People have been forwarding me this video of the Rev. Pat Robertson stating that the recent horrific and deadly earthquake in Haiti was the result of a pact with Satan entered into by the Haitian people.
It's fucking hilarious. I understand why this upsets people. It should. But on the other hand, it just shows how Rev. Robertson continues to marginalize himself and make himself and his cause look more and more ridiculous. This, I think, is a great thing.
In the 80s I was really worried that guys like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were going to establish themselves as powerful political figures in America. That never happened. Even G.W. Bush's association with the religious right was small beans. I know people will argue about this. And it's fine if you do. It's great that people still care about this and it's one of the ways the religious right will continue to become more marginalized and powerless.
I'm not saying the religious right is powerless yet. But compared to 20 years ago, they ain't nothin'. I know folks will argue about that too and say they're stronger than ever. But, y'know what? They aren't. They really, really are not. So there.
You can see this in just the simple day to day interaction of real people now as compared to 20 years ago. Look. I got hassled and threatened in high school because I was known to be gay. I wasn't actually gay. But I was known to be gay and that's all that mattered. These days Wadsworth High School has openly gay and lesbian students. This would have been absolutely unthinkable when I went there. They would have had the shit beaten out of them. Literally. And this would have been acceptable. Maybe not legally acceptable. But socially acceptable. They would have been seen as having deserved it.
Look at Lady GaGa with her fetish oriented videos. Great stuff! And also absolutely impossible to imagine getting shown anywhere in the 1980s.
Things have changed a whole lot. And mostly for the better. If the religious right were as powerful as some folks fear, these real tangible social changes could not have happened.
There are plenty of other examples of the waning in power of the religious right. But I'm not gonna waste time citing them.
So I say, rock on Pat Robertson! Keep saying stupid shit!
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