Why We Do What We Do
By Nicole Belle Sunday Feb 17, 2008 2:00pm
It never fails that every day, someone will leave a comment asking us why we spend so much time watching news shows and pointing out Republican framing and other types of media bias.
This is why.
A)I don't want a man that's going to use the Koran to be sworn in as President instead of the Bible."
Q) Where did you get this information that Barack Obama wanted to be sworn in on the Koran?
A) From one of our Church members that's keeping up with what his comments are and you know he wouldn't even do the Pledge of Allegiance. He refused.
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The Enlightenment is over.
One of the other reasons the U.S. of A. is so effed up... not teaching people to think for themselves creates this kind of idiocy... that and the effed up evangelical cults.
Did they also know Obama's mom hates freedom?
[Deleted]
Just the standard poisoning of children's minds...business as usual for the psycho "christian" right.
Slack-jawed mountain folk strike again!
a-hyulk!
"A) From one of our Church members that’s keeping up with what his comments are and you know"
This is just another lamb being lead right where the Shepard wants her to go. Another mindless, unthinking drone that does what she is told to do and support who she is told to support. How pathetic.
Too much Jack Daniel's.
what do you expect? these people are idiots. the idiots will never change. isn't president bush "grounded in the words" ??? ugh. idiocy!! "it's not gonna happen til jesus comes back" ....ugh waterboard me PLEASE. it's a shame cos those brainwashed ladies are actually sweet, nice people if you don't ask them about religion/politics. they fixed the guy lunch!
So tell me, how do the people in America feel about letting a couple of ignorant stupid biddies run our country?
Since when did all this religion make their lives any better?
When oh when will America wake up and marginalize the mental midgets in our country?
These religious midgets are the ones that opened the gates of hell and let the rivers of blood flow.... all in the name of GOD.
THAT is what I call using the NAME OF GOD IN VAIN.... AS IN VANITY.
Ignorant sequestered inbred ugly hicks.
King of Kings @ 1:
It's bread and circuses while rome burns...
And as far as the name thing with Obama: how about we childishly look askance at "lilly-white" people (which I am) with Germanic names, and assume they might be NAZIS? Or how about Irish names, as IRA TERRORISTS? Come on, grow the fuck up America.
And you can't assume religion by a name either...
I'm glad for what you folks do, C&L... thanks.
Oh man, as a native of West Virginia, I hate to see this stuff :) This is what makes us all look bad. I'm quite sure it would be impossible to talk these ladies out of their position. At least they are disappointed in Bush (albeit for some wrong reasons it appears). A hallmark of the right in general, but especially the christian right, is extreme black-and-white thinking and an inability to determine that a position is illogical if it happens to suit them.
LOL please stop reinforcing my prejudices about Americans
I'm pretty sure if you pored through the Bible with a fine-toothed comb, you'd find a reference to the hair-do on that lady in the blue polyester bein' a sin!
Who's #1?
Get jiggy with it!
Charles Barkley was right.
Fake Christians.
Casualties of the Right Wing Hate Machine...
If intelligence, compassion, and morality were financial assets, America would be insolvent.
At least religion has one use, at least the way I see it.
It provides a fly paper which draws the moronic, the naive, the cowardly, and the crooked.
Just pick a church and see who claims to be in the congregation.
[Deleted. Off topic. Site Monitor]
If we follow God "he will bless this country and not put his wrath on us". That about sums up the Christian mentality.
And all of their hillbilly prayers won't out Mike Hickabee in office.
This video is a wonderful testament to the retarding effects of religious belief.
Its not just kids and the stupid. I have a friend who is a physician - he eats up half the junk thrown out by MSM. In his case he wants the lies to be true and doesn't really care to check into it. In addition, it is hard to keep up with the lies vs. truth even if you try. I think it is important to study all political views carefully.
More Soma, please.
Hillary didn't divorce her husband and stuck by her husband during his infidelity....how dare she!
She learned it from her Daddy. Who is also her boyfriend.
Sad. You guys do what you do because the majority of people are idiots. Sad but true.
RHM's blogs
There are people like this everywhere, not just in the south. Also, it is perhaps best to concentrate on the substance of what they are and aren't saying instead of venting about how inbred and slack-jawed they are. I know it's funny, but it isn't effective and may turn you into what you dislike.
Some people have been lead by the nose for so long that they do not know how to critically think to question I mean does studying for the test involve any thinking outside the book? Having your daily schedule mapped out : Johny your going to A,B,C does that make time for unscutured play.
I saw on ( I think it was 60 minutes) where the up and coming generation thinks so highly of themselves but when put in any of the above situations are at a lose what to do maybe with all this parental pushing to be the best we've forgotten how to let them be kids.
False witnesses.
Travis @ 9:
Here's the problem, these folks vote in higher percentages than we do. If I hear one more dolt say he or she will never vote for Hillary or Obama in the general, I'll friggin' scream.
OMG! If I were a southerner, I would want to distance myself as far, far away as possible from these inbred morons. Being an American, I want to distance myself as far, far away as possible from these inbred morons. Those "Christians" displayed an amazing level of incredible stupidity. Sigh...
You know, I have friends that are excellent con artists and hustlers. I bet if they looked at this video they would would be licking their chops because these women are easy pick'ns in their minds. I guess the religious pastors or preachers see them in that light as well.
The knuckle-draggers need to stop breeding with their siblings. Anyway, I hope these retards get press by the boatload. The 25% will always be the 25% til they die off. It's the other 75% that need to be reminded come election day what happens when the mouth-breathers get their man in office.
Life is just easier if you buy into conservative talking points like:
- we're helping the Iraqis
- we're fighting the terrists over there so we don't have to fight them here
- Bush is protecting my freedom in every way he can
- libruls hate freedom
- Mexicans take our jobs
- the economy will be fine, just keep shopping
- God loves and protects me
dm @ 29:
As an ex-Southerner I can tell you, these kind of people are very common indeed. They justify their racism through the Bible. They justify their support for war through the Bible. They justify their ignorance through the Bible. It's a waste of a life, but what can you do?
You can't underestimate the stupidity of the American public. Especially those dumb fuckers down south.
sangemon @ 8:
Moore county is dry. Those folks are stone cold sober ignorant and proud of it.
dill1 @ 356:
You are correct, this is not just in the South. However, there can be little doubt that the most likely area to run into this mentality is in the South. While people like this live nationwide, the highest concentration seems to be in the South. Rarely do you hear a person making these comments with a NY or Boston accent.
ma @ 261:
How did it feel? Irrelevant perv.
I think these folks would find some equally pious and zealous brethren in Iraq and Afghanistan. Too bad they play for the other team.
I get so sad when I hear indoctrinated kids start babbling, but, who knows? It's possible in a few years she'll realize what a load of horse crap she is expected to swallow.
why does the religious right hate freedom?
why does the religious right hate America?
I've been reading the comments here all afternoon as they come in. To say that The South has a monopoly on these type of people and none exist 'Up North',is ,of course,silly. However-These woman ARE a product of thier community,culture and upbringing.Many have mentioned 'critical thinking',but the problem here is that these women wear their ignorance like a badge of honor. The local customs and religion discourage 'critical thinking' to the point of hostility if anything but what they are told is even suggested. It has nothing to do with 'the brain you were born with'. It has everything to do with not being encouraged to use your brain from the time you were born.
Keep on doing what you do C&L! It takes real patriots to shine light in dark corners like this and expose the relentless manipulation of corporate media. Your part of the solution, thanks for being there!
ashton @ 357:
Who's got time for logical consistency? By the way, I am entirely in favor of a portion of my taxes going to pay for these peoples' healthcare, education, and social security. But atheists are bad people, right?
David Hawes @ 362:
I don't think you can look past the possibility of pollution contributing. Just sayin...
By the way, did anyone else notice that the lady who calls Obama, "Bahama," also pronounced her favorite candidate, "Hucklebee"?
It's stuff like this that makes me fear for the future of this once great Republic.
dill1 @ 356:
you are so correct I have lived in both parts of this country and it seems that it comes from religion, not by being educated.
My parents still believe this crap, even though it was debunked months ago. That's because the one and only source for them for news is Fox News. I point out to them that this is why they don't know anything, but their stock response is that the rest of the media is so liberal that they can't believe anything that they're told - except by the "good" folks at Faux News.
There is simply no way to have a rational discussion with people like this..... and they're my parents!! I am sure I am not alone in this. We all have relatives who are locked down in a permanent state of ignorance and refuse anyone's help to get out of it.
If I were ever to be sworn in as president or any other public official you can bet that I won't use a Bible, a Koran or anything else during the ceremony. If I had to "swear" on anything, it would be a copy of the Constitution itself. As far as our secular republic is concerned, that is the only "holy" document that has any real merit.
David Hawes @ 364:
The very definition of anti-intellectualism.
uncle joe mccarthy @ 246:
Oh, no, no, no, no! Too much, too much! *rolls around on the floor laughing hysterically* What do you think would happen if he further told them that the idea behind adding the words, "Under God" came from the heathen Catholics (the Knights of Columbus)? Fundies like these people think all Catholics worship the Pope and Mother Mary and are going to hell in a handbasket.
I'm about 100 miles from Lynchburg. Should I drive down there and tell them? Maybe if I had a death wish...
I know that physical violence is not the solution to this problem, but can I use it just this one time? Maybe she's like a skipping record and just needs a little bump on the noggin' to get on the right track!
OK, fine. I won't. But I'll blame you all if I a blood vessel bursts in my head from all this pent-up rage!
No. These people are right. The end times ARE near and these lame brain idiots are working their hardest to bring it about. The only difference is that when it comes....there will be NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH.....only THE FUCKING END!
Travis @ 9:
I'm always bothered when people say that so-and-so is nice, maybe the kind of person you'd like to have a beer with or whatever, and therefore their sociopolitical opinions should be overlooked. I'm from Texas, was raised by and around people like these women, and can caution you never to fall for such "niceness." Like Reagan, they'll be nice and full of bonhomie to your face but then report you to the police the minute your back is turned. If someone cooks you food and is nice to you but they vote to bomb Arabs off the face of the earth and to defund education and social services, are they really good people? No. Even if they continue to be nice and kind to you and to joke around with you and your friends, their larger actions are harmful to the entire world, and that's much more important than their interpersonal behavior.
Score another point for the FUs... the "Fact Undoers"!
deang @ 375:
Well said.
derF @ 373:
How do we get this going!!!
staggering amounts of ignorance in every sentence. Thank the FSM that Huckabee won't get to be our theocrat.
Keith G @ 318:
AMEN!
PHI @ 195:
Thank You!! Good points! Did ANYONE attempt to correct the misconceptions these women had concerning the candidates? We are not born critical thinkers; we are taught to be. There is no crime in ignorance, but there is crime in failing to teach. It seems the point of this video is simply to exploit ignorance rather than to help educate. Nonetheless, as I glance over some of the statements on this site filled with spite, anger, and chips the size of boulders, if one of the many of you tried to redirect my thinking, I don't suppose I would listen to you either. If you are indeed the elite, intelligent minority as many of you have claimed to be, then share your wisdom, don't dumb it down with name calling and insults. The only people who will listen to you are those who are already in the choir, how is that progressive? And, yes, I am an "ignorant, ill-thinking" Christian as you stereotype us all to be. I am also a Social Sciences PhD candidate in mainstream academe. I think critically, I investigate, I understand the death and destruction committed throughout history by men and women using God as a guise for their actions. Just because some men say they are doing something in the name of God doesn't mean they necessarily are. In the same respect there are those of the faith who can be misguided. (Believe it or not, I have even heard a few dumb things come out of the mouths of progressive dems!) Don't make assumptions about an entire faith without researching the facts. Unless you have read the teachings of Christ and then made your decision to speak against the teachings of Christianity (as I am sure only a few of you have) you are as guilty of making ignorant assumptions as the women in this clip.
God's hand is in it, all right. And whenever those women get to the other side, that hand is gonna smack them all upside the head, and the big voice will thunder "How could you all have been so fucking stupid?!"
Bill Moyers has an excellent piece this week with a woman who claims this country needs to get educated, from the top down. She used the example of how Roosevelt talked to the country over the radio for years. He encouraged them to look at maps with him while he explained geopolitical problems. And she credits this education to the support Americans gave him when Pearl Harbor was bombed.
Google Bill Moyers Journal.
These women are about as ignorant as an American can be. Our only hope is to start education again. Not from any viewpoint, just educate. Read the Constitution.
In their very own religion's play book it says, "No one knows the day or the hour" (Matthew 24: 36 - 44) and yet whenever some second-string Elmer Gantry comes along with a prediction and an appeal for alms, these mouth breathers pony up the pelf to purchase him a national platform from which to misrepresent the their faith.
Except, of course, their faith has nothing to do with anything Christ ever said, their faith is the religion of hatred, narrowmindedness and exclusion.
David @ 378:
You get it going by educating yourself about religious history and then NEVER GIVE THEM A BREAK.
Great places to start include:
Hitchen's "God is Not Great"
Dawkin's "The God Delusion"
Harris' "The End of faith"
Harris' "Letter to a Christian nation"
Dennett's "Breaking the Spell"
Pagel's "The Gnostic Gospels"
Hedges' "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America"
Jacoby's "Freethinkers"
Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus"
Russell's "Why I am Not a Christian"
Also, I highly recommend reading the Bible carefully because it is so full of great stories about how a loving god-creature likes to torture his creations. There is humor there, galore.
Dr. Acula @ 340:
I once heard that it didn't matter as long as you are "jewish".
School me.
A little illogical. The Obama slanders will go on no matter what. They're driven by hatred, and dare I say, the Internet? When those memes start leaking over to the "mainstream," that's when you worry. That, in fact, is what happened with Clinton "the Clinton Rules," and with Gore, "that crackpot, who doesn't even know his own sexual identity, will do anything he can to get elected." Meanwhile, who did do anything to get elected? The other guy.
Welcome to politics, kids.
I don't know the answer as to giving these types of people attention. As you'll see by the Digg comments it sometimes just leads to more of the same. But I agree that you have to out the lies and let them hopefully die in the light of day and by the truth. We'll see.
It's giving attention to people like Bill O'reilly or ignoring people like Bill O'reilly. Keith seems to bat him down.
John Kerry chose to ignore the swift boaters. Proved to be a bad choice. It's not an easy decision.
Sandi @ 372:
If that makes you laugh, just wait until someone shows them one of our national anthems was written by a fairly outspoken communist who was also Christian and loved America.
deang @ 375:
Same background here.
I just think it's gross ignorance (which breeds negligence) though. These people have never known, let alone realized there exists, anything else
I don't think we can fault them. It's like the Christians saying that all nonbelievers go to hell, even those who haven't heard the gospel.
A few years ago my Limbaugh listening step-father complained about his "damn liberal" local assembly person wanting to spend tax dollars for prisoners to get tattoos removed. He was mad because as he (and Rush apparently) envisioned this it was simply socialized cosmetic surgery, on the same level as free nose jobs for murderers.
It took about two seconds after hearing this story to conclude that what they were really talking about was removing gang tattoos. And I asked Mr. Google and he confirmed this. Now of course this can be debated and there could be a valid argument for not doing this - but the story he believed was factually true and he only heard "free surgery for crooks". Eventually we talked about it and he agreed that maybe it might actually be a program with some merit.
Two weeks later I overheard him telling his conservative buddy about how his damn liberal assembly person wanted to give free cosmetic procedures to criminals.
That's how the emotionally guided mind works. It's not about facts or knowledge or what is true or not. It's about what makes you feel good and comfortable or satisfies some unmet emotional need. You can't reason this need away.
two old fucking ugly c$$ts. i am so tired of the lies these jesus bible thumping
asswipe liars. they have sucked jesus off the cross and drained him dry.
Dick's Cheney @ 391:
That's a good analysis.
Also there's the mob mentality
Makes sense to me. These are the same people that believe the universe was created in 7 days, that there was a world-wide flood, that Noah was able to gather two of every species of animal from every contiinent on the planet and that Lots wife turned into a pillar of salt. Idiots!
I can see a future where America is a Christian Military Fascist state.Luckily this is only the pessimist in me.These Right Wing Nuts that say this garbage will NEVER be the majority.I am from California and I know people in the deep south see me as a pothead,surfer bum that believe people should have the freedom of choice in pretty much everything in their life. For the most part they are right.But they seem to embolden my stereotypes of them which seem FAR worse:redneck,closed minded, false truths and people with a moral compass as messed up as people being stoned in their old testament. But the worst thing about these people is that they seem to miss the purpose of their little bibles,THE GOLDEN RULE etc.Reality escapes these people.The people of the world hate me and my country because of their holyer then thou attitude,greed and apathy.OBAMA 08!!
Its just another example of freedom of thought in the US. If you choose to remain ignorant you get what you deserve! Garbage in garbage out.
fascism always promotes a "cult of stupidity" where they don't know they are stupid, they couldn't know they were stupid, they DEMAND that others conform to their stupidity, they celebrate their stupidity AND they would fight to the death to retain their stupidity.
straight out of the movie "the matrix"
I know that 'intelligence' (and especially its measurement) is a somewhat controversial issue. Based upon life experience though, I think people obviously differ in 'brain power'. Most people on this board (politically aware liberals mostly) have an above-average intelligence. So, unfortunately, you will always be able to rant on about how dumb most people are. How is this ever to change (barring eugenics)?
Joe O. @ 30:
Your friends are in the GOP??
Stupidity is painful... for me to watch. I had to stop watching just as soon as that poor little brainwashed girl showed up spewing that travesty.
Was it not GW Bush that said God was LEADING HIM and that is why we are in Iraq. When will people like this understand that the merging of religion and government NEVER works. and leads to horrible problems like the middle east. Oh and that young girl what does she know shes just repeating the same crap as the adults. Why can these people think for them selves.
"Ignorance is Strength"
RppPolyp @ 11:
If you look at American history you'll find that during the WWl germans were persecuted for having too german sounding names some were even killed and for the Irish there was persecution there to when they first showed up So America isn't the great melting pot
I know that there are people out there like that, the ill-informed, right wing, fundamentalist Christians who seem to get their opinions from those urban legend emails and Faux News.
But to my surprise, it was remarkably difficult to listen to the sheer nonsense coming out of the mouths of these women. It was painful to be a witness to such stupidity. They talk about bringing the country to God but in the same breath they condemn Hillary Clinton because she stayed married to her adulterous husband.
Wow. Just wow.
I used to think statements like "The stupid, it burns" were a joke. No longer.
Blue Lensman @ 32:
Paraphrased from Janeane Garofalo:
"The great thing about being a republican is that you can be an a$$hole and still claim the moral high ground."
Normally I am more of a gentleman, but...those ignorant ol' biddies really need to pull their heads out.
Egad, did these people all suck out the mercury out of a thermometer or what? What a lot of babbling dolts. I'm sorry, but I have no use for people like this. Nothing they said made any sense or had any relation to reality that wasn't filtered through some bible-babble!
The enlightenment never reached the into the sticks. These hillbillies are no different than superstitious medieval peasants.
Could have sworn that I head the faint echo of banjo music while the video was a-playin' Was that Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds in the background, too?
I...uh...wow....that video...the comments...
I am terrified by religion, terrified by these people, embarrassed that they are something I am tied to as an American, angry that Darwin was wrong about us...it is not survival of the fittest its just a big muck of every possible combination - from the unbelievably stupid to the crazy intelligent. Okay...so maybe Darwin wasn't wrong...just unbearably slow. And the comment about lefty-atheists being just as uneducated about the political environment: Stupid is stupid regardless of where it is coming from ideologically or geographically. But at least most atheists have thought through why they are not religious...because a part of them knows that for most humans religion is intellectual cancer. And I am sure that there are just as many Republicans as there are Democrats that realize the ridiculousness of the emotionally-charged accusations about Obama being Muslim, non-hand-over-heart, and even the Koran thing. Are they serious!? If only a "rapture" would come and take them all away! I'll help! I'll buy them all stools so they can get closer! Maybe a giant sling shot launcher?
And another thing: Will someone please explain to them that they are misusing all the freedoms we have fought so hard to win in this country!?? Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom for the sexes and the races, all these freedoms and they have no idea how to use them. I get that freedom of speech means they can say what they want...but have enough respect to know WHAT you are saying before you make a fool of yourself, your children, your nation, and your species. 'A member of their church' told them indeed! Pull up your big-girl panties and grow up.
What's to worry? Little Bible-belting missy will take her chastity
pledge and end up getting knock-up by her boyfriend Joe-Bob
at the Gospel Choir Camp next summer...
She and Joe-bob will have 3 other kids, and then he will get laid-off
when the local Wal-Mart closes down due to the recession.
Idiocracy exemplified!
Can't we trade the Southern States to Argentina for the Falklands?
We can throw in a first round draft pick and a player to be named
later?
Hucklebee !!!
Kiva @ 267:
Agreed. Southern evangelicals believe what they believe for a lot of reasons - and early childhood conditioning is much more decisive than intelligence or its absence. Sure some people manage to escape, but most don't. It takes a lot of hard work to train yourself to believe what you see, and not to see what you believe. And if doing that work means losing not only your belief system but your community and maybe even your family, the price becomes more than what most people are willing to pay. The people venting on this board need to ask themselves what they would sound like if they'd been born in Alabama.
It's not easy to establish a dialogue with people like the ones in the video, but you have to - otherwise "we" and "they" will just go on cheering our respective teams forever. It's difficult but not impossible - with the exception of out-and-out sociopaths, the vast majority of humanity thinks of themselves as good people who believe in doing the right thing. Being Americans gives us another pool of shared beliefs - that it's better to work at a problem than sitting around complaining about it, that we should all help each other to get the job done, that we should never say die, that God (whether that's a metaphor to you or a white guy with a beard) didn't make anyone to sit around on their ass having other people do their work - those are all things that most of the people who read this board and the people on that video would agree on. If you can then admit to yourself that you too have tendencies toward clannishness, self-righteousness and fear of the unknown - that is, if you can overcome your pride - you may actually be able to win their trust enough to convince them about small but significant things - that Obama isn't a Muslim for instance.
For much better discussion of a hypothesized innate moral sense common to our species (and why that sense produces such divergent manifestations) I highly recommend Steven Pinker's discussion in the New York Times Magazine last month based on the theories of academic psychologist Jonathan Haidt. Haidt's hypothesis, based on surveying of people's moral intuitions, is that the human moral sense is composed of five distinct and frequently contradictory drives - avoidance of harm, suppression of cheaters, desire for purity, respect for authority, and maintenance of community. Political tension between right and left is caused by the different roles the last-listed three play in the lives of our respective communities. Haidt is at pains to point out that both the rational first two, and the non-rational last three are hard-wired into our souls because these drives give any group that has them a survival advantage over the others. I would add based on what I've learned from Alabama-born evolutionary biologist E.O.Wilson that the conflict arises out of evolutionary tension between individual and group selection.
Stephen Pinker's piece on Haidt's research is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/magazine/13Psychology-t.html?_r=2&scp=...
Jonathan Haidt on video presents his own research at
http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2007/haidt
and giving a slightly more technical presentation at an academic conference
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3896569197654224883&q=Haidt+Bey...
BlueIndependent @ 389:
yes, i think we should all head down to lynchburg and lead them in a rousing chorus of "this land is your land"
then we can shoot them for being commie sympathizers
Well, this thread certainly has gotten quite a bit of mileage!
Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda est secundu Verbum Dei. Indeed. I wonder what christianism will look like in another decade?
People here just happen to agree on a different one. I find it equally disturbing that, at least based on some comments there, so many people would just condemn these misinformed children instead of actually informing them of what’s actually true in some of these cases.
Impossible objective, like drilling through The Hoover Dam with a handheld power drill.
thepoetryman @ 403:
It also made more difficult because people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity keep feeding these poor SOB's a steady diet of lies.
Note to religious right: Do the neocons really have your best interest at heart by lying to you?
_
Blue Lensman @ 327:
well, those 25 percent went after clinton with a vengeance
that is what scares me
This is a truly stunning indictment of the "incurious" religious wackos that populate all areas of this once-great country.
There are unfortunately, far more of these people around than we progressives would like to believe. After the mess made by bush et al, we may think that the country at large is ready for a change in the next election cycle. DO NOT BECOME COMPLACENT in that belief, or the repukes will steal yet another election.
No matter who the democrat is that is nominated, VOTE in November as if your life depended upon it - because, quite simply, it does, as does the life of our ever-fragile republic.
LibVet @ 188:
You don't know nuthin'...
Thomas Stone @ 205:
Wow. I think ya got something there. Never pass it though. But nice idea.
And, need I mention there would be dummies in ALL the states that wouldn't make the cut?
Some of these north-south arguments are rather humorous, though. Hard to take seriously.
I'm another guy from Michigan (hello East Lansing!) but I ain't lookin' down my nose at the south. I mean, we have Ted 'poopy pants' Nugent up here. Case closed.
And the south gave us Bill Moyers. Cannonball Adderly. Molly Ivins. etc.
Christians.Are.Always.Wrong.
How long have we been forced to listen to this nonsense? They have preached through the ages and ALWAYS been wrong. Living by fear is a pathetic way to live.
Hey, Religion itself is a lie. So what do you expect?
Jesus Christ! You religious folks got your God fairing man George W Bush in 2000 and 2004. You get any of the things you voted him in to do? No. Nothing.
So take that free willing God gives you to go vote for Obama. :P Don't vote for Huckabee, He'll raise your taxes and have his boys hang and torture your dogs.
Thee ee-ind tiiimez iz ne-ear (or however they say it down thar) . . .
for the clueless religious right.
Valentine Frey: that is a good point and very neutral of you. I respect that take. The book "The Selfish Gene" has even more to say about human behavior...regardless, if this video is real there is no truly neutral ground here. What is upsetting about this video, and dangerous no matter what stance you take in the world, is the ignorance and complete lack of skepticism on the part of the speakers.
All the dialog and non-sense coming from their mouths and brains was from hearsay of a member from their church. That is true stupidity: ill informed, unskeptical, irrational, trusting with no sense of humor. In regard to self-preserving behavior on their parts....Their inability to break free, or escape as you say, is only adding cowardice, lack of creativity, and conformity to the point of danger to themselves and others.
What else will they do to avoid discomfort from their community or separation from their family who would reject them for their thoughts? Kill someone? Take poison on purpose because some guy at their church said it was the will of God...or better yet, a 1986 Shiraz wine? Kill me because I am a non-believer? Kill a Muslim?
And lastly, it is more terrifying to me that they would need the fear of an ominous god to me moral people, as if without "the word" as they call it, they would run amok with "sin" and no self control. That is also very insulting to their own intelligence...but then I dought they would have thought that far...would they?
Thomas Stone @ 205:
That's hiliarious . . . ROFL . . . That would make most of the red states ineligible to vote.
No offense to the intelligent ones who live there - that can think for themselves.
It is really sad that our young people have to do this when these freaks that spread this trash around are making twenty five million a year.
These people need a good ass kicking for what they are doing and we are starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.
xoites defends Constitution @ 272:
just because they are more than likely are going to stay where they are, developmentally, that doesn't give one the right to dismiss them as a race/culture/humans. Yes, speak out against their ideas. Call them ignorant (uninformed) and speak up when confronted with this stuff. But to call them "stupid southerners" or whatever generalization is just as intolerant and ignorant as them. Isn't that obvious?
That's what the opposite of dysfunctional is still dysfunctional means. The pendulum has swung too far the other way..it's just as bad, but inverted. Make sense?
kiva
uncle joe mccarthy @ 279:
every part of me wants to agree with you...but I have spent too much time in uninformed cultures to do so. The power of the "tribe", if you will, is strong. It takes an exceptional individual to break away from these groups and then withstand the scorn and isolation that follows. For most of them, it is easier to just stay put. that doesn't make it right. We should always speak out against such ignorance. Just don't broad-brush them, as we then become just as bad as them (intolerant and ignorant).
kiva
Those look like some good biscuits.
Damn! Did you travel to medieval times to find these people?
What made me really sick is how they had brainwashed the young girl.
This video is one of the most depressing and upsetting things I've seen in a while. It isn't JUST a lack of critical thinking that allows these people to maintain their false beliefs. It's also racism.
You will recall in 2006 when Keith Ellison (who is African American and a Muslim) was elected to the House representing Minnesota, he had to publicly deny a false rumor spread by Dennis Prager that he would be "sworn into office using a Koran". Prager did not mention the fact that members of Congress are not allowed to use any book to swear their oaths of office (the Constitution prohibits it). Nevertheless, the cynical reactionaries of the right wing echo chamber propounded this lie specifically to enrage their xenophobic, racist audience.
Fast forward to the present day. The fading memory of the Ellison "incident" has morphed into a false smear against Obama. Why? Because in their polluted minds, all black politicians are the same. If Ellison or Obama or both were WHITE, you can bet this zombie myth would not have resurrected itself and attached itself to Obama.
Those "nice" women might be incapable or unwilling to think critically, but we can see this as being a cause AND effect of their own racism. Their being Southern really has little to do with their being racists, because racism is pandemic in the U.S. We have to call this plague for what it is.
In all seriousness to my above comments. I quit the Southern Baptist Church because of this narrow minded thinking. I couldn't handle the pro-lifers in my Sunday School Class who had no second thoughts about sending our troops to kill or be killed in an effort to bomb a country, that didn't attack us, into democracy.
You can't be pro-life and pro-war at the same time.
The religious right-wingers are hypocrites.
After the 2004 election this woman in my Sunday School Class said, "Praise God for George Bush being elected." I responded back immediately saying "Yea, this country is going to need all the prayer it can get now." She just glared at me and that was the last time I went to that church after 30 years of being a member.
Now, I deplore organized religion. It's intolerant and evil. I still believe in God and Jesus Christ but have no idea where to worship now. The conservatives are completely out of whack.
ummm... yeah, that's why I teach the Bible... to undo all of the CRAP that the fundamentalists are spewing about endtimes, left behind, rapture garbage. AND!!! How 'bout them confusing Obama with Congressman Ellison? Someone's feeding lies to them!
OK, despite being a disturbing video, I found this really funny: When the first lady was asked about her source of information for Obama being a Muslim, she clearly felt uncomfortable and had this involuntary motion (rash of adrenalin?) before finding an answer. Momentarily, she was so disturbed as if being questioned about one of her deepest believes.
Popular neo-pagan prayer: Jesus Christ please protect me from your followers. I know I've said that a bunch of times.
Whenever I receive one of those viral emails I answer back. By passing untruths and gossip on they are breaking the commandment about bearing false witness. I always look back in the addresses to see if there is someone I know. Once I found a minister in my town on the list and I appeared on his doorstep with a printout from snopes.com refuting the lie that he passed on.
Unfortunately I am receiving fewer and fewer of these emails. I believe the "Christians" would rather have their ears tickled with lies than be confronted with the truth.
Enslavement is preferable to having the truth set us free.
This is great. It's something to reference when people say that women make the best leaders.
Who is brave enough to walk into one of these churches during a 'Sundee sermon' and wake up the masses from the podium?
Become a martyr for the truth reeeeaaaal quick like.
King of Kings @ 1:
And the USA is where it came to die
Just a couple of things -- first, the email that has been making the rounds saying these things was sent me (a NH Dem) the night before the NH primary in January. It was not sent to me by some brainless hick, though I admit that I would prefer that she think for herself more. I didn't believe any of it, but dutifully went to Snopes & checked it out, etc etc, for full debunking & sent the link back to the person who sent me the original email.
Second, today I had a chat with someone about politics -- well, about how the state of the nation is truly awful, which segued into me saying something I normally would not : "I hope you are voting Democratic this November then." The woman I was speaking with, a small business owner and not a stupid person by any measure, said, hesitantly, "probably -- you know, the Clintons had EIGHT YEARS to do that Health Care stuff and they DIDN'T DO IT, even though they said they would. So -- who do you trust? I don't know ..." I explained about how it wasn't that the Clintons "didn't do it" but rather than the Republicans in Congress did everything they could to quash just about anything substantive that the Clinton presidency presented to them. She looked frankly disbelieving -- as in "oh come on, why would they do that?" disbelieving. It was terribly disturbing.
I think the biggest problem this country faces is the breakdown of both our education system (have you read anything a 12 year has written lately?) and the warped, dumbed-down "news" that we're fed that most people, busy with their own lives, simply tune out, from sheer disgust.
The average person in this country is simply too poorly informed to make the right choices -- to even know what the choices are. Did you know, for instance, that because McCain says he's in favor of "health care for every American" that HE is the saving shining light come November? Never mind that he prefaced that with "I'm against mandates" which basically negates all that comes after it. He says he's in favor of health care for everybody! Yay! Vote for him!
I used to be equally ill-informed. I'm not stupid, but I was hardly any sort of political junkie. I supported Gore in 2000, but wasn't terribly upset that Bush was "selected" in the end, figuring -- to my enduring shame -- that it was six of one & half-dozen of the other. I'd been raised to view politicians as snake oil salesmen, all alike, all not nice people. The illegal Iraq war and (especially) Abu Ghraib changed things for me. I started paying attention even though it often makes me sick to my stomach to realize what is nominally being done in "my" name.
This is not the America that I grew up in (faults & all). This is not a thriving democracy. It's a sham. I'll vote for whomever the Democratic nominee is, but I don't know if it'll make any real difference. I think our elected leaders have been merrily fiddling while Rome has been burning, largely since the Nixon administration, and that it's now -- too late.
Someone should start a Database full of email addresses from the "Obama is a muslim" chain emails or the others that I see so often. We then could send these hopelessly uneducated folks email with tid bits of truth.
Eventually we could "wake them up".
Just an idea...
I used to believe that everyone should be allowed to vote. Ignorant, knuckle-dragging, inbred, uninformed fools should not be allowed to vote.
sangemon @ 8:
Correction that would be Moon Shine
A perfect example of how the Republicans education policy is working just fine.
Blue Lensman @ 38:
I don't know their political affliliation but it wouldn't surprise me if they were in the GOP now. :lol: Most of the guys I grew up with that have these con artist skills used them more to get what they wanted or needed them to survive because they were poor. I guess you could call them predators but then again, everyone I know (including myself) is to some degree a predator because we had to be. That is why I said that guys like them would see this Huckabee supporter as easy pickings.
Seth @ 37:
I think the country tried that once (eugenics) that's where the germans got the idea of a master race
Seth @ 25:
RppPolyp @ 11:
Can't argue with that at all Seth...I work with someone from Wisconsin...she's a card carryin, bible-thumpin, creationist, dyed in the wool republican. She pretty much says on a daily basis, the same shit that girl in the video did. I have learned how to tune her BS out.
A....BUNCH.....OF.....FUCKING....RETARDS!!!! Let's start a militia against the religio-fascist retarded idiots of this country so we can get back to rational sane discussions and move this country forward.
Seth @ 25:
I specifically isolated these people as "mountian folk", which suggests that they hail from Appalachia. My intent was not to befriend these people. I am, in fact, tremendously hostile to their po-dunk way of life.
I'm a Catholic. 4 words - evangelicals make me sick! What an efed up cult!!
I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself? -bash
The problem is that seemingly intelligent democrats believe that Obama lie. My sister, a Massachusetts democrat, was lecturing me about Obama's Muslim leanings last night. It's scary.
Should they be paying taxes
Preaching that government stuff is taxable
Y'alls know that Jesus is an east european name. It ain't Arabianic likes Obama. Nope!
I'd much rather have a president who believes in the theory of evolution.
How about a president who will take the oath of office with his hand on a dictionary.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8564.html
"The RNC’s “winter retreat” for major donors at Los Angeles’ Beverly Wilshire Hotel featured such party stalwarts as Karl Rove, RNC chairman Robert Duncan, former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, as well as some Hollywood types, including Dave Berg, a segment producer and “political director” for "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno"
What do you think "some hollywood types" will be doing?
Bertie Wooster @ 47:
"And what also floats?"
"A duck!"
It's so sad really.
I was discussing politics with some people, fairly young (21-25), and they both told me that they loved listening to conservative talk radio and watching fox news so they could laugh at them for being full of bull. Yet when talking to them about actual issues they were still confused and spouting misinformation.
I don't care if you listen to talk radio and watch fox news for fun and assume that it's spreading b.s. that you will not buy into just by watching it for fun.
Because these youngsters, once we dug into some actual specifics... were just as confused as this example you guys gave.
It's frustrating... tearing up and walking all over the constitution and the laws of our land is apparently funny and entertaining. I guess illegal wars fought for power, or oil, or revenge, or to kill "scary muslims" is also funny and entertianing. Losing the lives of almost 4,000 military personel and taking 80,000 or more Iraqi civilains lives and forcing 2 million people out of their country is also funny and entertaining.
Eroding civil rights and privacy in the name of "fighting terror" is also funny. I suppose.
You are seeing the Republican Party base in action, and believe me, these folks are nothing if not base.
Watching these particular women speak makes me think the real problem is lack of critical thinking skills rather than an issue of "intelligence". And I'm not sure that comments like "oh they're from THERE, no wonder they're stupid" is particularly helpful: there are almost certainly intelligent people no matter where you go, and people who'd be considered "stupid" no matter where you go.
Dismissing these people because they're from a certain region is essentially giving up on them simply because of geography, which is not the right message to send to them...it just proves to them that they're right because we're too good for them. Not that they'd necessarily start thinking for themselves if we suddenly embraced them but they never will if we just start tossing around terms like "inbreds" and "hicks".
Joe O. @ 30:
Which of the tv evangelists do you know?
Honuman32 @ 53:
Geez, Billy Bob. You need to stop typing now. Hint: "Rational sane discussion" and "lets start a militia" shouldn't be in the same sentence.
I have a headache now.
Bruce in Dolphins @ 59:
That's a good one. And like Rich Lewis said the other night, if he has to be
hooked" on anything it should be phonics.
Global H @ 64:
This is a good point.
Ah, ain't that America! Hey, they will vote just like you and me. The world is not just progressive blogs.
If THESE PEOPLE are ALLOWED to pick our next "leader" WE ARE DOOMED!!!
The Good Doctor @ 3:
FYI Obama's mom is dead.
[These posters are using the site to advertise. I'm putting an end to it-Sitemonitor]
UGH this is why I'm atheist......well one reason...stupid people..... and Obama is not even Muslim. She know his name Obama...... and this country was not found on the bible...... gH DDHFCOS stupid people. I don't the allegiance either..... these women are so loca. And they making the little girl dumb too. Oh and she mentioned the rapture lmfao.....wwwwwwwwwwooooooooowwww. This little girl is just recycling the crap the mother and grandmother is teaching her.
As a Muslim, I [and an overwhelming majority of my co-religionists] consider Barack Obama to be a Muslim. Based on the fact that his father was a Muslim. Period.
On a different note: Instead of countering the, "he is a Muslim" "accusation" with, no, he is a Christian, the Liberals could really prove their Liberal credentials, were they to loudly say that, even a Muslim born in America has the right be President. Now, that would be truly Liberal of them.
I've been doing a lot of campaign volunteering, and after having talked to a couple thousand people across America, I feel comfortable in my belief that America is doomed, and that the vast majority of those I did speak with deserve to be doused with gasoline, set on fire, then fed to sharks. Americans suck.
If you think these people have the IQ of mayonnaise, wait 'til you see the douchebags they vote for.
I wouldn't even blame this on deceptive media or messages -- these people are believing what they want to believe. They were apprehensive when forced to defend the source of their rumours, and you could tell they didn't really trust the veracity.
This isn't about information, it's about mindless drones who will always find a way to vote as they're told, using bits of misinformation as a weak justification.
Yeah and the earth is 10,000 years old and humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time. Outstanding.
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