The Bible and it’s mostly commendable teachings are an uncritically examined votive for a cargo cult that is being weaponised against America’s democracy. What the ten commandments are, or are not, is immaterial. The critical lesson is the hegemony of Christians over non-Christians and, most importantly, distilled to the naturalness/righteousness of hegemony/hierarchy.

It is a thin entering wedge that is intended to open up the possibility of inculcating children with divisive conceptions and undermining critical thinking.

Yes the ten commandments could be put up on the wall with egalitarian intentions but that is implicitly not the case with the MAGA movement.

I wasn’t trying to be argumentative just adding clarity. I hope.

Think of it more like the flu. If I caught the flu I might have a temperature, a sore throat, loss of appetite, and headaches. If you catch the flu you might get headaches, diarrhea, exhaustion, and a dry cough.

Fascism is built upon and characterised by the exploitation of the current fissures of a stressed society. It is unlikely to lead to gas chambers and Hugo Boss uniforms as they were part of the specific evolution of fascism in Germany after it was crippled by the loss of the first world war. Usually, there are all sorts of barriers to full blooded fascism that give it part of its local character too as it tries to morph into whatever conglomerate of memes that it can ride to power.

Right now in America the pressure for fascism is being built with the tacit support of a lot of evangelical christians. It is not the whole of the story. It is part of the conglomerate. So the pride flags come down and the ten commandments go up.

The impulse behind one act is inclusive, welcoming persecuted minorities. This is fundamentally egalitarian and strengthens society.

The other is intended as part of a drive for cultural hegemony where a specific ingroup is underlined as sovereign. A hierarchial society of a majority of innate winners and, importantly, subgoups of losers/outsiders (to be feared/hated) is the backbone of fascism.

Of course, a single piece of straw will not break society’s back and manifest fascism on its own but pressure towards it is created by an aggregation of such straw.

This bias has been known and commented upon in UK political forums for over a decade. This, for instance, is parr for the course.

The show also constantly used rightwing hacks from client media or thinktank spokespeople when filling the non-politician spot. It got to the point that if felt that Kate Andrews had been burnt onto my monitor.

Do you not have otters?

Money is power. Just because that shower have the sense to sit outside of the spotlight of political scrutiny does not mean that they are apolitical nor does it make the influence they cast not strongly American in flavour.

And America too.

You had been merciful to a fault.

You have patience beyond the legibility of my app…

I have been trying to follow this discussion, but this is taking it a bit too far…

Would it be rude to suggest a ceasefire?

To acquire one unpaired valence electron.

I don’t call for an end to America over its hundreds of years of killings, murder, rape, slavery, genocide, ecocide, innumerable hypocrisies, and corrupting hegemony. I don’t come on here and sweatily proclaim that all I hope for is the fall of the American ascendency. I don’t because I recognise that America like Catholics or Muslims is a vast mix of people with a wide range of lived experiences and view points. And that not all of their history is terrible. Some of it is actually commendable. And the actions of the leaders often do not line up with the majority of their people.

Yes, true, Catholic church is outdated and reactionary with way more than it’s fair share bad actors but there are also hundreds of millions of Catholics, and people with Catholic backgrounds but no longer practicing, out there that are a wide mix of human beings that deserve a basic amount of respect.

You can, for clarity, include within the parameters of basic respect, to not have to endure your overgeneralising hostile invective.

I’m sorry but you come off as just another nutty reactionary to me.

Have a good day.

It’s perfectly legitimate to have issues with any organised religion but damning everyone brought up in their traditions is myopic.

I was brought up a catholic in Northern Ireland during the troubles. Similar prejudice was routinely trotted out to justify treating us as second class citizens. So surprise, surprise even now as an atheist, I find it a bit triggering, as anyone mght imagine, to hear someone singling out my persecuted community in such a toxic mischaracterisation. I didn’t ask to be catholic but I was brought up in a community of caring and open minded people. Sure there were arseholes but guess what every community has them.

There are some Catholics that are reactionary morons but the majority are not. Describing religions by the worst people in them doesn’t really come across as tolerant. Which ironically is what you’re accusing them of.

List of Distributist parties in the UK:

• National Distributist Party
• British National Party
• National Front

Hmmm, maybe the Catholic part isn’t the only part worth reviewing.

Also worth noting that the Conservative Party’s ‘Big Society’ schtick in 2010 was wrapped in the trappings of distributism.

Not that all this diminishes it entirely but it does seem to be an entry drug for exploitation by the right.

I gotta hold my hand up and state that I am not read up on it at all, so happy to be corrected. But my impression is that Pope Leo XIII’s conception was to reduce secular power so as to leave a void for the church to fill. And it’s the potential exploitation of that void that attracts the far right too.

A big part of political inertia is building and maintaining pressure on your opponents. Labour are currently trying to strip the Tories of their base by politically marching rightwards. The Tories on the otherhand are continuing their age old policy of stripping Labour of their working class base by duping the poor to voting against their own interests and collective responsibilities by inflaming their base instincts through the medium of tabloid-esque campaigns.

The London population firmly leans to the left so Labor only have to field a competent scandal-free (though of course scandals can always be manufactured) candidate for a shoe-in. Even with Khan’s milquetoast record the Tories had very little hope of replacing him.

So the political calculus was find a fall-guy (not one of their big guns) to take the L but bombastically push the type of toxic shite that the base of politically illiterate narcissists they have cultivated need to stay angry. Even though much of the issues were local to London the amount of extra airtime the London Mayoral race gets makes it a useful vehicle for more realistic target constituencies outside of the M25.

Take the ULEZ or LTN. Both are sensible approaches to reducing air pollution and improving quality of life in London. And most Londoners agree because they have to breath the air that’s available. However outside of London this issue becomes more about car owner’s rights as narcissists care less about how their journey into and around London effects the people that live there than their own convenience. So the Tories have set their stall up against these modest policies. They have been supporting and catalysing the tiny fanatical groups you occasionally see out protesting against them in London. These small groups make a lot of ‘noise’ in the news and online for little or no cost. That creates pressure on that part of social-norms that limit the perceived degree of acceptable selfishness and that’s a win for the Tories.