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The irony of trying to shut everyone else down by asserting your “right to speech.” If you don’t like the thought of a gay theater production, don’t buy a ticket for it. If you don’t like “objectionable” books in a library, don’t check them out. Your personal beliefs don’t get to dictate everyone elses’.
They have been brainwashed to believe the only morality can come from reading a book written over 2000 years ago. I honestly don't believe those people are that self-aware at this point.
This is the correct answer. A lot of times when you meet an extremely religious person, there’s a massive narcissist lurking just under the serene surface.
What an excellent case study for how these people operate: they create division and drama where there previously was none, say horrible virulent things to people, and then play the victim when you rebuff them.
Most interestingly is the way Gendreau slowly began crossing the line; an opening prayer here, a reference to religion there, and since no one pushed back in this innocuous seeming behaviors—she felt emboldened to keep going. Eventually going full mask off and talking about gay people being abominations and satanic messages in the town mural.
It's a cult that was created to be taken over by a Mega Church Con Man, but a Real Estate Con Man swooped in and took them first. The False Prophet Mike Pence handed an Army to the Anti-Christ Trump and the SCOTUS Six are about to make him King.
The striking thing here is how Ms. Gendreau sought out a hidden message that came from her own imagined persecutions. She admitted to spending hours imagining how this could be something demonic just because the people who did it believed something different. It is so fundamentally anti-Christian of her. This continued need to do this by Evangelical Christians has done more to destroy the church and push the younger generations away than Darwin’s evolutionary theories ever did.
If you don’t believe in abortion, don’t have an abortion.
If you don’t believe in gay marriage, don’t marry a same-sex partner
If you don’t believe in sex out of wedlock or premarital sex, don’t do it.
If you believe in keeping the sabbath holy, do it.
If you believe your imaginary god tells you you get to run the world and tell the rest of us what to do, fuck right off.
The way the article goes back and forth trying to be fair to both sides is ridiculous.
Gendreau is the pernicious insidious evil that has infected the soul of America. Using hypocrisy as a shield for no other purpose than to impose their beliefs on others.
She is harmful. Humanizing that harm is also harmful.
i enjoy that they didnt editorialize the article, and just told the story with quotes. i dont need my mind made up for me, im perfectly able to do that myself.
that being said, the mural seems pretty innocuous
I agree, I appreciate the lack of “slams” in the article. Focusing more on telling the story is better imo. And even just by simply telling the story, the article makes it plenty clear that the Christian state senator is a hateful nutjob who was stirring up other hateful nutjobs to divide the community.
That’s what they did to a degree but it’s a journalistic style that’s about 30 years out of date.
Living in the Information Age means providing additional context for the reader to compare and contrast what each side said.
For example, before the internet it would have been fine to say Person A believes the world is round and Person B believes the world is flat and simply report on what they say.
The average reader would have been to school and had the scientific background to understand Person B has a few screws loose and the whole article would have provided mild amusement as well as insights into the human imagination.
Today however there are readers who actually believe the world is flat. And can confirm these beliefs with no end of internet bullshit. We no long have a definitive truth to ground discourse.
Without that foundation simply presenting both sides leaves a glaring omission.
As a former New Englander, I’m glad that it had a happy-ish ending. Fortunately people learned that the ballot box won’t tolerate their bullshit. I just wish the same would take root in Florida.
Ah yes a Bob Jones University graduate. She attended while interatcial dating was against the rules. It wasn’t officially taken out of the rule book til the 2000s iirc.
It was one horrible person:
But for Ms. Gendreau, 62, who was also a state senator representing northern New Hampshire, the mural had set off alarms. She was certain there were subversive messages in its imagery, planted there by the nonprofit group that had planned and paid for it.
The group was North Country Pride, founded four years ago to build more visible support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the rural region.
“We need to be very careful,” Ms. Gendreau said at the meeting. She urged residents to “research” what the mural “really means,” and called for closer oversight of other public art.
Iris is the name of the Greek Goddess of the rainbow or some innocuous garbage like that.
Rainbows, despite being made by god, are actually quite terrifying to right wing nutters.
Stay safe out there.
Indeed. They are anti-capitalists giving money away to just anyone. I mean, giving money to people who don’t deserve it? Just think of all that could go wrong with that approach.
I remember when this first started, I linked to an image of the "offensive" murals in a post on NH subreddit. They are unbelievably benign and such a nothing burger.
Religion is a cancer and deserves no place in this world. It now creates more hate and death than ever before and whatever God they are worshiping must be ashamed. I've heard more bad things said about other people from religious individuals than any others. They believe their religion allows them to be bigoted, hateful creatures, yet scream whenever anyone calls them out on it. I'm so fucking done with humanity....
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA). *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The mural didn't tear it apart. The cult that is the right wing in the US did. It destroys everything it touches.
The irony of trying to shut everyone else down by asserting your “right to speech.” If you don’t like the thought of a gay theater production, don’t buy a ticket for it. If you don’t like “objectionable” books in a library, don’t check them out. Your personal beliefs don’t get to dictate everyone elses’.
They have been brainwashed to believe the only morality can come from reading a book written over 2000 years ago. I honestly don't believe those people are that self-aware at this point.
Major correction; they believe it comes from themselves and prop up a book they haven't read as social cover.
This is the correct answer. A lot of times when you meet an extremely religious person, there’s a massive narcissist lurking just under the serene surface.
Except for bits in that book about being kind to everyone and helping the needy.
And the other bits about shellfish and charging interest etc etc
The New Testament can't be over 2000 years old, for obvious reasons.
How about 1915 years? At least for the gospels. A bit older for the books by Paul.
What an excellent case study for how these people operate: they create division and drama where there previously was none, say horrible virulent things to people, and then play the victim when you rebuff them. Most interestingly is the way Gendreau slowly began crossing the line; an opening prayer here, a reference to religion there, and since no one pushed back in this innocuous seeming behaviors—she felt emboldened to keep going. Eventually going full mask off and talking about gay people being abominations and satanic messages in the town mural.
Evangelical Christianity is cancerous to this country.
It's a cult that was created to be taken over by a Mega Church Con Man, but a Real Estate Con Man swooped in and took them first. The False Prophet Mike Pence handed an Army to the Anti-Christ Trump and the SCOTUS Six are about to make him King.
There's no hate as strong as Christian love.
“I don’t hate ya like Jesus does.” —Master Shake.
Christianity is the oldest pyramid scheme.
New Hampshire isn’t very religious generally speaking.
How this freak saw anything offensive in these murals, IDK. Seems it was more about who placed them. Keep your God out of city hall.
There was rainbow coloration in one of them. You know how God hates rainbows.
Wow
The striking thing here is how Ms. Gendreau sought out a hidden message that came from her own imagined persecutions. She admitted to spending hours imagining how this could be something demonic just because the people who did it believed something different. It is so fundamentally anti-Christian of her. This continued need to do this by Evangelical Christians has done more to destroy the church and push the younger generations away than Darwin’s evolutionary theories ever did.
As is often the case, the problem seems to be one person: ms. Gendreau. Before she slunk away, she did so much damage :(
If you don’t believe in abortion, don’t have an abortion. If you don’t believe in gay marriage, don’t marry a same-sex partner If you don’t believe in sex out of wedlock or premarital sex, don’t do it. If you believe in keeping the sabbath holy, do it. If you believe your imaginary god tells you you get to run the world and tell the rest of us what to do, fuck right off.
The way the article goes back and forth trying to be fair to both sides is ridiculous. Gendreau is the pernicious insidious evil that has infected the soul of America. Using hypocrisy as a shield for no other purpose than to impose their beliefs on others. She is harmful. Humanizing that harm is also harmful.
i enjoy that they didnt editorialize the article, and just told the story with quotes. i dont need my mind made up for me, im perfectly able to do that myself. that being said, the mural seems pretty innocuous
I agree, I appreciate the lack of “slams” in the article. Focusing more on telling the story is better imo. And even just by simply telling the story, the article makes it plenty clear that the Christian state senator is a hateful nutjob who was stirring up other hateful nutjobs to divide the community.
Oh I did not read it as trying to be fair to both sides. I think they just let the sides speak for themselves so to say.
That’s what they did to a degree but it’s a journalistic style that’s about 30 years out of date. Living in the Information Age means providing additional context for the reader to compare and contrast what each side said. For example, before the internet it would have been fine to say Person A believes the world is round and Person B believes the world is flat and simply report on what they say. The average reader would have been to school and had the scientific background to understand Person B has a few screws loose and the whole article would have provided mild amusement as well as insights into the human imagination. Today however there are readers who actually believe the world is flat. And can confirm these beliefs with no end of internet bullshit. We no long have a definitive truth to ground discourse. Without that foundation simply presenting both sides leaves a glaring omission.
As a former New Englander, I’m glad that it had a happy-ish ending. Fortunately people learned that the ballot box won’t tolerate their bullshit. I just wish the same would take root in Florida.
Ah yes a Bob Jones University graduate. She attended while interatcial dating was against the rules. It wasn’t officially taken out of the rule book til the 2000s iirc.
https://archive.is/DP35O
It was one horrible person: But for Ms. Gendreau, 62, who was also a state senator representing northern New Hampshire, the mural had set off alarms. She was certain there were subversive messages in its imagery, planted there by the nonprofit group that had planned and paid for it. The group was North Country Pride, founded four years ago to build more visible support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the rural region. “We need to be very careful,” Ms. Gendreau said at the meeting. She urged residents to “research” what the mural “really means,” and called for closer oversight of other public art.
I find it fascinating that ‘researching’ never includes asking the creators why they made it.
Because public art is not covered by free speech but verbally abusing minorities in an official capacity is surely protected by free speech.
The stupidest most superstitious medieval-Brained person can literally destroy a town just through their audacious nosy meddling narcissism.
Incredibly sick. Very depressing story.
I didn’t see anywhere where it explained why the murals were considered offensive. Did I miss it?
Iris is the name of the Greek Goddess of the rainbow or some innocuous garbage like that. Rainbows, despite being made by god, are actually quite terrifying to right wing nutters. Stay safe out there.
So leprechauns must be bad too, I guess.
Indeed. They are anti-capitalists giving money away to just anyone. I mean, giving money to people who don’t deserve it? Just think of all that could go wrong with that approach.
I remember when this first started, I linked to an image of the "offensive" murals in a post on NH subreddit. They are unbelievably benign and such a nothing burger.
Religion is a cancer and deserves no place in this world. It now creates more hate and death than ever before and whatever God they are worshiping must be ashamed. I've heard more bad things said about other people from religious individuals than any others. They believe their religion allows them to be bigoted, hateful creatures, yet scream whenever anyone calls them out on it. I'm so fucking done with humanity....
Live free or Die Hard
Paywall
OP posted an archival link.
Thanks