A taxi ride in Mexico City... and fundamentalism

[nadinbrzezinski]

So I took a taxi to the airport this Saturday.

Usually the conversations with cabbies are about non important things, or once I found one guy who was also a medic, so we exchanged war stories.

But no...

This guy had Christian Music on his Ipod (which was on a very nice connector to his sound system, that one did catch my attention)

At one point he told me that the US was a Christian nation, since we have that "in god we trust" in the money. So I went into a lesson of WHY that thing was put there at the height of the cold war, and how there is actual separation of church\state in the US... and that sooner or later that will be removed too... rather later than sooner, but hey.

Then he tried to convince me that at least Mexico was on the right and correct path... so those very distant and foggy civics lessons (and having to memorize articles) came to me... and I started parroting the Mexican Constitution regarding separation of church and state, and that mexico is also a secular state. At this point I was a tad bothered, but not at the airport YET.

So he asks me, well DO YOU BELIEVE in god? Well when in an Island of Cannibals... yes, yes I do.

I told this guy, I do, and that is a damn personal matter. (I don't but I needed to GET to the airport, and yes fundies are fundies are fundies)

Now I gotta say, the music was ok... but lord, having to be preached on the way to the airport!

I knew Fundies are moving en force south of the border... but this was just damn amazing. Oh and on his taxi he had a telephone number for pregnant women to call for help... which made all the sense in the world... you see Abortion is NOW legal in Mexico City... and these assholes are starting early.

[Fumesucker]

1. I hope your tip reflected the desirability of the conversation..

:evilgrin:

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Knowing about salaries down there

I still gave the customary tip...

I KNOW I should have given the equivalent of two cents, but he is also dispatched from the same Sitio that at times serves my parents.

[MindPilot]

2. I once got to listen to Limbaugh AND Hedgecock on my way to the Airport.

Yes, from North Park to Lindbergh Field, the cabbie kept switching between the two which I discovered was infinitely more irritating that either one of them alone.

I kept quiet since as you know a vast majority of cabbies in San Diego are Ethiopian immigrants, so I figured his karma train will stop someday with no help from me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Much shorter distance

and when we hit traffic I had that oh my lord moment!

[MindPilot]

16. Yeah but it seemed really long.

x(

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Mine was a very LONG half and hour

fortunately the traffic spell was SHORT.

I needed three hours for the international, but also just in case we hit real bad Mexico City traffic... never mind that it was ... Saturday... fortunately the spell of heavy traffic lasted two minutes...

[valerief]

5. Fundies are frightening. They've already flipped, so you never know when they

might get violent, like a wild animal. I don't mean this as hyperbole. I think they're insane.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. I would not go that far, ... or maybe I would

watching Religiolous on the plane Mahrer interviews the brain scientist... so there might something to that.

And not just for religious fundies by the way.

[valerief]

13. I don't know any other large group of fundies other than the religious kind.

I'm not religious myself and I do have friends who are. Granted, those friends are magic thinkers, too, but I really think they're more lazy thinkers than magic thinkers. They go with the flow. And they never preach to me (and vice versa).

But fundies are under a mass hypnotic spell and never veer from their mission -- to proselytize. Scary zombie people. (Okay that was hyperbole, but not by much!).

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Spoken to a member of the radical right who is not religious lately?

Magical thinking you say?

Well you know lower taxes will produce more jobs. They always do.

I would not point to the Left version of this since the US don't have an organized one. But a classic piece of magical thinking for some of the radical left is that we need government control for everything, and life will be just damn wonderful.

Both are forms of magical thinking and it don't matter how much real world evidence contradicts them.

Granted many of the radical right are ALSO religious nuts, but you also find those among the radical left, which I repeat don't really exist in the US.

Oh and if you look at MRIs of these people, guess what the same areas of the brain that activate for religious nuts activate for political nuts... Scary, I know.

[valerief]

23. Ha!!!! Yeah, that crazy right temporal lobe, right? I guess you're right.

I mean, *correct*. The bobbleheads on RW teevee aren't magic thinkers, I'm pretty sure. They're just shilling for the billionaires. However, there are the idiot sheeple who parrot everything their gods on high feed them. And they're probably not ALL religious.

[Taverner]

6. I had a real strange taxi ride in LA

The guy had both Limbaugh and Democracy Now AND Malloy all blaring.

He was of the belief that you have to listen to all of them, and then discern the truth

However, I don't think they should be listened all at ONCE

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Well THAT sounds just awuful

[Bigmack]

7. Whoever said....

"Religion is like a penis. It's OK to be proud of it, but don't wave it around in public, and certainly don't try to jam it down other people's throats.".... had it right.

[Hannah Bell]

8. missionaries = shock troops of capital.

[valerief]

14. You got that right! nt

[a la izquierda]

9. haha, that sounds awful...

i usually feign idiot guera in the cabs in mexico, though once, when i was heading home from Virgen festivities, the cabby asked where i was from. i told him oklahoma (the only time i didn't lie and say new york, which is only a white lie anyway, as i was born/raise in jersey). anyhoo, he launched into a very funny story about being held in ICE detention in OKC. he was very good natured. the cabbies in guadalajara are much friendlier than those in DF.

i hate being preached at in either language, by the by.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Well you can imagine his shock and surprise

that I started quoting the MEXICAN constitution regarding separation of church\state. But I don't speak with an accent, that should be a damn fucking clue.

But hey... I had to memorize the damn thing at one point, 17 land use. 123 work... and fairly early in the document, Mexico is a secular state...

[Lucky Luciano]

18. In God We Trust started in 1864 actually!

Though you are correct for paper money as this link from the treasury indicates:
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/fact-sheets/currency/in-god-we-trust.shtml

For the two cent piece active only from 1864-1873, the phrase appeared because of fundies crying for it during The Civil War.





I used to be a coin geek as a kid, so I it reminded me of the two cent piece as the first coin to have this phrase!

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. He was taking paper money

and thanks for the lesson in numismatics!

Funny though the paper money came also because of fundies too.

[UTUSN]

20. K&R #1 and can't believe it's ONLY #1 and will be UnRe nevermind

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. I can and these days I really don't care

some folks will unrec ANYTHING.

:hi:

Also for some pointing out that I went to Church on Saturday is seen as an attack on themselves.

[Art_from_Ark]

22. Actually, "In God We Trust" first appeared during a Hot War

The Civil War, to be exact. It has appeared on one form of American money or another since 1864. It was removed from certain gold coins in 1907, but as a result of the ensuing uproar, Congress voted to reinstate it in 1908. It is now a required inscription on all US money. Many people, such as Madeleine Murray O'Hare, have attempted to have it removed in the ensuing years, but none have succeeded.