't want anyone to think they were (gasp) papists.

paulkienitz

(1,295 posts)
20. Not that far of a slide, really, as "saving babies" was a euphemism for forced pregnancy
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 02:08 PM
Nov 2017

Nonconsensual use of women and girls is a common thread that hasn't changed very much.

 

ehrnst

(32,640 posts)
21. What regulates women's sexual behavior better than a pregnancy?
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 02:34 PM
Nov 2017

What could be more upsetting to the patriarchy than women refusing to take mens' seed?

 

Hestia

(3,818 posts)
24. He is discussing the "Moral Majority", along with The Contract on America by Newt/GOP
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 03:58 PM
Nov 2017

(Schaeffer helped his dad with the Moral Majority spew, he was there in the beginning.). The first brick laid (at that time) was giving abortion opponents a voice.

Y'all think it's bad now - "this" is the culmination of those times. Those born after 1994 are getting the condensed version of those days, all pre-internet. It really exploded about 1995/1996 when people started getting an email account, AOL (or whatever) and the MSM consolidated in 1995 to just a few owners, who then had their staff repeating Falwell, et al, as if they were the news and the Democratic/Progressive/Liberal voices began to be really marginalized.


bobbieinok

(12,858 posts)
27. See Frank's 1st book
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 05:54 PM
Nov 2017

Details how he grew up watching and helping his dad Francis use abortion to create the religious right.

Frank has a blog at patheos.

bobbieinok

(12,858 posts)
28. Check slacktivist blog at patheos
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 06:01 PM
Nov 2017

For history about how abortion and Roe was fine in conservative religious circles until the mid 70s.

Right wing groups needed something to agitate people to vote for the GOP when drive for segregated schools no longer worked as well as it had.

With Schaeffer's help, they created the anti-abortion movement and Falwell's Moral Majority.

ThoughtCriminal

(14,011 posts)
30. If Satan created a religion, what would it look like?
Tue Nov 14, 2017, 08:59 PM
Nov 2017

Alters made of human skulls, pentagrams, black robes, witches and bloody sacrifices?

No. It would subvert from within. It would look exactly like right-wing fundamentalism.

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