Rick Perry vs The Internets

Oh - see this is my only exposure to him or his views, so I was taking the words at face value with no other context.

The man had a state funded prayer rally to ask God to fix the economy. That should tell you about his values and possible sanity.

Phobus said:

I must be interpreting it some other way to everybody else. As I see it, he's saying people should be left to their own thing...

What? No, he's not saying that at all. He's saying that "Our religion is being oppressed in America! And those nasty gays are allowed to serve in our millitary!" How can you interpret that any other way? It's similar to what my dad does, attempting to defend obvious bullshit by coming up with some odd twist to make it sound reasonable like it wasn't meant literally and meant something else, when they obviously mean what they were saying literally and directly.

Phobus said:

his own self-approval is a very odd addition :\

All political ads in America typically end with "I'm [politician's name], and I approve of this message".

I actually wish the Union had lost the civil war. Then the Confederacy would be free to become a third-world country without dragging anybody else down.

Phobus said:

Oh - see this is my only exposure to him or his views, so I was taking the words at face value with no other context.

Same here. And he's clearly an ass.

Phobus said:

I've seen this plastered all over the internet and villified... but I kind of don't quite see the problem myself? I must be interpreting it some other way to everybody else.

Your profile page says that you're (like me) in the UK, so if you don't know about the subtleties of American politics then I'm not surprised that you don't understand the objections. Key things to know are:

• About a year ago, the US ended a law called Dont Ask-Don't Tell, that banned gays from serving openly in the military. Polling suggests that even most Republicans supported this, so it's only the most extreme conservatives that wanted to keep this law.
  
• The US constitution bans the US government from endorsing a religion. Unlike in the UK where religious worship is mandated in schools, in the US, any form of religious instruction is actually banned. This isn't to say that prayer is banned outright - students can still form prayer groups, for example. It just means that the school itself can't do anything seen as officially endorsing a religion. This rule has only been properly enforced in the past few decades, and a lot of conservatives are upset about "prayer being taken out of schools" etc. Hence Perry's comments.
  

As I see it, he's saying people should be left to their own thing (shagging other men or worshipping the sky in the expectency that it'll make you a better person) on an equal footing.

In light of what I explain above, hopefully the objections people have will make more sense. He isn't advocating tolerance for homosexuals: he's in favour of a (now repealed) law that actively discriminated against them. Similarly, in religious terms, he isn't advocating that people should be left alone to "do their own thing" - he's advocating that schools (and the government by implication) should be actively promoting Christian religious beliefs - something that goes against the US constitution.

The worst part though is that it's a ridiculous, sensationalist advert. He talks about "Obama's war on religion" as though there's an active campaign of persecution against Christians underway by the Obama administration, which is nonsense - remember that Obama himself is a Christian as well. He's misrepresenting his opponent to prey on the fears of religious voters, inventing an attack on their beliefs to scare them into supporting him.

Admitadly the video does come across quite pro-religion, and his own self-approval is a very odd addition :\

Self-approval is a normal thing in American political adverts, so that the viewers know that the advert is made by the person that it appears to be supporting. Here's a similar advert from the Obama campaign for example.

Quasar said:

Of course the best Bible verse for any Republican in government is always:

It is easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Woah, woah, woah...

Back when Matthew was written, "rich man" actually meant "welfare queen". See, jesus was actually a capitalist, probably the first, who knows. But we don't know that because the KJV is filled to the brim with liberal bias.

You can expand your mind and learn all about it here, and experience the bible the way the lord truly meant it to be:

http://conservapedia.com/Conservative_Bible_Project

Is conservapedia.com a deliberate troll or just unintentionally funny?

Quasar said:

Of course the best Bible verse for any Republican in government is always:

It is easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

So long as we're discussing Republicans - let's dip into the Babylonian Talmud. . .

". . . who can make an elephant pass through the eye of a needle." ;-)

GreyGhost said:

Is conservapedia.com a deliberate troll or just unintentionally funny?

Poe's law.

GreyGhost said:

Is conservapedia.com a deliberate troll or just unintentionally funny?

It's legit. It's run by an extremist Catholic that's a son of Phyllis Schlaffy, an extremest herself that managed to prevent the Equal Rights Amendment from passing.

fraggle said:

Poe's law.

http://conservapedia.com/Poe%27s_law

LOL

I am reminded of a certain sketch... and particularly with all this talk of needles and kingdoms:

Quast said:

http://conservapedia.com/Poe%27s_law

LOL

JUsts thgat page made me retard

Snakes said:

The fact that this guy was, at any point, considered a serious option for candidacy is equal parts comedic and disturbing, from my point of view.

The strange thing is, he did appear as a sensible conservative when his campaign started but then increasingly devolved into this fundamentalist caricature he has become by now.

In a way he looks to me like a bad actor trying to play a part.

Quast said:

http://conservapedia.com/Poe%27s_law

LOL

The odd part is, for the longest time, I was convinced that Conservapdia was, in fact, an example of Poe's Law. To this day, it still feels kind of like one, even though I know it isn't. Presently, I treat it a lot like I treat TV Tropes - a series of entertaining links designed to kill time.

Graf Zahl said:

The strange thing is, he did appear as a sensible conservative when his campaign started but then increasingly devolved into this fundamentalist caricature he has become by now.

In a way he looks to me like a bad actor trying to play a part.

The people fooled into thinking he was a sensible conservative weren't paying enough attention. As soon as you found out he spent state money on a prayer rally, before he declared his candidacy, he should have been discredited in an instant. When this guy came on radar I immediately placed him at the same credibility level as Sarah Palin.

Snakes said:

The odd part is, for the longest time, I was convinced that Conservapdia was, in fact, an example of Poe's Law. To this day, it still feels kind of like one, even though I know it isn't.

It is a wiki, so I wouldn't be surprised if a good deal of the people writing stuff on there were actually trolls, despite a serious administration.

I wonder if Perry ever visted Westborro baptist(sp) church. I bet he has a few supporters there.

This and all the Donald Trump crap has really turn this election into one huge joke. I would love to see a return to a real election and real public debait. Let's get back to having public debaits where every one is free to attened. Let's get back to talking about fixing issues, stop all the finger pointing and let's stop all this pandering to the intrest groups and the rich. One shouldn't have to spend a grand to have dinner with some one running for office.

What an idiot.

st.alfonzo said:

I am reminded of a certain sketch... and particularly with all this talk of needles and kingdoms:

Heh - that does seem abotu right for the time to be honest! There's a few people (particularly in my native Kent) that genuinely hold those views still :P

@fraggle: Thanks for explaining - much as I hate people using it as an excuse, I was getting ready to chalk it up to my Asperger's actually proving to be a disability for once, but it would appear my lack of political context played just as big a part. Perhaps that A2 in Government & Politics (the AS was British politics, A2 was american) wouldn't have been a bad idea afterall :\

Phobus said:

Heh - that does seem abotu right for the time to be honest

It doesn't seem too far wide of the mark for today either.