Old Saturday Night Lived Sketch?
No, two anti-abortion activists praying and "anointing the doors" to the Senate hearing room where the Alito confirmation hearings were to take place.
What's alarming, points out BagNewsNotes, is that:
These dudes weren't priests or ministers, merely impersonating them. Where are the moral values associated with pretending to be a church official for political, emotional gain or media time? The Right still doesn't get that breaking any rule to win is not winning."One should not be fooled, however, that this is a simple or innocent action when the prearranged participation of the press and at least the tacit cooperation of Capitol security was required. (Otherwise, these guys would be out on the sidewalk, fighting for attention just like everybody else.)
The other point here (although not a new one, of course) is the way the religious right shamelessly exploits religious symbolism for political gain.
The play here is a psychological one exploiting a reflexive tendency to associate religious garments, objects, and physical language and gesture with noble, even pious intention. As well, the simple visage of the minister already comes more than pre-packaged with the connotation of authority. "
Link
posted by Phil at 2:16 AM
5 Comments:
There are some seriously backwards people in the US.
I emailed this to myself about a year ago. I often email my rants to myself for later consideration. I may have written it, but I may have copied. So I won't take credit for it but I think it applies.
Strong religious belief is often a psychological safety net. Extremist religious people are often neurotics. Delusions of the battle between good and evil, of end times, etc are just that - delusions. The Earth will be here long after all these religious drama queens are dead. A constant need to demonize certain groups to prop up your religion or your self-esteem comes from fear.
Christianity, especially of the born-again type, is a philosophy of conciliation. That's why you find every pill-head, drug addict, loser, etc eventually finds the born-again types, as they take them in and placate their fears and replace them with standard theistic good vs. evil. This includes our President.
There's a healthy amount of religion a person can have, but when they begin to approach the born-again/fundie/evangelical kind they probably have some serious issues with reality.
Freud:
"In point of fact I believe that a large part of the mythological view of the world, which extends a long way into the most modern religions, is nothing but psychology projected into the external world. The obscure recognition... of psychical factors and relations in the unconscious is mirrored - it is difficult to express it in other terms, and here the analogy with paranoia must come to our aid - in the construction of a supernatural reality, which is destined to be changed back once more by science into the psychology of the unconscious. One could venture to explain in this way the myths of paradise and the fall of man, of God, of good and evil, of immortality, and so on, and to transform metaphysics into metapsychology."
The Psychopathology of Everyday Life(1901)
I wonder what the fundies would do if a couple of real Imams in full garb showed up to "annoit" the doors of the Senate foreign relations Committee?
Exactly. Excellent point.
As my grandfather used to say, "It's not that I don't like religion, I just don't like religious people."
Cranky, you're hysterical.
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