The new F-word

First this http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/5/211218/4946. It is still breaking and tough to find the whole story, so this link is prolly the best place to start.

And here's something I wrote on the WELL. I have had problems searching for arcticles on Harper's website so go out and buy a copy. It's very much worth it.

"

Just finished reading Jeff Sharlet's and Chris Hedges' pieces in the
latest Harper's and, news flash, we have a problem.  I won't bother
quoting here.  If you haven't seen them, you need to.  We are on a
rapid slide towards fascism disguised as religion in this country(duh).
They are intolerant of everyone who isn't they, hatefully dismissive
of the slightest tinge of intellectualism and are willing to cull their
own ranks of those not fundamentalist enough brutally and in an
instant.  In short, I believe there is no middle ground with these
people.  They are a cult of fanatical hatred of the world wrapped in
the Word.  They are, indeed, impatient for the rapture they hate their
own lives so much.  They are certain that the rest of us, who have
learned to live with a sense of humour and dignity are having more fun
than they are and this cannot be tolerated.  If they could,without
drawing the attention of the still secular rest of America, they would
send out armed squads this very evening and we would be paying tithes
on demand by Monday.  They must be stopped.  They *must* be stopped
now.

How?  How do you fight fomenting fascism that hides behind religion?
Note that while other fascist regimes may have cloaked themselves in
moral and religious garb after coming to power, these people will use
the American idea of freedom and tolerance of religion against America
itself by insisting that they are only following the Word.  It is a
particularly troublesome nut.

These two articles and others are good for those of us who will read
them, but how do we get the rest of the tolerant people in this country
to understand what these people want?  How do we make them understand
what a theocracy would really look like?  Pat Robertson cannot simply
be laughed off anymore.  Everytime he says something it must be rebuked
and rebutted.  Same with James Dobson and the rest.  Perhaps Air
America should start a short segment on one show or another announcing
and rebutting daily what the religious right has said much as they do
with O'Reilly etal.  I don't know.  A particularly troublesome nut,
indeed."


Please let me know if you have any ideas.  We need some.  These people
are dead serious and none to bright.