Growing up, I hated even the idea of a god, let alone a group of people that would follow such a callous creator. Not only are children born sick, your loved ones suffer and then they’re taken away all too soon. Why would people actually worship such a being? Ambivalent at best, cruel at worst, is how I saw it. And then they themselves could be even worse. Self-righteous and judgemental, always trying to get you to admit your guilt for some slight or shortfall that didn’t meet their standard. Oh, and tough luck if you’re born gay - sorry. But god doesn’t make mistakes, so you must be pretending, that’s all… it couldn’t possibly be that our book, written by humans, is wrong.
Also, I talk to my god every day and he loves me and he protects me… how am I meant to take anything you say seriously when you believe that nonsense? But honestly, the worst part was the Christian movies. They were just propaganda of the lowest sort, stupid drivel that put preaching before story and they always suffered for it. Who was ever excited to watch a Christian movie? Nobody.
Then the 20-teens happened and the culture shifted…
I used to think I just hated religion, and while I do, that’s not all it is. I hate any ideology who’s meat-puppets try to bend others to stupid world view. I was glad when the atheist movement started gaining traction, but little did I realise that something just as bad, if not worse, was waiting to take the place of religion.
For years now, I’ve been non-woke/anti-woke/whatever you want to call a normal person in times of ideological madness. The way wokies operate is annoying, they ruin everything they touch because they’re always putting their ideology first. They write stories and they can’t help but shoving their ideological messaging into every crevice of the narrative. They sacrifice story, for messaging… which makes for bad storytelling.
Now, before you get that acidic upswelling in your gullet and the indoctrinated compulsion to call me a fascist overwhelms you… just chill out, and wait a minute.
I’ve done a few of those political compass tests, and I’ve always ended up just left of centre… and the recent events of the global coof-coof shifted me downward, if anything. I’m fine with the gays being gay, I’m happy for women to have equal pay and opportunity and I think everyone should have a fair go. I say that knowing that there’s “never Left enough” for some people though, so I’m saying it just to be transparent, not in some false hope of winning people over.
I’ve been inside an ideologically subverted university; I know what it’s like when a tutor is compromised to the point that they hijack a course just so they can peddle their brain rot. I have a daughter, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some blue-haired failure fill her head with nonsense that ruins her life.
But, it’s been a good 10 years since this nonsense was really mainlined into society, and while its wrecked untold damage on every front, the everyday person is starting to take notice. But, along with the everyday individual who just wants to live their lives in peace, the religious Right have noticed as well.
Amid calls of “wE’rE sO bAcK!” we have Christians/Catholic Right swarming over X, thinking the time of the(ir) second coming is at hand. They can say what they want without being persecuted, and they get to point out all the stupid stuff the Ideological Left does… but the thing they always seem to forget, is that they’re just as insane as the people they’re attacking. Talking about trying to take the vote away from women, talking about how Christian stories are the only stories worth telling. Don’t even get me started on their opinion of people who aren’t white… since my daughter is only half white, you can bet that doesn’t sit well with me.
I’m not going to side with one evil to destroy another, I don’t care if it’s the fascists or the communists or the Catholics or the Muslims - anyone with an ideology that necessitates the adherence of all and the exclusion of some, is evil. The Left has some good ideas, and they’ve got a lot of bad ideas. The Right has some good ideas, and they’ve got a lot of bad ideas, too. Anything beyond the norm, in any direction, is an extremist.
Trying to convert gay kids into being straight is evil. Trying to convert boys into girls, or vice versa, is evil. Everything these people touch is grabbed and forced through the lens of their beliefs, and whole swathes of the real world that don’t fit their narrative and cut off and discarded.
You can live your life however you want, you can have your religion or your ideology, just stay away from me and mine. I won’t try to control you, and you don’t try to get me to live the way you want to live. But, for all that you consider holy or sacred, please learn how to write better stories…