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The rise of the fundamentalist right in America
I heard about this specific clip on a film review show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOIYsGVyg8M WTF? The reviewer, Mark Kermode, was talking about how the movie shows 10 year old kids packed off to Jesus Camp and whipped into religious hysteria by this dangerous woman. Here's more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqNLMuijRyU Do you Americans worry much about the fundamentalist right? It is something of a concern here in Europe - and we mostly attribute its continuing growth as we perceive it with G.W.Bush - but given the shocking state of newspapers these days, it's almost impossible to fathom what's a genuine piece of cultural news, and what's hyped up for our European tastes. Sometimes this sort of thing makes you think America is now in serious decline as a credible world power, and maybe China or even Russia is going to be overtaking it as the single dominant world power. Thoughts? |
Re: The rise of the fundamentalist right in America
I worry about it, as my post earlier this year about "Letter to a Christian Nation" can attest to.
I'm stunned how stupid most of America is, and how they are so willing to trash the civil rights of other Americans whose politics and morals do not agree with their own. I'm very happy to see the success of political humorists like Bill Maher and John Stewart - at least there's someone fighting for true American ideals. |
Re: The rise of the fundamentalist right in America
Yes we worry, but their power is currently ebbing.
America is in fact in serious decline as a credible world power, but it has a long way to fall. And at least we don't get ourselves in a tizzy because a couple of CDs got lost in the post. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] |
Re: The rise of the fundamentalist right in America
I'm not quite as worried, but I mostly agree with Elliot.
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Re: The rise of the fundamentalist right in America
idk if i would consider it to be "on the rise." there are plenty of people who are not members of the fundamentalist right, but would side with them b/c of shared religious beliefs if you drew a line in the sand. many of these people do not harbor the extremism of fundamentalists, but in the end their religion trumps all.
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Re: The rise of the fundamentalist right in America
The Christian Coalition is a major donator to the Republican Party. So much for separation of Church and State.
If the papers are making it sound like we are under the iron fist of The Christians, I will say it is an exaggeration. Broadcast television looks like cable 15 years ago. The country is becoming more liberal over the years, and there is little that can be done to oppress the mindset. No doubt that Christian Organizations are putting out scare commercials, but they are often looked at sideways. There was a public service announcement talking about how girls should abstain from sex because they were more likely to commit suicide. I think that the Fundamentalists, in the view of most Americans, are not respected. They created the Creationism Museum, which is frowned upon and picked on. They tried to get prayer in school, but the atheists won in California by declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional for the line "One nation, under God." The only thing that they can do is use shock statistics to try to move people. They managed to gain more funding for "sex education" which is really abstinence education. The over all case for America turning to some sort of Taliban is flimsy at best. No matter if there are or are not laws, the laws must reflect the general opinion. The biggest concern for me is the so-called War on Drugs. I don't blame Religion solely for this, but I am sure it is no small contributor to the fear tactics used to support it, although I believe most Americans are against it. As for poker: There are people who approve and those that don't Casinos and Card Rooms are popping up at record speeds all across America. Gambling is not as frowned upon as it was even 20 years ago. It is starting to be viewed as an outlet, healthy as long as people have control. A friend recently moved to New York and asked me, "Do American's do nothing but work?" She was complaining because she had to work a 50 hour week, "only" got 2 weeks of vacation and sick time. I don't believe that the Americans will fall under another country for a while. We have ingenuity, a well-educated work force and a maleable language. It will take China decades before it can be seen as a world power. Simply put, China and Russia are too poor, the people are to oppressed, and the money and resources are not used properly to change their countries enough to become a world leader. |
Re: The rise of the fundamentalist right in America
This has been going on for some time, but it was documented better in Alexandra Pelosi's "Friends of God" film. That was scary, it shows the evangelicals telling their children that dinosaurs lived 3000 years ago, that evolution is a lie, etc.
I was raised Catholic, my wife was raised Baptist, and our kids go to Catholic schools. That being said, my kids have a very healthy grasp on what their religion means to them, because we have told them from the beginning to just be a good person because it's the right and human thing to do, not because your soul will be hurled into a fiery void of you don't. The kids in these videos seem to suffer from close-minded parenting. That's the scary part. |
Re: The rise of the fundamentalist right in America
If anything it is underhyped. It's fighting hard every day across the nation to work its way into our school systems. It has already succeeded in making prayers at the beginning of governmental meetings common, if not standard. It is difficult for a candidate to run for office without addressing and even endorsing religion, and religion is a very potent weapon in for those who would call attention to it.
The reason we don't pose it as more of a worry here is because we don't retain a historical memory of our own missteps into red-baiting, commie-hunting, blacklisting, union-busting, and spying on citizens. The American memory is selective, short, and self-flattering, and when it comes to questions of the world, our answer might as well be a simple, "We won." And by that we mean everything. And so, all other matters settled, our focus shifts inwards. As far as our credibility goes, our might has usually functioned as an adequate substitute and remains one. Credibility is of limited use without power, and power needs it only sparingly. China and Russia may well increase their power dramatically in the coming century, but if they with their very flawed and corrupt systems do so, it will likely have as little to do with credibility as American influence does today. It will be the result of the success of their economic systems first and foremost. In this, America will still prove a potent competitor. But The American Century has come to a close. We are not the uniquely industrialized, unruined country we were after World War II. The power of the dollar is immense but no longer near absolute, and there are other markets and centers of innovation. America's insistence that there are no problems with its class structure because America has no social classes may also become more problematic as Eastern nations and a united Europe gain greater economic and political might, some of which will undoubtedly come at American expense. This, as uncertain times do, may in turn increase America's love affair with religion and hardline politics. For all their problems, we may find it is Europe and the major nations of the Asian Pacific Rim that come to outpace America in maintaining and even increasing both the civil rights and the general welfare of the broad mass of their citizenry. |
Re: The rise of the fundamentalist right in America
[ QUOTE ]
Yes we worry, but their power is currently ebbing. America is in fact in serious decline as a credible world power, but it has a long way to fall. And at least we don't get ourselves in a tizzy because a couple of CDs got lost in the post. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] [/ QUOTE ] We've had the same thing going on with the credit records before, and multiple times with national security information. |
Re: The rise of the fundamentalist right in America
[ QUOTE ]
idk if i would consider it to be "on the rise." there are plenty of people who are not members of the fundamentalist right, but would side with them b/c of shared religious beliefs if you drew a line in the sand. many of these people do not harbor the extremism of fundamentalists, but in the end their religion trumps all. [/ QUOTE ] And they are often one-issue voters who will vote the same way, so are far as elections are concerned, it comes to the same thing. |
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