IMPORTANT! A meme to reframe the "moral values" issue...

So far, part of the problem is that every term we can use to describe those trying to use this election to grab power has enough positive connotations to rob our critique of its effectiveness.

Say we refer to them as "conservative Christians." Most people have a positive view of "Christians" and at least a neutral view of "conservative" (it's a description, not a condemnation). "What's so bad about being Christian and conservative?" would be the likely reply.

Or, we call them "fundamentalists" or "evangelicals." The latter is a purely-neutral term, the former neutral to slightly-negative. But, for many who react negatively, it is usually in the context of Islamic "fundamentalists," normally far away from us.

The "Religious Right"...? Most people have no problem with "religious," and "right" is also a synonym for "correct."

"Talibornagain," while clever, takes a bit too much conscious thought to be immediately effective on a precognative level. "Religious Reich" gets a bad reaction, since many people think equating any major political movement in this country with the Nazis is going way overboard.

We need a catchy phrase that can be repeated over and over, and that can reframe these people, not as especially "moral" or "religious," but in a negative yet accurate light.

I propose that the label we need is...

HATE BRIGADE

It's a perfect choice. First of all, it's catchy, in a near-rhyming way. Second, there's no way it can carry any positive connotations. Third of all, the word "brigade" accurately describes the current fundie notion of being an army on the march, plays into the fears of non-fundies that their goal is to force us, much like an invading army, to adopt their way of life, and echos earlier intolerant religious movements like the Temperance Brigades. Finally, it accurately reframes their claim to "moral values" into one where the only thing they have to offer is generalized hatred at anyone not like them.

So, let's make a point of turning this into a meme. Use "hate brigade" (for clarity, possibly initially combined with known terms, such as "the fundamentalist hate brigade," "Pat Robertson's hate brigade," "the religious right hate brigade," etc.) every time you describe fundies. Make it a common part of your language in forums like this. Use it when you call in to radio shows and write letters to the editor. Try to make it heard often enough that it spreads into the conventional wisdom of the general populace, so that at least some of them, when they hear something about the "religious right" or "Christian Coalition," will subconsciously hear "hate brigade."

The right has been doing this to us for decades, now. It's time to turn the tables.

They sure as heck aren't the Bible Belt - everything they 'stand for' is blatantly against every single teaching of Jesus Christ.

Keep saying it - BIGOT BELT.

I remember the "Hollywood hate-fest" merry-go-round during Kerry's campaign, and that may indeed have been effective. The GOP has to maintain an us-vs-them mentality among their rural voters, and I think if we can shatter that illusion we'll be doing a whole lot better convincing them that our values are more their values than they realize.

Drove me NUTS when they called us Bush haters after what they'd done to Clinton. Orwellian.

Pretty nasty one too. "Christian" is just ironic.

i love it; i hereby declare it part of the DU vernacular

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

is one of my favs. "Jesus freaks" also isn't bad if you brush the dust off it. Sort of demeaning.

One thing for sure is "Evangelicals" has got to go. It sounds way too cool for the bible-whacking specimens I've been exposed to.

Gyre

...Bible-wankers. :P

a lot of fundies call themselves jesus freaks, they like it. i like one poster's suggestion of "fungelicals"

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

Neither part of that has any positive connotations at all, and it calls them for what they are and not for what they'd like to think of themselves as being.

If I could, I'd like to strip them of *any* pretensions they have to being religious -- because they aren't, not in any way I can understand:

They're obsessed with bodies and particularly with naked bodies. The left sees marriage as a union between two souls, both created alike in the image of God. The right sees marriage as a license to play with one another's naughty bits. (If you can't accept the religious terminology literally, take it as metaphor. It's true either way.)

They don't submit to the divine will -- they're actively engaged in trying to force God's hand to declare the end times, willy-nilly. The left is far more accepting of whatever will be and dedicated to making the most of that.

They are full of pride and envy and greed and anger. Not only that, but they are so blinded to their own nature that they endorse these sins as virtues.

They are devoid of compassion and devoid of humility and devoid of love. Their lives are ruled by fear and self-satisfaction and there is nothing about them that deserves the name of Christians.

or the "American Pharisees", as someone suggested.

The "Unchristian Coalition" or The "Unchristian Right" would also be appropriate, as would "The Religious Wrong" and "The Christian Wrong".

It's just so perfect!