Geoff Botkin Harrumphs About Donald Trump and Political Correctness,

[VooDooChild]

3 minutes ago, Marian the Librarian said:

So happy to oblige! 

Many (many) years ago, I heard a comedy album by Joan Rivers. In it, she said something to the effect that members of the British royal family all spoke as if they had mouths full of mashed potatoes, sounding something like "Faw, fa faw faw faw faw faw faw faw" in a nasally posh way. I imagine Geoff's lengthy bloviations all blending together in one long "Harrumph, harrumph, harrumph umph umph umph umph."

Yes!  I've heard this too!  Oh!  I'm dying!  

Geez.  I'm like Rebecca e!eventy! with the exclamation points.

[ChunkyBarbie]

On 12/11/2016 at 0:27 PM, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

I thought that was Swanson. 

For a long minute, I thought you meant Swanson frozen dinners.   

[hoipolloi]

3 hours ago, Marian the Librarian said:

In it, she said something to the effect that members of the British royal family all spoke as if they had mouths full of mashed potatoes, sounding something like "Faw, fa faw faw faw faw faw faw faw" in a nasally posh way.

Ha. Reminds me of Peter Ustinov's hilarious story of his mother being introduced to Queen Mary in the 1930s (account starts at about the 2:00 minute mark in the linked video).

[ophelia]

8 hours ago, AlwaysExcited said:

I will wish you Merry Christmas. When it's Christmas. Maybe few days earlier if I won't see you till January or so. 
For the rest of  the 28 days of December - Happy Holidays and please don't make me buy things. 
For the rest of the year - shut the fuck up, I don't want to hear about  this "war of Christmas" bullshit in June. 

THIS!! I can't hear it anymore. In Germany a lot of morons believe that with the increasing number of (moslem) refugees and immigrants our dear and beloved christmas markets will be renamed into winter markets. Suddenly this country is full of people that feel obliged to defend christianity. But basically they are just stupid af.

[Lurky]

The "War of Christmas" types are just ignorant.  In the UK, you'll see people up in arms at "Season's Greetings" in Christmas cards instead of "Happy Christmas" - even though Season's Greetings is a traditional message going back decades and decades (and is as "traditional" as Xmas cards, which let's face it, are a relatively modern invention). 

 

[kunoichi66]

14 hours ago, Black Aliss said:

Cool! That means we can call out Christianists on their bigotry and they can't claim persecution. We can call an asshole an asshole now, right? Geoff, you're an asshole.

I can't wait to see what his organization sends out for Christmas cards. Fox News, for all their ranting about the war on Christmas, always sends out cards that say "Happy Holidays". I'm betting the Trumps' cards will say "Happy Holidays", too.

My take on opening and holding doors has always been that the person who reaches the door first opens it and holds it for the others in her group. I fail to see a problem.

I love this side to it!

[AmazonGrace]

11 hours ago, Black Aliss said:

I often see guys reluctantly going through the door I'm holding, then rushing to get to the next door first so they can do the Right Thing. I read somewhere that holding the door is a dominance gesture, so I guess that's why having a woman hold the door can be upsetting.

 

If you're the one holding the door they can't slam it in your face.

[Rachel333]

[AmazonGrace]

As long as the stores start with the tinsel and Christmas songs in November it's very hard to take the war on Christmas as a very serious threat to the traditions. The rampant commercialisation of the Saviour's birth seems to be going as strong as ever.

[MamaJunebug]

On ‎12‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 2:53 PM, Marian the Librarian said:

They both hated it!! 

http://www.oxygen.com/very-real/right-wingers-says-frozen-is-dangerous-and-republican-presidential-candidates-are

 

I was just going to wonder which Disney movie was next on the Botkins' faux-intelligentsial critique agenda, but you did much better.

Also: Moala? Maylala? The one with Dwane "The Rock" Johnson? hubba hubba hubba...

[AmazonGrace]

I think all Disney movies are a little suspect. Talking animals are occultism. Nudity: ducks who aren't wearing pants.... Cinderella goes to a party without parental permission. Snowwhite lives with guys she's not married to and talks with strangers, got groped by a stranger while dead. Sleeping  Beauty: disobedient, and a lazy biotch  and she got groped by a stranger while sleeping. Pocahontas runs wild and is not properly chaperoned. Rapunzel hooks up with a thief.  Mulan has certain unfeminine tendencies, what with the warrior escapades.  Little Mermaid runs off after a guy. Peter Pan and Robin Hood are pure anarchy. Lady and the Tramp: were they even married?  Who the hell feeds all the dalmatians, are they on welfare?

 

Alice in Wonderland is some kind of acid trip. Princess and the Frog has voodoo. What does Winnie the Pooh ever do? He just lazes about all day and eats sweets.

[Black Aliss]

15 hours ago, VooDooChild said:

Yes!  I've heard this too!  Oh!  I'm dying!  

Geez.  I'm like Rebecca e!eventy! with the exclamation points.

Apologies for thread drift but, speaking of Rebecca, she finally passed the math and science portions of her GED! I am so thrilled for her. I think she's a reasonably intelligent young woman, but with a typical fundie SOTDRT education, she had a lot of catching up to do. I'm so glad she had the perseverance to see it through.

[Black Aliss]

2 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 What does Winnie the Pooh ever do? He just lazes about all day and eats sweets.

Oh, Winnie the Pooh stories are full of dysfunction. Christopher Robin is wandering around in the woods all day instead of reading the scriptures. Pooh can't control his gluttony. Kanga is a single mom whose child is unsupervised and is subject to the bad influences of Tigger, who may or may not be using drugs. Eeyore is sad because he knows where he's going when he dies, and it ain't heaven.

[AlwaysExcited]

16 hours ago, ophelia said:

THIS!! I can't hear it anymore. In Germany a lot of morons believe that with the increasing number of (moslem) refugees and immigrants our dear and beloved christmas markets will be renamed into winter markets. Suddenly this country is full of people that feel obliged to defend christianity. But basically they are just stupid af.

Here it's "Look at all the refugees taking over Christmas in Germany, we can't let refugees in our country!" 
And I though the point of Christmas was birth of Jesus and salvation, and hope, and, you know, all the other cool stuff that's actually hard to take away from anyone. If you really believe it.

[samurai_sarah]

16 minutes ago, AlwaysExcited said:

Here it's "Look at all the refugees taking over Christmas in Germany, we can't let refugees in our country!" 
And I though the point of Christmas was birth of Jesus and salvation, and hope, and, you know, all the other cool stuff that's actually hard to take away from anyone. If you really believe it.

Stuff like that always makes me wonder if people think that there's some kind of secret committee involved that only refugees know about. And what would that committee actually propose in the way of practical warfare? Breaking the legs off of every gingerbread-man they encounter? Aggressively shouting "Seasons' Greetings"? Show up at Christmas markets to play Death Metal? Go door to door to drag Christmas trees out of living rooms? Or - the horror- put Christmas cards into the glass recycling bins?

How precisely does one take over Christmas? If I were a refugee, taking over Christmas would be pretty low on the list of my priorities. Getting decent accommodation, warm clothes, learning the language and entering the work-force/education would all come before forming a committee against Christmas.

[PartriarchydefyinValkarie]

Geoff Botkin Also took HUGE issue with Tangled and How to train your dragon saying that they teach the disrespect of authority figures. Never mind that Mother Gothel wasn't even Rapunzel's mother!! I would love to see Swanson and Botkin's opinions on Moana. Especially since Swanson was bitching about Hawaii paying tribute to their past, oops I mean being heathens and worshipping Gods and Goddesses. 

Kev even has a book out called The Tatooed Jesus. Its all about The Hunger games, Frozen, HTTYD2, HP and what Jesus would think of the sinful movies.

[Peas n carrots]

Who fucking cares about Happy Holidays? I work with a lot of Jews, so I usually say it just to cover bases.

[ophelia]

13 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

I think all Disney movies are a little suspect. Talking animals are occultism. Nudity: ducks who aren't wearing pants.... Cinderella goes to a party without parental permission. Snowwhite lives with guys she's not married to and talks with strangers, got groped by a stranger while dead. Sleeping  Beauty: disobedient, and a lazy biotch  and she got groped by a stranger while sleeping. Pocahontas runs wild and is not properly chaperoned. Rapunzel hooks up with a thief.  Mulan has certain unfeminine tendencies, what with the warrior escapades.  Little Mermaid runs off after a guy. Peter Pan and Robin Hood are pure anarchy. Lady and the Tramp: were they even married?  Who the hell feeds all the dalmatians, are they on welfare?

 

Alice in Wonderland is some kind of acid trip. Princess and the Frog has voodoo. What does Winnie the Pooh ever do? He just lazes about all day and eats sweets.

I loved your post and you are brightening my day!!
Although I have to admit that there a LOT of Disney movies that a very suspect to me and that I would rather not let my kids watch. A lot of these movies have a perception of women that is far away from any kind of role model I would want my kids to look up to. Most of the figures are also white and don't show any of the diversity that is a huge and valuable aspect of our society. But there a still some movies I enjoy watching and that I find great. Lilo and Stitch is my favourite and Mulan is just as badass as it gets. I could never ever watch the little Mermaid again though. HUGE childhood trauma!!

[Lurky]

I adore it when Fundies take against Tangled, because they look even more batshit than normal!   I didn't love the film, but wow, the idea that the godly thing was that princess should have obeyed her kidnapper, letting the evil witch (!!) use her as a power source... because the witch was the authority figure??? wow!  I guess Esther shouldn't have deceived the King, Joseph and Mary shouldn't have fled to Egypt, the Jewish slaves shouldn't have tried to leave Egypt in the first place etc etc

[Childless]

1 hour ago, Lurky said:

I adore it when Fundies take against Tangled, because they look even more batshit than normal!   I didn't love the film, but wow, the idea that the godly thing was that princess should have obeyed her kidnapper, letting the evil witch (!!) use her as a power source... because the witch was the authority figure??? wow!  I guess Esther shouldn't have deceived the King, Joseph and Mary shouldn't have fled to Egypt, the Jewish slaves shouldn't have tried to leave Egypt in the first place etc etc

Of course they rail against Tangled.  Can't have people thinking they can defy authority.  How would they be able to control them?

[PartriarchydefyinValkarie]

11 hours ago, Childless said:

Of course they rail against Tangled.  Can't have people thinking they can defy authority.  How would they be able to control them?

They also rail against it because if you think about it, Rapunzel at first is the model stay at home daughter!

she cooks, cleans, never had any aspirations of her own?? Besides the slightly-less modest dress she could have passed for a Botkinette or Maxwell, just replace her geology book with the Bible.

[desertvixen]

When it comes to all these men who are so rabid about holding the door and the horrible horrible feminists who won't let them do it, WHERE were they when I was the mom of a newborn with my husband a country away?  All of a sudden, when I could really have used them, they were nowhere to be seen.

[ViolaSebastian]

I once had a sociology professor tell me about the time he co-taught a class on gender bias with a female professor. He said that the walk from their offices to the classroom was painful and that it felt like there must have been a million doors between the places, because each time he didn't know whether or not to open and hold the door for her. He said he was forced to consider if he was enforcing gender stereotypes and roles each and every time and he wasn't sure what to do.   That said, I've always done the first to the door opens it and holds it open.

As far as the 'happy holidays' thing goes, I say it to people who I have no idea of knowing which holiday (or holidays) they celebrate. And if they say 'happy *insert holiday here*,' I say thank you. Because that's called not being a jerk to someone who cares enough to wish you a good time. 

 

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

58 minutes ago, desertvixen said:

When it comes to all these men who are so rabid about holding the door and the horrible horrible feminists who won't let them do it, WHERE were they when I was the mom of a newborn with my husband a country away?  All of a sudden, when I could really have used them, they were nowhere to be seen.

I'm kinda confused by this, because I'm wondering if you actually had fundie  friends who let you down, or if you're just generalizing. (Either way is fine, just wondering ;-)). But I just want to say that I'm sorry you went through a lonely time and/or that the men and women in your life let you down when you needed support.  My husband, and the men we are friends with, would have made sure you were taken care of as much as they could have. 

[December]

On 12/13/2016 at 5:56 AM, Rachel333 said:

I love this! It's so (sadly) true in my experience. Another year, I sent out cards that said "happy holidays" because I liked the design (that is, didn't consider the greeting) and heard a few snippy comments from conservative, religious people. This year I went with a "merry Christmas" design because I found it the cutest. None of my non-Christian friends raised a fuss. They just thanked me and sent back their own various holiday cards. It's almost like no rational person cares about the specific greeting, they just appreciate the sentiment behind the card!