Rachel Maddow & Frank Schaeffer: GOP Sub-Culture Is "The Fifth Column Of Insanity"

[Turborama]

Run time: 06:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPwGV1h4lW8   Posted on YouTube: September 17, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 17, 2009 By DU Member: Turborama Views on DU: 8908

 
35% of New Jersey Conservatives think President Obama is the anti-Christ. Frank Schaeffer explains where all this madness stems from and states that "the Evangelical sub-culture has rotted the brain of the United States of America".

Personally, I don't think only the sub-culture is insane, it seems like this Christofascist insanity has gone mainstream with Faux news engendering it.

[Janice325]

1. I saw him on Rachel tonight.

The man was ON FIRE.
Thanks for the vid. :applause:

k&r

[bjobotts]

59. FAUX news is an enemy of the nation ran by a foreigner.All supporters are enemies.

[bjobotts]

60. The worst of America appeared on 9/12 sponsored by Faux..They don't belong here in our democracy

[nxylas]

68. Yeah they do

Not that we have a democracy, we have, as Glenn Beck would say, an oligarhy (sic). But even in a perfect democracy, the teabaggers would still exist. They'd just be at the sidelines, where they belong after the electorate so roundly rejected them, instead of having the entire establishment falling over themselves to "listen to their concerns".

[PA Democrat]

2. Recommended. That was a classic.

[scarface2004]

3. frank is on the money!!

those people are freaks, let them wait for spaceship jesus, we got more important things to do!!

[fascisthunter]

4. I Really Appreciate what this man is doing

[veganlush]

5. this guy's a treasure. we should all buy his book,: crazy for god.n/t

[EFerrari]

22. And talk it up to our peeps. His voice is so important to our culture

at this moment.

[BootinUp]

6. How come I worry about Mr. Schaffer's safety? nt

[waiting for hope]

8. You and me both ...

They probably call him Judas behind closed doors.

[Janice325]

19. Me three.

I hope he's around for a long, long, time.

[scentopine]

7. Maddow is media superwoman, real life hero -nt

[tomm2thumbs]

9. where would we be with the rachel

a lot worse off, that's for damn sure

[midnight]

10. K&R.

[and-justice-for-all]

11. I do not know which is funnier...

what he said or those poll results at the bottom of the screen!!

[StreetKnowledge]

12. He had the afterburners on, no two ways about that.

Damn, its glad to see somebody escape the insanity of evangelicals. You'd figure with their blatant hypocrisy that is a regular occurence and the stupidity of so many of them, that more people would think "ya, that man (referring to the evangelical here) is a f**king idiot."

And yes, Fox News loves this shit, and its entirely because it makes them money from people watching it, who are too stupid to realize that the guy in command at Faux Noise is a guy who would gladly sell them out if he could make more money elsewhere.

[BrklynLiberal]

13. Thanks for this link. Schaeffer was awesome.

[Why Syzygy]

14. I wish we would move beyond the village idiots.

I've been waiting! Democrats need to quit playing to the lowest denominators.
Unless THEY ARE ONE, there's no excuse.

[ihavenobias]

15. Big K & R n/t

[Turborama]

16. Here's the full piece with a very interesting intro....

Rachel introduces the Schaeffer segment with an exploration into the GOP's current acts of descent against the administration. They are going after the "Czars" with a stupid "Sack Act" they are trying to put forward. Glenn BecKKK has been going after the "Czars" now for a few months. This raises the question, is Faux leading the GOP or are the GOP leading Faux? Rachel also mentions that apparently they are going after Hillary's legitimacy now, as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emPFYIO8T_U&feature=sub

[Douglas Carpenter]

24. thanks, just watched it now!!

[ro1942]

17. That's the best and clearest it's been said.

[eppur_se_muova]

18. I ***really*** have to read this guy's book. nt

[mmonk]

20. That was fun.

[Douglas Carpenter]

21. fanatastic..to anyone familiar with the Evangelical movement - his father was a super star

- probably the most important fundamentalist-Protestant theologian and scholar of the later half of the 20th century.

I highly recommend EVERYONE read his fabulous book:

Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back

Book overview

By the time he was nineteen, Frank Schaeffer’s parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer, had achieved global fame as bestselling evangelical authors and speakers, and Frank had joined his father on the evangelical circuit. He would go on to speak before thousands in arenas around America, publish his own evangelical bestseller, and work with such figures as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Dr. James Dobson. But all the while Schaeffer felt increasingly alienated, precipitating a crisis of faith that would ultimately lead to his departure—even if it meant losing everything.
With honesty, empathy, and humor, Schaeffer delivers “a brave and important book” (Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog)—both a fascinating insider’s look at the American evangelical movement and a deeply affecting personal odyssey of faith.

link on Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=mJIKlq2v6WAC&dq=frank+schaeffer+crazy+for+God

[Kindigger]

31. Funny excerpt from the book...

...my mother Edith--then in her eighties--heard that George W. Bush might run for the presidency, she exclaimed, "What? But Barbara asked me to pray especially for young George. She didn't think he had what it took to do anything."



:rofl: Definitely a must buy!

[Iwillnevergiveup]

23. Yup!

A huge K&R for Frank Schaeffer who needs to be on teevee daily at least once. Preferably morning, noon and night.

[onestepforward]

25. K&R. Very insightful.

[Faux pas]

26. Loved it! I wanted to hug and kiss him and shout

Hallelujah!

[democracy1st]

27. K & R

[Hubert Flottz]

28. "The Fifth Column Of Insanity"

Calling Lindsey Graham, Calling Lindsey Graham, Calling Lindsey Graham, Calling Lindsey Graham...

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Holds a Hearing on Wartime Executive Power and the National Security Agency's Surveillance Authority

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/07/AR2006020700731.html

Will duct tape work against church snakes?

[Joanne98]

29. I LUV this guy!

[ErtBob]

30. I love this guy!!!

Gonna buy two of his books today!!!

[rAVES]

32. excellent!

[Joe Bacon]

33. Frank is telling the unadulterated truth!

I've seen what Christianity has done to my family. It's turned them into hard core Republican pod people waiting for the rapture and they DO believe the birther shit that their preachers spit out of their pulpits. They DO believe the shit about Obama being the antichrist and the rapture is coming. You cannot reason with them.

Right now, they believe that JC and his Sonshine Band are probably chowing down at the Howard Johnsons on Alpha Centauri. As soon as JC finishes his Tendersweet Clam Roll, HoJo Cola and scoop of peppermint stick ice cream, he's going to get his posse (which includes Michael Landon and John Wayne) into his Ford Explorer and drive over to Earth where JC will pop the trunk, turn on his Holy Hoover Vacuum CLeaner and proceed with THE GREAT BLOW JOB that pulls every white Christian Republican in the USA into the trunk and then JC drives off for the Pearly Gates leaving the godless Democrats in charge.

They denounce me as godless because I reject their asinine religion. I ask them what they will do when the rapture occurs and they're left behind, yet I'm gone along with all the liberals? Oh, why even ask that, they will stand in line for the 666 because their preachers will tell them that's God's will.

[bigmonkey]

50. I wish there was a word for their religion.

The religion, that is, that consists of believing whatever your pastor says, which is what a lot of this amounts to. "Pastorism" doesn't cut it, it's not a scary enough term to refer to this danger to humanity.

Seems like if you're going to have organized religion, then at least it ought to be organized well, and the crazies kept from positions of power.

[HillWilliam]

61. I've called it "wackogelical" for years.

The last bastion of the unwashed and the unlettered, where most of their "preachahs" are no better off than they are. I grew up in the rural south and have seen waaayyyy too much of it up-close.

Y'seen one circus and you've seen 'em all. P. T. Barnum was right.

[bigmonkey]

73. It's crazy, but it's crazy in a specific way.

The way they organize their faith means that the decisions on what's true and false for the entire congregation is in the hands of a particular man (mostly) or woman with <i>very sketchy credentials in theology</i>. That is to say, these are often people who don't understand their own field very well, yet they are determining how their parishioners live their total lives. It's not just being ruled by a priesthood, it's being ruled by an ignorant, petty priesthood.

Mind you, I don't mean all Xtians here, just these ones who are what Frank Shaeffer calls the "village idiots" of our society.

[HillWilliam]

77. I understand all too well

As I said, I grew up in the rural south, trained to become a Lutheran minister, wound up running as far from it all as I could get. It shocked me even in high school that I knew more about the Bible, knew my koine Greek and had a passing grasp of Aramaic which was a damnsight more than the preachahs in the county where I was could say.

I got dragged from one "church" to another tent-meeting to another revival in hopes I'd change my "sinning" Lutheran ways. Nawp. What really did it was my pastor sent me to the Episcopal priest for help with Hebrew and I got an earful from each about how the other was liable going to hell.

Sheesh. That's when I decided they were all probably nucking futs and I could probably find spirituality on my own just as well, thankyewverymuch.

All their heads would have exploded if I had gone ahead a come out right then and there. *I* certainly didn't have a problem with being gay and spiritually-connected. In that county, it would have been asking to have been crucified and the wood lit afire with me nailed to it. Fugeddaboudit.

So, truly, I DO understand what you're saying. I've lived with 'em. You're preaching (no pun) to the choir.

[bigmonkey]

78. Yup, exactly.

I just wish there was a way to make this clear to the everyday person. This is the blind leading the blindfolded.

[HillWilliam]

79. Ain't THAT the truth

PT Barnum was right.

[Submariner]

34. Thanks for telling it like it is Frank

[tanyev]

35. Yowsah!

:applause:

[mcollier]

36. Blatantly Honest.... A bit of a broad brush though....

[Canuckistanian]

47. I didn't like the way he dismissed all of them as idiots

No doubt there are a lot of low-intelligence people in the fundamentalist movement, but some of them are educated, intelligent and socially savvy. They're the really dangerous ones.

[glitch]

52. George Lakoff and Max Blumenthal both have good insights on how these people are indoctrinated

very intentionally in childhood by extremely authoritarian parenting techniques. Kevin Dobson is a big source of their brainwashing how-tos.

Very scary and not limited to "the stupid" or related to intelligence, their brains are intentionally wired to process input differently from childhood.

Permanent distrust and anxiety is a big part of their early childhood programming, then they require repetition from an authority figure to ease their constant state of anxiety. Like addicts.

[mwb970]

69. But even the "educated, intelligent" ones allow themselves to be misinformed.

Their intelligence seems to desert them the moment the Beckster comes on.

How could an "educated, intelligent" person be a fundamentalist anyway? A truly smart person would not be satisfied with the simple-minded approach these people take to everything.

[rucky]

37. I've been meaning to pick up his book for awhile.

Crazy for God is definitely next on my reading list.

[keith the dem]

38. An honest voice in the wilderness

He must be listened to...to save both our country and christianity!

these people have commandeered the church and have largely destroyed it for anybody with half a brain, and they are hell bent on turning the USA into a third world country.

[slay]

39. I'm so glad you posted this Turborama - very powerful

Wish we could convince evangelicals to watch it. :eyes:

[lobodons]

40. Sometimes you just know

Sometimes you just know when you are watching a segment live that it will be featured on DU. This was one of those times. This guy is great!! It is also nice that when he gets going Rachel just sits back and let's him go without interruption.

[EnviroBat]

41. Part of the bigger picture as I see it.

The Corporofascists that control the media in this country love this shit. They want the country divided because it generates "news" and ratings. They are frothing at the mouth for an incident to occur at some town hall so they can give it weeks of endless coverage. This entire country is being played like punks in this game. They know how to manipulate the target sheep with messages of "We're on your side" to the "Jesus rode a dinosaur" crowd. After all, they are the easiest to manipulate because the buy anything that Beack and Hannity spoon feed them.

FOX News is the enemy. Murdock is destroying this country from the inside out.

[WatchWhatISay]

43. Don't give them that much credit.

We are not impotent.

Though many of our "leaders" are.

[Uncle Joe]

54. I would make one addendum to your post, the Corporofascists that control the media

want the country divided but "news" and ratings are secondary to their interests. I'm convinced the reich wing elements of the corporate media don't believe half the shit they spew, but they know the power of emotional propaganda.

They know the easiest way to dominate "We the Peoples'" government; on behalf of corporate supremacy, is the Machiavellian model of "divide and conquer," and dividing the American People is the means to the end of giving preeminence to corporate interests over those of the people. In this regard the corporate media are working on behalf of their corporate ad/commercial buying clients' interests, the American People are only viewed as customers or consumers to be sold a product, candidate or down the river, we're expendable.

[mudplanet]

66. The Communications Act of 1934 stated that the airwaves

are a public resource and that broadcasters are licensed to use them in the "public interest, convenience and necessity."

Then you get Ronald Raygun who begins a process of packing the FCC board of commissioners with people who disagree with that law and begin an inexorable process of treating the airwaves as the private resource of corporations who view broadcasting's primary goal as a way to 'sell audiences to advertisers."

Since Raygun, a succession of conservative governments have made it SOP to ignore the law and just do what they want.

I'm increasingly convinced that we are fucked. I don't see any way to turn this shit around without a major cataclysm of some sort. These people are dangerous fanatics, and they have the resources of many major corporations behind them.

[ProfessorPlum]

42. Don't hold back, Frank. Tell us what you really think! :) That was awesome.

[Canuckistanian]

44. I liked that "village idiot" analogy

It's so true. You have a political party that's totally run by village idiots and no one is even thinking of stopping them.

[BREMPRO]

48. "A village cannot reorganize village life to suit the village idiot- it's as simple as that "

he's on fire and right on target. He outlines how they have basically removed themselves from civil society and indoctrinated their children to be village idiots. They should be treated as such and should be sent back to the mountain. Mainstream Republicans need to stop pandering to them and gather the courage to retake their party from this fanatical and mis-educated fringe. I like that he also is not inditing religion, but the method practiced by evangelicals. If they lived like the Amish, no one would care- but they are in our face and kudos to Schaeffer for calling them out for what they are, and urging us to move beyond them. They can't be reasoned with. Most of us here at DU have already learned that lesson.

[RedCloud]

56. This seems to be what will work in the sound bites... the village idiot

While Democrats sought to manage the economic crisis, health care crisis, etc. Republican so and so was busy catering to the voices of extremism and irrational beliefs.

[BeyondGeography]

72. That quote will stay with me forever

Schaeffer is such a gifted communicator.

[ensho]

45. kick

nt

[Dr.Phool]

46. I just ordered his book.

It should arrive about the time I finish "The Family".

And I forwarded the link to everyone I know. Especially the assholes who send me right-wing bullshit.

[alsame]

49. He scares me every time

I see him because I know he's telling the truth about the insanity of the fundies. Even if they are only 25-30% of the population, it's too much.:scared:

[Overseas]

51. K&R. Glad he's speaking out against those who "distrust facts per se"

but also sad that as a former Republican, he doesn't see any GOP leader these days who has the strength or is willing to risk his position to go against the Christian Taliban.

[Douglas Carpenter]

53. Frank Schaeffer also wrote three semi-autobiographical novels known as The Calvin Becker Trilogy

Frank Schaeffer also wrote three semi-autobiographical novels known as The Calvin Becker Trilogy, which tells the story of a young boy growing up in Europe - the son of a prominent fundamentalist scholar. They are wonderful stories, filled with brilliant anecdotes. Anyone with an Evangelical background or interested in this phenomena will particularly love these books.

The first of these three novels in the Calvin Becker Trilogy is Portofino :

Portofino

By Frank Schaeffer

Book overview

Calvin is the son of a missionary family, and their trip to Portofino is the highlight of his year. But even in the seductive Italian summer, the Beckers can't really relax. Calvin's father could slip into a Bad Mood and start hurling potted plants at any time. His mother has an embarrassing habit of trying to convert "pagans" on the beach. And his sister Janet has a ski sweater and a miniature Bible in her luggage, just in case the Russians invade and send them to Siberia. His dad says everything is part of God's plan. But this summer, Calvin has some plans of his own ... Portofino is the prequel to the noted trilogy that includes Zermatt. A huge bestseller, Portofino has been translated into seven languages.

http://books.google.com/books?id=6iQFGwAACAAJ&dq=frank+schaeffer+portofino

==============================================

The second novel in the Calvin Becker Trilogy is Zermatt

Zermatt

By Frank Schaeffer

Book overview

A sequel to Portofino takes readers on a hilarious, poignant coming-of-age journey as Calvin, a fourteen-year-old boy from a fundamentalist family, confronts his first sexual feelings while on a ski trip to Switzerland, enjoying his first sexual encounters with a waitress.

http://books.google.com/books?id=tMwtWxGcLk8C&dq=frank+schaeffer+Zermatt

his third novel in the Calvin Becker Trilogy is Saving Grandma

Saving Grandma

By Frank Schaeffer

Book overview

This final entry in the Calvin Becker trilogy continues the story of an utterly unpredictable family—filled with the same wit, warmth, and flashing insight that earned widespread acclaim for Portofino and Zermatt. Calvin Becker’s family have survived and persisted as Bible-thumping missionaries; it’s their duty to spread the Word to everyone they meet. But now, having weathered a crisis precipitated by the godless Swiss, they face an even greater spiritual challenge right in their own home: Grandma. Foulmouthed, foul-tempered, and heathen through and through, she’s staying in the spare room, recuperating from a broken hip—and making it next to impossible for the Beckers to do the Lord’s work. Calvin’s pious mom is determined to save Grandma’s soul, even if she’s doing it through gritted teeth and deadly measures. His father’s spending more and more time in his room, blasting opera to drown out the old lady’s voice. And Calvin wishes things would just get back to normal so they can go on vacation and he can get close to the girl he loves. But then Calvin starts to understand Grandma a little better and appreciate her a little more. After all, misery loves company.

http://books.google.com/books?id=tNtHXDD_siAC&dq=frank+schaeffer+saving+grandma

[DuaneBidoux]

55. He said it: you can't convince them you must go around. Yet Obama tries to negotiate still

with these people. It is impossible. As he said, they are distrustful of facts and so no amount of evidence or rational argument could ever convince them.

Obama must realize this, and get on with working on a strictly democratic health care bill.

[Arugula Latte]

57. It's so refreshing to hear someone just tell it like it is on national TV.

Frank, you are spot on. :toast:

[FlyByNight]

58. Pleased with Mr. Schaeffer's blunt language

He certainly didn't mince words.

There are no more Eisenhower Rs left (at least in Congress) and the sooner the Obama administration realizes this the better. How do you talk to people who reject facts and reason out of hand because it doesn't fit their narrative?

Please Mr. President, as Mr. Schaeffer stated, move past them.

[AntiFascist]

62. I'm glad to see this being called a "Fifth Column"...

but I also see the Media using this as a major distraction. While everyone is focused on Joe Wilson and Glenn Beck, no one is paying attention to the details of healthcare reform.

[vinylsolution]

63. Absolutely spot-on assessment.

Distract, divide, defeat, repeat. And it works every time - without fail.

Watch out for the next dead celebrity, just when things get embarrassing all over again for the GOP.

[Zoeisright]

64. Frank Schaeffer is my hero.

He really speaks truth to power.

[tomm2thumbs]

65. atonement - I sense a huge need for atonement in his words

and frankly, I'm sensing he is receiving it for coming forward rather than crawling away in shame

[SavageDem]

67. Thx for postin'!

Outstanding schtuff from Frank! Loved the interviews of him I've seed/heard before, and his book is on my "To Buy" list.

[valerief]

70. We don't build the village for the village idiot. Great!

:rofl:

[ut oh]

71. I didn't realize....

The Flintstones are actually historical recreations...

It makes so much more sense now!!!

[DeSwiss]

74. I'm saving a copy of this.....

...video to pass down to my grandchildren. (tears up)

- It was just beautiful......

K&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[grassfed]

75. kick

[paulkienitz]

76. damn, what an incurable optimist...