Lawson Bates

[ColeJo]

On 6/4/2017 at 0:26 PM, Front Hugging Fiend said:

His voice isn't horrendous, I've definitely heard worse. But a good years worth of dedicated lessons (and him actually working on it) could do wonders. I remember watching one clip where he went to Nashville (?) and met up with some relatively important coach and she advised him to try loosening the country twang in his vocals just a lil bit, open up the airways and relax the throat - he looked a little perplexed (probably because no one had ever taught him before) and just couldn't wrap his head around it. He has potential to be a D-list, fundie music star. If he works at it. 

My issue is that if he is not that committed to it, he should explore something else. He seems to like performing for kids at East Tennessee Children's Hospital and I think that is great. I think he would do well in music therapy based on what I've seen. The problem is that he would have to go to an accredited college and get a Bachelor's and enroll as a Graduate to get a Master's degree.

[wandering woman]

His voice is mediocre, and he has no future in the music business. He will continue to perform in churches with a bunch of teenage girls as his audience. He wouldn't even be doing that if he wasn't on TV. Carlin's singing is a lot better than his.

[Nikedagain?]

On 6/4/2017 at 2:26 PM, Front Hugging Fiend said:

It's not enough to be a bicep-wielding, headphone-wearing, baby-holding white man.

THIS is awesome!

 

Do we really think Lawson aspires to be a star though? Or is this just his season of life? (blech) It probably creates a little buzz for the show and def feeds his ego. Kind of a Lawson win. 

 

Also, are we somewhat convinced now that perhaps some Duggars have misappropriated some Bates heart pieces? Jinger might have shown interest until a tall handsome Italian showed up? And did Carlin prove to be just too loud for sweet Joe? Will we ever know??

[RosyDaisy]

No, no, no! Lawson needs to hook up with Jackie Dee from American Gypsy Wedding. I would pay to see that! Both have the same Nashville connections.

[HereticHick]

On 6/4/2017 at 2:26 PM, Front Hugging Fiend said:

 It's not enough to be a bicep-wielding, headphone-wearing, baby-holding white man. You need to be able to work the crowd and have enough consistency with your act to keep them coming back.

But but... is it enough if he also likes to pretend he's a pretty pretty cowboy in a Ford Truck commercial?  Honestly, this self absorbed douche.

 

[Nikedagain?]

5 hours ago, HereticHick said:

Honestly, this self absorbed douche.

FFS. Rarely am I shocked at stuff these folks post. But for crying out loud.

[nickelodeon]

We need to make Lawson Instagram Bingo cards. Spaces include: trucks, hound dawgs, open carry, horses, American flags, clifftops, babies... (hopefully not babies and clifftops in the same photo...) ...guitars, and mud.

[ColeJo]

1 hour ago, nickelodeon said:

We need to make Lawson Instagram Bingo cards. Spaces include: trucks, hound dawgs, open carry, horses, American flags, clifftops, babies... (hopefully not babies and clifftops in the same photo...) ...guitars, and mud.

That would be a typical Murican bingo card. Kittens would have double points.

ETA: You forgot biceps.

[formergothardite]

How many times do you think he took that picture before he settled on the perfect one that shows his gun, arms and body? Also, is he jumping off the hood of the truck? I once got in trouble for trying to do that to an uncle's truck because I could have damaged the hood. But that was the 80's and maybe he was just over protective of his precious truck. I've spent the rest of my life thinking that you shouldn't stand or jump off the hood of a vehicle. 

[GreyhoundFan]

5 hours ago, formergothardite said:

 I've spent the rest of my life thinking that you shouldn't stand or jump off the hood of a vehicle. 

C'mon, @formergothardite, you know it's okay to do it if it's to take a picture to post on Instagram for your fans, right? Oh, wait, you actually have sense, so scratch that...

[HereticHick]

Talking selfies for your fans is a MINISTRY after all

[jozina]

Exactly. Destroying trucks for JESUS and MURICA is totally fine to convert the heathens.

What a complete and utter tool.

[formergothardite]

1 hour ago, jozina said:

Exactly. Destroying trucks for JESUS and MURICA is totally fine to convert the heathens.

I don't know about the rest of you heathens, but that picture sure pointed me straight towards Jesus! There is nothing like an American flag, a dirty truck, a gun, and a self absorbed reality TV star to represent the love of God. 

The amazing thing is, they probably do justify it all by saying it is a ministry. 

[jozina]

I definitely said "Jesus!" when I saw it*.  I was immediately reminded of the Book of iPeter:

"And I sayeth to thee, if thou jumpeth off an oxen plow whilst flexing thou muscles and no-one is sketching thee for Instaparchment how will the heathens know of Jesus' love? I sayeth again faith without selfies is dead."

*What followed that exclamation I will leave to your imagination. It involved the word knob and lewd words for fornication.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

I don't know anything about Photoshop, but it looks photoshopped to me. LOL, "faith without selfies is dead"!

[Timetraveler]

Always that "greatest country in the world". I am from the Netherlands and I am happy to have grown up here and I enjoy living here, but I would never post something such as "the greatest coutry in the world". There are so many wonderful countries.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

4 hours ago, Timetraveler said:

Always that "greatest country in the world". I am from the Netherlands and I am happy to have grown up here and I enjoy living here, but I would never post something such as "the greatest coutry in the world". There are so many wonderful countries.

Also, of course, they haven't been anywhere, so how do they know?

[formergothardite]

There is a mindset that God helped divinely create America and so we are the greatest. People really think we are the only free country in the world. It is kind of amazing in this global age that people still think that way, but they do. But these are typically the same people who equate guns with God, so any country that even slightly limits gun access is considered oppressive and ungodly. 

[front hugs > duggs]

3 hours ago, formergothardite said:

But these are typically the same people who equate guns with God, so any country that even slightly limits gun access is considered oppressive and ungodly. 

This legitimately makes zero sense to me whatsoever.

Coming from a Jewish NYC-suburb upbringing, I have never heard of a "holy gun" mindset. Would you be willing to explain/elaborate on this for me please? Thank you in advanced!

[ColeJo]

3 hours ago, formergothardite said:

There is a mindset that God helped divinely create America and so we are the greatest. People really think we are the only free country in the world. It is kind of amazing in this global age that people still think that way, but they do. But these are typically the same people who equate guns with God, so any country that even slightly limits gun access is considered oppressive and ungodly. 

Focusing on the bolded, I believe in the Second Amendment, but I don't like it when people brandish their weapons just because they can. Open carry does not count as brandishing because a pistol is usually in a holster. I don't like that people "worship" guns, but people have the right to defend themselves. It is a natural right to be able to preserve the lives of your family, your life, your liberty and property. In the American context, gun control is a form of discrimination.

Current state legislatures believe that women are emotionally unstable to learn how to protect themselves. I can do all the Krav Maga I want, but I will never measure up to someone that is 6'3 and 300 pounds and ready to inflict harm on me. In the South, whites prevented freed slaves from being able to carry a firearm for protection. MLK Jr. was prevented from getting a permit to carry. All the fees in Illinois, for example, creates discrimination for the poor because the law abiding people want to go through the right channels to get a tool to be able to protect themselves from gangs.

We do have gun control to some extent here. It is not laissez faire. We make every buyer that purchases from an FFL go through a background check. Even if you purchase a firearm online, it is sent to an FFL where you have to pick it up after passing the NICS background check. We have laws (although not enforced because the Justice Department allows people to slide on these crimes) that prevent people from legally obtaining a firearm. If you commit a felony, have a protection order, are a domestic abuser or adjudicated mentally unfit, you are considered a prohibited possessor in the eyes of the law.

Considering all this, wouldn't America be considered ungodly?

The greatest country in the world would have the government be of and for the people, not money; where the poor are not used by greedy corporate executives; and where people are not discriminated against and see people as human (there are things that are part of identity  like age, sex, sexual orientation, religion, etc). I could go on and on. I like John Locke's theory about social contract, the "you have my back, I'll have yours" way of self- governing, but that's not the reality. Evil exists and not everyone will be willing to protect our natural rights, so sometimes we will need to fight. We use the 1st Amendment to not only express ourselves, but to speak out against evil. The 2nd Amendment exists to be able to protect ourselves against evil and "a well regulated militia" means we are trained to be able to effectively provide for defense.

These people believe they are patriotic, but they are more nationalistic, especially when it concerns Republican leadership. They have this unwavering loyalty to a Cheetoed President that is [super censored]. Dissent is Patriotic because it was how America came to be. We have unalienable rights endowed by the Creator and blah de blah de blah. Because the colonists (a good majority because there's the Loyalists) said "no more"

[formergothardite]

1 hour ago, front hugs > duggs said:

Coming from a Jewish NYC-suburb upbringing, I have never heard of a "holy gun" mindset. Would you be willing to explain/elaborate on this for me please? Thank you in advanced!

IME living around the people who put guns pretty much on the same level as God, it seems like they feel like they have a god given right to protect themselves, their families and their stuff, and the only way to do that is a gun. God wants people(white Christian people) to have guns. And all those other countries where people can't easily access guns to cart around with them, well clearly those countries are godless and are stripping people of their god given right to have a gun. Guns are practically worshiped in some areas of the country. People take guns to church, they take guns to the grocery store, they have guns stashed all over their houses and mentions of any sort of stricter gun laws send them into a panic. 

I seriously don't understand the gun worship or why people think that God wants folks to carry around guns, but they do. I really don't think our founders thought that it would turn into the gun obsession like it is now. 

1 hour ago, ColeJo said:

Considering all this, wouldn't America be considered ungodly?

These are the Make America Great Again people who totally think America is going to hell in a hand basket because of things like stricter gun laws. In their minds we are still better than everywhere else, though. 

[front hugs > duggs]

@formergothardite thank you for an explanation! I guess what I don't understand is the hypocrisy of the bible literalists ( I should really stop remotely trying to understand these people, but alas...) . Please tell me where in the bible God decrees that guns may be used to protect one's self. I'm guessing it's in the same place of the bible that God says he hates LGBTQ members.

[ColeJo]

6 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

IME living around the people who put guns pretty much on the same level as God, it seems like they feel like they have a god given right to protect themselves, their families and their stuff, and the only way to do that is a gun. God wants people(white Christian people) to have guns. And all those other countries where people can't easily access guns to cart around with them, well clearly those countries are godless and are stripping people of their god given right to have a gun. Guns are practically worshiped in some areas of the country. People take guns to church, they take guns to the grocery store, they have guns stashed all over their houses and mentions of any sort of stricter gun laws send them into a panic. 

I seriously don't understand the gun worship or why people think that God wants folks to carry around guns, but they do. I really don't think our founders thought that it would turn into the gun obsession like it is now. 

These are the Make America Great Again people who totally think America is going to hell in a hand basket because of things like stricter gun laws. In their minds we are still better than everywhere else, though. 

I don't like gun worship. I live in Idaho which is mostly rural and I see the same thing. My dad and I were talking about what if there is an active shooter situation at the church. It is extremely unlikely that it will ever happen, but there are quite a few people that open carry that are cops. There might be some more that carry concealed but I don't know because I don't see it.

It is biblical to provide protection for your family by whatever means. It is not just guns because back then, they used swords. However, a firearm is the most effective means of proactive protection to stop the threat. But first you have to be trained to identify a threat in a split second. In my home state, a rancher was shot by police because the rancher had a rifle to euthanize his bull because it had been hit by a car. It also appeared that the shot may hit bystanders based on the trajectory. Where law enforcement failed was not deescalating the situation and getting bystanders away from the bull so the man can euthanize it.

[HereticHick]

If only Lawson could get laid. It might calm down his extreme need for preening and gun-fondling.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

8 hours ago, front hugs > duggs said:

@formergothardite thank you for an explanation! I guess what I don't understand is the hypocrisy of the bible literalists ( I should really stop remotely trying to understand these people, but alas...) . Please tell me where in the bible God decrees that guns may be used to protect one's self. I'm guessing it's in the same place of the bible that God says he hates LGBTQ members.

I think the gist of it is that they want to go back to America's founding, when white  fundamentalist Christians came here to get away from corrupt European churches and governments, and created a Constitution that includes both freedom of religion and the right to bear arms. Right-wing media has convinced them (mostly wrongly) that these rights are under attack, and therefore need to be exercised openly before they disappear.  That plays into their general sense of horror and fear about modern life, which has gotten a lot worse for many working-class people as mechanization and globalization have taken their jobs. Also, they're quite right that there's far more government regulation and intrusiveness than in the past, so it fits a narrative for them.