So, Genetically Modified Skeptic just put out a video arguing (with evidence) that evangelical Christianity is literally a CIA psy op, and how it was designed to counter Catholic liberation theology in poorer countries in like South America, in order to justify taking land away from people, and making people compliant to the wealthy.
And uh...I'm just gonna say...no crap. I mean, it is no surprise that the second I left the Christian faith I became radically liberal/progressive. I wouldnt call myself a full blown leftist, but my ideas flirt with leftism, and I kind of have a leftist analysis of problems, but with more "liberal" solutions.
I'm gonna be blunt, it did not elude me that when I left the faith, that it became clear that religion was a tool used by the rich and powerful. It's literally plato's cave or the matrix, a mental prison designed to redirect angst regarding the causes of our largest societal problems away from their root causes toward unproductive ends.
Christianity has always had that kind of vibe for me where we wonder why bad things happen to good people, and it's like gee...idk Timmy (or whoever asked the question), but we do know that God will settle the accounts in the next life. FOOLS. That's what they want. That's what the elites want. For you to not worry about this stuff and to focus on the next life, so they can rob you in this one!
I mean, it really is as Marx would say, religion is the opium of the masses. People don't focus on how F-ed up this life is, and what the root causes of that suffering is, because of it. And fundamentalist christianity is literally designed to redirect people away from focusing on the causes of social problems, and intend to redirect stuff inward toward focusing on one's own virtue. Youre not to focus on this world and its problems, only your own morality, and your own sin. And dont forget, if you dont work hard, you're not of good moral character!
Heck, and this is where I get more into my own research projects, I'll say this about protestant Christianity. it's ALWAYS been this way. The protestant work ethic and the idea of a natural right of property were used to justify the wealth of the rich and the poverty of the poor. It was said the wealthy "deserved" their wealth because they worked hard for it, while the poor are poor because they didnt work hard enough. Again, dont focus on the actual systemic causes of poverty, focus on personal morality. Which involves working harder and being a useful tool to the ownership class. Once you see it, it feels like Bioshock Infinite with Fink Industries and all their BS propaganda about working hard. But that's the society we live in, the work cult.
There's...been a lot of disturbing stuff coming out of the epstein stuff recently. Rampant claims of pedophilia among the elites, especially our current president. Rumors of cannibalism even. And I'm not kidding. A mexican friend of mine was telling me about how this model attended an elite party in like 2009 and had a mental breakdown screaming about how they were literally eating people and was basically arrested for making a scene...and then never seen again. And given how the epstein files does imply the murder of those who talk about things they've seen at these parties and how they end up as fertilizer for trump's golf course (true story, according to the files, btw), uh...kinda makes you wonder.
Why am I telling you this? Because a friend of mine is so shaken up, they're literally like "is this how the elites see us? like we're subhuman and basically just useful for labor and if they feel like it, eating and raping us?" And uh...yeah. I mean, I've heard stories before the magna carta how the nobles would just kill peasants for funsies at times. That's how the elites see us. They hate us. They despise us. We're just livestock to them. And keep in mind what I've said about the dark enlightenment and my own UBI stuff, these guys would rather a wave of mass death among the working class than giving us a UBI. And a lot of the left seems to prefer a world of eternal servitude to the wealthy over that alternative. As if we shouldnt just demand that they share. Oh wait, that's "communism" according to them. Even if it actually isn't (keep in mind, I still consider myself a liberal).
Anyway, back to the topic. So yeah, evangelical christianity. It was designed like 400 years ago to justify our existing systems. The natural right to property justifies the property right regime, and the protestant work ethic justifies a world in which we all gotta give our labor to rich people. It's ALWAYS been like this.
And yes, I know, there have been supporters of christianity who dont think like this. I'm aware of that too. Some christians wanted a post work world so we could spend more time at church or some crap. Some hated consumerism because they thought we should all live simple lives like Jesus. I mean, that's the thing, they support ideas that I support, but within religion. And for me, that's the rub. See....I left religion. And I just see no point in going back. yes, left wing christians exist. But I ask, why be christian at all? is christianity actually reasonable? Can you build a consistent, coherent worldview out of it that makes sense? I dont think so, personally. It just feels so conflicted to me, and even if not every aspect of it is bad, I jsut can't support the mentality. I mean, I welcome allies wherever they lie, even in religions i otherwise disagree with, but honestly? Christianity in general just gets caught in the crossfire for me. Secularism has led me away from Christianity, and I see no reason to go back. Even if not all versions of it are bad. Because...it just doesnt make sense to me, it doesnt click, and I think the fact that it has the mentality that it does, where it does not emphasize reason and following evidence, is inherently a negative. Even if some within the faith agree with me, we agree for different reasons. I wont turn away allies, but still, you see how I can't just...go back to being pro that stuff?
And it's the same with the work ethic. I know elizabeth anderson, for example, who has such a good book on the protestant work ethic, which has heavily influenced my current views, loves to emphasize that there is a progressive work ethic...I have to ask....why keep the work ethic at all? I dont wanna save the work ethic. I wanna kill it. I wanna drive a sake through its heart so we dont have to work any more.
And that's kinda how I feel about organized religion in general. Even if catholics sometimes have social justice teachings and the like....I think that the world just makes so much more sense when you dont allow such weird influences to corrupt your worldview. These mindsets arent designed to be compatible with reason and evidence....so why accept them?
And yes, I understand even secularism isnt perfect. The secularization of the work ethic and its influence by utilitarians has caused great harm as well in my view. It was the utilitarians who argued for the panopticon for the poor for example, who created a proto doctrine of growth, who saw capitalism as a race with no finish. It was them who decided that the suffering of the poor was worth it if it advanced society by their own metrics. If anything, the secularization of the work ethic made it far worse, removing its humanitarian impulses. Likewise, I've come to realize that without religion, the right won't just go away, it'll just become more outspokenly fascistic. It'll argue its ideas under the guise of structural functionalism and become about race politics, with open authoritarianism being promoted as functional to build a strong nation or whatever. So...to be fair, secularism isnt perfect either.
Still....my ethos is...fundamentally...secular. It has its origins in the New Atheist movement of the 2000s and early 2010s, it embraces reason and evidence in finding truth, and it embraces a humanistic mindset its ethics. Hell, human centered capitalism as we understand it is just...humanism. It's literally taking secular humanist principles and applying them to economics. And yeah. That's where I'm at.
The fact is, religion is a tool often used by the rich and powerful to justify the status quo, especially in regard to wealth and privileges. Protestant christianity is just a perfect tool to be used by the wealthy to domesticate people into the perfect slaves. It's not surprising it was used by the CIA to enslave people. It's always been used that way, going back to the dawn of capitalism. And before that, we had the divine right of kings and feudalism, and so on and so forth. So yeah, I just see no reason to support religion, especially given the way the world is today. I just wanted to comment on this, as it's right up my alley as far as my political ideology goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment