Media/Journalism Cringe Megathread - Hot off the Presses

[Aldarion]

While I like this guy's message, making it about Christians 'ruling' this nation is a bad move, and one of the replies had a very important point in the image they posted:


The answer/cure to socialist bullshit never has been, and never will be, going theocratic; liberty is the cure to socialism, not religion.

Except liberty also allows socialists to keep destroying the foundations of the society. If you give socialists the liberty to destroy tradition, you have already lost.

The West was lost the moment World War I allowed the socialists to destroy European monarchies. Everything since then had been a slow slide into oblivion. And in fact, root causes go all the way back to the French revolution.

 

[GoldRanger]

Except liberty also allows socialists to keep destroying the foundations of the society. If you give socialists the liberty to destroy tradition, you have already lost.

The West was lost the moment World War I allowed the socialists to destroy European monarchies. Everything since then had been a slow slide into oblivion. And in fact, root causes go all the way back to the French revolution.

Yet bizarrely everything is better, people have been more healthy, more happy and more free since those times (with occasional backslides, but overall it's no contest). Give me more of that slide to oblivion!

 

[Captain X]

I'd rather have a secular nation which recognizes religious freedom but keeps religious arguments out of law, but I'll take the Christians over the commies. It is at least possible to oppose them on the issues which concern me (such as censorship and stuff like blue laws), because they, at the very least, will play by the rules, and the commies just straight up can't be trusted with anything.

 

[Sir 1000]

You think too small and too absolutist.

There are other paths, other options, and not all of them involve either communism or religion taking control of society.

And there is also the possibility that certain...fictional sects may morph into and be recognized as legit IRL religions.

Case and point, Australia recognizing Jedi as an official religion.

Give us nerds a few years and we'll make new religions that have nothing to do with Wokism, bit without the baggage of established religions, and govs will recognize them once enough adherents decent to identify as such on religious questionnaires.
Control freaks are really at the core of a lot of societies issues; live and let live doesn't grant them power and control over others, or the perks that come with that.

Fair enough, i guess we have different levels of optimism. I just don't have much faith(heh) in new religions that are tolerant not only starting but more importantly succeding in this day and age.

 

[Sir 1000]

Yet bizarrely everything is better, people have been more healthy, more happy and more free since those times (with occasional backslides, but overall it's no contest). Give me more of that slide to oblivion!

I will give you more healthy, thanks less to the organization of western government and more to advancing technology. But more happy? How many people in the west need anti depressants to simply get through the day? More free!!! with how much of a surveilance state that the west lives in with a boot on everyone's necks? You're finances are tracked, you're cell phone is a glorified location tracker and listening device that you pay for. Even with the caveat of those ''times'' the average person lives in a god damn prison by comparison.

 

[ShadowsOfParadox]

It's worth remembering that the guys who split church and state, were, themselves, mostly some flavor of Christian.

A good chunk of the point was to avoid corrupting the Church with the State, at least as much as the point was to create a State that could survive having multiple types of Christian.

Saying that "Christians will rule" is not actually a demand for theocracy. Literally every President ever has at least claimed to be some flavour of Christian after all. And for most of American history, they were also all practicing, church going Christians. Most of Congress at any given point is some flavour of Christian, ditto for most state governments.

Now, how faithful you think any of those people are is one thing, but historically they've been more faithful than not.

For all that America has always had a strongly questioning flavour of Christian, it's also always been Christian.

Frankly, I'd find it more surprising to see an avowed non-Christian of any sort as President than a woman.

Also, worth remembering, seperation of Church and State does not mean "People can't be informed by Religion when voting", it just means the State doesn't make laws about specific Religions unless those religions wanna do stuff like widow burning.

 

[Captain X]

I'm mostly worried about laws which only really exist to enforce religious views on others, such as the blue laws I mentioned before, and attempts at censorship. I also really don't want to see creationism being taught in schools any more than I want to see CRT there.

 

[Bigking321]

Separation of church and state is something that has been completely flipped from its actual meaning and intention.

It was intended to protect religion from the state. To assure that the state wouldn't mess with or impede people's ability to have religious freedom. Not to take sides and pick a official state religion and such.

The leftists flipped it so it's now being used as a excuse to protect government from any influence by religion. Eradicating it from the public square.

Not we get people suing to have nativity scenes removed from public areas because those are controlled by the government and thus can't have religion in them at all. Same with schools and such.

It's the exact opposite of the founders intent and I would argue that as a society we are much worse off from it.

 

[bintananth]

It's the exact opposite of the founders intent and I would argue that as a society we are much worse of from it.

Unintended consequences.

If you don't want the state messing with religion you'll get the state saying that religion has to stay out of politics.

That's where we are.

I may be Catholic but I really don't want to see the 10 Commandments inscribed on the Courthouse steps.

 

[VicSage]

I'm getting flashbacks to Arrested Development now.

 

[Aldarion]

Yet bizarrely everything is better, people have been more healthy, more happy and more free since those times (with occasional backslides, but overall it's no contest). Give me more of that slide to oblivion!

Sorry, but that is just bullshit. People have gotten access to better health care and more resources, but that did not make them more healthy or more happy. Nor did it give them more freedom - you had more freedom in Habsburg Monarchy to do, well, anything, than you do in today's European Union. What advancement has happened since then has been mostly either technological, or else a consequence of technological advancement (such as greater access to resources). It had little or nothing to do with democracy. If anything, democracy is a consequence of improved living standard, rather than its cause.

Health? As I said, better access to health care. But the environment is worse, food is far worse than it used to be. Life is also more stressful, which leads to reduced immunity for the same overall conditions.

Happiness? Nope. If anything, depression rates have multiplied since then - partly because more people are living in cities, and urban life makes people depressed and psychotic. But there has also been an increase in general instability, exposure to mass media, increased governmental meddling... all of which makes the society more unstable, and thus people more scared and depressed.

Freedom? LOLNope. Just look at the current COVID crisis, or migration crisis, or anything - modern "democratic" governments are openly going against the wishes and interests of the people, and if you speak up against it, censorship is generally the least bad thing that can happen to you. And more importantly than the "hard" censorship, people are being constantly brainwashed and kept in a state of fear. No freedom to be seen.

 

[GoldRanger]

Sorry, but that is just bullshit. People have gotten access to better health care and more resources, but that did not make them more healthy or more happy. Nor did it give them more freedom - you had more freedom in Habsburg Monarchy to do, well, anything, than you do in today's European Union.

Citation needed as fuck.

Given a choice you would have to be braindead to prefer living in the pre-reneissance era, especially if you're a commoner, compared to the modern day western world.

 

[GoldRanger]

I will give you more healthy, thanks less to the organization of western government and more to advancing technology. But more happy? How many people in the west need anti depressants to simply get through the day? More free!!! with how much of a surveilance state that the west lives in with a boot on everyone's necks? You're finances are tracked, you're cell phone is a glorified location tracker and listening device that you pay for. Even with the caveat of those ''times'' the average person lives in a god damn prison by comparison.

While a medieval peasant didn't have 24/7 tracking of his ass by his lord, the only freedom he had was to scratch away in the dirt (that didn't even belong to him) to make a minimal living. You are kidding yourself if you think the pre-reneissanance world had more freedom than the modern day west. Yeah there are cameras and shit, that's nothing compared yo the ability of the common man to travel where he want, settle down where he wants, choose any profession he wants, marry who he wants, profess any religious believe that he wants, exert influence on who is lording over him etc. It's not even remotely a contest.

 

[Abhishekm]

Guys guys let's all just agree most monarchs were inbred shit, most all talk religious preachers are holier than thou shit and most atheist 'secular' ideologue types are 'nothing is holy other than my own shit' types of shit.

 

[Aldarion]

Citation needed as fuck.

Given a choice you would have to be braindead to prefer living in the pre-reneissance era, especially if you're a commoner, compared to the modern day western world.

Depression as a disease of modernity: explanations for increasing prevalence

There has been much speculation about modern environments causing an epidemic of depression. This review aims to (1) determine whether depression rates have increased and (2) review evidence for possible explanations. While available data indicate rising ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Young people are growing ever more depressed. Is modern life to blame? | Jean Hannah Edelstein

Our mental health has suffered over the past 80 years. The causes are complex, but it’s exhausting to live in a society where asking for help equals failure

www.theguardian.com

My grandparents lived in conditions that weren't that far off the premodern era, and they were far happier than my parents were, or that I or any of my generation are.

While a medieval peasant didn't have 24/7 tracking of his ass by his lord, the only freedom he had was to scratch away in the dirt (that didn't even belong to him) to make a minimal living. You are kidding yourself if you think the pre-reneissanance world had more freedom than the modern day west. Yeah there are cameras and shit, that's nothing compared yo the ability of the common man to travel where he want, settle down where he wants, choose any profession he wants, marry who he wants, profess any religious believe that he wants, exert influence on who is lording over him etc. It's not even remotely a contest.

That was only true for serfs, in some areas and in some periods. Average peasant (and even many serfs) had freedom to leave their land, choose any job they thought they could do, and while standards of living were not exactly good, it wasn't "minimal".

 

[DarthOne]

While I like this guy's message, making it about Christians 'ruling' this nation is a bad move, and one of the replies had a very important point in the image they posted:


The answer/cure to socialist bullshit never has been, and never will be, going theocratic; liberty is the cure to socialism, not religion.

I think you're reading too much into it.

 

[S'task]

The worst they do is try and ban dungeons and dragons

I feel like I've deconstructed this idea before...

 

[bintananth]

Guys guys let's all just agree most monarchs were inbred shit, most all talk religious preachers are holier than thou shit and most atheist 'secular' ideologue types are 'nothing is holy other than my own shit' types of shit.

We're all inbred holier than thou ideologue types of shit in our own ways. We just tend to think our shit doesn't stink or that everyone else's shit stinks a lot more than ours does.

Back when you, I, and everyone else was just a little ball of cells inside our mother's womb the first part our development past being just a little ball of cells was the formation of our asshole.

Some of us are still nothing but an asshole.

 

[Abhishekm]

We're all inbred holier than thou ideologue types of shit in our own ways. We just tend to think our shit doesn't stink or that everyone else's shit stinks a lot more than ours does.

Back when you, I, and everyone else was just a little ball of cells inside our mother's womb the first part our development past being just a little ball of cells was the formation of our asshole.

Some of us are still nothing but an asshole.

True but to misquote animal farm farm for lols 'Some of us are more assholes than others'.

 

[Zachowon]

I mean, I am in a profession that breeds depression.
So really, it is just because of how negative society has become