Carson spoke at the Republican convention last night, and of course it was bizarre.
He starts off with an announcement that he’s a proud asshole…that is, he declares that he’s not politically correct. You know, this PC thing was invented by assholes, to justify their persecution complex when they’re called out on being assholes, right?
Then he trots out his claim to credibility, which is that he was a brain surgeon, and treats this as a testimonial that he must be an expert on reason. I’ve dissected fish, I guess that means I know how to breathe underwater.
But then we get to the fun stuff: Carson accuses Hillary Clinton of Satanism, by way of that conservative boogey man, Saul Alinsky.
He wrote a book called Rules for Radicals. It acknowledges Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom. Now think about that. This is our nation where our founding document, the Declaration of Independence talks about certain inalienable rights that come from our creator, a nation where our Pledge of Allegiance says we are ‘One nation under God.’ This is a nation where every coin in our pockets and every bill in our wallet says, ‘In God We Trust.’ So are we willing to elect someone as president who has as their role model somebody who acknowledges Lucifer? Think about that.
It’s true! Everything he mentioned is a True Fact! Our money does have “In God We Trust” stamped on it, something that was done in the face of the Red Scare in the 1950s. The Pledge of Allegiance does say “One nation under God”…now. Again, that was an addition made in the 1950s. The authors of the Declaration of Independence included a bunch of freethinkers who included a vague mention of a Creator (but of course, elsewhere they carefully divorced themselves from any specific sectarian intention). And yes, Alinsky does include an epigraph that mentions Lucifer.
Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.
—Saul Alinsky
But see, this is where reason comes into play. You can cite a hodge-podge of miscellaneous True Facts, but you have to use your reason to assemble them into meaning. And Carson uses these fragments of facts to imply that Satan is real, Hillary Clinton serves him, and that an imaginary superbeing will turn away from America if we don’t have “In God We Trust” jingling in our pockets, like sublime capitalist prayer wheels.
This makes no sense. This is unreason. Worse, it’s the conservative version of political correctness.
At least it’s nice to know I’ll be voting for Lucifer in November.
Pretty sure Lucifer is real and that I was once married to him. He didn’t look anything like Hillary Clinton, tho. Shapeshifter?
Hillary/Lucy 2016!
“the conservative version of political correctness”
That’s it precisely. No one is more politically correct than a conservative, in their own polarity. It must take them all their spare time to learn how they must react to every contingency… every possible news story or event. Because they always, always do have a conservative-politically correct reaction.
Man, they are really loading up the buckets of crap to throw on the walls, hoping some of it sticks. Where are the new ideas, new policies, new ways to improve the lives of Americans?
You can make any point using the Bible. Alinsky could have smoothly referred to Jesus Christ as the “first rebel,” since he was persecuted and executed — and he’s also God so he existed before everything else. I’ve seen Christians do so. Carson is indulging in a kind of magical thinking here, in which mention of Satan is proof that one is following Satan.
And … once again, the country’s motto and pledge are brought up as evidence that the United States was historically founded on and necessarily grounded in a belief in God. And why wouldn’t they be? It’s a damn good argument, simple to follow and understand. Atheists who insist that movement atheists should not attack “In God We Trust’ and “One Nation, Under God” for strategic reasons may or may not be correct. But if they say that these things should not be protested because they’re minor or insignificant, they’re wrong. They are regularly used as weapons against both atheists-as-good-citizens and the separation of church and state.
I was binge watching Stranger Things on Netflix last night and missed it all. Though, from what I am hearing today, that title applies perfectly to the RNC convention.
redwood @4:
New ideas? The lies this year are different from the lies four years ago. That’s new.
New policies? They have gone even further to the right. That’s new.
New ways to improve the lives of Americans? Well, according to the GOP, the only actual Americans are white, male, cis-gendered, Christian, middle- to upper-class, straight conservatives. Of course, the GOP agenda will only help the richest of the rich of that already privileged group, so, maybe tossing a lot of money to the already privileged is new?
Okay, none of that is new. They do it every year.
I am noticing, though, that many conservatives I know (not all of them) are horrified or disgusted or dumbfounded by Trump. I keep telling them, “Bid no Trump.”
Why are people always picking on Satan? Satan is cool. Alinsky is right. Satan was the first to stand up against that evil, hateful, self centered, blood thirsty, misogynistic, homophobic, slavery endorsing mass murderer Yahweh!
This is why we should oppose such small infringements. They empower assholes who will take every inch we give them and demand more.
I would vote for Lucifer. He at least (in some interpretations of the story) wanted us to know the difference between good and evil. That’s more than we can say about most Republicans.
davidnangle 3:
Nah. They can just tune into FoxNews, listen to talk radio blowhards or read right-wing online media to learn the conservative-politically correct reaction to anything making the news.
redwood 4:
There is nothing new about conservatives or conservatism. Ever. They are constitutionally suppressed in both empathy and creativity (among other things). “New” = OMG! Dangerous! Social Experiment!
Sure, they’ll come up with “new” ways to harm and oppress people who aren’t like them from time to time, but really they’re just taking an advantage of whatever opportunity happens to present itself in an ever-shifting landscape. The impetus, however, never, ever changes. Look at “bathroom bills,” for example, which weren’t even on conservatives’ radar until only a few years ago.
If you’re following Lucifer, you’re following the morning star. Works for me (as a metaphor, at least).
Having read the latest Laundrey novel, I am prone to blame the bizarre rantings on Krantzberg syndrome. They have reached their high positions by selling out to The Old Gods, but if you overdo it, sinister critters from the Far Side will cross over and start nibbling on your brain..
(The only way to avoid this is to become a vampire, which shifts the load of brain parasites to your victims)
Shame on you!
It’s not politically correct to call it “political correctness” when conservatives are offended! They don’t like it, not one little bit! The best way to get conservatives to stop talking to you is to challenge one of their sacred cows, and this is a biggie.
Carson got it wrong anyway. According to the bible.
1. There was no war in heaven. That comes from Milton.
There is a war in heaven in Revelation. It hasn’t happened yet.
2. Satan doesn’t rule in Hell. He lives in Syria. Or did. I’m sure he has moved recently, probably in a refugee camp somewhere.
3. And oh yeah, the walking, smart ass snake in Genesis wasn’t satan. That was a retcon.
After losing his legs, he met a nice girl snake and they had babies.
Most of what xians believe isn’t found in the bible. It’s all Made Up Stuff piled on more Made Up Stuff.
not a numismatist (2nd hand only), but I thought In God We Trust [IGWT] was on coins well before the 50’s red scare. Not ubiquitous, but on most coins. Gauden’s Golden Eagle $10 coin (recognized universally as “the most beautiful coin in the world”) did not include the IGWT words on it, as detracting from its design.
For that reason there was a brief gap in its minting for a few years.
The red scare inserted “under God” into the Pledge.
..
I tried watching Carson speak, but into his second paragraph I abandoned it as it seemed only hate speech with nothing of value.
I want to add my version of “PC”. ‘political’ does not refer to politics, but derived from “polite”. Saying one will not be PC, is saying one is going to be rude and insulting. (which Carson exemplified, along with every other anti-PC person). PC was created as a specificity for ‘etiquette’ referring to the etiquette of speech, while etiquette refers to a wide range of behavior patterns. When speaking to a group of people, etiquette recommends using the name for the group the group prefers not the name they object to, in order to keep them listening and not walking away. What’s so hard about that?
Why shouldn’t we thank Lucifer, for bringing us light? That’s why we named him such. I guess the Rethugs prefer to live in the dark. [calling Dark Ages… The Rethugs want to speak to you]
Minor point of correction: “It’s true! Everything he mentioned is a True Fact! Our money does have “In God We Trust” stamped on it, something that was done in the face of the Red Scare in the 1950s.”
In God We Trust was adopted as our nation’s motto in the 50s, and first appeared on paper money in 1957, but it first appeared on our coins in 1864 as a reaction to the Civil War.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust
This is what Carson’s rant reminds me of
Has anyone checked to see if Carson accidentally picked up some prions while he was still doing surgery?
@Raven (#15)
I have been making those same points to my mother for almost three decades, to no effect.
Stop disagreeing with the man of color, PZ Lilywhite.
Bye, Martin Conde, troll.
I ain’t no rocket surgeon or brain scientist, but is not the idea of gathering some disparate facts and mushing them together into a nudge nudge wink wink innuendo the very definition of a conspiracy truthers?
redwood @4:
What part of “I’m building a wall” don’t you understand? (It used to be a “fence.” This counts as new.)
Plus, they want to put Hillary Clinton in prison. This is a revised policy from the previous platform of putting Barack Obama in prison for being a Kenyan Muslim atheist usurper.
Yanno, I’ll take Lucifer ANY day — of the entire Biblical cast, he was the one decent dude.