Fear and Paranoia

I was in the car this past Sunday morning and I flipped the radio on to MPR News. There was an interview underway by Rachel Martin of three young Republicans. I stopped to listen because I heard one of the women describe herself as a Black pro-LGBT attorney. I wanted to hear what things a young Black woman pro-LGBT attorney found enticing in the current Republican platform.

Unfortunately, before the interview got there they asked Will Estrada, a 32 year old home-schooling advocate, what he thought about the current conversation on immigration policies and Syrian refugees. I was able to find a transcript of the highlights from that interview:

WE: As an evangelical Christian, we see in the bible that we’re all created equal in the image of God and a lot of the rhetoric that is used in modern American politics detracts from that. We need to be caring for the poor and the vulnerable.

Good, good. I mean, we disagree on using the bible as a reference for policy, but if you want to draw inspiration from your holy book, this is the kind of message I’d prefer to see you use.

… But

Goddammit. There’s always a but with these guys.

having said that it also starts with we’ve got to protect our citizens, we’ve got to protect men, women, children here in America. And I’m very concerned, Rachel, and I think a lot of Americans are concerned when we see young men of military age coming over from war-torn countries, who we don’t know and we can’t verify. I always think, what would happen – that movie Red Dawn that came out in the 80s – what would happen if our country were attacked? Would we be fleeing or would we be fighting for our country?

Red Dawn? Really? Goddammit! You are representing young Republicans on frickin’ Weekend Edition and you’re going to use frickin’ RED DAWN as a reference!? I like to think that Rachel Martin shared my incredulity because she said:

RM: But Red Dawn is a fictionalized account that stirs up fear and paranoia.

Fear and Paranoia
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Giving God the Heisman

I’ve been really disgusted with the Kalley Yanta’s Minnesota Marriage Minute videos. Mostly because they make bigotry, fear and hate look so damn good, professional and reasonable. I’ve been meaning to post about them, but it’s been a chore to watch her maple syrup-sweet, disingenuous arguments. This morning I was going to do it. I even made it through the first three (of 10, now) videos and had started deconstructing the calmly-delivered fallacious vitriol (damn this woman brings to mind the saccharine evil of Delores Umbridge), but then YouTube helpfully directed me to this and my head exploded:

In this video Yanta’s professionalism slips a couple of notches from her MN Marriage Minute videos. Her sugar-coated sarcasm is the epitome of the tongue-in-cheek “Minnesota Nice”, which, for those who haven’t heard the term, is often used to describe passive-agressiveness. She also confirms that her social conservatism is based in religious ideology, which she doesn’t do in MN Marriage Minute.

Continue reading “Giving God the Heisman”

Giving God the Heisman

He's baaaaack!

Remember the first Purity Bear that saved our male hero from the female seductress? Well, Purity Bear is back and this time she’s a a gal!

Don’t forget to watch all the way to the end of the movie, where you can see these vague and un-referenced “facts”:

  • 2/3 of girls wish they had waited longer.
  • Young men who are sexually active outside of marriage are 3x as likely to suffer chronic depression.
  • Virgins who wait for marriage have a higher success rate.

Thanks (for nothing), Purity Bear!

 

He's baaaaack!

He’s baaaaack!

Remember the first Purity Bear that saved our male hero from the female seductress? Well, Purity Bear is back and this time she’s a a gal!

Don’t forget to watch all the way to the end of the movie, where you can see these vague and un-referenced “facts”:

  • 2/3 of girls wish they had waited longer.
  • Young men who are sexually active outside of marriage are 3x as likely to suffer chronic depression.
  • Virgins who wait for marriage have a higher success rate.

Thanks (for nothing), Purity Bear!

 

He’s baaaaack!

Dinkus Award: Liz Trotta

This made me see red. I haven’t seen such an egregious, obvious, reprehensible case of victim-blaming on a major news program in a while.

Liz Trotta says that if women want to serve in the military they should expect to get raped. She says that the increasing incidence of sexual assault is just a case of feminists wanting to be both warriors and victims. She says that we’re wasting our tax money paying for sexual assault and rape prevention services. She says that we don’t need to protect our military personnel because it’s their job to protect us, not the other way around.

This is so twisted, so vile. Trashing the military or the troops seems like such a politically incorrect thing to do, but I guess trashing women trumps the “supporting our troops” sentiment. This whole piece is “She was asking for it”.  I don’t know how this woman sleeps at night.

Dinkus Award: Liz Trotta

Creepy Purity Bear is Creepy

Wait – first read the YouTube description of this video:

This is a student made video saying that the best way to stay sexually pure is to wait until marriage. Having one partner is the God-approved way to enjoy sex.

God must have forgotten to tell that to Newt. Bah dah dum! Okay, heeeeeere’s Purity Bear:

Did anyone else pick up on the fact that Eve tempted Adam, and not the other way around? And that good, chaste Adam turned away the seductress Eve (gently, kindly, but with manly firmness and moral conviction that she’s lacking. Heh…”manly firmness”).

The video’s description contains a promotion for the Liberty Counsel’s Day of Purity. DOP’s website “offers those who strive for sexual purity an opportunity to stand together in opposition to a culture of moral decline.” The website urges young people to “be a part of the ‘counter-coulture’ – – be politically incorrect.” Do it! Or, wait…don’t do it! Or purity bear will come and judge you while sadly watching you have immoral, out-of-wedlock sex.

This (the video, purity bear and the DOP)  is hilarious, infuriating and sad. Yes, waiting to have sex (however you define that) until you are in a committed marriage (whatever that means to you and your partner) is a great way to to stay “sexually pure” (whatever that means). It’s also not very realistic. This video is an example of how religious indoctrination makes teens feel guilty about their normal, biological, sexual urges. And it’s an example of how religion seems to have trouble speaking frankly about sex to children and teens. I mean, who takes sex advice from a teddy bear? What do they know about sex? Well, unless they’re zoo-bound grizzly bears; they have promiscuous sex all year round to fend off the boredom. Hey! Nice role model you chose there, Liberty Counsel!

But, whatever. All I know is I want Purity Bear. He does look cuddly. Plus, I could put him on my bedside table so he can watch when I have sex. Poor bear could probably use some good ol’ voyeurism after this stint.

Seen over at Joe.My.God

Creepy Purity Bear is Creepy

Why Homosexuality Should Be Banned

This is going around teh Facebooks today. Here are seven ridiculous arguments for banning homosexuality (as if that were possible!) and seven snarky tongue-in-cheek responses.

I think this is a good follow-up to the American Family Association’s Buster Wilson explaining to us why people like him are fighting for traditional marriage (hint: it’s not because they’re homophobic or that they just hates homosexuals.)

This is the best response I could find for Buster:

Mr. Wilson, this bull thinks you’re full of bull.

Why Homosexuality Should Be Banned

Rick Perry's NH Speech

Ok, things may be looking up for Mitt.

Have you guys seen this yet?

This guy is a serious presidential contender? Forget that he’s a creationist, that he sponsored a prayer rally for rain in Texas, that he suddenly came up with his very own flat tax plan just ‘cuz it sounded like a good idea and not because Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan was getting a lot of play, that he condescendingly or insanely giggles every time someone asks him a question he doesn’t like or can’t answer, that his big plan to stimulate employment is to put people to work sticking oil pipelines into the ground from one end of this country to the other like candles on a centenarian’s birthday cake, that he has just four issues listed on his campaign website, each with less than 200 words to describe his convictions, values and vision for this country, that he wants to repeal the important healthcare reform passed during President Obama’s term, that he’s against funding Planned Parenthood and, and, and…

No, wait…don’t forget any of that. Just add this performance in New Hampshire – the wild hand motions, the crazy eyes (what is it with crazy eyes and Republicans?), the odd stories and off-topic rambling, the vehement tone, his newly disclosed love affair with maple syrup, to sum up: Wackilooniness Unbecoming of a Public Official – to the ever-growing list of reasons why we should put as much distance between us and Rick Perry as possible.

Rick Perry's NH Speech

Rick Perry’s NH Speech

Ok, things may be looking up for Mitt.

Have you guys seen this yet?

This guy is a serious presidential contender? Forget that he’s a creationist, that he sponsored a prayer rally for rain in Texas, that he suddenly came up with his very own flat tax plan just ‘cuz it sounded like a good idea and not because Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan was getting a lot of play, that he condescendingly or insanely giggles every time someone asks him a question he doesn’t like or can’t answer, that his big plan to stimulate employment is to put people to work sticking oil pipelines into the ground from one end of this country to the other like candles on a centenarian’s birthday cake, that he has just four issues listed on his campaign website, each with less than 200 words to describe his convictions, values and vision for this country, that he wants to repeal the important healthcare reform passed during President Obama’s term, that he’s against funding Planned Parenthood and, and, and…

No, wait…don’t forget any of that. Just add this performance in New Hampshire – the wild hand motions, the crazy eyes (what is it with crazy eyes and Republicans?), the odd stories and off-topic rambling, the vehement tone, his newly disclosed love affair with maple syrup, to sum up: Wackilooniness Unbecoming of a Public Official – to the ever-growing list of reasons why we should put as much distance between us and Rick Perry as possible.

Rick Perry’s NH Speech

She’s been found not guilty, so drop it.

I didn’t follow the Casey Anthony trial.

I read about the case about a month ago and it sounded like a horrible tragedy, similar to a handful of other horrible tragedies in recent news. Last week I happened to be in a place where they were showing a live broadcast of the judge reading the jury’s verdicts. There were seven separate charges, but the gist of it seemed to be not guilty on killing her daughter, guilty on lying to the cops.

The most disturbing thing about the broadcast was watching the “people on the street” interviews that happened immediately after the verdicts were announced. And by interviews I mean, the mob outside of the courthouse frothing at the mouth and screaming into the microphone when it came anywhere near them.  The “interviews” went on for quite a while, and more than a few crazed yahoos had a chance to yell threats about what they’d do to Casey Anthony if they met her in a dark alley, or proclaim that the justice system is broken, or lament the travesty of justice that had occured, or that you bet your ass they would have voted differently.

And this week, this happened. From News9.com

CHOUTEAU, Oklahoma — An apparent case of mistaken identity almost cost one Oklahoma woman her life. The Chouteau woman says someone tried to kill her because she looks like Casey Anthony, who, as of July 14, was still jailed halfway across the country in Florida.

The Casey Anthony trial was not a reality TV show, and the audience does not get to vote in the outcome. We have a set process with lawyers, aids, a judge and in this case, a twelve-person jury. And. We. Were. Not. A. Part. Of. It. We do not get to help decide this one, and we do not get to take justice into our own hands because the jury didn’t give us blood.

The jury members may or may not have thought that Casey Anthony killed her daughter. But whatever they thought of her guilt, the fact of it is we are innocent until proven guilty in this country, and the jury decided that there was not enough evidence to prove that Casey Anthony was guilty. That’s what is so wrong about the words, threats and actions of the crazed yahoos – they decided that what they *thought* was enough to justify a guilty verdict and evidence be damned.

As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t followed the story, and what I know about trial procedure (and pehaps the entire field of US  law) could fit into the period at the end of this sentence. So I couldn’t tell you if I believe that the jury made a good decision. We have to assume that they followed the regulations of current trial process and gave an honest decision based on the available evidence.

So that’s it. Drop it. Stop with the Dexter jokes, stop with the whispering about conspiracies, stop with the calls for vigilante justice. It’s disgusting, and it reflects poorly on all of us.

She’s been found not guilty, so drop it.