Great piece! I wonder if there's any hope the public will see the rungs on the ladder to the top aren't growing taller; marginalized groups just have to start climbing as new rungs are added underground.
I remember this and the stupid rumors passed around about various company's logos. Proctor and Gamble's logo was "deconstructed" to somehow be full of "Satanic symbols" among others. I think all those incidents were pivotal in my deconverting. I couldn't believe all that crap. I think the evangelicals are the most gullible group of people in the world. There's a direct line from those stories to where we are today.
Hi Jessica, I've been following your work on Medium for a long time and noticed that you haven't posted there in a while. Your last post mentioned you'd be writing on your website, but the links you provided seem to be broken. I then found you on Substack, where you started writing in 2023 but have since stopped. I recently came across one of your newer articles (which I have yet to read), but I wanted to reach out to check in. I'm concerned about your well-being and wondering if everything is okay. Have you reprioritized or are you taking a break from writing? Please let me know—you're too brilliant a thinker and writer to fade into obscurity. Please respond.
Yeah, I was one of those geeky D&D-obsessed teenage kids who had a step-parent who believed the satanic panic thing, and it was very stressful and so unhelpful. They thought watching Doctor Who was satanic... Yes, these recurring parallels and themes and problems and strategies for distraction from real issues of class and power are very real and alive today. Thanks for writing this!
Thank you again Jessica! A fine piece that is worth keeping in my back pocket for discussion.
My Fellow Americans,
It's been an interesting few weeks since the inauguration of our new president, hasn't it? I am not the least bit surprised by the theatre of the absurd unleashed and all I can do is smile through the pain and hope for the best. As a Christian I do, in fact, pray for my president's decisions to be thoughtful and guided by wisdom and good conscience. I'm not holding my breath.
I disagree with almost every policy proposal offered by the modern GOP. Their casual disregard and abject cruelty for anyone not just like them, in thought or appearance is shameful and nakedly un-Christian. They are false prophets, using Jesus name as an excuse to be unrelenting jerks.
But I have to give them credit for doing what they have been telling us for decades they would do if they regained power. It appears they might succeed in turning back the clock to an American society that we haven't seen since 1929. They are keeping their promises! Good for them!
The Democrats, who for decades have been promising us to "Fight! Fight! Fight!" for the working class, the poor, the sick and elderly, the disadvantaged are cowards. Every election cycle we were forced to vote for a lesser evil by cynical, two-faced nincompoops who when elected to office seem to "fight" for as little as possible.
Spineless, two-faced, grifting little men and women, these so-called "statesmen". All of them, no matter what party they belong to. Sorry not sorry.
So now we reap the bounty of what we have sowed. There's no stopping it until "we the people" rise up to demand it. Entrenched power won't lift a finger against the status quo that has proved to be so profitable. All the MAGA folks will soon see that their confidence has been misplaced.
Indeed. We are living in dangerous times. We have an executive branch that wants to rule the world out of fear. We have ordinary citizens in fear of everything so they strike out at anything that disturbs their sense of normalcy. With this new persecution of the trans people, it's not much of a leap to go after the LBGTQ people next. Then, the non-Christians and so on. There will always be an 'other' in a tribal society. That's how the tribal rulers stay tribal rulers. And it's only been a couple of weeks. Wait until it has been three months or more. Societal survivability is becoming more precarious every week now. Especially for those of us who dare to diverge from the core tribal concepts as put forth by the first Puritan colonists.
Great piece! I wonder if there's any hope the public will see the rungs on the ladder to the top aren't growing taller; marginalized groups just have to start climbing as new rungs are added underground.
I remember this and the stupid rumors passed around about various company's logos. Proctor and Gamble's logo was "deconstructed" to somehow be full of "Satanic symbols" among others. I think all those incidents were pivotal in my deconverting. I couldn't believe all that crap. I think the evangelicals are the most gullible group of people in the world. There's a direct line from those stories to where we are today.
It's just like evangelicals to find satanic messaging in corporate products and to keep consuming all the corporate products, isn't it?
Hi Jessica, I've been following your work on Medium for a long time and noticed that you haven't posted there in a while. Your last post mentioned you'd be writing on your website, but the links you provided seem to be broken. I then found you on Substack, where you started writing in 2023 but have since stopped. I recently came across one of your newer articles (which I have yet to read), but I wanted to reach out to check in. I'm concerned about your well-being and wondering if everything is okay. Have you reprioritized or are you taking a break from writing? Please let me know—you're too brilliant a thinker and writer to fade into obscurity. Please respond.
Yeah, I was one of those geeky D&D-obsessed teenage kids who had a step-parent who believed the satanic panic thing, and it was very stressful and so unhelpful. They thought watching Doctor Who was satanic... Yes, these recurring parallels and themes and problems and strategies for distraction from real issues of class and power are very real and alive today. Thanks for writing this!
Spot on
Thank you again Jessica! A fine piece that is worth keeping in my back pocket for discussion.
My Fellow Americans,
It's been an interesting few weeks since the inauguration of our new president, hasn't it? I am not the least bit surprised by the theatre of the absurd unleashed and all I can do is smile through the pain and hope for the best. As a Christian I do, in fact, pray for my president's decisions to be thoughtful and guided by wisdom and good conscience. I'm not holding my breath.
I disagree with almost every policy proposal offered by the modern GOP. Their casual disregard and abject cruelty for anyone not just like them, in thought or appearance is shameful and nakedly un-Christian. They are false prophets, using Jesus name as an excuse to be unrelenting jerks.
But I have to give them credit for doing what they have been telling us for decades they would do if they regained power. It appears they might succeed in turning back the clock to an American society that we haven't seen since 1929. They are keeping their promises! Good for them!
The Democrats, who for decades have been promising us to "Fight! Fight! Fight!" for the working class, the poor, the sick and elderly, the disadvantaged are cowards. Every election cycle we were forced to vote for a lesser evil by cynical, two-faced nincompoops who when elected to office seem to "fight" for as little as possible.
Spineless, two-faced, grifting little men and women, these so-called "statesmen". All of them, no matter what party they belong to. Sorry not sorry.
So now we reap the bounty of what we have sowed. There's no stopping it until "we the people" rise up to demand it. Entrenched power won't lift a finger against the status quo that has proved to be so profitable. All the MAGA folks will soon see that their confidence has been misplaced.
Indeed. We are living in dangerous times. We have an executive branch that wants to rule the world out of fear. We have ordinary citizens in fear of everything so they strike out at anything that disturbs their sense of normalcy. With this new persecution of the trans people, it's not much of a leap to go after the LBGTQ people next. Then, the non-Christians and so on. There will always be an 'other' in a tribal society. That's how the tribal rulers stay tribal rulers. And it's only been a couple of weeks. Wait until it has been three months or more. Societal survivability is becoming more precarious every week now. Especially for those of us who dare to diverge from the core tribal concepts as put forth by the first Puritan colonists.
Beautifully researched and written. Clear, cojent, growinly obvious. So now what do we do?
Thanks, Jessica. I found this super interesting.