TLDR: Conservative pastor hurts himself in his confusion. Blames communism.
So I'm a bit of a masochist. I listen to conservative radio. Something about Sean Hannity and Glen Beck complaining about minorities makes me feel nostalgic. But holy shit, today was something else.
Local pastor is talking on the radio - he's applauding the Rocklin Unified School District's decision to oust trans students to their parents. They are adopting a growing policy that makes it mandatory for school staff to inform parents if their child is transgender or gender non-conforming in any way.
He reads off some of Attorney General Rob Bonta's arguments against this policy and begins mocking the idea that this will bring “mental emotional, psychological, and potential physical harm.” The pastor calls this a straight up lie. He believes that this policy will actually reduce harm (doesn't elaborate whatsoever, but I have some guesses)..
The pastor then starts playing a sound clip of someone saying "There is no right to privacy between a parent and their child". He plays it over and over again - shouting "EXCUSE ME, WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" between each repeat.
The pastor begins his rant. "THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR SOCIALIST AND COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT! THERE IS NO PRIVACY! THEY CONTROL WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO THINK!".
This brainworm infested pastor doesn't understand that "no privacy between a parent and a child" is an argument in favor of ousting trans children. He should agree with that. But he doesn't need to know that. He can still confidently rant about "communism bad" even though he is incapable of thinking through this one argument.
He concludes this whole segment by preaching "Can you imagine us being here, 10 years ago? This isn't because of us conservatives. No, we don't go out there looking for problems. We don't go out there looking to interfere with other people's lives".
Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
- Jean-Paul Sartre
Conservative media is a wild ride. I watched Fox News at a motel I was at for funsies and I tried to count how many times they said "socialism" or "bolshevik bernie" with no other context. It had to have been like 10-15 times in 5 minutes. Like they weren't even really talking about anything that they could have called socialism? It was pure nonsense.
Also weird how most commercials on conservative radio are for home security systems...really driving the xenophobia into the ol' noggin
CNN and MSNBC play commercials for home security systems too, so it's not just fox news on the muh high crime train.
Not surprising to be honest. I guess the idea of tuning in to those networks never sounded thrilling enough for me lol
Our local radio stations have commercials for school security systems. Like a key card to access all the doors and the police are given key cards. Whenever a school shooting happens they come up in frequency again.
That is so bizarre, I don't think I've ever heard anything like that. So I understand, are they advertisements for schools to buy the entire system? Or just advertisements for cards to get into the schools?
For schools to buy the entire system. And its advertised right after stories of school shootings. Its really fucked up.
I can't enjoy this stuff, even to mock it anymore. It makes me sad to think that this is a human being, with a brain, with only one life to live, and this is how they choose to use it.
This was a small show with a local guy talking. He's bad at this and its sad to hear. Like you said, its sad to think this is what he chooses to do. He's filled with so much hatred that he can't even think straight. Meanwhile, blaming others for their hatred without a hint of irony.
People like Glen Beck are better about the grift. Hes been talking about his new book called "Dark Future". No idea what its fully about, but he talks about "the great reset" and the WEF's quote "you will own nothing and enjoy it". It sounds like Marxist theory, but framed like its a bad thing.
I think its important to know where the conservatives mindset is coming from. Part of it, I know I have to avoid some people like that first guy. He is unreasonable and is motivated by hatred, thats it. But the conservative laborers in my union who listen to Glen Beck? I feel like there's an avenue to convince them because their understanding of communism is based off a lie.
Yeah, I'll happily mock the grifters, but the people who have fallen victim to them are just sad. Empty shells of people just driven by pure hatred for imagined enemies, and attacking real people because of nonsense that has been poured into their heads.
Well that's the most dystopian thing I've heard all day