There's a surprisingly important lesson in the 'QAnon shaman' and his antics behind bars

[safeinOhio]

https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/qanon-shaman/



The court's decision sparked outrage among critics who see him as just another privileged white guy in horns, a cosplayer exploiting Indigenous spirituality to extract privileges that are rarely granted to Indigenous inmates.

Skeptics wonder if Chansley's whole shamanic shtick is the work of a grifter courting notoriety, but the prison system isn't set up to interrogate questions of ultimate motivation.

"Like all things about Trump, QAnon, and the modern conservative movement, Chansley's act is built on nothing but bullshit and a heaping dose of racism and white supremacy," wrote Jessica Mason for The Mary Sue, adding that, "He has no right to claim 'shamanism' as a religion that should get him special treatment in jail or defend his traitorous actions."

[JI7]

1. Last paragraph is what the Trump Cult and what is pretty much today's Republican Party all about

Bunch of Bigoted Grifters . That's why Trump appeals to them. Trump cheating on things like business appeals to them because they can relate to it since they are the same way.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. Aloha! It means hello. And, goodbye. nt

[safeinOhio]

4. Prices seem a little high to me.

[keithbvadu2]

5. A shaman who prays "in Christ's holy name".

A shaman who prays "in Christ's holy name".

An opportunistic attention seeker...

who whines when he gets caught.

[dawg day]

6. Well, I've learned to demand organic food if I'm arrested.

It sounds like the absolute pinnacle of privilege. "My madeup religion says i can't eat jail cafeteria food and need special food prepared separately."

[Fyrefox]

7. Hypocrisy with horns on...

He appears to be one of the biggest bozos in Trump's army, and revels both in his visual outrageousness and the media exposure that it brings him; he was a sometime failed actor. Ironic too that he demands and receives privileges from a system that he decries. Part of Trump's punishment should be to live with this guy 24/7...

[C_U_L8R]

8. Yet another rightwing racist cosplayer

These idiots love to play dress-up. That'll be popular on the cell block.

[John Ludi]

9. I knew a guy

back when I first moved from Detroit to MPLS (1992) whose belief system was a hodgepodge of Nazi occultism, Nordic paganism (Odinism), and faux-Native American mysticism. Interesting and repellent character who thought he was the "ubermensch". This clown could be his son...if some tragic circumstance would have allowed the guy to breed.

This stuff has been going on a long time. Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus! Trilogy and Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum are both classic send ups of this kind of thinking...where there is basically an intellectual supermarket where insecure little people who like to pretend they have some "inside track" to some sort of spiritual ascension sew together a bunch of unrelated items and parade it around to show everyone around how "special" they are.

Mindless puerile egotism masquerading as something far more profound.

[flotsam]

10. Nice post John

...and welcome to the DU Zoo!

[John Ludi]

12. Thank you!

[Silent3]

11. I'm sick of religious people (via white privilege quite often) getting special treatment...

...that other people don't get.

What if I want all-organic meals simply because I believe that's better for my health? (Not that I buy that, actually. "Organic" isn't all it's cracked up to be.) What if I sincerely believe that to be true?

Should one "sincerely held belief" rank higher than another just because you turn it into a "sincerely held religious belief"?

As an atheist, can nothing I believe in ever matter as much as what a religious person believes, especially if I'm hoping for special dispensations or special treatment?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

13. You -should- be protected ...

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

If the Shaman-o-Insurrection gets organic food on request, then all should, else the federal government is "respecting" a religion.