- A JMC analytics poll found that 37 percent of evangelicals surveyed said the allegations make them more likely to vote for the GOP Senate candidate in the upcoming election.
You're not wrong. But this demographic is weird. I posted a few days ago about Roy Moore's Evangelical supporters. That shit about how he never asked a girl out without asking her mom's appreciation first? That appeals to this group. That was a win for him and a confirmation of their values, regardless of how tangentially condemning and slimy that felt to everyone else. That shit about how he's being witch-hunted and persecuted by Alabamian outsiders and GOP establishment? That appeals to this group too. Every one of them feels like their denomination is under attack, modern-day biblical persecution. The recursively insular nature of this denominational demographic cannot be overstated, and they all want Moore to win because fuck the Democrats for sure - you're absolutely not wrong there - but also because no one else will stand for Evangelical theopolitics. There's not a better option for them, but also Moore is loved in this community. I'll leave you with their words, an excerpt taken from a friend of a friend's Facebook page. With 1,035 total friends, this post got 122 likes, 12 shares. I won't talk about the comments... And I’m biased. That's right. I don’t throw my friends under the bus when they get accused of something with highly questionable timing and which no one can prove. You treacherous, stinking Judases - you Republicans, who have abandoned Roy Moore. You are despicable. I pray . . . I pray . . . to God Almighty that you be accused of sexual assault – FALSELY – and that no one, absolutely NO ONE, comes to your aid. You reap what you sow, you false ones. Your loyalty is like the morning dew, disappearing at the first sign of heat. You turn on your own and you eat him, like a mother destroying the fruit of her own womb. Yes, I just compared you to a child murderer. Same deal, different person, similar friend total, similar like/share ratio: I repeat, this demographic is weird, and their fanatical support of theopolitics is stronger and more perverse than your OP gives them credit.I’m mad as h_ll about the Roy Moore Accusations!
You want some real guilt? Here you go. You waited until just before one of the most important elections in our nation’s history, an election involving the only man in anyone’s living memory to stand for God Almighty and His word and really, truly mean it, even putting his life on the line! And you, you pathetic simpering weasels, report on the righteous man who intends to stand against the forces of darkness, the forces of infant-killing, of marriage perversion, of Constitution-subversion! You chose to side with the Prince of Darkness over the man standing against the evil of our nation, which is slipping rapidly into Hell! And you expect us to believe you!? No, I can’t, I won’t, I’ll never believe you!
Praying for someone to suffer like Job! How Christian! I wasn't raised in the fire-and-brimstone tradition, but I had more exposure than I would have chosen to the Episcopalian brand of Christianity when I was growing up. I don't remember being taught that prayers were to be used to smite one's enemies. Tons of hypocrites among our sect, but we at least feigned goodness. I don't want to condemn people en masse, but raising a child in one of the more virulent forms of Christianity feels close to child abuse. It must be a rare person who has the fortitude to make their own way in the world after being exposed to that shit.I pray . . . to God Almighty that you be accused of sexual assault – FALSELY – and that no one, absolutely NO ONE, comes to your aid.
Louder for those in back. It's so hard to make those who haven't lived Fire and Brimstone fundies understand this. When one side is 'Right with God' and the other is full of baby murderers, there isn't much room for nuance.I repeat, this demographic is weird, and their fanatical support of theopolitics is stronger and more perverse than your OP gives them credit.
I don't know, man. Marguerite Perrin has her place in this I guess, but the two people I quoted up there are basically normal except for theology and politics. One of them's a Lt. Col. in the USAF reserves with years of experience in military law - a legal advisor/mentor for international forces in Afghanistan and Kuwait/Iraq. Conservative for sure by all other metrics, but it's religion that drives their support. The other worked in senior administration for the Office of the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for nearly a decade under Moore himself - knows Moore personally as a "man of God and a brother in Christ". Again, religion drives their support. Both posts were within 2 days of today, all news considered. I chose those two specifically to avoid Perrin-types.
I sense there's a story behind it, and I sense you know it.
That is not a modern distinction. "that guy's just like me" has been a factor in politics since Andrew Jackson at least.
Trump voter: If Jesus Christ told me Trump colluded with Russia, I’d check with Trump: “If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, 'Hold on a second. I need to check with the president if it's true,’” said Mark Lee, one of six Trump voters to appear on a CNN panel Monday morning. When it's just one person saying weird shit, you think "Huh, must be an outlier/extremist". But when 37% of a population responds to a poll question like that, you realize that we're now dealing with a sizeable number of extremists in this country. People who need to pass a tax bill (to arguably screw over themselves!) so badly that they'll knowingly put a child predator into public office. Meanwhile, with their newly-adopted identity politics (thanks, political left?), your PhD has rendered any insight that you might offer totally invalid to them. You filthy elitist, how dare you question the populist's hero, Lord Trump. I, for one, gladly offer an additional 400% of my research stipend to help subsidize repealing the estate tax. Is this what it feels like to live in dark times? Or am I just a total pussy?A man who said he voted for President Trump in 2016 said on Monday that if Jesus Christ told him Trump colluded with Russia, he would still have to check with the president to see if it was true.
no. That wasn't either. Polio was cured, the life expectancy was the longest it's ever been (ICBMs not withstanding) and however ascendant the Moral Majority may have been, there was a chicken in every pot. Be Syrian and report back for science. Or, you know, Yemeni. Our Little-Endians and Big-Endians aren't even burning each other at the stake yet. Want me to find you a cell-phone video of African villagers torching each other for witchcraft? 'cuz they exist. I've seen 'em. And while the situation is not ideal, it's a long damn walk from "dark times."Is this what it feels like to live in dark times? Or am I just a total pussy?
Understood, and I'm quite thankful to be a citizen of this country, by sheer dumb luck of my consciousness evolving inside of a body within its borders. I'm keenly aware of some 3rd world atrocities thanks to 4chan, LiveLeak, & co., but yes, after growing up in the 90's and 00's, this does feel like a regression towards increasing global tension to my tender ass. What kinds of upheaval are we looking at if we're dealt a moderate-to-severe economic downturn (which seems unavoidable)? A few months ago, I would've guessed that only then would Trump's base abandon him, but now, I think they'd just find a way to blame Obama.
Back in '01 we called 'em the American Taliban - the embittered, fundamentalist autocrats that wanted a theocracy by the Republican Elite. It's been 16 years and the guys who cheer them on are living lives that have less and less in common with New York City and more and more in common with Kandahar. I'm hella less worried by what Alabama does than the possibility of a shooting war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. That shit's gonna remake the world.
That's exactly what I mean when I say "an additional 400% of my research stipend". My take-home salary will drop by 25%. Thank god I'm almost done. Maybe one more year or so.
So... This poll was conducted via landline November 9th and November 11th. The Washington Post first ran the story Nov 9, a Saturday. November 10 Moore denied everything. This poll was done two days before a 5th accuser came forward and Cruz and McConnell said he should step down. The rest of the dam break - like the fact that his wife was in the yearbook with one of Moore's accusers - hadn't happened yet. I love pickin' on Evangelicals with the best of 'em. But it's disingenuous to frame that poll in this body of evidence eight days later.
A culture of abuse certainly accounts for some component of that 37%. But I think the author overstates this at the expense of the backfire effect. While I don't particularly enjoy wading into the waters on behalf of Roy Moore supporters, I do feel compelled from my comfy armchair to distinguish their rationalizations as tribalism. It just seems improbable that a culture of abuse accounts for the entirety/majority of the increased support for the disgraceful senate candidate that a well-established psychological phenomenon also explains. That said. It's fucking gross.These numbers cannot be attributed to pure political tribalism. It is quite simply a culture of abuse.
The backfire effect occurs when, in the face of contradictory evidence, established beliefs do not change but actually get stronger.