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Stonepounder

(4,033 posts)
Mon Jan 21, 2019, 10:57 PM Jan 2019

Found on Facebook regarding CovCath.

In the news this morning there is a statement by Nick Sandman, the kid staring down the elder Native American man in the viral videos. The statement is articulately written. Its thoroughness in depicting the young student as a budding pillar of tolerance and humility is impressive. But it is not persuasive. Not to me. Yes, there are all angles of video. Yes, the small group of African American men behaved horribly. Yes, Sandman only smiles at Phillips and is not seen or heard saying anything offensive. But here's the thing Nick Sandman can't escape. That hat.

His hat and the shirts and signs of his friends, they say an awful lot. They could have worn hats and shirts with their school name and logo. That message would've been, "We're from Covenant Christian." It was a school trip after all. They could have worn hats with WWJD instead of MAGA on them. Or the symbol of a fish or a cross. That message would have been, "We follow the teachings of Christ." It was a Christian school trip after all. They could have worn shirts that said "Life Begins at Conception" or "Abortion Stops a Beating Heart" or simply "Choose Life." That message would have been, "We want abortion to end." After all, their purpose for coming, they said, was to protest abortion. But they went into a mob of protestors as a mob themselves, not so much to protest anything, but to preen. Because the message they stood behind was not Jesus's, or Covenant Christian School's, or the Pro Life movement's. The message they chose to bring into the crowds, the one they chose to represent them, and the one the adults chaperoning them allowed them to stand proudly displaying, was Donald Trump's. "Look at us. We're young, male, white and privileged. We come from an affluent area and go to private school. We know we live in a climate of division and we know our collective presence is going to cause a stir. That's why we're here. This is what we came for. Say something. Otherwise we'll go home disappointed."

When someone wears that hat, or displays that logo they say so much without ever needing to utter a word. MAGA says, "I support the division, the hateful rhetoric and the abhorrent policies of Donald Trump." Phillips, the Native American elder and marine veteran, said he heard "Build the Wall" being yelled by the kids. It isn't heard on any video as far as I know. But it doesn't matter. Anyone wearing that hat is saying, "I'm in support of the wall." Anyone wearing that hat is saying, "I'm okay with gassing people fleeing violence and poverty. I'm okay with forcibly taking children from their parents and locking them all up and keeping them separated and traumatized for undetermined months or years. I'm okay with some of them never being reunited again. If they didn't want that, they shouldn't have come here. I'm okay with that reasoning. I'm okay with giving the people in Syria a death sentence. I'm okay with mocking the disabled. I'm okay with mocking grown men's stature and women's looks. I'm okay with judging the ass of a 70 year old woman as part of a presidential debate strategy. I'm okay with taking Native American lands for gain. I'm okay with stripping protections from our country's wildlife and forests. I'm okay with blaming victims of hurricanes and fires and leaving them without support. I'm okay with blaming the victims of sexual assault and mocking their pain in televised rallies. I'm okay with making people work without pay. I'm okay with women being sexual objects and playthings. (As long as they have the baby if they get pregnant.) I'm okay with banning people from entering our country because of their religion. It doesn't matter to me if their spouse is a citizen. It doesn't matter to me if their child is being treated here because they're sick or dying. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with the person in the highest office of the land bullying and threatening people.

I'm okay with vilifying public servants and endangering the lives of the press. I'm okay with cutting health care and food assistance to the needy. I'm okay with evangelicals making excuses for everything Jesus taught against in order to erect a golden calf. I'm okay with the idolatry of a man who never shows love for his neighbor but turns the other cheek for dictators and murderers. I'm okay with a leader who has set me free from the confines of following the commandments, even as he and his party fight to have them taught in schools and engraved in marble at every capital and courthouse in the country. I'm okay with Trump and his MAGA mantra because it means I am set free from the discomfort of the old way, which is being told to love my neighbor as myself. And that is a kind of freedom that is exhilarating.

I can seek personal gain and fulfillment without the guilt that comes from having to empathize with anyone else's suffering. I can agree that needy countries are "shit hole countries" even as I go on a mission trip to save the brown people from Hell. I can embrace what Jesus himself told me to flee. And I can now be proud of it. You can see that can't you? Can't you see it on my face? It's a magnificent thing to be outwardly prideful and still be convinced of one's righteousness. It's even more magnificent to convince those around you of your righteousness." Sorry buddy. You're not convincing me of shit. I hope you regret this behavior and I hope you someday see it for what it is. I hope when you do you forgive yourself and you change and I hope this mess doesn't follow you for the rest of your days. More importantly though, I hope the voices on your side don't go even more to your head and make you worse off as a man than you are right now as a boy.

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Found on Facebook regarding CovCath. (Original Post) Stonepounder Jan 2019 OP
Beautifully said MaryMagdaline Jan 2019 #1
They were there for the sole purpose of promoting male control of female bodies. SharonAnn Jan 2019 #2
This. blue neen Jan 2019 #4
When we wear a logo UpInArms Jan 2019 #3
those hats are the new white hoods... shanny Jan 2019 #5

SharonAnn

(13,766 posts)
2. They were there for the sole purpose of promoting male control of female bodies.
Mon Jan 21, 2019, 11:09 PM
Jan 2019

"They were there for the sole purpose of promoting male control of female bodies. Teenagers bused in to demand adult women be subjected to forced child-bearing. They weren't on a field trip to the Smithsonian." (They were there to harass people they don't agree with).

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UpInArms

(51,252 posts)
3. When we wear a logo
Mon Jan 21, 2019, 11:13 PM
Jan 2019

We endorse the product ...

By doing so, we know what our message is without saying a word ...

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