11-11-2016, 11:56 PM
(11-11-2016, 11:29 PM)aramarie Wrote:(11-11-2016, 11:08 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: "America is going from a land of assimilation, cultural at the least if not ethnic, to an unwieldy mosaic of tribal enclaves. based upon ethnicity and religion. " (my old stuff in blue)
Agreed. I could offer suggestions on how to combat that but it would not be solved in your lifetime.
Is that because you don't expect me to reach my eighties or because you expect me to die well before the climax is settled. I have shown signs of suicial tendencies, nut perhaps as importantly my view sare the sorts likely to get myself murdered or executed if I do not go to a place more compatible with my intellectual attitudes.
Quote:" So how do people believe such?" Because their subculture and the religious right media knows which buttons to push with these people. However not all religious right will believe all these things. That is why it is important to listen to all of them. Danielle showed that she is quite left wing culturally on some issues for instance. It was great that she explained where she stood on issues as it was one example.
We are going to see hybrids -- like some Christian fundamentalists relatively liberal on issues like sex, economics, or culture. But will those have a place other than the scaffold?
Quote:"As I see it, the fundamentalist believes that the sole purpose of life is to prepare for the judgment of a harsh and unforgiving God. To vote for someone who supports abortion or same-sex marriage because such has been decided by the Constitution is thus to be just as evil as someone who commits a mass killing and just as damned by an intolerant God. (Just think of the lack of proportionality!). The fundamentalist must sacrifice his economic interests and those of family members to that end. Higher waves? Worthless in Hell! Better schools? If they lead one into the ways of wickedness then they might as well not exist. So suffer in This World for rewards in the Afterlife."
This is why my country chooses to be secular. To not push religion into politics. Culture/religion has no place in politics. It becomes way too personal. However I would be interested to know on a one on one reporting of why they feel it is ok to push these ideals onto others and why it is not ok for lefties to push their beliefs onto them. That is why discussion and reflection needs to happen. I have seen so many comments of people just bashing and labeling. Eve here. It does not work.
New Zealand does not have the great number of fundamentalist Christians that America does. I can easily imagine America becoming a "Christian and Corporate state", a nightmare for people not part of the corporate power structure or part of the favored ethnic and religious group, the one that demands the least.
New Zealand is toward the top of the list of countries to which I would prefer to emigrate should America become too dangerous for me.
Quote:"Such people voted heavily for a fascist America, an entity certain to have more deaths from workplace accidents and almost as certain to start aggressive warfare that creates mass death."
Is he a fascist? Also do you think perhaps some of them voted merely because they did not want another Clinton in power? Have you asked them why they voted for him? All of them? Or are you just guessing their motives? Not being aggressive here just so you know. I am genuinely interested.
I have heard some of them. To fit into the world that the elites offer the Christian fundamentalists -- impoverished, mindless, and joyless -- is impossible. I would commit suicide. Maybe one must be a fundamentalist to accept the low-paid service jobs that the awful American educational system consigns people to.
Quote:"This said, I cannot suffer an ideology that considers mass suffering for the indulgence of an economic elite in any way conscionable." I understand that. This message is not one that is to back down from left wing ideology. Not at all. Culturally I lean very much left too (by American standards) as NZ has no left wing/right wing cultural/political divide. I was raised in it with no question till I encountered what goes on in America. So I understand your pain. I really do. But listening and conversation needs to be had without aggression of these individuals and no negative labeling. It really does nothing beneficial to solve these issues.
I see America splintering into a mosaic of communities often hostile to neighboring communities. Donald trump has accelerated a trend that seemed to have moderated recently.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.