We don't need more evidence
Jeffrey Esptein, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Clarence Thomas, Pete Hegseth, Matt Gaetz, R. Kelly, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Andrew Tate, Andrew Cuomo, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, and thousands upon thousands of Christian leaders (Catholic and Protestant). The list goes on and on and on.
We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that these men, and millions more like them around the globe, are sexual predators.
Listen to these words from Bell Hooks, American author, theorist, educator, and social critic. They are from her book, The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love.
We don’t need more evidence.
Israel is a genocidal, apartheid state. Israel is purposefully starving Palestinian civilians to death, while also killing them when they seek aid.
And no, it’s not just Netanyahu and his coalition. A strong majority of Israeli Jews are openly supportive of the mass killing of Palestinians through starvation and violence (more on this below).
And, ultimately, it’s the Israeli soldiers, a good representation of the Israeli people (Israel has conscription for men and women), who are carrying out the genocide.
We don’t need more evidence.
The MAGA movement is destructive and abusive. I’m sorry to put it so bluntly, but I am feeling a sense of urgency. ICE agents are abducting mostly Latinos and other foreign-looking individuals, and then imprisoning them in inhumane conditions within the U.S. or sending them to a foreign torture prison.
In 2016, I was naive, less about Trump than about those who voted for him. I was willing to give his voters the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t like the Clintons either. Bill is a sexual predator. Hillary defended Bill, and she always defends Israel.
But I’ve seen too much now. And so have you. “The cruelty is the point,” as Adam Serwer concluded on October 3, 2018, in his prophetic article in the Atlantic. “President Trump and his supporters find community by rejoicing in the suffering of those they hate and fear.”
We don’t need more evidence.
Religion is failing us. The United States is being led by a majority Christian movement. The Republican Party is now fully MAGA and fully in control of the U.S. government. It is made up of 74-84%1 self-identified Christians, some of whom are like this guy, Connor, a self-identified Catholic.
Connor is speaking to Mehdi Hassan, an esteemed British and American journalist. Mehdi is also a Muslim, and an American citizen. Multiple individuals in the debate (Connor was one of many who debated Mehdi) told him he should be kicked out of the country. After Connor was fired from his job (for obvious reasons), he made a fundraising page on a Christian crowdfunding site called, GiveSendGo. He has raised over $38,000.
Joe Biden is a committed Catholic. Antony Blinken (Biden’s Secretary of State) is Jewish. I wish that these religious commitments had translated into moral courage and clarity when faced with Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Instead, their firm support of Israel’s genocide was seen by many as a demonstration of their commitment to Judaism and Christianity.
Israel is a self-proclaimed Jewish state. It is Judaism with state power. Here are the opinions of Israeli Jews (vs. Israeli Arabs) on the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip and on the suffering of Palestinians.
Hamas fighters and other Palestinian militants are extremist Muslims. There is no justification for what they did on Oct 7th. Just as there is no justification for Israel’s genocide, now principally through deliberate starvation of all Palestinians, including infants.
The new leader of Syria is a former member of ISIS. The Taliban are ruling Afghanistan. Fundamentalist Islam, like all fundamentalist religions, is secured through patriarchal violence. Patriarchal violence and religious fundamentalism are the best of friends. And that’s bad news, for women and children, especially, but also for men.
AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), which supports Israeli apartheid and Israel’s genocide, is almost entirely composed of and supported by American Jews and American Christians.
We don’t need more evidence.
We are making our planet uninhabitable for living things, both on land and in our waters. Theory has become reality over the last few decades. It’s happening before our eyes. A 2021 study by the World Bank predicts that internal migration within five geographical regions (see below) could reach 216 million by 2050. Millions of people within these five regions will have to move to survive.
We don’t need more evidence.
We. Don’t. Need. More. Evidence.
So, today, I mourn.
Pew, 2023-2024, 74%: https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/party-affiliation/rep-lean-rep/ and PRRI, 2024, 84%: https://prri.org/spotlight/2024-prri-census-of-american-religion/
Agree 100%. 😓
I mourn with you, Josh. Thanks for your courage and clarity and love for humanity.