BevoAbyss

Don't kid yourselves. CNN-Trump is just another stop on the descent into fascism and violent idiocy. The TV news and mass media (including the holy NY Times) simply cannot stop this descent, because they have enabled it in so many ways. One key way is the belief in American Exceptionalism: The belief that fascism and fanaticism can't seize power here, while it is happening right before our eyes, on so many levels. The media keep giving platform after platform to fascists, all while maintaining the braindead unwillingness to identify and call Trump, MAGA, and the GQP what they are. American Christian Fascists. 100% true according to any dictionary not tossed out by a MAGA school board.

Indeed. But more that, he's fundamentally a fascist, a Christian fascist. I don't give a f*ck if he was an SEC football coach. The SEC territory is ground zero for fascism in America. And UT is jumping right in to that sewer. Pathetic.

Just wait till people are walking their armed robot dog. Second Amendment + man's best friend = a safe and free America! And we know it's coming....

There is rarely a single explanation for complex phenomena (one of the lessons of chaos/complexity theory). But Is one of the "smoking guns "literally right before our eyes? In our hands? Since around 2005, the proliferation of smart phones and social media parallels the proliferation of guns and assault weapons. Of course, correlation is not causation. But, it is an interesting pattern. 2004 also marks the end of the assault weapon ban, just as Facebook and social media were taking off. A perfect storm? It is obvious that social media massively ramps up pre-existing hate, anger, sexism, racism, prejudice, bigotry, idiocy, fanaticism, paranoia, tribalism, religious fervor, nationalism, etc. And social media are where many people look to find an identity with a tribe, and someone to blame for their problems. And with the phones, tablets, and laptops, it's all right in our faces, coming right at us, tribe v. tribe, etc. 24/7/365. Perhaps the medium is the message, in more ways than one?

I grew up in Texas. Born and raised. I knew gun owners. My dad. My uncle. Both long deceased. Dad was a Korean War vet. Went to UT on the GI Bill. A proud engineer who also liked to hunt and owned a shotgun. My uncle was a WW2 vet, served in the European Theater against the Nazis. A proud rancher, he owned a shotgun (for hunting) and rifle (for shooting coyotes, rattlers, and big ass rats that got into the grain for the cattle). Gun ownership was never part of their cultural or masculine identity. Proud vets? Yep! Gun worshippers? Nope. NEVER! Their masculine and cultural identities were expressed in honesty, hard work, a firm handshake, looking people in the eyes when talking, raising their kids to be honest, hard-working, treating people with respect, and getting college degrees. When I walked with my PhD from UT, my dad (not the emotional type) teared up and hugged me tight. He was proud. A gun decal on my uncle's F-150s. Lulz. A Second Amendment decal on my dad's cars. Lulz. Bottom line: These Texas men did not need a killing machine to give them an identity. They got it through the lives they lived, the families they loved, the kids they shaped, and the clients and businesses they served. Though long deceased, I can guaran-damn-tee they would have never thought selling millions of mass killing machines was a good idea. No fucking way. As my uncle, the rancher, used to say, "You can hang your hat on it."

Yep. Many non-MAGA people will be surprised the police side with MAGA when the fascist takeover happens.

This is pure doublethink, which Orwell warned us about. Surly friends, we must realize doublethink is not mere lying or hypocrisy or gaslighting. From the book 1984: "Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory thoughts in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them as true. The Party intellectual (Megyn Kelly, et al) knows in which direction memories must be altered. He knows he is playing tricks with reality, but by the exercise of doublethink, he satisfies himself that reality is not violated. The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with precision, but has to be unconscious, or it would bring a feeling of falsity and guilt." Doublethinkers like Kelly (and zillions of others) literally stand astride two realities, taking great pride in their conscious ability to be unconscious. That's how they can argue for no gun controls and blame mass shootings on those who want gun controls.

The increase in AR-15s is a horrifying indictment of America, in the grips of a malignant madness. Megyn Kelly's comments show that. There's an entire army of kids being groomed for a fanatical future of religion and ultraviolence—via religious warrior propaganda from firms like Daniel Defense and MAGA-Christian politicians. Note the prayer emoji. By ignoring the "no law" establishing religion part of The First Amendment and the "well-regulated" part of Second Amendment, both Amendments are being distorted to further MAGA militant fanaticism. They want a violent militarized society. It's obvious. They believe that is a winning strategy. Not peace. Violence.

The goals are a bit more extreme. It's about dominating and humiliating women—enforced with codes of violence (forced births, denying reproductive rights, etc.). Patriarchy and theocracy go together. Margaret Atwood saw it coming in the Reagan era. The Handmaid's Tale is the American prophecy.

It's doesn't matter what's true or false for anything. There is no reasoning with religious/fascist/conspiratorial fanatics. For MAGA, GOP, Q, Fox, Newsmaxx (etc.) the short term goals are paranoia, hysteria, witch hunts, mass idiocy, mass shootings, massive conspiracies, random acts of violence, and endless intellectual attacks on reality. — All accompanied by attacks on rights coming from all directions, against women, trans, immigrants, people of color, doctors, scientists, nurses, educators, librarians, and many others to come. The eventual long-term goal is to convert secular society into a fascist, theocratic, oligarchical state, with celebs, sports stars, and capitalist billionaires as role models to keep everyone believing it is still a fair, free, and sane society.

Let's not forget the famous words of the US President who nominated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court: "I'll never apologize for the United States of America. Ever. I don't care what the facts are." Two sentences later, he said he would "keep our eyes side open." The very doublethink Orwell warned us about. No matter, Bush was elected in a landslide. No matter than his idiot savant artist son lied and ignored facts all over the place during his 8 years as Prez. Along with Reagan, the two Bushes heralded the lying, fact-denying, doublethinking, gaslighting, idiot world of MAGA-GQP-Trump. If you voted for those clowns, you enabled the fascist-theocratic-Trump GQP of 2023 and far beyond—and what might well be the end of democracy in America. All history asks is you own it.

indeed. It's called "Planet of the Apes." A devolutionary future society in which the science/evolution-denying apes rule the humans. The 1968 film masterpiece saw it coming, symbolically. Nuclear apocalypse or intellectual collapse, the effect is the same. Crash! Apes in charge.

Spot on. 100%. The proliferation of guns and social fears parallels the proliferation of screens and social media. The proliferation of firing bullets mirrors the proliferation of everyone firing off posts, tweets, and updates. For many, the fear and rage builds as each post they don't like on social media feels like an info-bullet to their brain, triggering cognitive overload and cultural warriors.

Correction: Abbott's a fascist. The Texas government is led by fascists and theocrats. At least according to any dictionary not tossed out of the school libraries.

Yet, that's exactly what you are doing. Gaslighting, apologia. The doublethink is staggering. And even inventing my thoughts on Constantine's dream! Lulz. Adios, dude.

I've read 1491 and Guns, Germs, and Steel. Indeed, the historical patterns in 1491 and Guns, Germs, and Steel do reveal humanity's greed and barbarism toward fellow humans. But, that does not change or excuse the facts of what happened in Texas, especially since the conquering Christians claim to be about peace and love. The Euro-Christians running the state in the mid-1800s approved and unleashed an ethnic cleansing (or genocide) program upon the Indigenous Peoples occupying the territories that became "Texas." The territories were colonized and conquered via mass killings, as happened in the rest of America. Those are facts. (Roma's post above is spot on.) To excuse the Christian-led atrocities in Texas is nothing less than the usual "but what about ______" hypocrisy and apologia. Especially since the Christians (and all religions) loudly claim the mantle of peace in the wake of their barbarism. I grew up in Texas and often heard Christians/Evangelicals/Fundamentalists proudly boast that Texas and America were "God's Country." Of course, that can only mean their all-knowing, all-loving God approved of a genocide against tens of millions of other humans across America. So much for the "peace" and "love" of their fellow humans. So much for a loving God. Yet, this staggering hypocrisy damn near gets a free pass across Texas and America and in Surly. Christianity's historical record is clear: colonize, conquer, convert (those left alive). Peace only comes after the blood bath. True in America, true in Texas.

I recall the main arguments, but not all the details and battles covered. Not a particularly well-written book (IMHO), but very scholarly. 400-500 pages, small font. I think it came out in hard cover in early 2000s. I had the book about 10-12 years ago, but did not have time to read it all. Life gets in the way. So much to read, so little time!

Not for the Indigenous peoples in "Texas." The genocide/ethnic cleansing was already underway by the rifle-toting Euro-Christian colonizers/conquerers as they stole the lands that became Texas. To make way for all those supposedly "peaceful" Christians we keep hearing about, at least according to the preachers, propagandists, and true believers.

What's really sad is the little belief system of religion still exists, in the 21st century universe of NASA, Hubble, evolution, and a vast, awe-inspiring cosmology. What's really sad is the failure of secular education to convey on a wide-scale the scientific universe as a source of wonder, meaning, existential truth, our origins, and the ultimate ground for universal human rights. What's really sad is these fact-free fables and commandments are being shoved down the throats of many Americans. That's the real hostility at play—creating a violent 21st century fascist theocracy. What's really sad is Texas is ground zero for all this madness.

In 20-25 years on the current timeline, Psycho Jr. will be an officer and triggerman in the CYPB firing squads and militias. Purifying the streets and neighborhoods of the American metropolis. (CYPB = Christian Youth Purity Brigades). They're coming. They're telegraphing it far and wide. Believe them. They don't care how many die to create their Holy America, as we see with the mass shootings. Ultraviolence!

I've known this for 30+ years. It is pointless to engage in debates over Sky God v. Big Telescope or Spiritual Human v. Evolved Human. Utterly pointless. However well-intentioned (or not), various people, friends, and writers always do the following: Put words in my mouth, or draw invalid inferences from what I said, or conflate concepts, or willfully deny logic and evidence, or offer "but, what about this," or deploy doublethink, or see the Sky God in every tiny gap in a theory or a sentence I utter or write. Meanwhile, no one has ever proved Genesis 1:1. Never. No Sky God in sight, not even in a Hubble Deep Field image. That's in contrast to what's been proven by Big Telescopes. Indeed, Taylor is right in Planet of the Apes, "It's a madhouse" on Planet Earth. So I rarely ever debate all this with anyone, anywhere, not even with girlfriends (no pics) over the years (never had desire to get married and have kids). Yet, I still get drawn in sometimes, as on this thread. My bad. Apologies for any lack of clarity in my posts. Specking of madhouses, when the hell is UT football gonna win anything of significance? As in a National Title?

I fail to see how turning away from the very evolutionary things that clearly separate humanity from the apes — namely, our science, reason, logic, aesthetics, to name a few things that we developed — is the path away from the apes. How is the belief in an unseen, never seen, never heard from God (who does not a damn thing to improve life on Planet Earth) any better than apes? It's not and history has shown that time and time again. You posted a pic of a chimp, apparently suggesting that grasping our evolution origins is counter to humanity. Lulz. This pic from the original Planet of the Apes (1968) captures the essential attitude and worldview of religion toward science, logic, evidence, or anything that refutes their beliefs. And, to offer the obligatory quote from the astronaut Taylor (played by Charlton Heston): "There has to be something better than man out there. Has to be." The failure of basic science education in this country is astonishing. It's no wonder MAGA-GQP are so powerful. We're in the middle of an epic intellectual/educational collapse and a huge swath of America is literally devolving right before our eyes. Taylor's also right about something else: "It's a madhouse!

With all due respect: just because you are not informed on the subject does not mean it is "gibberish." Apparently, you know nothing of the revolutionary work of the great Jane Goodall — perhaps the most important primatologist of the 20th century. Here's a quote from Wikipedia: "Then suddenly we found that chimpanzees could be brutal—that they, like us, had a darker side to their nature. .... Her findings revolutionised contemporary knowledge of chimpanzee behaviour and were further evidence of the social similarities between humans and chimpanzees, albeit in a much darker manner." For a more detailed explanation of Goodall's findings, here is a screen capture from Wikipedia. . Note the clear examples of tribalism, violence, dominance, ganging up (feeling superior?) on a solitary monkey and killing it, etc.

Sorry, but you are conflating, while denying it. Conflating an evidence-and-logic-based critique of religion with the desire/willingness to suppress religion via the state. That's a non sequitur. Just because I embrace a scientific outlook and call out the fascist theocracy emerging right before our eyes, it does not follow that I advocate the state suppress religion or Christianity. I have never said or written that anywhere, here or elsewhere. Never. All I ask is the First Amendment be upheld, which mandates a separation of church and state. It's very simple. MAGA-GQP are ignoring that part of the First Amendment, while shoving their Ten Commandments down the throat of secular America — in the name of religious freedom and unscientific medieval idiocy (Re: overturning Roe). Your accusation is one that has long been popular in conservative and religious circles. It's the old Commie straw-man assertion — godless liberals and commies gonna take my Bible and AR-15. Lulz. You have not refuted anything I said, just hurled insults (the Keaton meme) and hackneyed accusations. This is my final reply to you. Adios.

Sawbonz, you are probably a nice guy and someone to have a drink with and talk about these topics. I know I have done that zillions of times. But with all due respect, this "both sides" claim is misguided. Sorry, but time's up for the apologia, the denialism, the enabling, the equalizing, etc. Time's up for #bothsides On Negating the Difference Between Religion and Atheism Religion depends on this. That's the attempt to negate the empirical differences between the evidence-free Sky God myth (that's faith) and the galaxies of evidence for Darwin, Hubble, and the sciences of evolutionary biology, genetics, astrophysics, cosmology, etc. Powered by incredible technologies (telescopes, microscopes, etc), all empirical evidence points unequivocally toward humans being one of millions of life forms that emerged and evolved on a tiny planet, orbiting a flaming ball of hydrogen, all in a vast, majestic, awe-inspiring, and expanding universe of two trillion galaxies stretching across 100 billion light years. Every human (and life form) on this planet is made of elements born in exploding stars, an empirical fact discovered in 1957. And every human shares 99..5% of the same DNA. Those are empirical facts. That can only mean we are one species sharing one planet. So far, the human species — in its curiosity and creativity — is the only species on our planet to figure this out about the surrounding universe and life on Earth. And most of the humans on Planet Earth remain in denial, unwittingly clinging to their primate origins which they deny exist! The virulent hatreds and claims to supremacy seen in religion (and society at large) are from our primate origins!. Faith is the total belief in God despite the absence of evidence. Atheism is the total absence of belief in any God. But that does not mean I believe in nothing. Science (along with art, philosophy) provides the foundation for a secular worldview grounded in evidence and our true origins in the universe. As for our destiny, that remains to be seen..... If all humans would accept our evolutionary origins as a single species on a tiny planet, then maybe — just maybe — we could slowly start to get along, live peacefully, share the benefits of our creativity and compassion, and protect the ecosystems of Planet Earth, upon which all life depends. But that ain't happening anytime soon. One key reason is because religion is the fount of Alt-Fact Culture. About State-Imposed Atheism Speaking for myself, I am not advocating state-imposed atheism. You are correct Sawbonz: that will never work, as history has shown. Neither will state-imposed religion, which also happens to ignore the first line of the First Amendment, at least in America. But that fact is denied by MAGA-GQP and all the others in favor state-imposed religion. And state-imposed violent religion is coming to America, far and wide. #TenCommandments. TLDR: Don't conflate a secular worldview (informed by art, science, and secular philosophy) with the fact-free idiocy spewing from MAGA-GQP.