Sunday, October 24, 2010

Looming Theocracy Watch

Here is a very good diavlog between Michelle Goldberg and Jeff Sharlet.

(alt. video link)

You might remember my recommending an earlier diavlog with Jeff, in which he was interviewed by Will Wilkinson shortly after his book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power came out, as well as his precursor article on the same subject, "Jesus plus nothing: Undercover among America's secret theocrats."

This diavlog touches, in part, on his follow-up book, C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. If "C Street" seems vaguely familiar to you only as a place where Republican politicians go to hide out after they get caught dipping the quill outside the company inkwell, be advised that it is considerably more sinister than that.

Other topics discussed in this diavlog include the relationship between certain US Senators and the problem in Uganda of homophobia run amok, criticism of Peter J. Boyer and The New Yorker for bad reporting on this situation, how much the tea party movement is either already driven by Christianist forces or will eventually be, and some observations on teabagger darlings like Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, and Joe Miller, all of whom have significant connections to those who would like to replace the US Constitution with the Book of Leviticus.

Is it easy to dismiss these matters as the excessive paranoia? You will have to judge for yourself -- me, I think a healthy amount of concern is definitely in order -- but I urge you to watch the above, and look into Jeff's reporting, before you make your final dismissal. I would note in particular his criticism of those who have a fetish for centrism, who are at least as dangerous as the fundies themselves in their wish to sweep all this stuff under the rug.

If you'd rather download audio or video of this diavlog, instead of sitting here watching it stream, watching the video embedded above stream, click the "alt. video link," where you'll find a variety of options.

No comments:

ShareThis