Notices by Prof. Rachel Thorn 🍉🇺🇦🏳️‍⚧️🏳️ (rachelthornsub@famichiki.jp)

I was resisting the urge to offer advice to newcomers, since that’s such a laughably Fediverse thing to do, but, yeah, we generally do take #AltText quite seriously. There are a lot of Blind and visually impaired users here. Really. Four mutuals leap to mind. One reason they are here is because they can reasonably expect to find images accompanied by meaningful AltText. If you think that's unreasonable, you will find yourself being called out regularly for not including AltText.

Takaichi won the election for the head of the Liberal Democratic Party (which is neither, as I have said before) and my partner is already seriously planning immigrating to another country. Takaichi was the worst choice among a field of terrible choices. She will take the party farther right. And since she will certainly become the Prime Minister, she will take the country farther right. #Japan

@skinnylatte “Oh, that’s my ex.” The universal lesbian secret society password.🤣

The phrase means, “Homage to Amitabha Buddha,” but you don’t don’t even have to know that; you don’t even have to know who the Amitabha Buddha is, because it’s all automatic. It’s the password to paradise. No doubt this insidious notion led to all sorts of horrible people doing all sorts of horrible things over the centuries, because, just like the “I accept Jesus as…” thing, it’s your Get Out of Jail Free card. Just mumble it on your deathbed and you’re good to go (to paradise). (2/2)

I wonder if anyone has ever done a serious comparison of this “Get into Heaven free” Christianity and the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism founded in Japan in at the end of the 12th century. It remains the most popular form of Buddhism in Japan, presumably because it is so easy and stupid. All you have to do is chant “Namuamidabutsu,” et voilà! You can get into the “Pure Land.” (1/2)

It’s as if Jesus was just killing time between his “immaculate conception” and his crucification, and nothing he did or said in between matters as much as his being a sacrificial goat slaughtered to “pay for your sins.” (3/3)

It is no surprise, then, that you have people saying this sort of thing with a straight face, and failing to see the irony:
"As a Christian, one thing I love about Trump is how shameless he is about saying 'Love my enemies?' No way man, I hate those guys!' So cool how the honesty allows the conversation to actually happen, rather than a bunch of pious platitudes.”
This was actually written by some self-described “Christian,” a self-described “Marriage Coach,” named Giff Lasta. (2/3)

Ever since I was a child, there was trend in Christianity to claim that all you need to do to get into heaven is to “Accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior,” whatever that means. The real-world result has been that you have people all over the place who call themselves “Christians,” but could not tell you one thing Jesus of Nazareth is ever supposed to have said. The Bible becomes a mere talisman, not to be read but simply “wielded.” (1/3)

I am sick to death with all the scolding about how we should be talking to MAGAts, because they are good people at heart and just misguided. No, they are anti small-“d” democratic Nazi filth who take joy in seeing the Constitution torched by their Orange God Emperor. Sorry, but your Trump-loving Maw-Maw is just evil, plain and simple, and if someday the pendulum ever swings back in the other direction, she’ll just pretend she wasn’t complicit in causing so much harm.