Christian Lunacy

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by Chicks

England sent their religious zealots to America.
England also sent their criminals to Australia.
We in Australia are convinced that we got the better half of the deal.

Roger De Boer

Interesting. The "religious zealots" created the greatest, most powerful and (at least until recently) freest land of opportunity to ever exist. The "criminals" created a modern East Germany during the pandemic.

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by Chicks

This guy claims that listening to music that emphasizes 2 and 4 "short-circuits the moral frontal lobe" and is a danger to Christians. And he's deadly serious.
It's truly amazing humans have made it as long as we have.

https://www.facebook.com/andrew.hitz...57525625501483

Yes, they really are this confused!

Looks like the guy interviewing him thinks he's nuts.

But I don't know what you mean by "they". I think "this guy" is preaching nonsense, though. I wonder how many people bought it? Maybe the folks at Westboro Baptist.

[donquixote99]

Salesmen and grifters of all stripes seek to 'turn off the skeptical part of people's brains.' One method is to establish rapport through self-revelation, getting the subject to identify with you.

A way that can work fast and hard is to offer aid or rescue in a crisis. A grifter touched a person I know recently by posing as a bank security person protecting her from criminals trying to hack her account. He was the criminal of course, but once she accepted his 'aid' he had her absolute trust. Propagandists and demagogues typically try to create crisis problems, so people will accept them as rescuers.

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Salesmen and grifters of all stripes seek to 'turn off the skeptical part of people's brains. One method is to establish rapport through self-revelation, getting the subject to identify with you.

A way that can work fast and hard is to offer aid or rescue in a crisis. A grifter touched a person I know recently by posing as a bank security person protecting her from criminals trying to hack her account. He was the criminal of course, but once she ac opted his 'aid' he had her absolute trust. Propagandists and demagogues typically try to create crisis problems, so people will ac ept them as rescuers.

There's something we completely agree on. Frankly, it comes in all flavors. It's why, whenever on the radio an ad started that talked about identity theft, I immediately turned the channel. That might not be actual "grifters", but merely salesmen. It's kinda like life insurance. They convince you to literally bet you will die any day, yet they know statistically you'll almost certainly not.

It's also why my wife and I don't have health insurance, at age 68. And we haven't since January of 2013. It's a LOT less risky than people have been conditioned to believe. We also trust the Great Healer, and He has been faithful.

It's also why I didn't get vaccinated or wear a mask*.

*I did wear one for part of a flight from Seattle to Denver, but I mostly ate peanuts, one at a time, slowly.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Not Insane

Interesting. The "religious zealots" created the greatest, most powerful and (at least until recently) freest land of opportunity to ever exist. The "criminals" created a modern East Germany during the pandemic.

America is not even close to being the freest land in the world. Moreover, our freedom scores fell precipitously under Trump.

The US has fallen to a new low in a global ranking of political rights and civil liberties, a drop fueled by unequal treatment of minority groups, damaging influence of money in politics, and increased polarization, according to a new report by Freedom House, a democracy watchdog group.

The US earned 83 out of 100 possible points this year in Freedom House’s annual rankings of freedoms around the world, an 11-point drop from its ranking of 94 a decade ago. The US’s new ranking places it on par with countries like Panama, Romania and Croatia and behind countries such as Argentina and Mongolia. It lagged far behind countries like the United Kingdom (93), Chile (93), Costa Rica (91) and Slovakia (90).

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-house-new-low

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by finnbow

America is not even close to being the freest land in the world. Moreover, our freedom scores fell precipitously under Trump.

The US has fallen to a new low in a global ranking of political rights and civil liberties, a drop fueled by unequal treatment of minority groups, damaging influence of money in politics, and increased polarization, according to a new report by Freedom House, a democracy watchdog group.

The US earned 83 out of 100 possible points this year in Freedom House’s annual rankings of freedoms around the world, an 11-point drop from its ranking of 94 a decade ago. The US’s new ranking places it on par with countries like Panama, Romania and Croatia and behind countries such as Argentina and Mongolia. It lagged far behind countries like the United Kingdom (93), Chile (93), Costa Rica (91) and Slovakia (90).

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-house-new-low

Notice in my post I said, "until recently". But I wasn't talking about Trump. Actually I was thinking of stuff as recent as mask and vaccine mandates. And I think we GAINED freedom under Trump, blue state islands notwithstanding. Gun carry laws certainly got destroyed. Freedom to drill for oil improved, for a while, until biden rolled it back to the Obama plan - and prices plus.

Etcetera.

How did trump give us less freedom?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Not Insane

Notice in my post I said, "until recently". But I wasn't talking about Trump. Actually I was thinking of stuff as recent as mask and vaccine mandates. And I think we GAINED freedom under Trump, blue state islands notwithstanding. Gun carry laws certainly got destroyed. Freedom to drill for oil improved, for a while, until biden rolled it back to the Obama plan - and prices plus.

Etcetera.

How did trump give us less freedom?

If you think freedom increased under Trump, you are admitting that you don't actually know what freedom is. He reduced freedom in the US by attacking the free press and advocating for political violence, among other aspects of his profound anti-democratic idiocy. Try to keep up.

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by finnbow

If you think freedom increased under Trump, you are admitting that you don't actually know what freedom is. He reduced freedom in the US by attacking the free press and advocating for political violence, among other aspects of his profound anti-democratic idiocy. Try to keep up.

He didn't attack the free press. He attacked horribly biased press as, well biased. It was free to report anything it wanted, and he was free to call their reporting biased. And he didn't cancel twitter. Twitter cancelled him.

Here are six videos of Democrats calling for violence or physical confrontations that are still active on Twitter

Your bias has hopelessly blinded you. Get out of your bubble, as I have done for decades.

BTW, the US is not a democracy. The states are. The US is a constitutional republic. It's why we have an electoral college. It's why, before the 17th amendment, a popular vote did not choose our senators. So you could say Trump IS against democracy when it comes to the US government. Maybe, after he's re-elected, he could start a movement to reverse the 17th.

Democracy is mobocracy. That's fine at the local level, but at the national level it becomes a problem. Suddenly you have California politicians telling us what we can do in Kentucky and Rand Paul telling Californians what they can do in California.

Again, what specific freedoms has Trump taken away?

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by finnbow

If you think freedom increased under Trump, you are admitting that you don't actually know what freedom is.

Irony. Here you go:
FREEDOM RISING UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP

Under Trump, U.S. Economic Freedom Rises Significantly

And, speaking of economics: Under Trump, Americans Have Seen Their Best Wage Growth In 40 Years

Of course, there are those that say freedom decreased under trump, but read the article and see if you can see a difference in the raw data, rather than just stupid platitudes:
Americans have less freedom now because of Trump and Russian election interference, a new report warns

And that's what I'm getting at when I say you can avail yourself to information on all sides and compare the quality of information, shutting out the nonsense and getting to the raw information. And then a decision about where the actual truth lies becomes very easy. But if one stays in their bubble, that's all they are going to believe, even if it is ridiculously stupid and easily seen as such to anyone that has seen all - or even some - sides of the issue. You know, like the ignorant person that thinks Ritenhouse shot three black men, or Nick Sandmann was getting into a helpless indian's face and "smirking" at him. 🤣

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Not Insane

BTW, the US is not a democracy...

This alone identifies you as a delusional wingnut who buys into every MAGA trope.