ppatt

I spent some time at HuffPo. Aside from the Hollywood glitter there are occasionally some great blog there but the tenor there is that there are bloggers and commenters. Commenters cannot open threads and have a word limit. Still, I bow in deference before some of the bloggers including members of Congress, noteable scientists and psychologists etc.

It is to Ariana's credit that she does not seek out syncophants. There is a fairly wide variety of opinion there, particularly in the bloggers. One such blog was more atypical than most, by a fellow named John Ridley titled "Why are Liberals so Afraid of Baby Jesus." Among his credits are author, contributor to tv shows including Third Watch and NYTimes. He is a sometimes commentator for Joe Scarboroughs show on MSNBC, if that tells you anything.

Anyway, his blog leads off like someone wildly kicking in a room full of sore-kneed persons, as one commenter put it. The blog contained the standard right-wingnut schtick -- propping up a weak straw man, mis-stating the arguments of ideological antagonists, and claiming someone is angry with a provocation that hopefully baits someone into proving him right.

What happened was fairly amazing and I am not so sure it would have gone down the same way on the old Maher board or possibly here. People actually kept their cool almost without exception, clearly and rationally explaining the differences between religion vs. religion in government, Carter and Huckabee etc. etc.

There were even a few commenters who gave him an attaboy and added that those liberals sure were angry. A couple of people politely asked them to point out the evidence of anger that they saw, wishing them Merry Christmas at the same time.

It was just a nice little Christmas present for me and a textbook case of how the same old tired BS from the right can best be dealt with. People very patiently and unemotionally pointed out the facts ignored by Ridley in formulating apparently ignorant conlcusions.

Maybe some will find it as interesting as I did so I'll just shut up and include the link if anyone cares to take a look for his/herself:

Why are Liberals so Afraid of Baby Jesus?

mentor

He is clearly baiting the liberals. Huffington is a more mainstream site than this one, with all the folks who came over from Bill Maher who clearly thrive on irreverent religious humor. I think we need a place like this where "in your face" atheists trade lines with fundamentalists of many stripes. It's good that we feel comfortable with all that, and the emotion that goes with it too. Though most of us wouldn't say things at a diner party that we say here, it is fun to have a place we can just throw those things out.

Funny thing though, the belligerent rhetoric from the right is not toned down in the main stream media, on the huffington post, or at the diner table.

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“I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.” Frank Lloyd Wright

Comicsartist

I still want to be able to say Merry Christmas without getting an awkward look. I don't say "Happy Holiday" on Easter or Halloween, why should I have to change my greeting for Christmas? If someone says they're Jewish, I'd wish them a Happy Hanukkah. If someone says they're an Atheist, I'd say Happy December 25th. Same if someone says they celebrate the Kwanza feast, I'd say (you guessed it) Happy Kwanza.


But I think the main reason it appears that Liberals are "afraid" of religious politics in power is the very shady, and rife with murderous acts, history such power has. This "war on terror" could very well be looked at as an extension of religious political power campaigns of the past. (<Unintentional aliterative tongue twister ) "We are with Israel, you are against Israel, we are against you" seems to be a big part of deciding who the US puts in the Axis of Evil.

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Environment Man

Good bait. Liberals are simply sick and twisted people when it comes to religion, except, as the author noted with the Jimmy Carter example, it advances their worldly wants.

gorillamom

I want to buy my own island and create my own country. My economy would be based on pot farming!

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The Clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power,
To tell just when the hands will stop
On what day or what hour.
Now is the only time we have,
So live it with a will,
Don't wait until tomorrow,
The hands may then be still.

Environment Man

So you're a liberal independent.

Teri B.

Can I come! Pleeeease! I can be useful.

SPRINGFIELD

SURELY you meant to say hemp..........

mentor

I say merry Christmas too! Unless I'm trying to bait a Christian Conservative of course. But I think everyone should be afraid of religious politics. But perhaps how we react to that rational fear should change. One can react with the power and authority of being right. Separation of church and state is the best idea of the modern world.

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“I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.” Frank Lloyd Wright

Comicsartist

Whole hearted agreement.

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