"Nobody can control the weather."

[serendip1959@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

Beliefs require no evidence. In fact beliefs hold fast in the presence of evidence to the contrary when sustained by higher authority.

Christian evangelism in some quarters is transfixed by the literal truth of the Bible, that the Earth is only 6000 yrs old, the Flood was 4000 years ago, the world is flat, and space is fake as the world is enclosed by a firmament. You can’t debate it as their “evidence” is the Bible.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@serendip1959 It's not clear to me to whom or what you're responding in the thread above. Yes, in the modern era, many branches of Christianity have reduced belief to an intellectually barren exercise in literalism, as you say — focused, in particular, in believing in the literal truth of biblical texts, or, inevitably, in a handful of select biblical texts, a canon within a canon. This is a very modern understanding of Christian faith that negates rich previous understandings.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@serendip1959 I agree.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@the5thColumnist No, but it makes clear that using this argument to slam religion altogether is basing your attack on a misrepresentation of what religious faith is about, when faith is properly understood. It's easy to knock down strawmen caricatures, but that seldom helps meaningful conversations.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@timo21 Yes, you've shared that critique before. I read him differently. I read him as one of the long-ignored and long-scorned voices of people of color in mainstream media, who makes important points out of his experience as an African American. Even when I don't necessarily agree with all of his points, I have a strong commitment to listen seriously to the voices of African-American journalists, intellectuals, commentators.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@gooba42 Yes, I agree. That's how I see it.

[serendip1959@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

It was the quote in your own comment about reality denial.

[timo21@mastodon.sdf.org]

@wdlindsy OK, sorry about the rant. I'll stop with ranting about writers who seem to miss the threat to all of us by the emerging billionaire new world order. I'm glad you share various writers. Thanks for that. I had no idea his personal history, not that it matters for a rant about content of a piece.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"A wave of antisemitic rhetoric and online threats has been leveled at state and federal officials in North Carolina in recent days as they respond to the destructive aftermath of Hurricane Helene, according to a report released on Tuesday by a nonprofit research group that studies online platforms."

~ Eduardo Medina

#hurricane #Milton #Trump #Republicans #lies #disinformation #ElonMusk #Twitter #X #antisemitism
/12

nytimes.com

(www.nytimes.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

Jonathan V. Last says one reason normalization of the unthinkable happens is that we're not wired to live with constant abnormality:

"If you create a constant stream of abnormalities, then eventually people accept them as normal.

Which is why authoritarians, like Trump, provoke. They seek to accelerate the neurological process, thus normalizing the authoritarian project and creating pathways to power."

#Trump #Republicans #lies #disinformation #authoritarianism
/13

Biology Explains Why People Normalize Trump

How authoritarians hack our nervous systems to desensitize us to their assaults on democracy.

(www.thebulwark.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"For decades, it has been a GOP mantra to deny and denigrate reality—whether it’s calling climate change a hoax, claiming Obamacare has death panels, arguing that tax cuts for the wealthy trickle down, insisting that immigrants hurt the economy, or denying gun violence as a public health crisis.

In recent years, these lies have clearly escalated."

~ Elliot Kirschner

#hurricane #Milton #Trump #Republicans #lies #disinformation
/14

A Perfect Storm

Amplified by lies

(elliotkirschner.substack.com)

[reallyblue3@flipboard.social]

@wdlindsy fossil fuel funded disinformation by oil and gas oligarchs camouflaging themselves as conservatives or Christians got us to this point by spewing lies to promote climate change denial and stop any action against them harvesting trillions in dangerous natural resources

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Reallyblue3 Yes, that sounds just right to me.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@timo21 No need to apologize. People can see things differently, surely — and my perspective is hardly infallible.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@serendip1959 That's an excerpt from Jill Filipovic. Sorry if that wasn't clear. It's not my statement, though I think it's a good one.

[tooden@aus.social]

@wdlindsy She reminds me of Michele Bachmann, and Sarah Palin. Something very loose in the caboose.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"[Meterologist Matthew] Cappucci says that he’s noticed an enormous change on social media in the last three months: 'Seemingly overnight, ideas that once would have been ridiculed as very fringe, outlandish viewpoints are suddenly becoming mainstream and it’s making my job much more difficult.'"

~ Lorena O'Neil

#hurricane #Milton #Trump #Republicans #lies #disinformation
/15

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/hurricane-milton-misinformation-meteorlogist-death-threats-1235130352/

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"'I’ve been doing this for 46 years and it’s never been like this,' says Alabama meteorologist James Spann. He says he’s been 'inundated' with misinformation and threatening messages like 'Stop lying about the government controlling the weather or else.'”

#hurricane #Milton #Trump #Republicans #lies #disinformation
/16

[nazani@universeodon.com]

@wdlindsy I would say that the outlandish ideas like HAARP & chemtrails have been around, with disturbingly large following, since at least the early 2000s. What's new is algorithms shoving them in our faces even if we don't visit sketchy sites.

[rattlersix@ieji.de]

@wdlindsy That's crazy. Spann is a legend and hugely respected in Alabama. He knows the state like the back of his hand. If there's a tornado in the area he's known to warn specific neighborhoods off the top of his head without looking at a map. Absolute insanity.

(edit: I'm a weather nerd, not from AL, but that's the impression I get of him)