TRUE BLUE REPORT: The Rcon definition of Christians is as wrong as the Rcon definition of Democrats

by TrueBlueMajority for Black Star Resistance

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(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday, Mar. 12, 2017 Sunday, Mar. 12, 2017 at 8:59:23pm PDT

Over the last 40 years, Republicons have manufactured a negatively skewed public perception of Democrats.

For millions of people, Rcons have successfully defined Democrats as unpatriotic people who hate this country, never serve in the military, want to replace the constitution with sharia law, hate white people, and want to confiscate all private guns.

When faced with someone who holds this view of Democrats, it does no good to point out the large number of Dems who are currently serving and who have served in the military (or the R chickenhawks who skated on multiple deferments). They dismiss the liberal scholars who defend the constitution and know what is in it better than the average deplorable, calling them mere exceptions. It does no good to remind Rs them that in eight years Barack Obama did not make a single step towards taking their guns. They respond with their neighbor or their uncle who holds some extreme gun control view as justification for painting all Ds with a broad brush.

Similarly, the coordinated VWRC message has created negatively skewed public perception of feminists, black folks, immigrants, Muslims, you get the idea.

When you know people in those groups, or if you *are* a member of those groups, you know the public perception is false, but you can’t compete with the propaganda reach of the R message and spend a lot of time shouting into the wind trying to figure out how to get heard.

Yes, I’m a feminist but no I don’t “hate men” or wish I were a man. I just believe my value should not be reduced to my sexual desirability; I want strangers and professionals to call me by my actual name instead of referring to me by some dismissive pet name, assuming a a right to intimacy I have not granted; and I want the laws of the land to give me equal protection under the law with respect to salary, job opportunities, and other sexism-based discrimination.

A member of any other mischaracterized group can easily make a similar argument.

So.

If you are a progressive, you probably have a fact-checking reaction inside yourself when you hear blanket statements on the right such as “feminists hate men” or “blacks are having babies to get bigger welfare checks” or “Muslims are terrorists”. There is a place inside you that says: no, that isn’t true, no matter what the GOPropaganda has influenced the culture to believe, and even if there are occasional examples that look like exceptions.

I have a similar response when I hear:

Churches should stay out of politics completely—they do more harm than good.

Christians think atheists can’t be moral without God.

I want nothing to do with religious people — they are to blame for anti LGBTQ laws.

There are liberal Christians out here. There are progressive Christians out here. There are a LOT of us. We are trying to be heard. We are having about as much success as the Democratic Party’s attempt to present a countervailing identity in the face of very successful VRWC propaganda, which is to say, not very successful.

But we have been a major force in progressive politics for the entirety of the existence of this country from abolitionists to marriage equality advocates. Every single advancement in the name of inclusive justice has included us.

It’s one thing to be ignored by Republicons because we do not fit their narrative. They have shown over the last 40 years that they are ALWAYS going to lie and prevaricate and use propaganda techniques to make it seem as though events favor them. But it would be a help to at least be acknowledged by others on the Blue Team whose goals and values we share. It is a heartbreaking challenge to work alongside people for decades and still feel like no one knows who you are or what you do.

Rs know we outnumber them and they fear that. That’s why Rs *always* practice “discredit, divide and conquer”. They KNOW the value that churches had during the civil rights movement and they want to make sure that there is no similar coalition coming together now.

As sure as I believe there's a heaven above, Alfie, I know that most followers of Christ do not harbor hate in their hearts for immigrants, gays, trans folks, black folks, or Muslims.