4 ms·

This is the world that the religious right wanted (but in their favor) in the 80's, that we all stood up to and rejected. How did we end up back here again?

blindwatchmaker 8y ago
An alliance of the business elite right and the religious right against the left. Money wins.
esaym 8y ago
Could you perhaps explain a bit? I honestly have no idea what you are talking about...
intended 8y ago
This question has vexed me all the while I have watched it unfold. The first inkling I had that something was off, was a magazine article talking about rising religiosity in middle eastern countries. That’s the first time the movie, where humanity pushed back religion and superstition, had tracking issues. we saw that increasing wealth meant even bigger displays of religious dedication. It turns out that a large part of the world has not had reason to go through their version of the enlightenment. But while they were gaining the ability to improve GDP, the west was busy applying science to marketing, and business acumen to news reporting. Effectively - we (humanity) used the tools of the enlightenment (science) to improve marketing, and apply it to religion. We targeted weaknesses in human thinking, and ruthlessly built bubbles of voters who didn’t need to fully understand the world to succeed. My conclusion is that we were naive.
- hobs 8y ago
  Religiosity has had a stranglehold in "the west" and defined it at least a thousand years. This is not a muslim problem. The evangelicals are alive and well.
  - merpnderp 8y ago
    And thank god for that. Before western religion came to the forefront, the idea of individual worth wasn’t really a thing and 99.9% of the world were either some sort of slave or slavemaster.
    - hobs 8y ago
      Didnt downvote you, but Christianity has constant themes of slaves and masters, being a slave to christ, and historically the cultures which adopted christianity have continued to have slaves (pre and post adoption.) Sooo, maybe? But I dont know if that point is well made.
      - merpnderp 8y ago
        It obviously wasn't a fast transition, but Christianity brought around the concept of absolute religious equality. A novel idea to the world, and likely the catalyst that changed thousands of years of slavery. I know it isn't in fashion to credit Christianity with anything, but what other philosophy of the era could have eventually ended slavery, given slavery is likely the state of man ever since Grog the caveman threatened his brother-son with a beating if he didn't fetch more water.
  - intended 8y ago
    It’s the same for every religion. Muslims were just the first to appear in an article for me . Hinduism, Christianity - all of them have the same pattern of behavior.
lujim 8y ago
Well it's coming from the left this time.
ars 8y ago
The article makes it clear that this isn't a religious thing though, it's a political thing. The religion part was just a handy excuse.
thanosnose 8y ago
People in power love to censor. When the religious right had the power, they tried hard to censor what they didn't like. Now it's the left that is in power and they are trying to censor what they don't like. The fight for free speech is a neverending one because one side will always be in power. It's why the founders made it an inalienable right, not given to us by the government, but by "the creator". Free speech isn't a privilege provided to us by the government. It is something we are born with.

blindwatchmaker 8y ago

An alliance of the business elite right and the religious right against the left. Money wins.

esaym 8y ago

Could you perhaps explain a bit? I honestly have no idea what you are talking about...

intended 8y ago

This question has vexed me all the while I have watched it unfold. The first inkling I had that something was off, was a magazine article talking about rising religiosity in middle eastern countries. That’s the first time the movie, where humanity pushed back religion and superstition, had tracking issues. we saw that increasing wealth meant even bigger displays of religious dedication. It turns out that a large part of the world has not had reason to go through their version of the enlightenment. But while they were gaining the ability to improve GDP, the west was busy applying science to marketing, and business acumen to news reporting. Effectively - we (humanity) used the tools of the enlightenment (science) to improve marketing, and apply it to religion. We targeted weaknesses in human thinking, and ruthlessly built bubbles of voters who didn’t need to fully understand the world to succeed. My conclusion is that we were naive.

hobs 8y ago
Religiosity has had a stranglehold in "the west" and defined it at least a thousand years. This is not a muslim problem. The evangelicals are alive and well.
- merpnderp 8y ago
  And thank god for that. Before western religion came to the forefront, the idea of individual worth wasn’t really a thing and 99.9% of the world were either some sort of slave or slavemaster.
  - hobs 8y ago
    Didnt downvote you, but Christianity has constant themes of slaves and masters, being a slave to christ, and historically the cultures which adopted christianity have continued to have slaves (pre and post adoption.) Sooo, maybe? But I dont know if that point is well made.
    - merpnderp 8y ago
      It obviously wasn't a fast transition, but Christianity brought around the concept of absolute religious equality. A novel idea to the world, and likely the catalyst that changed thousands of years of slavery. I know it isn't in fashion to credit Christianity with anything, but what other philosophy of the era could have eventually ended slavery, given slavery is likely the state of man ever since Grog the caveman threatened his brother-son with a beating if he didn't fetch more water.
- intended 8y ago
  It’s the same for every religion. Muslims were just the first to appear in an article for me . Hinduism, Christianity - all of them have the same pattern of behavior.

lujim 8y ago

Well it's coming from the left this time.

ars 8y ago

The article makes it clear that this isn't a religious thing though, it's a political thing. The religion part was just a handy excuse.

thanosnose 8y ago

People in power love to censor. When the religious right had the power, they tried hard to censor what they didn't like. Now it's the left that is in power and they are trying to censor what they don't like. The fight for free speech is a neverending one because one side will always be in power. It's why the founders made it an inalienable right, not given to us by the government, but by "the creator". Free speech isn't a privilege provided to us by the government. It is something we are born with.