AFA identifies the real culprit at Virginia Tech

April 23, 2007

A friend alerted me to a great list a blogger put together of the various culprits who deserve blame for the Virginia Tech massacre. At last count, the site had 56 different offenders, including most of the predictable far-right bugaboos.

The American Family Association, a major religious right group, has produced a video that identifies the real culprit at Virginia Tech: all the predictable far-right bugaboos.

In a new video, the right-wing American Family Association attributes the tragedy at Virginia Tech to: a lack of prayer in school, a lack of the Bible in school, a lack of spanking kids, a lack of physical punishment in school, abortion, condoms, Bill Clinton, internet pornography, free speech, the entertainment industry, “satanic” music, and liberal culture in general.

You really have to see the whole video — titled, “The Day They Kicked God out of the Schools” — to believe the stunning stupidity of it all, but it starts off with the following voice-over, which offers the viewer a hint of the nonsense to come:

“Dear God, why didn’t you save the school children [at multiple school shootings in recent years]? Sincerely, concerned students.

“Reply: Dear concerned students, I am not allowed in schools. Sincerely, God.”

Now, the American Family Association has been one of the leading purveyors of theocratic nonsense for years, so this comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the group’s work, but in this case, the devil’s in the details.

It’s tempting to point out that most Christians would consider it heretical to presume to speak for God, particularly when lying to advance a right-wing agenda. It’s also tempting to point out that based on the AFA’s worldview, God can’t be “kicked out” of anything — He’s everywhere. And some truth-huggers might also be tempted to point out that school prayer is alive and well in public schools across the country, and that the only practice that is legally prohibited is state-sponsored, school-endorsed prayer. (The AFA prefers a system in which the government replaces families as being responsible for promoting religion among children.)

But Steve M. points out the most entertaining aspect of this little piece of ridiculous propaganda:

[T]he AFA’s not just posting it. The AFA is selling it.

That was quick.

And the AFA isn’t selling a longer version of this — the AFA is selling this video, and no more, for a “donation” of five bucks. Running time of the above video? About three minutes. Running time of the video you purchase? About three minutes. (You can also purchase just the audio track, for the same price.)

That’s right; this “pro-family” outfit sees the Virginia Tech slaying as a fundraising opportunity, asking the AFA’s suckers supporters to buy a video that not only lies to them, but is already available online for free.

In other words, the AFA not only wants to exploit a massacre for political purposes, it also wants to exploit a massacre for some quick cash.

I’d add that the AFA has been in on the money-making side of the culture war for a while now. Long-time readers may recall an item from December, when we talked about the AFA using the alleged “war on Christmas” as a cash cow — selling more than 500,000 buttons and 125,000 bumper stickers bearing the slogan “Merry Christmas: It’s Worth Saying.” The AFA’s Don Wildmon refused to get into specifics, but acknowledged that the project turned a profit — so much so that he planned to sell buttons about other holidays as well.

I don’t claim to be a theologian, but where’s the part in the Bible about Jesus looking to turn a culture war into a quick buck?

Fundamentalists have been heretical for a long time: they commit the sin of hubris every time they claim exclusive knowledge of what the true “word of God” is. According to which politically-motivated translation of what part of the plagiarized “bible” is the True Word of God found? Why, the King JamesVersion, the most inaccurate, most politically-motivated version ever written! And then they don’t even get that right with their “quotes.”

  • Don WIldmon latches onto anything and everything to make a quick buck. He’s done that with Howard Stern among others. He’s the evangelical equivalent of Lionel Hutz and other ambulance chasers.

    What I find amusing about this AFA video is how many of the folks he’s selling stuff to actually went to a post secondary education institution. I guess they think College is one big Animal House bacchanal (which I would think would be a great selling point for most young folks.)

  • ***I don’t claim to be a theologian, but where’s the part in the Bible about Jesus looking to turn a culture war into a quick buck?***

    Actually, CB, it was Jesus kicking the quick-buck artists out of the temple in Jerusalem. The Pharisees couldn’t skim their “cut” off the top any more, so they put the hit on the Nazarene Carpenter.

    I don’t think it’ll be too hard for people to imagine what’s gonna happen to Wildmon, AFA, and all the other nasty little moneychangers, if Jesus ever comes back….

  • You would want to buy the video if you wanted to use it as part of your Sunday School or “small group” gathering. $5.00 sounds like a reasonable price for defraying the cost of mass producing the videos.

    Now, if you want to go into how forehead-slapping inane the message is, I’m right back in your rah-rah corner.

  • As a progressive Christian, I am not sure I have ever been more offended by someone purporting to be Christian than by the hateful idiocy of implying God watched this happen to teach us a lesson because we do not enforce religion in public school? “Nonsense” does not even begin to describe the total denial of true Christian values here. Is the AFA considered a hate group yet?

  • Scott, they can produce a video on DVD for about a buck fifty, shipped.

    Plus, they are generating a mailing list.

    There’s gold in them thar morons.

  • I can’t remember which blogger did a search of the VT website and found, instantly, at least 17 Christian student organizations. But he/she did. These people just don’t care if they’re accurate or not.

  • I don’t know that I am all surprised. This seems to be a Republican game with the advent of Bush 43 – and one they used to lay at that feet of Democrats. Blame everyone but the person who did The Very Bad Thing. To those on the Right – What happened at Tech was the fault of Seung-Hui Cho. While it is safe to say that there were warning signs and things that may have been done, some of that is seen with that famed 20/20 hindsight.

  • i left this message at afa:

    your video about the day i was kicked out of school was deceitful and laughable. please stop speaking for me. it’s very sad that you think a law could keep me from going into the schools. you have no faith not to mention you have rejected my own words. have you forgotten that wherever 2 or more are gathered in my name i am there? have you forgotten where i told you in my novel, the bible, that i am omnipotent and omnipresent? kids dont kill each other because my gay children teach in schools. kids kill because sometimes people have issues. and sometimes some of my children think that they are alone in the world. so the blame really lies with organizations such as yours. you spend so much time obsessing on the sex lives of your fellow brethren that you are blind to the needs of others. i sent my son to give you an example of how you should live your life. to be kind to one another. to improve your own life to that others may be lifted up. instead you spread hate in my name. you use my words to destroy the very people i have commanded you to love. i will have more to say when i see you. only i know that day. lets just say it may be sooner than later. so do yourself a favor a clean up your act. remember, i can see what is in your heart and i am not pleased. i will keep you on this earth long enough for you to change your evil ways and actually follow the teachings of my son. do you think you are sinless and therefore you can cast stones at others? we both know thats not true. can you see the speck in your brothers eye? no because we both know that you have the log of hate in your own. that log of hate has blinded you and hardened your heart to the true teachings of my son. jesus wanted me to give you a message that he is very pissed off! he said to refer to 1st corinthians 13. thats if you can stop bashing your gay brothers and sisters long enough, oh, and if you can stop using my name to make money. satan also wanted me to send you a message that he has a nice spot picked out for you right next to james dobsons plot in hell. or would you rather spend all of eternity burning in the fires of hell with bush, cheney, hitler, falwell, robertson, ronald reagan or everyone that works at fox new. LOL, you think any of these people are spending eternity with me? jesus just shot milk out of his nose he laughed so hard. shape up or youll be with the goats.

    sincerely,
    god

  • Lib4

    That’s exactly what I was thinking.

    So, according to Donald,”i’m a lying, mercenary,evil,sack of shit”, Wildmon, those godless, liberal little Amish bitches got exactly what they deserved.

    Right.

  • “One of his favorites was the song “Shine” by Collective Soul, which he played over and over. ”

    This convinces me he was beyond help.

  • OK, if it rains milk that Jesus shot out of his nose, is that a good thing to go out in, or a bad thing?

    Just wondering.

  • If God is a wrathful right winger that smites New Orleans, gives gays the HIV virus, and shoots innocent college students…
    Then like Mark Twain says through Huckleberry Finn, “All right, then I’ll go to hell.” Hell would be much more fun than spending eternity in wingnut Heaven where the sheep like followers of their dreary religion of submission, punishment, and fear probably are watching Fox News non-stop.

  • Whenever these guys go off on their usual rants based on having a direct pipeline to God, I can’t help but think of Peter O’Toole’s classic line from the movie, THE RULING CLASS (rent it , if you’ve never seen it; it’s a classic). In this movie, he plays the heir to a great title & property who has been institutionalized for believing he’s Christ. When he shows up to claim his inheritance, the rest of the family conspires to have him declared incompetent. In an interview with the family-hired psychiatrist, the following exchange takes place:
    Psych.– “When did you realize you were God ?”

    O’Toole– “One night I was praying & suddenly realized I was talking to myself.”

  • “I don’t claim to be a theologian, but where’s the part in the Bible about Jesus looking to turn a culture war into a quick buck?”

    It’s in the last chapter of the Bush Republican Bible v.1, first printing 2000.

    It says that God selected Bush as President in 2000 and that companies, not people, are what make America great. Any war, political, military, or cultural, is good for American companies, which make it all right for the AFA to spread lies about the VT tragedy to make money.

    Kudos to AFA for finding another way to make a buck!! Bush Christians are proud of you!!

    Think of how boring things would be without the wars of Bush.

  • Another thing to consider: Cho seemed to have a strong identification with Jesus but that information wasn’t released until a couple of days after the shooting.

    Who wants to bet American Fuckup Association shot their little video before NBC got their package?

    I live for the day when Wild-on is exposed as a goat raping B/D master who likes to wear his grandmother’s girdle when he’s at the pulpit.

  • As far as I knew, no one kicked god out of school, they just quit making his attendance mandatory.

  • The AFA is also apparently unaware that child pornogrphy is a crime. (They say it’s OK.)

  • The religious right thinks less of Minnesota then they Canada? I’ve found my new home.

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