*quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by EndAll.

Holy crap.

I dream of a place where the artist would not fear the censor,
where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality,
where the great will not be constrained by the small.

^I see what you did there. Watch out, or you might tread on the toes of God...

This is some scary shit. Someone should invoke fear.

The irony if it all, is I'm sure that the initial founders of the conservative movement that sought to exploit religion for their political aims were entirely secular. They must have been, to so ruthlessly use it as cover for the unpopular policies of their corporate benefactors.

Yet somewhere along the line, the very people that engaged in this astroturfing to begin with crafted a narrative to fit around their distorted ideas - that they are the chosen, and duped themselves into believing the very same fiction they were perpetuating.

"the" really isn't a very good tag. "the family" would be better.

It's times like this we need Boondock Saints-style vigilantism here.

This just in: mediocre guy makes stuff up in a book, becomes rich, and gets called "brave!"

>> ^chilaxe:
This just in: mediocre guy makes stuff up in a book, becomes rich, and gets called "brave!"


Did this hit close to home or what chilaxe?

>> ^chilaxe:
This just in: mediocre guy makes stuff up in a book, becomes rich, and gets called "brave!"


Hey it worked for Mohammed, Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard, and many more.

>> ^Throbbin:
>> ^chilaxe:
This just in: mediocre guy makes stuff up in a book, becomes rich, and gets called "brave!"

Did this hit close to home or what chilaxe?


I like Maher, but he's not exactly a scientist. Jeff Sharlet saying a bunch of stuff without any proof or data isn't journalism, and Maher isn't doing his job as a media figure or as an intellectual by just assigning 100% truth to everything that comes out of peoples' mouths.

Sharlet does appear to have some credentials, so maybe there's something more to his claims than just him 'saying stuff,' but if there is, it's not present in this appearance, meaning Sharlet and Maher aren't doing their jobs.

*dead

This published video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by NetRunner.

The Family does seem to be at least a secretive, powerful, religious fundamentalist organization, but nobody has any idea how accurate Sharlet's claims are. Authors routinely embellish things or make stuff up completely, and they have strong incentive to do so.

It seems to strain credulity that such a powerful organization that "fetishes secrecy" wouldn't do a background check on Sharlet before letting him view their innermost meetings.

A background check would have revealed that Sharlet is clearly a liberal who's against everything the Family stands for. Sharlet's uncle, who shares the same name, Jeff Sharlet, was a prominent Vietnamn peace activist, and Sharlet himself co-founded a clearly liberal religion magazine called "Killing the Buddha"(Wiki).

All I object to is media figures who don't respect how difficult it is to actually know something free of bias and inaccuracy. http://www.videosift.com/video/Richard-Feynman-on-Social-Sciences

Biologist PZ Meyers doesn't seem to have any objections about this interview (link), so that should be enough endorsement for most uses. (Undead video at that location.)

I don't think it's wise, though, for the reasons stated in my above comments, to accept Sharlet's claims without skepticism. However, even if the quotes from the leaders of The Family weren't accurate, that's what they get for trying to undemocratically maintain an invisible influence on power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr69bhccD-Q

Working one, but who knows for how long.

^ Thanks!

>> ^Lithic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr69bhccD-Q
Working one, but who knows for how long.

chilaxe, yes you'd have to be naive to take this guy at his word without scrutinizing his evidence. But unfortunately I doubt any of us really care enough to put the time into it.

>> ^entr0py:
chilaxe, yes you'd have to be naive to take this guy at his word without scrutinizing his evidence. But unfortunately I doubt any of us really care enough to put the time into it.


Either that or we don't trust conservative christian leaders to begin with, so regardless of the evidence it isn't changing our opinion of these scumbags anyway.

>> ^gwiz665:
I dream of a place where the artist would not fear the censor,
where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality,
where the great will not be constrained by the small.


Um, excuse me, your city has developed a number of small leaks and also a shitload of insanity.

*fear

Adding video to channels (Fear) - requested by blankfist.

How is this guy still alive? How is Maher still alive?

*bullshit

That's a chilling video, and a very weird string of comments.

>> ^quantumushroom:
How is this guy still alive? How is Maher still alive?
bullshit


Lets hope none of our bullshit conspiracy stories are true. Amirite?

Is anyone surprised? Religion has been about controlling others since day one.

Still a good vid, but I'm just saying...

Tags for this video have been changed from 'the, family, street, christian, mafia, congress, senate' to 'the family, jeff sharlet, real time, maher, street, christian, mafia, congress, senate' - edited by kronosposeidon

Rachel Maddow's had this guy on a ton since the whole Gov. Sanford thing broke wide open. Disturbing on so many levels...