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Red

Well-Known Member
Just watched the trailer. Culture war. Certainly reflects a part of our present moment. I’ll leave a random tweet critical of this portrayal as well, although I see it links to another Reiner interview. Feel free to post links panning it, I haven’t seen it, but agree with the concerns regarding Christian nationalism as the kind of belief that can lead to ugly ends.





View: https://twitter.com/TerriGreenUSA/status/1759634420229677472
 
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Just watched the trailer. Culture war. Certainly reflects a part of our present moment. I’ll leave a random tweet critical of this portrayal as well, although I see it links to another Reiner interview. Feel free to post links panning it, I haven’t seen it, but agree with the concerns regarding Christian nationalism as the kind of belief that can lead to ugly ends.





View: https://twitter.com/TerriGreenUSA/status/1759634420229677472

Lol to the last comment because it IS what Trump's supporters are like. We've seen it again and again. It's exactly what they are like.
 
Lol to the last comment because it IS what Trump's supporters are like. We've seen it again and again. It's exactly what they are like.
Yeah this isn't just something I'm being told by the MSM. I live in Utah. I meet these people all the time. I've worked closely with "Stop the Steal" folks, Q Anon folks, MAGA faithful, LGBTQ haters. I know very few Trump supporters who are not extremists in some very significant way.
 
Yeah this isn't just something I'm being told by the MSM. I live in Utah. I meet these people all the time. I've worked closely with "Stop the Steal" folks, Q Anon folks, MAGA faithful, LGBTQ haters. I know very few Trump supporters who are not extremists in some very significant way.
It’s part of their media silo. Many of these folks have sealed themselves off from anyone with a different opinion. They think anyone who might must be a godless gay Muslim addicted to abortions and history books who lives in SF. Instead, many of us live in their communities. Growing up LDS in Utah, I can’t begin to list all of the Christian Nationalist things I’ve heard. You literally can’t go more than a church meeting or two without hearing it. And this prevails throughout our state and its culture, not just at church. Anyone else paying attention to this legislative session? Anyone heard of Natalie Cline?

One cannot read this and not see her as a Christian nationalist. A complete nut. Sadly, this is pretty common and tbh, pretty standard in the lds church.


 
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Sneaky…



View: https://twitter.com/HeGetsUs/status/1756829657859772554

Jesus also said "I came not to send peace, but a sword." He can't make up his mind apparently. And we can see how the majority of Christians apparently swing in this country. Or at least a very very loud and stupid chunk big enough to sway the vote. Wow Christianity is so far from what they preach it isn't funny. Of course, that's kind of the history of it. Do we need a new inquisition? I bet plenty would vote for that. Ridiculous.
 
Didn't trump fire the general?
Yes, very early in his term, for lying to the FBI, but was later pardoned by Trump. He is expected to play a roll in any second Trump term. His traveling show, is like an old style revival, MAGA themed.

 
Weirdos.
Didn't trump fire the general?

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Yes.

But then the general came to Trump with tears in his eyes and said, “sir sir thank you for the bullets Obama and hitlery hated the military and wanted to drink the blood of children from a pizza joint” and Trump forgave the general.

Or maybe I’m just getting my sir stories mixed up.

Trump fired him early on, back when he might’ve given a small damn about his reputation. Or at least when he worried about being impeached. Now he’s learned that he can do anything he wants and the cult will back him. If Trump wins this fall I’d expect general flynn to have a top job in the cabinet.
 
@The Thriller, I’ve seen you post free The Atlantic articles before. I don’t know how to do that yet. If possible, could you post this essay without the pay wall? Just subscribed to The Atlantic, and with essays like this, so glad I did. Some may be able to read anyway, if the message is “this is your last free article”. Recommended very highly!

This is one of the most thoughtful essays I’ve read on our present moment. I decided this thread is a good place for it, not because it’s about MAGA Christianity, it’s not, but because it’s about morality and our present moment, as well as offering solutions to the sadness and meanness permeating our time.

I read this, and my first thought was about time someone cut through the crap and just spelled it out.


“Over the past eight years or so, I’ve been obsessed with two questions. The first is: Why have Americans become so sad? The rising rates of depression have been well publicized, as have the rising deaths of despair from drugs, alcohol, and suicide. But other statistics are similarly troubling. The percentage of people who say they don’t have close friends has increased fourfold since 1990. The share of Americans ages 25 to 54 who weren’t married or living with a romantic partner went up to 38 percent in 2019, from 29 percent in 1990. A record-high 25 percent of 40-year-old Americans have never married. More than half of all Americans say that no one knows them well. The percentage of high-school students who report “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” shot up from 26 percent in 2009 to 44 percent in 2021.

My second, related question is: Why have Americans become so mean? I was recently talking with a restaurant owner who said that he has to eject a customer from his restaurant for rude or cruel behavior once a week—something that never used to happen. A head nurse at a hospital told me that many on her staff are leaving the profession because patients have become so abusive. At the far extreme of meanness, hate crimes rose in 2020 to their highest level in 12 years. Murder rates have been surging, at least until recently. Same with gun sales. Social trust is plummeting. In 2000, two-thirds of American households gave to charity; in 2018, fewer than half did. The words that define our age reek of menace: conspiracy, polarization, mass shootings, trauma, safe spaces.“

We’re enmeshed in some sort of emotional, relational, and spiritual crisis, and it undergirds our political dysfunction and the general crisis of our democracy. What is going on?

Over the past few years, different social observers have offered different stories to explain the rise of hatred, anxiety, and despair.

The technology story: Social media is driving us all crazy.

The sociology story: We’ve stopped participating in community organizations and are more isolated.

The demography story: America, long a white-dominated nation, is becoming a much more diverse country, a change that has millions of white Americans in a panic.

The economy story: High levels of economic inequality and insecurity have left people afraid, alienated, and pessimistic.

I agree, to an extent, with all of these stories, but I don’t think any of them is the deepest one. Sure, social media has bad effects, but it is everywhere around the globe—and the mental-health crisis is not. Also, the rise of despair and hatred has engulfed a lot of people who are not on social media. Economic inequality is real, but it doesn’t fully explain this level of social and emotional breakdown. The sociologists are right that we’re more isolated, but why? What values lead us to choose lifestyles that make us lonely and miserable?

The most important story about why Americans have become sad and alienated and rude, I believe, is also the simplest: We inhabit a society in which people are no longer trained in how to treat others with kindness and consideration. Our society has become one in which people feel licensed to give their selfishness free rein. The story I’m going to tell is about morals. In a healthy society, a web of institutions—families, schools, religious groups, community organizations, and workplaces—helps form people into kind and responsible citizens, the sort of people who show up for one another. We live in a society that’s terrible at moral formation.”
 
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@The Thriller, I’ve seen you post free The Atlantic articles before. I don’t know how to do that yet. If possible, could you post this essay without the pay wall? Just subscribed to The Atlantic, and with essays like this, so glad I did. Some may be able to read anyway, if the message is “this is your last free article”. Recommended very highly!

This is one of the most thoughtful essays I’ve read on our present moment. I decided this thread is a good place for it, not because it’s about MAGA Christianity, it’s not, but because it’s about morality and our present moment, as well as offering solutions to the sadness and meanness permeating our time.

I read this, and my first thought was about time someone cut through the crap and just spelled it out.


“Over the past eight years or so, I’ve been obsessed with two questions. The first is: Why have Americans become so sad? The rising rates of depression have been well publicized, as have the rising deaths of despair from drugs, alcohol, and suicide. But other statistics are similarly troubling. The percentage of people who say they don’t have close friends has increased fourfold since 1990. The share of Americans ages 25 to 54 who weren’t married or living with a romantic partner went up to 38 percent in 2019, from 29 percent in 1990. A record-high 25 percent of 40-year-old Americans have never married. More than half of all Americans say that no one knows them well. The percentage of high-school students who report “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” shot up from 26 percent in 2009 to 44 percent in 2021.

My second, related question is: Why have Americans become so mean? I was recently talking with a restaurant owner who said that he has to eject a customer from his restaurant for rude or cruel behavior once a week—something that never used to happen. A head nurse at a hospital told me that many on her staff are leaving the profession because patients have become so abusive. At the far extreme of meanness, hate crimes rose in 2020 to their highest level in 12 years. Murder rates have been surging, at least until recently. Same with gun sales. Social trust is plummeting. In 2000, two-thirds of American households gave to charity; in 2018, fewer than half did. The words that define our age reek of menace: conspiracy, polarization, mass shootings, trauma, safe spaces.“

We’re enmeshed in some sort of emotional, relational, and spiritual crisis, and it undergirds our political dysfunction and the general crisis of our democracy. What is going on?

Over the past few years, different social observers have offered different stories to explain the rise of hatred, anxiety, and despair.

The technology story: Social media is driving us all crazy.

The sociology story: We’ve stopped participating in community organizations and are more isolated.

The demography story: America, long a white-dominated nation, is becoming a much more diverse country, a change that has millions of white Americans in a panic.

The economy story: High levels of economic inequality and insecurity have left people afraid, alienated, and pessimistic.

I agree, to an extent, with all of these stories, but I don’t think any of them is the deepest one. Sure, social media has bad effects, but it is everywhere around the globe—and the mental-health crisis is not. Also, the rise of despair and hatred has engulfed a lot of people who are not on social media. Economic inequality is real, but it doesn’t fully explain this level of social and emotional breakdown. The sociologists are right that we’re more isolated, but why? What values lead us to choose lifestyles that make us lonely and miserable?

The most important story about why Americans have become sad and alienated and rude, I believe, is also the simplest: We inhabit a society in which people are no longer trained in how to treat others with kindness and consideration. Our society has become one in which people feel licensed to give their selfishness free rein. The story I’m going to tell is about morals. In a healthy society, a web of institutions—families, schools, religious groups, community organizations, and workplaces—helps form people into kind and responsible citizens, the sort of people who show up for one another. We live in a society that’s terrible at moral formation.”
I think the reason for the sadness, anger and loneliness is 100% due to screens/internet/smart phones/technology.

We all thought the internet was an awesome resource and it was/is. But its much much more a curse on our species. At least as of right now it is. Maybe things will get better in the future and we can have more happiness, kindness, peace, etc along with having all the amazing technology. But as of now I feel quite confident that screens are hurting us way more than helping us.
 
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