Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free. ~Ronald Reagan.I saw this earlier. David French wrote about the "Dangerous Religious Zeal" and the moral corruption of the "Stop the Steal" crazies after Trump lost the election.
Well, when I scrolled through my timeline to retrieve the Tweet to post here, I realized that the one right below it also proved my point.
You simply would not have the "Trump is God" religious zeal without the same fucking people who think "Christianity" is telling people they're going to hell to get raped by Satan. Such people's religion isn't about belief in Christ or Loving Thy Neighbor, or even about reproving Sin. No, it's a chance to dance around the fire, shout Unga Bunga and talk a bunch of mean shit to random people on the internet.
This bullshit is nothing but a Tribal religion that reduces the Cross of Christ to a leering Tiki at the edge of the camp. It's message not "Come to me, all ye who are heavy-laden and I will give you rest" so much as it is FUCK YOU! GO AWAY! Seriously, these fucking people think Heaven won't be Heaven if other people get to go, too.
And one issue feeds into the other. Combative attitudes, personal selfishness and priggish religiosity always seem to go together with these motherfuckers, always with one bad tendency feeding off of the others until these people are constantly worked up into an absolute fury about the fact that Other People Exist, and it only gets worse if you add in mental illness, political partisanship or racism. And all this stuff tends to go together in one giant ball of fucked up.
I suppose, in their often-contrarian logic, if flying the Hammer And Sickle bothers somebody else, these fucks will do it, mostly because they're shitty people.
And it's no damned mystery just where this stuff is going if it's not checked soon. Or is it?
"Conservatives" support the guy who ordered or allowed his troops to fly the Soviet flag from their vehicles, and seem hell-bent on embracing the old KGB Agent himself, mostly because they see Putin as some kind of Great White Hope and think it'll piss off the liberals and "Republicans In Name Only" or something something Gazpacho.
What's next? Trump Supporters prostrating themselves to the Black Banner of Jihad? It's a logical next step in the evolution of their anti-American philosophy.
Apparently, Russia is recruiting Hezbollah militants to fight in Ukraine now too. I mean, Putin is doing this so surely, the American far-right and Republicans must defend it?
Hezbollah was Radical Islam well before Radical Islam became the Big Bad in conservative cosmology, too. I mean seriously, the word literally means "Party of God" and they are historically aligned with Iran.
Go ahead and think about that one for a second, Republicans, I'll wait.
These people were to the 1980's what Al Qaeda was to the early 2000's and that's all there is to it. Of course Putin already has Chechen soldiers fighting for him. Actually, as I understand it, the Chechens are following behind Russian formations and shooting deserters...so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Meanwhile, even the Belarusian opposition is actively fighting with and supporting the Ukrainians against Putin's Red Army 2.0 and I heard today that a couple of Russian generals have been killed or severely injured by their own men. One of them was run over with a
Tank. I mean,
fuck, dude.
Russian casualties continue to pile up, their logistics and all that is still a soup sandwich, and they've even fallen back from Kyiv, although most observers think they're simply going to refocus on their eastern front from the Donbas and try and fight the war that way. Not that it'll do much more than reorganize the mess a bit at this point.
Also, Belarus is still talking about getting into the war on the Russian side, though they've been doing that for awhile and have not yet formally done so.
It's good that the Ukrainians are holding on, that it could be said they're even winning at this point. I'm glad that we're supporting them as much and as well as they are and that the Ukrainian Army has done as well as it has with our Javelins and Stingers. But I think it's still going to get to the point that America and NATO have to get involved and I think that will lead to war with Russia. As bad as things are going for him, Putin is going to have to attack NATO just to shore up domestic support and I do think he's both crazy/desperate and stupid enough to try it.
And do you know why he thinks it'll work? Because a hell of a lot of Republicans and Trump Supporters now openly form an anti-American Fifth Column and, if all else fails, Putin probably thinks he can get them to revolt against the US government or something. It won't work out well for them, but I'm not sure either they or Putin give a damn.
They're putting Trump's name on Russian flags now.
Seriously, do you even American, bro? I can remember when you could get beat up for that type of shit...beat up by Republicans.
But now it's the Red Banner Republican Party...until they start flying the Black Flags of Jihad, that is.
If it'll "Own The Libs" for 30 seconds, I guess no price is too high to pay.
Like I said, Reagan Wept.
“When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water (he cups his hands) and if he opens his fingers then, he needn't hope to find himself again. ~Thomas More, as depicted by Robert Bolt in A Man For All Seasons.
This is incredibly well-written. Thank you for posting.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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