Yes, weird Christian beliefs do influence America

[cbayer]

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/12/yes_weird_christian_beliefs_do_influence_america_partner/

THURSDAY, SEP 12, 2013 05:37 AM PDT
Yes, weird Christian beliefs do influence America
Breitbart, the Blaze and the 700 Club are just the tip of a massive iceberg
BY AMANDA MARCOTTE


Pat Robertson (Credit: AP)


Does it really matter that America is home to a bunch of religious fanatics who constantly spin lurid and offensive ideas about how the world works? It’s an interesting question, in light of the inevitable fundamentalist wankery that has risen up in response to discussion over the United States intervening in the civil war in Syria. USA Today published an article about the various Christian “end times” fanatics who are latching onto the Syrian conflict as evidence for their apocalypse that never quite comes.

Hamilton Nolan of Gawker was skeptical, noting that the article was vague about which Christian websites were making these connections and that the only named Christians cautioned against making these connections. After a bit of quick digging, Nolan discovered that one of the most mainstream conduits of the Syria = Apocalypse theory is the Blaze, Glenn Beck’s website. “Fear not, humanity,” Nolan wrote, “all remains in equilibrium.” The implication being that Glenn Beck and the Blaze are understood as marginal characters, so their rantings shouldn’t be of any concern to the average Gawker reader.

It’s a common refrain aimed at any journalist who covers the religious right and its weird, paranoid mindset, as I did recently on AlterNet with a list of 10 Christian conspiracy theories. The idea is that by giving these marginal characters attention, you actually make the problem worse. A recent Cracked article flirted with that idea, describing Robertson’s show as “a fundamentalist Christian slant that lost its cultural cachet years ago” and suggesting that by giving attention to the crazy things Robertson says, the media lets the 700 Club “pretend to be relevant again.”

It’s an understandable urge: people spouting crazy nonsense are better ignored. Their numbers are small and they really can’t build an audience for their wacky theories without relying on the mainstream media’s interest in covering weird, marginal characters spouting random, nonsensical ideas. People who think cassettes are the best music medium, cults built around the belief that space aliens are coming for us, people involved in Peter Thiel’s island project are all people whose wackiness comes in small enough numbers that ignoring them really robs them of power.

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[trotsky]

1. Once again I will have to request that when you choose to hotlink a picture like that...

PLEASE for the love of all that is not Pat Robertson, put a "WARNING: GRAPHIC" in your subject line. (Or just skip the picture altogether!)

[dimbear]

2. Why is the subhuman greedmonster pictured not in jail? Is it because his nonsense falls in some

special category, the way we wouldn't prosecute a 2 year old for public nakedness?