r/TrueReddit • u/VegemiteSucks • 5d ago

Politics Among the Republicans, by V.S. Naipaul

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1984/10/25/among-the-republicans/
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u/VegemiteSucks 5d ago

In this article, future nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul visits the 1984 Republican National Convention, and while doing so vividly capturing the intersection of politics, religion, and cultural identity of what he deemed a "white tribe". It is very well written and especially notable for his clinical, almost anthropological lens, under which he investigates the convention. Notable in this article are his explorations of the germinations of the modern GOP, in the form of sermons given by Dr. W.A. Criswell, which melds spiritual fervor with political ideology. Considerable effort is also given to the ways in which fundamentalism shapes the Republican narrative, which often reducing wide swaths of unfathomable social issues into singular vision of Americanism, while ignoring its latent contradictions.

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u/Vermilion 5d ago

the modern GOP, in the form of sermons given by Dr. W.A. Criswell, which melds spiritual fervor with political ideology.

I think the USA has a fundamental media literacy problem, starting with the double-imported Levant Bible reading and interpretation. Given it is Christmas, I'll focus on that:

  1. "I love Jesus" is wrong, see verse "1 John 4:20"
  2. Trump posing with a Bible is wrong, see verse Matthew 6:5
  3. The Bible is words and only words, language / poetry - see verse John 1:1
  4. You have never seen "God" because it is only words in a story. Again verse "1 John 4:20"
  5. God forces you to sin, with the outcome always being mercy, verse Romans 11:32
  6. Supporting Elon Musk and Donald Trump is wrong. verse "1 John 3:17", it is not "love".

And a reminder that in year 1820, founding father Thomas Jefferson took a knife to the King James Bible ad removed content. They were not cowards to a book.

Anyway, Merry Christmas.