Unsavory Christian "History"

So I get back to work on Tuesday after taking a vacation day for Monday and settle down at the work computer to check the weather, etc... When I say etc.. I mean checking my personal webpages for a few minutes - which is, of course, a no-no at work, right? Sure, but everybody does it and my supervisor, who uses the same computer to do his banking and correspondence with his church homies on a regular basis, is on a Christian retreat for the next three days. The big boss is gone for the week so I figure I'm in the clear. But just to be on the safe side, I clear my history on the browser. To rationalize my bad behaviour, I decide to get nosy and check the browser's history to see what kind of nonsense my supervisor has been looking at - since he hordes the computer to himself the whole day while we're all out working.

That's when my mind was blown.

But before I go any further, let me tell you a little bit about ShitBrick. He's a beast of a man who, in the past three or four years, has gotten very serious about his Christianity. And since his ego is as massive as his body, no one can escape his gravity (kinda like Jupiter). So he brings Bibles to work, listens to sermons and Christian books on the work computer and sniffs at anyone who isn't an evangelical Christian (he particularly dislikes Catholics and Muslims). He also spends a lot of time shaming the trappings of popular culture; secular movies, secular books, secular politicians, secular culture in general. And he's also probably the most homo-phobic dude I've ever come across. This guy REALLY detests "fags".

Which is why I found his tastes in websites particularly interesting.

Seems our Christian Soldier has developed a taste for transsexual escorts (I know!). And this was no minor dalliance. He was several pages into this website, all transsexuals, all looking for local action - which means he was looking for a date, or at least toying with the idea of hooking-up. And since our network connection at work is dial-up (snore), he was also extremely patient in his quest. I'm pretty sure nobody else had access to that computer on that day. I checked with my other co-worker (who, btw, gets shit every time he even uses his personal phone, not to mention the work computer).

Thank You Ted Haggard - Poster-boy for self-righteous Christian hypocrites everywhere who end up spending their evenings with crack-smoking homosexual prostitutes while spending their days projecting their fears and pathological baggage onto everybody else.

Truth is, I don't know why he was looking at transsexual escorts. For all I know, he and the Christian Taliban were planning on going downtown to partake in some hate crimes (I'll be watching the news). But I do know that this information could #1. Damage if not end his marriage. #2. Damage if not end his association with the church. #3. Damage if not end his career.

Of course, I would never tell anybody, save for you anonymous blog reader. I don't care what he does for entertainment, as long as he's not hurting anybody. That's the difference between liberals and those uptight, hypocritical, religious-right-wingers. We're not going to bust somebody's balls for how they get their kicks. We ALL have skeletons. We're ALL hypocrites to some degree.

Economic Chauvinism: Good 'ole Boys Woman-Haters Club

So I'm talking to my well-to-do brother-in-law about the economic meltdown Michigan is currently experiencing due to the flight of manufacturing jobs, the shrinking domestic auto industy and a budget crisis created in part by the removal of almost two billion dollars in revenue from the single business tax. I was quite blown away by his response. He laid the economic blame squarely on the head of our FEMALE governor. He said we'd never be taken seiously in the business world as long as our leader was a woman.

Huh?

You're kidding me right?

He wasn't kidding.

My response: "My god, are we still that unsophisticated?"

By the time the words left my mouth I realized two things. One, the money men who run this state couldn't possible be that unsophisticated, but they realize the mass of us are and need convenient target for their money problems- and without a minority or foreigner to blame, a woman will suffice nicely. And two, patriarchal Christianity probably has a lot to do with my brother-in-law's attitude, that whole Promise Keepers, Man In The Mirror shit that places the man at the head of the pack, firmly behind the steering wheel, as the captain of the team and as the leaders of the free world - because God supposedly wants it that way regardless of the economic, social or ecological ruination he brings to the planet in the process.

Christo-Fascism On The March

I'm reading a book called "American Fascists; The Christian Right and The War On America." by Chris Hedges, a respected war correspondent. It's about the rise of the Christian Right in the U.S., their formidible political, financial and media power, and their attack on secularism and humanism in the United States - (all the while claiming they're the victims, of course. Remember 2005's "attack" on Christmas? Ugh.). Hedges draws parallels between fascist movements of the past and Christian "Dominionists" whose political and media power affect and challenge every aspect of contemporary American culture.

To some, the possiblity of Dominionism (i.e. Christo-Fascism) taking over in America, and then the world, seems like just another pop conspiracy theory designed to sell books. Even Hedges himself admits, "It was hard, at the time, to take such fantastic rhetoric seriously, especially given the buffoonish quality of those who expounded it." But 25 years after he was warned about the rise of Christian fundamentalists by a professor at Harvard Divinity School, he witnessed the prophetic warning continue to manifest itself and, apparently, took it seriously enough to write a book about it.

If you'd like to get a good idea of what Hedges is expounding, Read this article at TheocracyWatch.org.

Oh, and by the way, when I bought this book, which is brand new and currently on the media lecture circuit, I had to ask for help at Borders Books to find it. A single copy was buried deep in the back of the store with the other political science books - not up front with the other hard-cover, non-fiction, new releases. Hey, Christianity is very $$$popular$$$ right now.

When someone is convinced they're right, surround themselves with others who feel exactly the same way, quash any dissenting opinions and and use God to justify their behavior, watch out. Christo-fascists and Islamo-fascists have more in common with eachother than they do with the mass of humanity.