Sunday, October 5, 2014

Commentary Tidbits

Sahara Reporters: Ebola Epidemic: Where Are The Faith Healers In Africa?

The Irish Atheist: Why Left Behind Didn't Convert Me

The Root: How a Black Gay Mormon Kid Lost His Faith 

Talking Points Memo: Inside the International House of Prayer

Salon: Stephen Colbert mocks Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal in epic Values Voter Summit takedown

RH Reality Check: MRAs for Jesus: A Look Inside the Christian ‘Manosphere’

The Independent: An unholy alliance of US and Russian Christians are fighting against Estonian gay rights

2 comments:

  1. That article on the Christian "Manosphere" was interesting. I've long been morbidly fascinated with that subculture, in no small part because many of the people in it seem to embody that old adage about politics creating strange bedfellows. For example, you've got PUAs (pick up artists) trying to forge alliances with Christian fundamentalists who want to outlaw pretty much everything that makes casual, no-strings-attached sex possible; conversely, you've got puritanical fundamentalists peppering their speech and writings with PUA jargon (ie referencing something that was originally created to help (presumably Godless) men fornicate). Even the well-documented links between so-called Men's Rights Activism and religious conservatism struck me as strange when I started to notice them. After all, back then, I believed that MRAs really were interested in helping boys and men in those areas where they were the ones getting the short and shitty end of the stick, so was therefore puzzled to see them forging alliances with religious conservatives: people who aren't exactly renowned for wanting to help liberate folk from restrictive and outdated gender roles. (Indeed, a lot of the MRA screeds I read could basically be boiled down to the contradictory message: "The patriarchy hurts men too, so let's all go back to it!") Another funny contradiction that pops up in the Christian Manosphere a lot concerns the so-called Paleo Diet, something a lot of Manospherians seem to really be into (why, I've no idea). Bizarrely enough, in the Christian Manosphere, you'll often find creationists espousing the virtues of that diet no less than passionately than everyone else! How's that supposed to work?! After all, aren't they supposed to believe Paleolithic humans didn't even exist?!

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    1. Zosimus -- This is fascinating. I haven't looked too closely at the PUA/MRA subculture, but if it overlaps with right-wing fundamentalism, it could make for an absorbing study. Insecure men are birds of a feather no matter what their subculture, it seems.

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