Wednesday, August 27, 2008

First I go "Ick!" then I go "YOU IDIOT!"

Oh my lord, Megan is talking about BDSM. Why, oh why must she conjure up these horrible juxtapositions in my mind? There is nothing more disturbing than the thought of MM engaging in some S&M.

Ughhhhhh...

After shuddering uncontrollably for 25 minutes, I finally made it to the sublimely stupid bits underneath.

My secondmost immediate thought was, of course, of evangelical Christians. Specifically, the fact that they report being happier than the rest of us. The article in Christianity Today argues that this is a function of the social support provided by an inclusive community. But I wonder if it isn't, in part, the decision to stand out from the community that leads to greater self-reported happiness.
Megan, have you ever been to America? How in the fucking world can you say that evangelicals are stepping out of the mainstream? Outside of the places you've lived, televangelists have HUGE followings. OUR CURRENT FUCKING PRESIDENT IS AN EVANGELICAL YOU DIP SHIT!

Then we have this startling display of her inability to comprehend human beavior:
People who have decided to do anything so far outside of the mainstream are people who a) have a powerful preference and b) have satisfied that preference. The mainstream, on the other hand, contains all the people who have extreme preferences, but not the willpower to buck convention and satisfy them.
Are you fucking kidding me, lady? You're telling me that people who stick with the mainstream don't CHOOSE to do so? That they all secretly want to worship cows or are fecal-philiacs or something? I've said it before, but I have to repeat myself. She isn't human. She is a fucking robot or a rock or something. She can't even comprehend the desire to fucking fit in! I am the most contrary person on earth and I can still grasp why people would want to be assimilated in the culture at large. Megan, on the other hand, is the biggest shill the status quo has got and yet doesn't even understand what's behind her own motivations. How dense can you get? Is she being intentionally shallow?

and she continues!!!
Against this, of course, are the people who have stayed in the evangelical Christian community since birth. But the churn rate is quite high, which is why we all know so many people who used to be religious, and also quite a few who have found religion in adulthood.
I'm seriously losing my breath here! The stupidity emanating from my computer screen is displacing the fucking oxygen in the room! JUST ABOUT EVERYONE TAKES THEIR RELIGION OR LACK THEREOF FROM THEIR PARENTS!!! For fuck's sake, Megan herself does stupid catholic bullshit like lent because it's how she was raised despite the fact that she's an "agnotheist." The churn rate is low as hell. When was the last time you met someone at a bar who was raised in Amish country, you fucking halfwit?

But, of course, the reason Megan can't see this is because, no matter how hard she tries, she can't see past her own privileged upbringing:
In modern America, it's relatively easy to exit a religious community, either by a series of steps through progressively less demanding congregations, or by moving across country and letting your parents think you're still going to church.
Yes folks, she actually just said it's "easy" to abandon your family, friends, and all community ties and move across America. Could this woman have less of a clue?

3 comments:

spencer said...

People who have decided to do anything so far outside of the mainstream are people who a) have a powerful preference and b) have satisfied that preference. The mainstream, on the other hand, contains all the people who have extreme preferences, but not the willpower to buck convention and satisfy them.

Wow, she sure does give away quite a bit about how she sees herself here.

Anonymous said...

"In modern America, it's relatively easy to exit a religious community"

Holy shit, how long is this woman going to get away with constantly writing completely ignorant garbage like this? Is there any subject she knows absolutely nothing about that she won't broach?

Actually, Megs, there have been volumes of books written by people who have exited religious communities about how lonely, confused, emotionally fractured, and completely ill-equipped they are on dealing with life in the larger world. There are a number of reasons why anabaptists like the Amish have something like a 95% retention rate. It's true that most people who join demanding minority religions as adults leave within under a year, but that's because they haven't devoted substantial portions of their lives to it, still have ties outside of it, and haven't been deliberately denied an education to keep them subordinate to it.

But hey, that's outside of McA's personal little sphere of worldly sophistication, so it must not be important or even exist at all.

Anonymous said...

I think, as a gay man who grew up Southern Baptist (and is now a Deist), I'm in a special position to say "Megan, you're a moron" in regards to pretty much all her "points" here.