"It's Biblical!" (Bad Faith, One.)

Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and the overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the House of Abraham, Muhammad, and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors...

You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.

During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug) -- while praying to the same God -- with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and in the deeds of the "white" Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan, and Ghana. We were truly all the same (brothers) -- because their belief in one God had removed the "white" from their minds, the 'white' from their behavior, and the 'white' from their attitude. I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man -- and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their "differences" in color.

With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called "Christian" white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster -- the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.

They asked me what about the Hajj had impressed me the most. . . . I said, "The brotherhood! The people of all races, color, from all over the world coming together as one! It has proved to me the power of the One God. . . . All ate as one, and slept as one. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the Oneness of Man under One God. 

~Malcolm X, Letter following the Hajj.

...

"The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride." ~Volodymyr Zelenskyy, allegedly 25 February 2022, Associated Press

I saw this yesterday.

Obvious Nazi jackoff inquiring (in obvious bad faith) whether or not I would "Trade the entire nation of Ukraine for the resurrection of George Floyd?" What the fuck kind of question even is that??

First off, what part of "Thou Shalt Not Kill" don't people understand??

Second, either you believe in freedom...for all people...or you don't.

Or rather more specifically, if you don't...then what you believe in is not freedom, but privilege.

(In other words, that thing that "Conservatives" are obsessed with having, to the point of being willing to burn the world to get it.)

Bitch, there is no normal view of life that said God made your husband Speaker Of The House. These motherfuckers don't worship anything more than their own narcissism, and don't you forget it.

Perhaps more to the point, does anybody with a brain in their head trust any fucking person who thinks they were put in a given position by God to do anything other than rabidly fuck shit up in the name of their own ego, petty political horseshit, and rabid religious narcissism?? 

I sure don't! I know what happens when these fucking people think God told them...well, damned near anything.

And I'm here to tell you, what makes this shit even possible is a culture on the Right that's devolved to the point of simply assuming somebody is righteous because the motherfucker looks and acts like some dark Mirror Universe Mr. Rogers who reeks of perversion. It doesn't even matter what he says, let alone what he does, he's a middle-aged White guy in a suit who looks like he might do what they think they want...so Republicans be like "Spank me, Daddy!"

Mike Johnson could fuck a goat live on stage at CPAC and these fucking idiots would bellow "Praise The Lord."

More to the point what you get nearly every time somebody somewhere allows this crap to run wild anywhere is an explosion of bigotry, chaos, hate, war, etc. 

This shit never makes the world better or more "Christian" except maybe for the very few, those who want to mouth pious pleasantries so they can feel all "Christian" while raping the Earth and its people for no better reason than personal profit and being at the top of a system which allows them to do so.

I've heard more than once that the reason all these "Conservatives" love Russia is that an ostensible Democracy was destroyed and then replaced by a nominally "Christian" dictatorship. I find it funny, then, that Putin doesn't even bother with the symbols of Christianity in terms of his Imperial project...privileging the symbolism of Communism, instead.

And the Right, you know, the ostensible anti-Communists, just blatantly ignores that.

Fun fact; Soviet Communism was generally Anti-Semitic too. And available evidence seems to suggest that Russia is both openly doing that shit at home and spreading that shit here (as well as in Europe and the Middle East) because if you give somebody someone to hate, they might not think too much about what you're doing to them, among other things.

That is, until you're the one targeted for elimination...then they don't really care if you know they want to kill you...and at that point, they just start lying to everybody else about you and the people who are trying to help you, anyway. Last year it was the Ukrainians, this year it's the Israelis, and rapidly expanding to include Jews in a general sense.

And it's funny how these same people who routinely cloak themselves in fake righteousness never have the slightest issue with lying, either.

I thought the Bible said "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor" among other prohibitions against lying.

But of course, killing and then lying about it...sometimes on a monstrous scale as during the Holocaust...is just fine with these fucking people. If they can induce themselves to believe they're killing "Sinners" so much the better.

And war, particularly wars of ethnicity and religion, are bad enough even when one doesn't bring actual fascism and Nazi shit into it.

Because they believe God elevated them to whatever positions they think they have, and they think God told them they could.

Maybe it's just me, but I think we need to get religiosity out of politics.

Because all you get when you mix the two is bad faith.

The next time somebody tells you "It's Biblical!" regarding some personal agenda of theirs...

Just remember that the destruction of nearly every life on Earth was "Biblical" too.

Maybe we, as a goddamned species, should stop privileging the alleged ramblings of ancient Holy Men?

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Then Jesus spoke to the multitude, and to his disciples,

Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. ~Matthew 23:1-15

Last Post

[Luthen Rael meets ISB Supervisor Lonni Jung, who warns him about Supervisor Meero's current work. He is not too pleased to see Jung have doubts about working for him]

Luthen Rael: Tell me why we're really here today, Lonni?

Lonni Jung: I can't do this anymore. I'm a father now. I had no idea how it would feel.

Rael: We took a vow.

Jung: I'm giving you Dedra Meero. I'm giving you Spellhaus. I'm warning you about Ferrix. I'm honoring my vow. I've been working my way through there for six years. Working my way up. Alone.

Rael: So, what was your plan? Gather a big basket of goodies for me as a farewell gift? What were you planning to tell the ISB?

Jung: My health. My wife's family has an import business.

Rael: Even as you say the words, you know it's impossible. We can't let you go, Lonni. We can't spare you. We've been grooming you for too long. And yes, you've been alone, but your career has profited greatly from information that we've provided. Information that cost me dearly. You love your daughter. Kreegyr's men will be dying to make sure she has a father. You're trapped, Lonni. There's no pleasure in saying it but you're going nowhere.

Jung: My sacrifice? It means nothing to you, does it?

Rael: I said I think of you constantly and I do. Your investment in the Rebellion is epic. A double life? Every day a performance? The stress of that? We need heroes, Lonni, and here you are.

Jung: And what do you sacrifice?

Rael: Calm. Kindness. Kinship. Love. I've given up all chance at inner peace. I've made my mind a sunless space. I share my dreams with ghosts. I wake up every day to an equation I wrote 15 years ago from which there's only one conclusion: I'm damned for what I do. My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield, my eagerness to fight, they've set me on a path from which there is no escape. I yearned to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost, and by the time I looked down there was no longer any ground beneath my feet. What is my sacrifice? I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? EVERYTHING! You'll stay with me, Lonni. I need all the heroes I can get.