Message from Cloud Cukooland...and my response. UPDATE ADDED!

[ShazzieB]

Last edited Tue Aug 31, 2021, 08:47 PM - Edit history (4)

I received a reply to my response! It reads as follows:

You can remove yourself from any group. Click on the names at the top. Next “leave chat”

You will be shocked when the truth comes out. Trump won by a landslide!!!!

Everyone who got that death shot should repent before God for trusting man more than God. There are sick people at the top who have wanted to depopulate the world for a long time.

Personally I don’t want to see anyone die. It will be a scary and difficult time. 😰

What a loon! At least she told me how to get out of the chat.

I will not be replying to this. Enough is enough. I was tempted to snark back: "I don’t want to see anyone die, either. That's why I wish everyone would get vaccinated!" But I won't bother. Happy to be done with these chuckleeads.
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I got a totally weird, as in batshit crazy, message on FB messenger the other day. Somehow I got added to a group chat, without my permission or knowledge, a group chat that seems to be made up of people who are Trump Humpers, conspiracy theory believers, antivaxxers, etc., with a strong overlay of evangelical crazy. I don't know whose brilliant idea it was to add me to this group, but I think they're going to regret it when they read my reply.

I wish I could share the whole text of this message here, but I'm afraid it would just get alerted on and hidden for peddling right wing talking points. So I'll just share some excerpts to give you a sense of it,

It started out like this:

I know that many of my friends are not Christians however I hope everyone reads what I have put together.

Trump is coming back!!! ❤️

Nice, huh? At least she got right to the point. She then went on to say she has been spending her days listening to "news and Christian prophecies." This is followed by many paragraphs about the things that various "Chrisians" who believe they have the gift of prophecy are saying will happen in the coming months, including Trump being restored to office. *gag* She said that "people and hidden crimes" will be exposed throughout the fall, and "the truth about the election will be revealed." According to her, "there are hundreds of people who have seen dreams and visions of this happening."

Some other gems:

"This nation has cursed itself with abortion, embracing homosexuality, and trusting pharmaceuticals over God. Judgment is still coming. But those who are close to Him will survive this."

"I think those who took the vaccines will start dropping like flies this flu season. They took Pharmekia (witchcraft). There is no detoxing these. It causes permanent changes to how your immune system works, and curses your blood."

"This fall will be shocking and catastrophic in many ways. The vaccines will be exposed and the sinister agendas of evil people will be exposed."

There is much, much more, but I think that is enough to give you the general idea. All of it is every bit as crazy as the parts I have quoted here.

I could have just blocked the person who sent this and forgot about the whole thing but I decided to reply. I want these people to know it's not a good idea to assume that some total stranger will welcome this kind of communication. I sent the following response:

Hello. Lisa. I am writing in response to your message about Donald Trump being returned to office as our president. I would like to be removed from the list of people to whom these messages are being sent, because I am not one of those who is rooting for that to happen.

I am not and never have been a Trump supporter. I was delighted and relieved when he lost the election back in November, and I never want to see him returned to the White House.

That’s right: I said he lost the election. I do not believe the election was “stolen” or rigged. Trump lost, simply because the number of voters who wanted him gone significantly exceeded those who wanted him to have a second term.

As far as I am concerned, Joe Biden is doing a great job as our president, and I am very proud to have voted for him.

Furthermore, covid is a deadly disease and a very real threat to this country and to the world as a whole. Fortunately, we have safe and effective vaccines to fight it with. My husband and I got vaccinated the first chance we got, and we will get the booster the second it’s available to me. I truly wish everyone else would do the same.

I am not interested in trying to change anyone’s mind about any of these issues, and I don’t wish to argue with anyone about it. I’m simply stating my position, so you will understand why I am not interested in receiving messages like this. I wish you and everyone reading this all the best. I know you want the best for this country, the same as I do. We just have very, very different ideas about what that is.

May God bless America and all those reading this.

As I said in my response, I'm not under the illusion that I can change anyone's mind. I just want to let these people know that not everyone sees things as they do. I feel I would be remiss if I just let it go by without stating my views, but I tried to do it politely and matter of factly. Who knows, maybe I've given somebody something to think about.

[shenmue]

1. Pharmakia means medicine or drugs, as far as I know

I could be wrong, but then again, there are the matters of 1) I attend a Greek parish 2) it’s the 21st century.

[ShazzieB]

2. Evidently some think it has another (more sinister) meaning.

Your understanding of the word is correct, I'm sure. However some evangelical Christians have different ideas about it.

https://evidenceforchristianity.org/galatians-519-has-the-word-pharmakeia-which-means-the-use-and-administration-of-drugs-why-does-the-niv-translate-it-as-witchcraftr/

According to the above link, "pharmakeia" is translated as "witchcraft" in the NIV, the Bible translation that is favored by many evangelicals. I have a feeling my correspondent was thinking of it in those terms.

[LiberalLovinLug]

3. You were very cordial

I may not have been. I actually regret some of my responses to family cousins on FB. And these were strangers.

I think you did it perfectly. Just stating the facts of reality like that in a sucinct manner can be the best way of all. They can't just use their own reactionary responses because you didn't badmouth Trump. Or them for that matter. Just sounded like a normal person describing reality. But a "normal" person, who still believes in "normal" things they did 10 years ago is still a little crazy to these people. But a more relatable crazy person. So it may open a crack somewhere.

[ShazzieB]

7. Thanks!

That's exactly what I was going for. It helped that I was (oddly) not offended by the whole thing. It's harder if something is aimed at you personally, but this definitely wasn't. The person who wrote this is a complete stranger to me and vice versa. They were just expressing their own beliefs (or rather delusions), and I happened to be in the audience. I actually found it to be a fascinating, if disturbing, look inside the mind of a certain type of person that I have had little direct personal experience with (except for the evangelical aspect of it; I have relatives like that).

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. They think that if they BELIEVE good enough, then it will be true

These are the people who in high school hated science and hated math and use religion to fill the deficit.

[dewsgirl]

5. OMG those group chats are the worst, I got stuck in one and it was for a good cause a woman down the

Street was sexually assaulted. But I swear they were like a thousand people in that group, every time they would post any messages, I would get it. I know who put it up and they are good person, but I avoid Facebook at all costs. I didn't want to be rude and asked to be removed, but after 2 days of that I was done.
I do use Messenger for my daughter-in-law, sons and granddaughters, but never the actual platform.

[brer cat]

6. Well done, ShazzieB.

I doubt that I would have been so polite.

[ShazzieB]

8. Thanks, brer cat.

I actually found it surprisingly easy to be polite, I guess because I was more bemused by the message than offended.