>

It's an inevitability of religion and right-wing politics. It works in any cult because people are people. The Inverse Law Of 'Good'

A - people start groups saying "we're the best people, so join us"
B - the worst people know they can get cover in this group because of human nature
C - given a short period of time, these groups that claim to be "the best" get totally taken over by the worst of humanity all the way to the top. 

Not a matter of if they do, but when they do. How many times does this little experiment in human behavior have to be repeated for people to see the obvious: if a person (or group) has to tell you continually they're nice, run the fuck away in the opposite direction?
Once they identify someone, there are eight steps to groom them, to bring them into the fold.

1 - You've been told that nobody else understands you like they do. For years. "Those other people, they just don't get it. Their ways are different and that's just not you. They don't understand, but we know where you're coming from..."
2 - Now that they've established that they're one of your kind of people in your mind, everyone else gets badmouthed. It's just the two of you literally against the entire world. And they'll do it so much that things that aren't epithets get used as words to hate everyone else by. Your circle of experiences starts to shrink.
3 - They'll tell you that, if you left them, things would be simultaneously the worst thing possible AND that all other relationships are just the same as the one you're in (even though you can see other people online talking about how what you're in is the only bad relationship relationship like this and all you have to do is leave them). “Both sides are the same but I’m better” - eventually, you don’t know up from down in what constitutes a healthy or a toxic relationship. Hell, they'll even show examples of the shit you're in now to say, "if you leave me and go for the other guy, it'll be like this [very bad scenario that's happening RIGHT NOW] so be scared and shit." The circle shrinks further.
4 - You're told outright what to cut out of your life. Direct instruction for you to get that circle of experiences down to a dot. Music, interests, TV shows, certain movies, even frothy coffee gets badmouthed and cut out because "you don't want to be a 'latte drinker' do you?" (there's one of those things I mentioned in #2, using things that aren't epithets as one to control you).
5 - They take your money, claim they'll be great with it, and then spend it on their friends and run up the bills. They'll give you crumbs once in a while. Maybe every few years they'll treat you to a little something nice (that's worth a fraction of what they spent when they were out with their friends). And while they're terrible with the finances, for years, they'll be saying how everything is hunky-dory financially with them at the reins. You will be told you've never had it so good but the fear of one bad bill wiping you out financially will be like the Sword Of Damocles over your head 24/7/365.
6 - every problem gets kicked down the road. A problem crops up in the New Year 2020 but it wasn't even mentioned in January because the head of the household didn't mention it. "It's going to go away" in February, and anyone that mentions it is just saying fake stuff, baby. Still nothing done in March, but any mention of it is "you're just finding faults with me". Then when April comes and it's clear what the shit storm looks like, they blame everyone else for saying it wasn't going to be a big deal. As the months and years roll on it becomes a shell game where ignoring the problem / blaming others for the problem / trying to draw attention from the problem gets switched around without stop. Even if it comes out that they knew the problem could literally kill other people, tear them apart because of gross negligence, they will not stray from this strategy. Sounds familiar, huh. Other people will be able to show you examples of where they said something promised was just two weeks away, and they said "two weeks and you'll have it" four years ago and two years ago and twice in the last month, but it's still not coming.
7 - like in any abusive relationship, you're beaten down. You've been told it'll all be your fault if things don't go as they want, and you've seen others be on the end of their random outbursts of wrath. So you stay safe. You repeat the words in the way they taught you. You repeat the answers. You repeat the words you're told are insults. Even though you know of situations where you've come out worse for the way the relationship is, you defend the abuser. First with a fake air of calm, then with a seething rage. And when people offer you a way out, you go right back to the abuse.
8 - the relationship is so twisted, you so believe everything you're told about what's real and what's not, they will literally put you in situations that could kill you. And you say you're doing it willingly, proudly, but the fact is you're a shell of the idealistic person you used to be. You just got in with the wrong crowd, but it's too late to get out now because people might think less of you. Going along with how they do it becomes how you do it too. Which reinforces what you were told in #1. Only they understand you...

They have done it for tens of thousands of days on millions of people and it has become a very precise tactic for them. The Red Pill, PUA tactics, as a science.
Im thankful the Bible bashers now have lil nas x and Sam smith pulling their attention away from the metal community >

The metal community has done the heavy lifting for decades. We owe them a debt of gratitude. >

The metal community crawled and walked through glass so lil Nas X and Sam Smith could run. >

Cue the mental image of Kerry King passing a relay baton to Lil Nas X >

I feel Rob Halford would be more appropriate than Kerry King. >

Rob Halford hasn't put the thing down yet, dude's still making albums with Judas Priest. Firepower was solid as fuck.
Dee Snyder likewise still going on his solo projects, although Twisted Sister have packed it in as a band now.
Actually, most all of the big contenders are still going, now that I think about it. Metal doesn't pay well enough for an early retirement. >

Dee Snyder is a bad ass I love the clips of him testifying in front of Nancy Regan >

It was Tipper Gore but yeah the PMRC hearings were amazing. Dee was clearly there to be the whipping boy but he brought receipts. That said, John Denver's testimony is what brought the whole thing crashing down. They thought he was gonna fall in line with them and he compaired the whole thing to Nazi book burnings. Watch the clips of him and Frank Zappa if you haven't already. Zappa insinuating that Gore was a sexual deviant is absolutely amazing. >


Zappa insinuating that Gore was a sexual deviant is absolutely amazing. 

Dee did that too, pointing out that his song was literally just about having anxiety before a surgery, and Tipper interpreted it as being about extreme BDSM because she wanted it to be. >

1980s called, they want their pretend fear of satanic costumes back. >

No shit, are they really gonna try and bring this back? >

Not like they have anything else on their agenda that the people want or like lol. 
When in doubt, just pander to the evangelical vote. They'll always be there to act as the GOP's comfort blankie when things aren't going their way. >


Not like they have anything else on their agenda...

Except;

Block student loan relief
Look for Hunter's laptop
Obsess over M&Ms
Keep 28 time Olympic gold medalist in rhythmic gymnastics, George Santos in office
Obstruct everything
Possibly bring the country to financial ruin by messing with the debt ceiling

There's s lot more but I try to ignore there dog and pony shit show. >

Don't forget mandatory reporting of under-age girls' menstruation cycles. >

And making sure black history is never taught to anyone. >

Don't you mean that they don't want the actual WHITE history being taught?
The black population weren't the ones making the history, they were being run over by it. >

I mean, Black people did a lot of things for the whole country and for the world, despite all the white supremacy and imperialism. And they also played a key role in ending their own servitude. Plus the obvious leadership in the ongoing civil rights movement.
In fact, I would argue that the history of Black politics in this country is pushing us to become the free country we have always claimed we are.
Right wingers don't want any of that taught (or properly contextualized) either. >

I agree and understand that they've done tremendous good for the country. I was just being snarky. >

I can worship the devil if I want to. It's actually my first amendment right. >

You can leave your saints behind.  Cuz the saints don't dance, and if they don't dance, well they're no saints of mine. >

It's the Satan Dance >

s s s s s s s s s a a a a a a a a t t t t t t t t a a a a a a a a a n n n n n n n >

This needs to be remixed and mashed with NIN Closer. >

Cruz wants to fuck you like a demagogue...
Hoo hoo.. >

He wants to regulate your insides. >

He wants to fuck you like an M&M!
His whole existence is flawed. >

He brings me further from god!! >

Does anyone on this thread have the number for Weird Al’s agent?   I’d love to have him write a cover based on this … >

Is "worshiping Satan" still a no no like it was in the 80s and 90s? Why are Republicans going to the fear playbook of the Stranger Danger years. The memo has been updated to being affraid of drag queens now. >

Because they occasionally like to "play the classics" too. Next up, Video Games Are Turning Kids Violent. After that, Playing D&D Is Satan Worship. Also, Reading Harry Potter Teaches Kids Witchcraft.
(On the latter, I wish that was true. Do you know how useful a simple summoning charm would be if you could cast it in real life?) >

That isn’t satire is it… >


that one had a whole (shitty) movie made of it!

You mean Mazes and Monsters? Tom Hank's first lead role?
I remember seeing that as a kid, who played D&D, thinking that movie was insane. 
I live in Seattle and we have an underground tour that goes through a part of Pioneer Square that was built on top of after downtown burned down in the later 1800s. I remember going down there on a class trip, having a scene where Tom Hanks is in like full armor in the sewers pop into my head, and just laughing like a maniac. 
The tour guide was pissed, I think he thought I was dicking around with my friends. >

Mazes and Monsters was based on a real disappearance, and some woman’s speculation that it had to do with D&D. The whole thing is pretty ghoulish tbh. >

Republicans of Reddit, do you ever get sick of your representatives being so pathetic? >

Being a conservative sounds so exhausting. It’s just a string of outrage over checks notes M&Ms, the Grammys, and other fun things >

It's just 24/7 non-stop outrage. >

I swear they only do this as a distraction to keep their base angry while the GOP denies bills that'd actually help their voter base.  
I remember they were so fixated on M&Ms, trans folk using the bathroom, and the sex of a potato last year.  
During that year, the GOP denied additional help to vets, denied capping the price of insulin, denied a oil price gouging bill, denied aid towards baby formula during a shortage, and denying any sort of gun control. >

What's the M&M thing? I'm out of the loop on all the crazy, I guess. >

Mars Inc., owner of the M&M brand, decided of its own volition to change the designs of a few of their anthropomorphic M&M mascots.
Specifically the Green and Brown M&M mascots, who were traditionally marketed as slightly risque and sexy (Green because she was the first female M&M, Brown because she looked "naked" with her brown shell), got more practical shoes.
Also there is now a purple peanut M&M mascot, so the yellow one isn't the only one of his kind. But the peanut M&M's are bigger than other M&M's, so the purple M&M is being interpreted as a "woke" plus-size woman. 
Tucker Carlson and some other outrage salesmen decided that these mascot changes are somehow evidence of a grand conspiracy to overthrow America. Because if Tucker can't crank one out to a candy mascot, then I guess Nathan Hale hanged for nothing. 
Mars Inc., capitalizing on the free publicity then announced they were pulling the plug on the M&M mascots altogether because of controversy. They said the mascots would be replaced by comedian/actress Maya Rudolph. This was just a marketing joke, but it stirred up even more shit. Conservatives and non-conservatives were blaming each other for the termination of well-received marketing mascots. >

Not wholesome entertainers like the Duggars? >

Tim Kowlan, the "Trump campaign lead" from the Cincinnati area is a case I remember.
I think what one of his victims said sums up the general character underpinning these republicans:
"Tim Nolan knew vulnerability when he saw it," one of the victims wrote in her impact statement. "He used my addiction as a tactic for control."
Now look at what Tead Cruze did here. He is exploiting christians who are vulnerable to woo like this. Same tactics, and same personality type.