freelansing in Seattle

I’m not much of a Bible guy, but I just saw someone online saying, “Forgive them, for they know what they do.” My first thought was, “Did you mean to include the word ‘not’ in there?” Then I realized the line was a perfect encapsulation of the contradictions in right-wing “Christian” thought. Got me thinking…

I always separate the rabid Right into the Dupers and the Duped. The duped can be forgiven, for they truly don’t know what they do. Many are poorly educated working folks who have been conned into believing that a New York billionaire is “one of them” and somehow is working to make their lives better when the truth is exactly the opposite. He leads a party that strives to keep wages low and health care scarce for the vast majority, while shoveling money toward their rich benefactors. A man and a party devoted to self-interest and cruelty, yet seen by the duped as somehow their savior.

The Dupers, however, know exactly what they do, which is harder to forgive. They cynically prey on the gullibility of the masses to advance their own self-interests, laughing all the way to the bank. The Con-man in Chief is of course the worst of the bunch, but the whole party he has taken control of is equally culpable. They rule over states that have the worst rates of poverty, education, life expectancy, and so forth, and they call it winning. They cynically use the Bible and Jesus to promote policies that are the exact opposite of what Jesus taught. I don’t believe in Hell, but if such a place did exist, it would surely await all those who practice selfishness and greed and call it virtue.