One of the most damaging tropes in public discourse is that Christofascists can be reasoned with

[Nevilledog]

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One of the most damaging tropes in public discourse is the idea that there is some posture that normal decent people just trying to live their lives can take toward conservative Christians and other American fascists that will be deferential enough to preclude their oppression.

There is no appeasement or strategic retreat that will convince them to permit people to just live their lives.

Nothing other than full surrender to their exact specifications will stop them from smiling and praying for you as they lovingly lower you into the boiling oil.

The only strategies we should accept are: witness to their hatred w/o room for debate; moral clarity about our own entanglement with their oppressive structures, resolute hope to believe liberation is possible, and uncompromising defiance of their grotesque methods and beliefs.

This is why I reject calls to "appeal to their better angels." No group who ever performed atrocities against their fellow humans ever did so before 1st convincing themselves they were uniquely good.

They already worship their "better angels." They don't need our help.

Christian fascists need total control but they demand to be seen as good while receiving it. Take that away from them. Refuse to give that to them. See them exactly as they are, and reflect what they do to their fellow humans back to them.

That's witness.

What makes this trope so noxious is that it makes oppression the fault of the oppressed, for failing to be deferential enough—a framing that defends and reinforces the total blamelessness Christian fascists demand.

[leftieNanner]

1. This describes an abuser too nt

[canuckledragger]

3. Funny how that works, isn't it?

[Docreed2003]

2. Huge K&R

Evangelicals truly believe that they are acting on God's wishes & those wishes happen to coincide with their own rabid right wing world view. There is no compromise or tolerance because to them that's turning against God. We cannot appease these nuts

[spike jones]

13. "You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that

God hates all the same people you do.” ― Anne Lamott

[Docreed2003]

16. Exactly!

[calimary]

22. OUCH! Painful but Great quote!

I’m always on the lookout for ‘em. In my Indivisible group’s weekly Call to Action emails, we always start with a quote.

I kinda took that part over, especially since nobody else seemed all that interested. Haven’t had a single complaint since!

[Jirel]

4. Ever tried reasoning with a rabid animal?

That doesn’t work either. Same principle.

[GB_RN]

5. There Is No Reasoning With The Unreasonable...

And modern day fascists are no different than the ones my grandfather fought 80 years ago.

[Leith]

6. It sounds like Terminator

Kyle Reese: Listen, and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop... ever, until you are dead!

[OneGrassRoot]

7. THIS. All. Day. Long. K&R n/t

[catrose]

8. Ah hell no. (Reasoning with them)

[HAB911]

9. Supremacists will be supremacists

[LiberalLovinLug]

10. "Christian fascists need total control but they demand to be seen as good while receiving it"

"Take that away from them. Refuse to give that to them. See them exactly as they are, and reflect what they do to their fellow humans back to them. "

This

Its one of the only ways to stop them in their tracks. At least to pause. With my Trumpian Evangelical follower relatives I ask them how they could follow and support such a deviant, liar, sexual abusive, racist, narcissist, and someone who has rejected God for himself, cheated on his wives and divorced twice, and defrauded students of his sham University, defrauded his own charity, and has been engaged in dubious business practices his whole business life. Also that he is indebted to Russian banks, because American banks stopped lending him money because of all his bankruptcies. And his praise of Putin. His race baiting.

etc etc

Now I'm not saying they immediately agree and say they will not support him after. The usual response is that they don't believe any of it, its all fake news and invented by the "far left". But I hope I at least put a seed into their tiny brains by not only telling them but showing them links to news sources backing me up, even if they will say they don't believe any traditional news networks anymore. I think it still does break through at least a bit for some of them. They may relent somewhat in admitting he's not perfect. That God can still use him for His purposes. I just hope that the shear amount of despicable behaviour I list will start to seep in at least a tiny bit.

[Model35mech]

14. Who are the Christian fascists? Can you give me names

of individuals or names of institutions to which they belong?

Not criticism, it's me, I generally can't follow play action without jersey numbers, especially in futbol.

[Hekate]

23. Go to Right Wing Watch and start reading

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/

List of RW/ hate organizations
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/

Also Southern Poverty Law Center
https://www.splcenter.org/

SPLC Hatewatch
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch

[aggiesal]

24. At least 3 on SCOTUS n/t

[wnylib]

11. Agree. You cannot reason with fanatics.

You should never compromise with them. Inch.....mile.

Stand firm. Don't back down if you are dealing with a fanatic.

[Gaugamela]

12. They should be ridiculed and denounced as phony Christians and phony patriots,

shamed with a relentless torrent of mockery and disgust. Engaging with them only gives them validation.

[Evolve Dammit]

15. "Too far gone." Commander Cody

[aggiesal]

17. I'm no Barry Goldwater fan, but he could see this a mile away. ...

[Hekate]

18. Excellent, excellent observations!

TY for passing it along, Nevilledog.

[Nevilledog]

20. This guy has some good takes.

[vlyons]

19. That's the history of the established Christian church

a creation of the Roman empire, which was a very brutal society. The dogma of the Trinity (father, son, and holy ghost) was made up in 325AD at the 1st council of Nicea. Anyone who didn't agree was labeled a heretic and either exiled or murdered. The established church has a long long history of waging war against non-Christians and even other types of Christians. They worship a jealous god, who will not tolerate other gods.

Christians are brainwashed from childhood to accept all sorts of illogical nonsense on blind faith. Reason isn't even in the picture. It is a religion from the Iron Age thousands of years before the invention of science and medicine.

I mean really!!!! Here's a few fun questions to ask. If an invisible sky god created man in his own image, why aren't we invisible? If Jesus was born of a virgin birth, where did his male chromozomes come from? What is the process by which inorganic matter, water, is turned into organic matter, wine? How does a 3 day old corpse, Jesus, get up and start walking around?

I could go on pointing out the stupid stuff in Christian dogma. But I'm sure you have your own favorite stupidities to snicker at. My point is that intolerance and willful blind faith ignorance is built into Christian dogma. It's as if the 16th Century scientific enlightenment just passed them by.

[Orrex]

21. Yet we are told even here on DU that we must keep reaching out to them

As if some combination of facts, logic and evidence will deprogram these kkkultists.

They mock our attempts at outreach, they laugh at our efforts to understand, and they deride the very idea of empathy.


Fuck every last one of them.

[YoshidaYui]

25. ChristoFACISTS WARSHIP/

GO FUCK YOURSELF !