Fundies Make Mystery Monolith Relevant to FJ

[Black Aliss]

Unless you've been in a coma the last month you're probably aware of the mysterious metal objects that have popped up, first in the Southern Utah desert, then outside Atascadero, California and <somewhere in>Romania. Then a few people hiked in and dismantled the one in Utah. And now, the one in California has been removed and replaced by a large wooden cross.

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In a video, which was livestreamed and posted online, the group of young men drive from southern California to tear down the structure. Under cover of darkness, they hike up to the structure and tear it down while chanting “Christ is king!”. They then erect a homemade wooden cross in its place and drag the remains of the monolith down the mountain to their car.

During the video, the men also make offensive comments and drink substantial quantities of energy drinks, while also referencing Donald Trump and the QAnon conspiracy theory and their mission is to demonstrate “how much we love Jesus Christ”.

That's a "love of Jesus" on a par with anything the Rodriguii or the Hawkins can pull off, innit?

Suffice it to say their stunt did not go over well with local officials.

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“We are upset that these young men felt the need to drive five hours to come into our community and vandalize the monolith,” Atascadero’s mayor, Heather Moreno, said in a news release. “The monolith was something unique and fun in an otherwise stressful time.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/04/christian-group-tears-down-mysterious-monolith-california-mountain

The local story is more explicit about their offensive behavior. Apparently they saw the monolith as coming from aliens or pagans. And their potty mouths need a good cleansing with something. 

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article247589895.html

Edited December 5, 2020 by Coconut Flan

[Marly]

Why is it so hard for some people to grasp that you don't destroy things that aren't yours?

[llucie]

Thats sad for the town, they probably were getting more tourism thanks to having the monolith there. Hopefully the person who put it there in the first place will do it again.

[Coconut Flan]

California doesn't need any tourism at the moment.  We're supposed to be staying home.  That said, the fundies should have been staying home and not trying to impose their beliefs on anyone else.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

I'm 100% convinced that this monolith thing will turn out to be a viral marketing ploy, in which case "destroyed by paranoid religious fanatics" seems like a fittingly absurd end.

[Howl]

The Utah monolith has been there since at least 2016, when it shows up on google maps; I have zero problems with its removal. 

A geo-tagged photo of the monolith was posted (maybe the original photos from the Wildlife folks?) and the location was found in probably under 24 hours. At this point  it was besieged by visitors who were tramping and driving everywhere on fragile cryptobiotic soils, with resulting trash and traffic jams in the middle of nowhere.  BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and San Juan County Sheriff's Dept were realistically very concerned they would be called out on rescues and happy to see it gone. 

Replacing the CA monolith with a cross is classic Xtian asshole masculinity behavior. 

 

[Maggie Mae]

6 minutes ago, Howl said:

The Utah monolith has been there since at least 2016, when it shows up on google maps; I have zero problems with its removal. 

Most news sources and Utah/Federal Park Agents weren't releasing the location of the Utah monolith, due to not wanting to rescue people who weren't prepared for the hike. It was dismantled by leave no trace hikers, which is fine. Much like the f-ing bus from Into the Wild, it shouldn't be there and people have proved over and over again that they won't behave responsibly. I'm glad it's gone, though I'm curious where it came from. I'm also curious about how it's been there since at least 2016 with next to no interest. 

I didn't know about the California one, do they know who put it up? 

[Howl]

1 minute ago, Maggie Mae said:

I'm also curious about how it's been there since at least 2016 with next to no interest. 

My intuition is that it's an art "installation". 

Apparently it was tucked away in a canyon that's rarely/never visited.  Also may have been a well-kept or not so well-kept secret among various groups until it hit the national/global news.  Southeastern Utah/San Juan County is an immense place with hundreds of canyons large and small.