Major Fundie Projection from “Lady� Lydia

[Burris]

Have you ever wondered why anyone would guard their own ignorance as fiercely as Lydia does?

She has finally answered that question in an epic guest post which she contributed to Jasmine’s blog, Far Above Rubies.

Quite simply, she doesn’t accept facts that differ from her worldview because she has a pathological mistrust of anyone who disagrees with her for any reason, no matter how they frame that disagreement or what resources they bring to bear in their fruitless effort to prove this woman wrong.

Before getting to her main point, however, let's first take a look at how Lydia defines "trolls":

…people who look down on you and think they are smarter than you. They often point to spelling and grammar mistakes in your posts, to distract you and others from the main point of your message. Typical of the Pharisees, they are able to quote scripture to you in order to make you feel you are failing to live the proper Christian life. They can accuse you of being a bad mother, a domineering wife, or a poor housekeeper. Whatever it is that you care about the most is what they will attack.

The above definition appears in the middle of a muddled and impotent fundie RAAAAGE article where Lydia’s first piece of advice regarding dissent is, “Don't Answer Questions From a Naysayer.â€

She continues…

Once you engage someone by answering their questions, you allow them to control what you write. They may begin rather innocently, asking you to tone down your message or be more fair or tolerant of things you do not believe in. They may accuse you of being unkind or mean spirited. Their design is to make you feel so self conscious and guilty that you apologize.

Yes, because it’s not at all possible that Lydia could ever be wrong enough about something that she should apologize. God forbid! No, instead it’s the fault of the “naysayer,†no matter how artfully the disagreement is presented, for daring to question something as well thought-out as the claim that hurricane victims in tattered clothes should have been more careful of their wardrobe because it’s simply undignified to for a woman to drown in shorts and a t-shirt.

Lydia has also never felt the need to apologize for her many and varied factual errors (some of which are discussed here, here, and here among other places).

And the reason why she refuses to apologize is because…

Once they extract an apology out of you, they have subjugated you, and you will never be able to blog your message without a nagging self-consciousness and a creepy awareness that someone hates you.

You see, nothing engenders contempt more than when a person apologizes for being dead wrong, and cruel to boot. It’s so much better for the offender to pretend she never made a mistake, lest her detractors gain some mystical power over her merely because she had the good sense to take certain of their criticisms seriously and engage in even five seconds of self-examination.

Apparently meekness really is weakness.

Her next piece of advice is even lazier and more self-serving then her first:

Don't Waste Time Trying to Teach a Pharisee [and by that she means a detractor, because all detractors are trolls, natch].

There is not one of us that does not have a weak spot somewhere, and there is not one Pharisee that cannot find it and expose it in order to bring you down or make you a point of scorn. Trolls also have no solutions.

As you’re about to see, Pharisee, like Communist, is simply an empty epithet Lydia tosses out to describe people with whom she vehemently disagrees.

And while I do agree with her that the best critics are also those who offer alternative solutions, the problem with Lydia’s writing is that it’s not solution-oriented to begin with: It’s simply a load of half-baked, uncited assertions about this or that – and those sorts of things don’t lend themselves to solid debate.

Pharisees hung on every word Jesus uttered, trying to find mistakes. They quoted scripture to Him. They tried to trap him in his words.

One thing Lydia should bear in mind here is that the Pharisees believed they were doing what they did for the greater good and for the glory of God. They weren’t merely contrarians who believed Jesus was the Messiah but denied him anyway; they believed he was a false prophet, and dangerous.

Rather than listening to what Jesus said, the Pharisees began with the assumption he was wrong and would brook no dispute on that subject. In other words, they didn’t listen to naysayers either, although they were more apt to answer a critic’s questions than Lydia is.

Her next suggestion is to tell a critic that he “has no rights†- as if anyone should take a pronouncement like that seriously, or see it as the gateway to enlightenment. (How much more confrontational and self-serving can a person get than to claim critics have no rights?)

Her next suggestion is as follows:

Keep ministering, teaching, sharing, and working your goals

This statement, in the context of the rest of Lydia’s article, can only be taken to mean, “Always talk. Never listen. That is the path to wisdom.â€

You will notice in the homes, even Christian homes, that some rebellious children do not want their parents to teach them. They want to create as much of an uproar as they can. Then, the parent will not want to open his mouth, fearing the noise and commotion it will cause when he corrects his child. Trolls have been doing this from babyhood.

Oh look – Lydia is comparing critical peers to petulant children, even while she herself plugs her ears and screams, “La, la, la! I’m not listening!†whenever anyone dares to question her assumptions or the factual bases for her claims.

Excuse me, but I’ll be taking Lydia’s criticism with a more than just a pinch of salt.

Oh, and also…

The Lord will turn their reproach upon their own heads, and make them prey for others.

Apparently God is either Lydia’s servant or in lock-step agreement with every asinine pronouncement she makes, and so we’re obviously in danger of getting our asses kicked by the master of the universe for doing such terrible things as pointing out that statin drugs are not even remotely the same things as SSRIs.

Every single troll blog or message board is looked down on by the world in general. No one who reads these awful blogs or fake profiles will really respect them.

In light of the above comment, let us review some of the criteria Lydia uses when determining whether or not someone is a troll:

…people who look down on you and think they are smarter than you. They often point to spelling and grammar mistakes in your posts, to distract you and others from the main point of your message….They can accuse you of being a bad mother, a domineering wife, or a poor housekeeper. Whatever it is that you care about the most is what they will attack.

…and…

A troll's purpose is to stop you, shut you down, and shut you up.

It’s hard to credit just how little self-awareness Lydia actually has.

She then compares trolls to communists, and offers the following observation:

There are three things a communist does to ruin people:

1. Find a weak spot in a person's life, or some past sin, and expose it.

2. If they cannot find anything, make up something.

3. Even if the victim goes to great length to have it proven false, the rumor will stick, and they will never be able to rise above it.

So, there you have it. If you dare to quote someone accurately and in context, but in such a way that she ends up looking like a dumbass, then that’s exactly the same as making stuff up about her which makes you a troll who is like a Pharisee who is like a communist who has no rights and isn’t worthy of even a cursory response no matter how well-crafted the criticism because humility and apology are exactly the same as subjugation.

Fwew - that was a mouthful.

Also…

Protect Yourself and Your Friends and Followers:

Encourage your friends to hide their profile, or to make one that shares no personal information. Sometimes women will proudly display their beliefs, right on their profile, with something like, "I am a home-school, home birth, home-medication, home-grown Christian who believes in spanking my children."

On a public blog, this is a magnet for places that specialize in hunting down what they call "fundie blogs," with the purpose of shutting them down. Use that kind of profile on your private blog, but do have a public blog that is designed for sharing and teaching and influencing the world. Check out my own profile at http://homeliving.blogspot.com/

Oh, way to be bold, Christian soldier! Cower in fear, yes, but whatever you do, don’t answer a naysayer because that is what gives them power.

And then, after talking about how to protect a blog from snarkers ‘who want to shut you down’, Lydia suggests Christian writers report ‘offensive content’ as written by critics to places such as Blogger – because trying to get someone shut down for a TOS violation is significantly less sneaky and underhanded than openly publishing a critique on a forum and encouraging other readers to chime in.

And then Lydia makes her final point, which is plenty stupid enough to provide a closing laugh:

Do not indicate that anything is wrong.

On a public blog, you are the gracious host, and you must make your hospitality a pleasant experience for everyone. Sometimes, for my own amusement, I will let some ridiculous comment be known, but I will not announce anything on my blog about the trolls.

No, Lydia doesn’t discuss “trolls†on her blog; she posts her bitch-fests on the blogs of other people - because that’s somehow more gracious and honest than taking commenters to task on her own blog.

[liltwinstar]

I think she's way confused. A "troll" is someone who posts enlightening things like "Ur Fat so Ur stupid" - not thoughtful criticism.

Also, ok. So we can't criticize on her blog. Fine, her space, her right to delete comments. But if we comment on her whacky ass beliefs elsewhere, we want to shut her down? Makes no sense.

[Deleted05]

That definitely doesn't sound like the actions of anyone we talk about on here, does it??

[lovefromgirl]

There are three things a communist does to ruin people:

1. Find a weak spot in a person's life, or some past sin, and expose it.

2. If they cannot find anything, make up something.

3. Even if the victim goes to great length to have it proven false, the rumor will stick, and they will never be able to rise above it.

Lydia has inadvertently confused the Communists with Joseph McCarthy.

[Guest Anonymous]

That definitely doesn't sound like the actions of anyone we talk about on here, does it??

Sorry Lydia, we look down on you and think we are smarter than you because we ARE.

[luckylibrarian]

All I heard was "whine whine whine whine whine."

Lydia, honey, you are a deluded bitch. Go huddle in your bomb shelter with the rest of the John Birchers.

[Brainsample]

All I heard was "whine whine whine whine whine."

Lydia, honey, you are a deluded bitch. Go huddle in your bomb shelter with the rest of the John Birchers.

Lucky,

I've heard it said that Southerners can say anything to one another if you say "Bless your heart" first. In Louisiana where I once lived, they said "your little heart." Maybe adding that will help make it more understandable or polite for Lydia so that she gets the message. And it would go over better if you were wearing a frilly dress with a floral brocade print. Next time, dress up and take a photo. Hold a rose or a lily or something, too. Then we'll all know it's polite and sincere. :roll:

NOT! :mrgreen: It's fine the way that it is. People have asked me why I am so blunt when talking about these things. The "soft answer" does not do much good. When the vitriol is both strong and ridiculous, I think that blunt is called for. That doesn't mean we all necessarily hate this woman, but rather that this stuff is intolerable. Christianity has nothing to do with it.

Lydia, we know you believe this stuff, and that you likely see it as pleasing to God and what He requires. That's a good motive. But, boy, is your aim and method off -- by nearly any standard, and there are some other motives at work, too. Like beating the opponent. There's no room for charitable disagreement.

Burris,

Another fine review, but it is a sad waste of your time and talent -- given the ... the ... whatever the nature of this is. Sad and hysterical (extreme), and hysterical (funny) and insane, all at once.

[JesusFightClub]

Burris, that was great! But do you think...that post from Lydia was quite literally insane?

I'm bipolar, and a sign people have told me they notice when I'm a bit unwell is me making very little sense. All the connections to what I'm saying fit together *perfectly* in my head. But I don't get that no one else is inside my head. So I'm told my conversation becomes disjointed, with ideas which have no obvious logical connection to each other (they do to me, but apparently not to listeners) and there's a strange sort of affect which people describe as being a bit uncoupled from reality. I noticed all these things in Lydia's post.

There's huge helpings of paranoia in what she writes...having to blog "knowing someone hates you" because they claimed you were rude and asked you to apologise? Most people would read that as normal human interaction. The whole thing sounds *off* and the connections she makes are not understandable. As Orwell said, in her case "words and meaning have almost parted company."

An example of this which many people picked up on is her use of the word "communist" to describe her opponents. I am a communist and we're used to being blamed for everything from things we actually did fuck up :oops: to the local deli running out of fried chicken. ;) But normally you can see why the word was used and follow a logical chain of thought even though the reasoning is wrong. In her "three traits" you could have substituted the word "tadpole" or "vegan" or "crowbar" for "communist" and it would have made about as much sense. We are starting to get into the jumbled up word salad talking the further we progress reading her post.

This as well was disturbing and made me suspect her mental health is not as it should be:

He will paste everything you write on a new hate-blog to embarrass you and debilitate you to the point that you cannot raise your head off your pillow in the morning or function during the day.

Whatever's going on in this woman's life, it's not good.

It's not the best idea to play Internet psychiatrist so I won't offer a diagnosis, just wondered if anyone got the same vibe from the post. I'm used to fundies posting weird shit. This is something...else.

[defrauding]

You know, I wonder how many of the stalkers these people describe -- assuming the stalkers exist, of course -- are actually other fundies. Look at the whole Zsuzsanna mess, for example.

[slickcat79]

Lydia has inadvertently confused the Communists with Joseph McCarthy.

...or something :?: Someone should inform Lydia that real words have real meanings, and she can't just pretend they mean whatever she wants them to mean.

[contrary]

HAHAHA. her take on communism cracks me up.

i guess good christian cabbage roses don't use dictionaries, or even wikipedia?

[Swamptribe]

You know, I wonder how many of the stalkers these people describe -- assuming the stalkers exist, of course -- are actually other fundies. Look at the whole Zsuzsanna mess, for example.

Ohh, Christians can be so vicious to each other. I've seen it on message boards before. Man, they get nasty.