Revelations 16:2

So the first angel went and poured his bowl on the earth, and a foul and painful sore came on those who had the mark of the beast and who worshipped its image.

Matthew 23:24

Then if anyone says to you, “Look! Here is the Messiah!” or “There he is!”—do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

If people on the Right want to claim a Christian high ground, then quote the book that matters most to them.

Real answer: if you’re communicating, you want to be understood at some level. Knowing the audience changes the dynamic to fulfill that goal. If you use big words and your audience is 5 year olds, you likely won’t be understood.

If someone gave me this advice, my first reaction wouldn’t be “You’re attacking me!” It would, “Hey, thanks for the advice. Can you unpack it further for me?” In work, I’ve done well by having a growth oriented mindset. There absolutely are bad faith actors, but listening to the advice of others has helped me grow.

My church is proactive in doing good while on earth. As a community, we put spotlights on organization in need, 50% of the collection plate is split with them. Stuff like shelters for the unhoused, food pantry service, fundraisers, community clean up projects. Despite the nightmares around us in the modern world, being a part of a UU organization helps me keep going. If our community was devastated by an awful event, I know I could go to the Sanctuary & we’d figure out a plan to keep people safe. People would have each other’s backs.

John 13:34. If Jesus really is the holy prophet for the West, and his last commandment before being betrayed is “Love everyone,” then that seems pretty important to Christ’s message.

I believe in that sentiment strongly. If they believe that sentiment, then we can exchange hugs. It has to start from that place, or they are lost.

A lot of people are discussing the legal or revolutionary frameworks, but there’s a very human story to all of this. The government is run by people, and people are human. They make mistakes, backstab one another, get sick. They compete for different goals & subvert. It’s politics.

Morality is about respecting other moral agents, but it’s also about self-defeating principles. If you constantly lie, then there is no trust. Without trust, there’s room for speculation, rumor, & fear. Everyone on eggshells constantly. That’s partially why these fascist systems aren’t sustainable. However, as the world has become interconnected, so have the global elite. Fascism isn’t just here: it’s in a lot of places. There’s likely secret (and not so secret) actors pulling those strings, not to sound conspiratorial.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction in physics. Like others have said, I’m not sure about my faith in the USA, as it is today: 50 states and some territories holding “together”. The culture and economy of the Northeast is vastly different than the Southeast. The USA absolutely had its hand in much of global politics over the last 100 years. Russia was the USSR in the 80s (~40 years ago); I think this is our “equal and opposite” moment of a world power fracturing. My expectation is the USA splits up, but I’m not sure what comes next. I don’t know if that’s “screwed”, but it’s not as it is today.

Anal probes everywhere.

Surveillance drones everywhere.

Woody Guthrie, still relevant.

Hitler wrote to Lindy, said “Do your very worst,”
Lindy started an outfit that he called America First
In Washington, Washington

This is solipsism, which I’m finding more believable as time goes on.

Ask more questions and entertain others’ ideas. If they are shutting down like this, it’s because you’re being equivalent to a brick wall. People model behavior. If you don’t model listening & engaging, then you’ll get the opposite: shut downs & stopping talking.

This is all speculation from a distance based on what you’re describing. My guess is you aren’t listening, so when this shut down happens, you’re reporting it as “out of the blue.” Most people I talk to have never done that reaction. There’s almost always a “This isn’t going anywhere,” or some phrase for “I’m disengaging.” If you aren’t hearing that, then my guess is you missed it.

I’ve worked on DEI company groups before, all employee led. I can see some awkward argument around preferential treatment / reverse racism / whatever stupid term they want to use to cover bigotry. But internal employee groups that help build community are not causing the egg prices to go up. This is a waste of time and resources. Doesn’t the AG have more important tasks, like putting kids in cages or something?

Matthew 24:12

It might be the end times, but many believed this in prior ages as well. Over the last 2000 years, a bunch of humans probably thought, “This is it.”

I do feel like the Christian message, especially the one by Christ for how his followers should act, has been lost to some degree. This is likely the least religious time in history, which isn’t a good or bad thing.

But post-COVID, people are still rebounding when it comes to socially hanging out offline. We all leaned into echo chambers more during that time. A lot of Americans don’t know their neighbors: I didn’t until 2-3 years ago.

No doubt many people have been affected, young men included. I think part of the reason the pushback on DEI & feminism exists is because we have new marginalized groups that are difficult to understand just yet.

Zoomers have an incredibly hard time breaking into professional careers. When one group sees themselves as a group; and another “group” is getting favoritism in the system (women, minorities); the natural response is “Why not me?”

This isn’t to discredit systemic racism or misogyny. I think those are real problems. I’m trying to think of how these folks might see the world, see how it lacks love and prospect for them. Putting others down isn’t how people feel loved.

I put more blame on older folks because of the imbalance of wealth, which unfortunately amounts to influence. Zoomer men may be disenfranchised, but they are likely poorer in terms of equity. They help drive engagement and the algos.

It all gets more complicated with geography and so on. I appreciate you adding more context to the situation.

Matthew 6:5 is interesting for this reason. He tells people not to be boastful about prayer. You’re supposed to pray in quiet, away from others. James 2:2 also tells people to care for the poor before the rich. There’s lots of quotes about not showing off, either in religiosity or wealth.

I’m glad it can provide some solace. Wishing the best for you, internet stranger.

I think this sentiment is emotionally valid at this moment.

One thing I’ve been doing, and I know most people don’t want to do it or don’t want to hear it, but I’ve been reading the Bible, not because I’m Christian (I’m a UU), but because people in power supposedly believe it.

Okay, when I read this book, not through a pastor or religious authority telling me what to believe, what do I encounter? What is the message of Jesus that we see consistently?

It’s love, empathy, and support for those who have it the worst. To be like Jesus is to sell your material belongings and share with others. To be like Jesus is to turn the other check when someone strikes you. To be like Jesus is to care for the sick, the downtrodden, the alien in a foreign land.

Republicans have been generally older folks, and what they’ve seen in the last 60 years is a rapid turnover of the world they knew. They are deeply afraid of society. It’s fast. It’s integrated with many people. There’s violence everywhere (even though violence has gone down). People are swearing and using the lord’s name in vain all over media. It powered by essentially magic through technology. They are deeply afraid that the society we’ve built is misaligned in terms of core values.

Fear breeds hate, especially when opportunists see it as a means to grab power. So fear was amplified into a fever pitch via 24/7 news.

Trump comes along, and he naturally spikes all these modern algorithms that don’t care about anything besides “engagement.” Turns out hate is more engaging than love, because Trump supporters watch him and those that hate him watch him. Our systems weren’t built around signal boosting moral people; they are built around “engagement.” If it bleeds, it reads, etc.

Combine this with Democrats being an ineffectual party when it comes to messaging, as well as their own pocket lining, and you get a bunch of pissed off people everywhere: Conservatives want Trump; Liberals angry at the Democratic administration for various sleights; most Americans are too stressed to care. Politics doesn’t matter when you work multiple jobs and barely have time to yourself.

And now we arrive here, where people are more interested in being correct, getting revenge, having any sense of power (even if it’s scoring internet points that don’t matter) and living in fear at the cost of love. Republicans have fully lost the message of their stated savior. The people who shamed me for not knowing Jesus probably couldn’t quote a single Bible verse without google. Church attendance has plummeted because Americans don’t see the value of it, nor have the time. It’s a luxury in our age to have an hour on Sunday and pick community.

I think we can get out of this moment, but it won’t happen with everyone finding their enemy. Humans are 1 race. Acts 10:28

And he said to them, ‘You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.

If I take Republicans seriously, that this is a book they care about, and I engage with it and find these quotes, can I show understanding and love while using a text they believe is sacred? Can we reassert these values of love and care for one another? Can we meet face-to-face more and see I’m not some horror ruining society? If I can quote this book without it in front of me, am I satanic and awful?

To your questions: We’re in the post-modern era. We’re talking through a series of tubes. Algorithms have promoted hate. People are profiting off of it. Christians have forgotten Jesus message.

But none of this gets better with more hate. It’s going to take more offline work: go meet your neighbors, have cookouts, care for one another, find the humanity in your “enemy” and remember they are human, even those that hate you/me.

I have an X marker on my license, so I expect to be taken someday. When I am, I’ll be quoting the Bible to my captors because they tell me they believe this book. You may believe it, but do you live it?

Matthew 25:35. What questions does Jesus ask to separate the goats and the sheep? “Did you clothe me when I was naked? Did you feed me when I was hungry? Did you take care of me when I was sick? Did you visit me in prison? Did you help me when I was an alien in foreign land?”

My goal this year is to get through the New Testament and then read the Buddhist Suttras.

Check out Unitarian Universalism if you’ve made it this far. It’s a great organization and welcoming faith community. Its a modern religion that validates many of the world’s religions as true and inspiring of our best selves rather than dogmatically choose one. It gave me the space to have my own relationship with god and religion. I came as an atheist & now have my own beliefs in god & reality that aren’t captured by any single religion.

Thank you real internet person. You make the internet great.

• From Another Real Internet Person

I’ve posted a notice to leave next week. I need to scrape my photos off, get any remaining contacts, and turn off any integrations. I was only there to connect with family. I can email or text.

FB is a dead husk fake feeding some rich assholes. If it’s coin flip AI, what’s the point?

Both of them are idols for me: they were enigmatic musicians who defined themselves and loved by the world for doing it. They bucked against fashion trends. They spoke openly about their views.

I did drag for the first time that year because I didn’t want to be on my deathbed with regrets for not doing it. We raised money for kids with HIV. It was super fun.

I miss both of them.