Phillip's Natural World: Republican's Have Bent Christianity, Creating Hateful Realities

Paul Ryan Anti-Christ by Che Rellom

Christianity and

Republicans

Breaking a 1000 post history of focusing on the natural world we're putting this brilliant political essay by Nicholas Kristof front-and-center, hoping that it is shared across America. If you think Paul Ryan is planning on stopping with gutting education and the EPA, you're in for a shock. Medicare and Social Security will be next. Medicaid is already a target of these vengeful, hateful mostly white men who claim a Christian dogma that looks like anything but what Jesus might do.

There is a deep contradiction in the ideology the Republicans have crafted over the past few years. They insist that government is an unnatural, nefarious force, in conflict with "natural" human endeavors like trade, self-interest, and profit. But of course the mechanisms of trade and profit are government mechanisms, and the means of Republican ideology are government means. And so they want to use government exactly in the way they say it should not be: as a "nanny state" to reward the virtuous (the rich) and punish the wicked (poor), to enforce the form of "natural" morality that they attribute to markets. It's a bit like saying that rules are the enemy of creativity, and then trying to write the rules that acknowledge the fact.

It's one thing for a monk, or a misanthrope, to take the position that the means and ends of government are a form of corruption. But for a politician, or a government, to take that position can only be hypocrisy. The Republicans can't admit (even to themselves, in most cases) that the purpose of dismantling the access of the poor to health care is to enrich the rich, so they blame the poor for being poor, and the government for being the government. It is probably a big part of the reason why they are perpetually so full of anger and vitriol, as people who are controlled by motivations they can't admit often are.

And Jesus Said Unto Paul Ryan

by Nicholas Kristof

for the New York Times

A woman who had been bleeding for 12 years came up behind Jesus and touched his clothes in hope of a cure. Jesus turned to her and said: “Fear not. Because of your faith, you are now healed.”

Then spoke Pious Paul of Ryan: “But teacher, is that wise? When you cure her, she learns dependency. Then the poor won’t take care of themselves, knowing that you’ll always bail them out! You must teach them personal responsibility!”

They were interrupted by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and shouted, “Jesus, have pity on us.”

“NO!” shouted Pious Paul. “Jesus! You don’t have time. We have a cocktail party fund-raiser in the temple. And don’t worry about them — they’ve already got health care access.”Jesus turned to Pious Paul, puzzled.

“Why, they can pray for a cure,” Pious Paul explained. “I call that universal health care access.”

Jesus turned to the 10 lepers. “Rise and go,” he told them. “Your faith has made you well.” Then he turned back to Pious Paul, saying, “Let me tell you the story of the good Samaritan.

“A man was attacked by robbers who stripped him of clothes, beat him and left him half dead. A minister passed down this same road, and when he saw the injured man, he crossed to the other side and hurried on. So did a rich man who claimed to serve God. But then a despised Samaritan came by and took pity on the injured man. He bandaged his wounds and put the man on his own donkey and paid an innkeeper to nurse him to health. So which of these three should we follow?”

“Those who had mercy on him,” Pious Paul said promptly.

Jesus nodded. “So go ——”

“I mean the first two,” Pious Paul interjected. “For the Samaritan’s work is unsustainable and sends the wrong message. It teaches travelers to take dangerous roads, knowing that others will rescue them from self-destructive behaviors. This Samaritan also seems to think it right to redistribute money from those who are successful and give it to losers. That’s socialism! Meanwhile, if the rich man keeps his money, he can invest it and create jobs. So it’s an act of mercy for the rich man to hurry on and ignore the robbery victim.”

“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of Heaven,” Jesus mused to himself. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven.”

“Let me teach you about love, Jesus — tough love!” Pious Paul explained. “You need a sustainable pro-business model. And you need to give people freedom, Jesus, the freedom to suffer misery and poverty.”

“The Lord God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor,” Jesus replied, emphasizing the last two words. Then he turned to a paralyzed beggar at his feet. “Stand up!” Jesus told the man. “Pick up your mat and go home.” As the man danced about joyfully, Pious Paul rolled his eyes dismissively.

“Look, Jesus, you have rare talent, and it should be rewarded,” Pious Paul said. “I have a partner, The Donald, who would like to work with you: He’d set up a lovely hospital, and the rich would come and pay for you to heal them. You’d get a percentage, and it’d be a real money-spinner. Overhead would be minimal because every morning you could multiply some loaves and fishes. You could strike it rich!”

“Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God,” Jesus said. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received comfort.”

“Oh, come on, Jesus,” Pious Paul protested. “Don’t go socialist on me again. Please don’t encourage class warfare. The best way to help the needy is to give public money to the rich. That then inspires the poor to work harder, galvanizes the sick to become healthy, forces the lepers to solve their own problems rather than kick back and depend on others. That’s why any realistic health plan has to focus on providing less coverage for the poor, and big tax benefits for the rich. When millions of people lose health care, that’s when a country is great again!”

“From everyone who has been given much,” Jesus told him, “much will be required.”

“Well, sure, this hospital would have a foundation to do some charity work. Maybe commissioning portraits of The Donald to hang in the entrance. But let’s drop this bleeding heart nonsense about health care as a human right, and see it as a financial opportunity to reward investors. In this partnership, 62 percent of the benefits would go to the top 0.6 percent — perfect for a health care plan.”

Jesus turned to Pious Paul on his left and said: “Be gone! For I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; and I was sick, and you did not help me.”

“But, Lord,” protested Pious Paul of Ryan, “when did I see you hungry or thirsty or sick and refuse to help you? I drop your name everywhere. And I’m pro-life!”

“Truly, I say to you,” Jesus responded, “as you did not help the homeless, the sick — as you did not help the least of these, you did not help me.”

Epilogue: Paul Ryan due to the untimely death of his father collected social security. He later attended state college on a tuition subsidized by taxpayers. He relied on two major socialistic programs to give him a helping hand. Now he criticizes and denigrates those same institutions. There is a special place for the hypocrites of the world and it is not the House of Representatives.

Ryan's beatitude: Blessed are those who have low expectations, for they shall never be disappointed.

Meanwhile

We've Read:

Anatomy of McDonald's
Priceless Assault on Trump

A Step-by-Step Guide

paraphrased from an article originally published by Abby Ohlheiser
for the Washington Post

As you can clearly see in Exhibit A above, the tweet is a reply to President Trump, and it is not very nice to him. Whoever tweeted it really wanted to make sure that a lot of people saw it, which is why it was the “pinned tweet” for this account Thursday morning before it was deleted.

[Why your viral ‘heroes’ probably shouldn’t be the Twitter accounts of brands]

“Rogue” tweets, from dubious anonymous accounts claiming to be from Trump administration staffers or from real, verified accounts of brands and government agencies, have become a favorite meme for parts of the American public who are desperately looking for signs, any sign, of institutional #resistance against the president. Which is why this McDonald’s tweet was destined to become content the moment it was born. Here is a step-by-step guide to how that happens.

Step 1: McDonald’s tweets.

At 9:16 a.m., the @McDonaldsCorp account tweets at the president: “You are actually a disgusting excuse of a President and we would love to have @BarackObama back, also you have tiny hands.” The tweet comes from the company’s corporate account; the brand account is @McDonalds.

Step 2: People see the McDonald’s tweet.

The tweet collects hundreds of retweets. This is not something a brand should tweet, although it’s pretty clear that many people sharing this one are happy it did.

Step 3: People take screen shots of the McDonald’s tweet.

The first thing you do when you see a corporate account of a major international company tweet something like this is take a screen shot. Usually they don’t stay up for long. So even as the original tweet is being retweeted, others are posting their own, more permanent records of the tweet.

If you, like me, follow a lot of people who closely follow politics, then you probably saw your feed turn into a river of images of this same tweet earlier Thursday morning.

Step 4: People meme and joke about the McDonald’s tweet.

This one was actually pretty easy to accomplish, because as it turns out, McDonald’s and Trump have a history. Snippets of this commercial become GIFs:

Others make jokes:

We have fun here on the Internet.

Step 5: McDonald’s deletes the tweet.

The tweet is deleted, but thanks to step 3, there are plenty of records.

Step 6: The tweet becomes content.

Although some outlets made their content about the tweet even before McDonald’s deleted it (congrats!), the story continues to spread even after McDonald’s gets rid of the tweet. By 10 a.m., it’s the lead story on the Drudge Report.