About one year ago cartoonist Rob Rogers was fired by the @PittsburghPG for the “crime” of daring to draw editorial cartoons that mocked Trump. The above is an example of one of his pieces that was deemed to be too offensive. This was after a long 25 year career. His criticism was not simply fiction, it was criticism that was wholly based upon fact and actual events. I need not tell you what the above cartoon is about, you know immediately what it refers to. To observe cartoonists being fired for acts of wholly valid criticism is a milestone that marks the truly weird age we now live in.
It is an era where some utterly irrational and truly obnoxious ideas have been embraced as “fact”, and actual facts are dismissed as “myth”.
Why is it like this, it can’t just be one man?
It is not, he is simply an enabler for much and is only where he is because he has surfed into office on the crest of a wave. The challenge we face is not simply he who I quite frankly cannot be bothered to name, but all those who have carried him into office on their shoulders via a tide of utterly irrational religious/political rhetoric. This is the guy who could see which way the wind was blowing, so rushed in front of the crowd and yelled “follow me”.
We are awash in a constant stream of Ideas that are basically the demonisation of “them” where “they” can be immigrants, or gay people, or simply people who have a different religious or political belief. It persists because it works, and it is also an easy way to express the emotional frustrations so many feel. Each and every week we get more of the same, and so I highlight some of it here with a weekly posting, not to shock you, but to enable you to laugh and mock the utter absurdity of it all.
What happened during the last 7 days?
Homophobia …
- E.W. Jackson: The Rainbow Flag Is ‘An Accursed Thing’
- David Lane has some questions: … “Where are ‘equal rights’ for those who believe that homosexual behavior is sin as defined by Holy Scripture? If sexual desire or behavior toward a person or persons of one’s own sex is, on God’s authority, to be considered a vice, who then authorized the State to bless and hallow such vice and evangelize it through public education? Five pagan Supreme Court Justices?”
- Mychal Massie is not a fan of those that are gay: … “It’s a deviant lust of the flesh. The practice of homosexuality is unnatural, amoral and destructive to the spirit, soul, mind, psyche and the personal health of those who choose to become involved in same. It’s men lusting in their souls to sodomize other men and women who lust after other women for sexual defilement.”
- Michael Bresciani warns that … “the deep sin of sodomy … is a depraved act of perversion that ranks close to the unforgivable act of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It is one of only a few sins the Bible describes as an abomination.”
Weird new theory regarding bad weather …
Harry Potter is still getting bad press …
- Michael Brown warns that the demonic spirit of Jezebel is responsible for “radical feminism,” “the aggressive LGBT movement,” … and the Harry Potter books.
Witchcraft …
- Larry Klayman has released a petition demanding the imprisonment of Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi: … “These two witches, banding together, are flying high on their brooms circling the White House, bent on ‘killing’ President Donald J. Trump, his family and colleagues.”
The cult of Trump …
- Right-wing pastor Darrell Scott claims that Trump is actually very humble and self-deprecating.
- Right-wing pastor Jim Garlow and his wife, Rosemary Schindler Garlow, unfurled an American flag, heaped praise upon President Trump, and sang “Happy Birthday” to the president from a community in the Golan Heights that is set to be renamed “Trump Heights” in the coming days.
Vegetarians are part of a Satanic Plot …
- Rick Wiles: Plant-Based Meat Alternatives Are a Satanic Plot to ‘Create a Race of Soulless Creatures’ … “They want to change human DNA so that you can’t be born again. That’s where they’re going with this, to change the DNA of humans so it will be impossible for a human to be born again. They want to create a race of soulless creatures on this planet.”
Did Anything else Weird Happen?
Of course. Here is a selection of more weird stuff …
- Jill Duggar’s Marriage Advice: Never Masturbate and Always Be Available for Sex
- Anti-Gay Doctor, Fired from Medical Journal, Uses Final Article to Promote God
- John Oliver had a weekly segment on ERA – Here’s Your Reminder That the Christian Right Blocked the Equal Rights Amendment
- A New Book of Prayers Includes a Section About Using the Internet …”Give me strength, Lord, before I troll these snowflakes on Twitter.”
- Family Wins Right to Exhume Atheist’s Remains from Holy Burial Site
- Evangelist Franklin Graham: Rainbow Flags Are “Offensive to Christians”
- Rick Santorum, a Fountain of Great Ideas, Is Launching Bitcoin for Catholics
- Christian Activist: I Prayed and God “Made Gold Dust Manifest on my Hands”
- Pastor Who Works for TN Police Dept. Says Gays Should Be Executed By Police
- Dave Daubenmire: Masturbation Is Gay Because “You’re Having Sex With Yourself”
- PA City May Put Religious Decals on Cars Because of Man’s Weird Dog Fight Story
… but it is not all bad news, some good stuff also happened as well. The following highlights that there are decent honourable people out there who do take a stance, and to be clear, the following is not “weird”, but instead reflects human decency and integrity …
- “Conversion Therapy” Group Fined $3.5 Million After Violating Order to Shut Down
- In Texas, Secular Americans Have Limited the Christian Right’s Lawmaking Powers
- Christian “School” That Punishes Students for Being Gay May Be Shut Down
- In a Wise Move, New York Finally Ends Religious Exemptions for Required Vaccines
- Some U.S. Embassies Are Celebrating LGBTQ Pride, Defying the Government’s Wishes
- Despite GOP Opposition, Support for Transgender Rights is Growing Stronger
- FL Sheriff’s Office Says No to Christian Hate Group’s Security Request