[Modern History] Guns Condoms and Electricity

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > [Modern History] Guns Condoms and Electricity

«‹›87 »

sullat: Jan 9, 2012

A Buttery Pastry posted:

helen killer invented the idea of "life unworthy of life" for malformed idiot babies

Huh, they named the woman suggesting infanticide "killer".

# ? Dec 10, 2023 07:18

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 27, 2024 18:50

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Hellen Keller trutherism ftw

# ? Dec 10, 2023 07:50

Teriyaki Hairpiece: Dec 29, 2006; I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

I think people were exposing weird babies for thousands of years

# ? Dec 10, 2023 08:07

HootTheOwl: May 13, 2012; Hootin and shootin

I would have aborted Helen Keller

# ? Dec 10, 2023 14:59

Benagain: Oct 10, 2007; Can you see that I am serious?; Fun Shoe

She was also a socialist, supporting the ussr and member of the IWW so it's impossible to say if she was good or bad.

# ? Dec 10, 2023 15:10

War and Pieces: Apr 24, 2022; DID NOT VOTE FOR FETTERMAN

Benagain posted:

She was also a socialist, supporting the ussr and member of the IWW so it's impossible to say if she was good or bad.

eugenics was a progressive socialist position before WWII

# ? Dec 10, 2023 15:35

A Buttery Pastry: Sep 4, 2011; Delicious and Informative!

War and Pieces posted:

eugenics was a progressive socialist position before WWII

ability: none
need: to die

# ? Dec 10, 2023 17:26

Danann: Aug 4, 2013

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1733537373957300735

quote:

In 1948, 76 beavers were parachuted into the Idaho wilderness as part of a relocation program by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

The program was initiated to address the growing conflict between humans and beavers in areas where people were building homes, such as Payette Lake. The beavers' natural activities, like dam building and tree cutting, were causing problems for the new residents.

The relocation site, Chamberlain Basin, was chosen because it was a remote and suitable location for the beavers to thrive. However, the area was difficult to access due to the lack of roads. The solution was to use surplus parachutes from World War II to drop the beavers into their new home.

A specially designed crate was created to ensure the safety of the beavers during the drop. After several test drops with a beaver named Geronimo, the project was deemed successful and continued until 1948.

As a result, the beavers transformed the landscape into a lush wetland, creating a haven against fire and drought. Their descendants now live in what is part of the largest protected roadless forest in the continental United States.

beaver engineering paratrooper corps

# ? Dec 10, 2023 19:49

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

operation lumber drop

# ? Dec 10, 2023 22:36

Grimnarsson: Sep 4, 2018

I bet Geronimo experienced poo poo no one's supposed to. PTSD, TBI, you name it.

# ? Dec 10, 2023 23:53

Frosted Flake: Sep 13, 2011; Semper Shitpost Ubique

Grimnarsson posted:

I bet Geronimo experienced poo poo no one's supposed to. PTSD, TBI, you name it.

Literally yes, right? Isn't that the story? The Mexican Army attached his village when he was young and massacred his tribe, if I'm remembering correctly.

# ? Dec 10, 2023 23:58

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

Frosted Flake posted:

Literally yes, right? Isn't that the story? The Mexican Army attached his village when he was young and massacred his tribe, if I'm remembering correctly.

that's why he was relocated to idaho with his friends

# ? Dec 11, 2023 00:25

SardonicTyrant: Feb 26, 2016; BTICH IM A NEWT
熱くなれ夢みた明日を
必ずいつかつかまえる
走り出せ振り向くことなく
&

Grimnarsson posted:

I bet Geronimo experienced poo poo no one's supposed to. PTSD, TBI, you name it.

In Outer Heaven, beavers become bothers.

# ? Dec 12, 2023 03:45

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

quote:

The Rise of Muscular Christianity

�Among all the marvelous advances of Christianity either within this organization [the YMCA] or without it, in this land and cen- tury or any other lands and ages, the future historian of the church of Christ will place this movement of carrying the gospel to the body as one of the most epoch making.� �G. Stanley Hall, �Christianity and Physical Culture� (1901)

Those who saw Christian churches as epicenters of the Victorian Era�s feminizing culture blamed the faith�s historical emphasis on asceticism and suspicion of the physical body. There was wide agreement in Christian circles, the Rev. Thomas Wentworth Higginson lamented, that �that admiration of physical strength belonged to the barbarous ages of the world� and �that physical vigor and spiritual sanctity were incompatible.� It was commonly thought, he reported, that there was an inverse correlation between a believer�s athletic ability and his piety. The problem with this prevailing view, another minister posited, is that a religion �which ignores the physical life becomes more or less mys- tical and effeminate, loses its virility, and has little influence over men or affairs.�

If the feminization of Christianity was rooted in the faith�s lack of physicality, the solution was obvious: to connect the faith to the body. And not just any kind of body � a strong and vigorous one. An energetic, action-taking ethos championed by Roosevelt as �the strenuous life,� as well as the advent of modern physical culture, were already growing up around 19th century culture generally, and Chris- tians saw an answer in this emerging lifestyle to what ailed their faith specifically. Masculine reformers of Christianity would seek to apply this nascent strenuous spirit and physical focus to their faith in an ef- fort to make it more �muscular.�

Historian Clifford Putney defines Muscular Christianity �as a Christian commitment to health and manliness,� and as a label and a philosophy, it originated in England in the 1850s, growing out of the novels of Thomas Hughes (Tom Brown�s School Days) and Charles Kingsley (Westward Ho!). Both men believed the Anglican Church was becom- ing too soft and effeminate, and created protagonists in their books who embodied an ideal counterbalance � young men who managed to com- bine the virtue and ethics of gentlemanly Christians, with masculine athleticism, camaraderie, and honor.

While Muscular Christianity took off first in England because industri- alization and urbanization (and accompanying concerns about a decline in manliness) occurred earlier there than in the States, it eventually mi- grated to American shores in the 1870s. And here the movement would find an even greater and longer-lasting impact; it remained popular from around 1880 until 1920, and as we�ll see later, continues to influ- ence American culture today.

The Muscular Christianity movement was never officially organized, or headed by a single person, but was instead a cultural trend that mani- fested itself in different ways and was supported by various figures and churches � predominately those of the liberal, mainline Protestant variety. (Given the gender-neutral, egalitarianism of modern mainline churches, this may come as a surprise, but manliness did not become a hiss and a byword in these denominations until half a century after the movement had died out.)

Adherents of the movement sought to make the Christian faith more muscular both literally and metaphorically � strengthening the phys- ical bodies of the faithful, while pushing the church�s culture and ethos in a more vigorous, practical, challenging, and action-oriented direction. Let�s start our exploration of Muscular Christianity by looking at the pri- mary plank of its platform: encouraging men to engage in exercise and sports. We�ll then look at ways its proponents tried to make the culture of Christianity more manly.

A Physical Faith

�The least of the muscular Christians has hold of the old chival- rous and Christian belief, that a man�s body is given him to be trained and brought into subjection, and then used for the protec- tion of the weak, the advancement of all righteous causes, and the subduing of the earth which God has given to the children of men.� �Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford (1861)

Muscular Christians believed a follower of Jesus could not afford to ig- nore or mistreat his body, and that physical health could either be a great aid or a significant hindrance to living the gospel.

Because Christendom had not previously had a strong �theology of the body,� muscular Christians had to develop one, creating a philosophy that linked physical health with spiritual health, and offered a rationale as to why striving for strength constituted an obligation of discipleship.

Their argument for a physical faith rested on several premises:

Physical training builds the stamina necessary to perform service for others.

The central tenet of the Muscular Christian philosophy was that the body should be made fit, not simply for health, or for pleasure, but in order to make it a more effective tool for doing good in the world. As Putney writes, the idea was to use �primitive bodies to advance civilized ideals.� Exercise had a higher purpose, which was, as the French phys- ical culturist Georges Hebert put it, to �be strong to be useful.�

Jesus� endurance in healing endless crowds of people was pointed to as proof of his having this kind of bodily stamina, and his modern fol- lowers were encouraged to cultivate similarly unflagging energy in the name of dedicated service. (Muscular Christians also noted that Jesus took time for sleep and solitude, and encouraged rest and recovery for all-around good health.)

How could a man stand on his feet all day working a breadline, or trek to a remote African village to share the good word, if he was weak and in ill health?

As Horace Mann put it: �All through the life of a pure-minded but feeble-bodied man, his path is lined with memory�s gravestones, which mark the spots where noble enterprises perished, for want of physical vigor to embody them in deeds.�

Physical strength leads to moral strength & good character.

�Perhaps�the system of the New Testament does �strike a deadly blow at the development of the body for its own sake,� but it im- peratively demands it for the character�s sake; and boldly teaches that without it, it is not possible to reach the strongest manhood.� �Rev. James Isaac Vance, Royal Manhood (1899)

For Muscular Christians, moral strength and physical strength were not unrelated; disciplining one�s body through athletic training built one�s will, and strength of will was vital to turning down temptation. Teach- ing the body to obey the mind through exercise, could translate into teaching the body to obey the soul as well; in attuning oneself to natural laws, one could become more attuned to following divine ones. Physical training, after all, is premised on the postponement of present desire in order to fulfill future aims, which is also the basis of Christian disci- pleship.

Athletics were also seen as healthy diversions from less wholesome forms of recreation and effective conduits for burning off energy that might otherwise seek a less moral outlet. Roosevelt testified to wit- nessing this effect firsthand:

�When I was Police Commissioner I found (and Jacob Riis will back me up in this) that the establishment of a boxing club in a tough neighborhood always tended to do away with knifing and gun-fighting among the young fellows who would otherwise have been in murderous gangs. Many of these young fellows were not naturally criminals at all, but they had to have some outlet for their activities.�

Athletics were viewed as excellent vehicles for building character as well, as they taught fair play, sportsmanship, delayed gratification, re- silience, and so on. Participating in competition has in fact been found to paradoxically be a highly effective means by which to learn cooperation and other moral values.

Sports provided a platform to evangelize the �unchurched.�

Some 19th century churches saw sports as a way to connect with the kind of highly masculine, rough �n� tumble tough guys they typically had so much trouble attracting. And it worked. An 1894 article about the Rev. A. O. Jay, reports that the High Church clergyman had �dis- covered that the boxing-gloves are most useful, although considerably neglected weapons in the armory of the church.�

Jay worked in the poorest part of London�s East End, and decided to build an athletics club, which included a boxing ring, right above his church. The club was open every night, and the Father would station himself by the door, taking memberships and shaking the hands of the men who came in. No betting was allowed � just amateur fisticuffs. Not only was the ring consistently filled with competitors, but the brawlers also frequently found their way into the church�s pews, with services regularly attracting as many as 400 men. Jay also reported that participants in the club/church became less prone to ill-intended vio- lence among themselves, as well as towards their families, which was a common problem.

When a Baptist minister criticized Jay�s combination of prayer and pugilism, arguing that �it was utterly against Scripture to get together a lot of hulking prize fighters,� the Father answered that �They may be hulking and they may be prize fighters, but even for them Christ died.� The minister countered by saying �if boxing-gloves are not carnal, I do not know what is.� To which Jay responded:

�I will venture to inform you there is one thing more carnal than the use of boxing-gloves, and that is to do what you do, neglect the sheep simply, and you call them black because of their utter in- ability to understand your narrow shibboleths.�

Physical sports and exercise connected boys and men with their masculinity.

Muscular Christians saw athletics as a way for boys and men to re- connect with their masculinity, which they considered a faith-related good, both for the way it would allow men to appreciate and experience their God-created nature, and for the way it would help them fulfill their potential and step into their divinely-appointed roles as protectors of family, faith, and country.

Muscular Christians wanted to see a generation of �Gentleman Barbar- ians� � men who coupled the traits of essential masculinity with Christian character, so that they possessed both physical power, and the desire and capacity to control and direct that power towards good.

Exercise was seen as an avenue for building masculine traits like strength and confidence, while team sports acquainted men with a sense of honor and camaraderie, rewarded drive and pain tolerance, and developed experience in wielding controlled aggression.

It was hoped by the advocates of Muscular Christianity that sports would prepare virtuous young men to hold their own in the hurly burly of business and politics, for as TR observed, �There is only a very cir- cumscribed sphere of usefulness for the timid good man.�

It was also believed that sports served as preparation for serving in ac- tual war � that what athletes learned on the playing field would trans- late to the battlefield. Indeed, many looked to sports as what William James called �a moral equivalent of war� � a way to exercise, inculcate, and preserve masculine and martial virtues in times of peace.

For this reason, while muscular Christians supported all kinds of sports, they especially championed more �martial� ones like boxing and wrestling. Roosevelt �always regarded boxing as a first-class sport to en- courage in the Young Men�s Christian Association,� as he did �not like to see young Christians with shoulders that slope like a champagne bot- tle.�

As TR saw it, building up the physical body gave a firmer frame on which to hang the gentler virtues of Christianity. Without such a struc- ture supporting the faith�s softer side, its virtues tended to droop and sag, and come off as mealy rather than noble and respectable. He be- lieved that a man who not only espoused ideals, but could physically stand up and fight for them when justified, would be more respected than he who held high ideals, but let evildoers push him around.

Even in a man who chose to turn the other cheek, a capacity for vio- lence would increase the admiration he was given. He who clearly could fight back, but willfully chose not to, would still be af- forded more respect than he whose passivity might as easily be rooted in principle, as forced surrender.

In this way, Jesus might be seen by the faithful as the ultimate �Gen- tleman Barbarian� � he had the power and capacity to destroy all of his enemies with a wave of the hand, but chose to lay down his life � mak- ing the sacrifice not an act of weakness but of perfect and complete will.

"Muscular Christianity: The Relationship Between Men and Faith", Brett and Kate McKay

# ? Dec 12, 2023 04:11

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

gradenko_2000 posted:

"Muscular Christianity: The Relationship Between Men and Faith", Brett and Kate McKay

Historian Clifford Putler defines Muscular Christianity �as a Christian commitment to health and manliness,

# ? Dec 12, 2023 08:10

Azathoth: Apr 3, 2001

Reminds me of those Christian weightlifters my school brought in for an assembly back in the 90s. They'd rip phone books in half and other assorted feats of strength while spouting Bible verses and inspirational messages.

# ? Dec 12, 2023 13:50

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Azathoth posted:

Reminds me of those Christian weightlifters my school brought in for an assembly back in the 90s. They'd rip phone books in half and other assorted feats of strength while spouting Bible verses and inspirational messages.

dudes rock

# ? Dec 12, 2023 14:07

Pepe Silvia Browne: Jan 1, 2007

Azathoth posted:

Reminds me of those Christian weightlifters my school brought in for an assembly back in the 90s. They'd rip phone books in half and other assorted feats of strength while spouting Bible verses and inspirational messages.

check out The Righteous Gemstones season 2 for more info

# ? Dec 12, 2023 14:07

MeatwadIsGod: Sep 30, 2004; Foretold by Gyromancy

Azathoth posted:

Reminds me of those Christian weightlifters my school brought in for an assembly back in the 90s. They'd rip phone books in half and other assorted feats of strength while spouting Bible verses and inspirational messages.

My partner had these assemblies at their school and that poo poo is baffling. At my school they just roped us into scams to sell wrapping paper or coupon books door-to-door. I wonder if the buff Christians ripping up phonebooks is strictly a southern phenomenon or if other regions had their own version of it?

# ? Dec 12, 2023 14:40

Frosted Flake: Sep 13, 2011; Semper Shitpost Ubique

MeatwadIsGod posted:

I wonder if the buff Christians ripping up phonebooks is strictly a southern phenomenon or if other regions had their own version of it?

Have you ever heard of Charles Gordon?

# ? Dec 12, 2023 15:01

Azathoth: Apr 3, 2001

MeatwadIsGod posted:

My partner had these assemblies at their school and that poo poo is baffling. At my school they just roped us into scams to sell wrapping paper or coupon books door-to-door. I wonder if the buff Christians ripping up phonebooks is strictly a southern phenomenon or if other regions had their own version of it?

They got up to Minnesota at least once, because that's where I saw them. Granted we also used to get out of school every Wednesday morning and go to our local churches so we could have a couple extra hours of Sunday School, so I'm not sure if my experience is generalizable to the rest of Minnesota (probably yes for the rural parts, no for anywhere with a sizeable population).

# ? Dec 12, 2023 16:06

mycomancy: Oct 16, 2016

Thanks to everyone in this thread for yanking a 90s memory out of the vault for me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Team

# ? Dec 12, 2023 19:17

War and Pieces: Apr 24, 2022; DID NOT VOTE FOR FETTERMAN

mycomancy posted:

Thanks to everyone in this thread for yanking a 90s memory out of the vault for me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Team

sick logo

# ? Dec 12, 2023 19:26

MeatwadIsGod: Sep 30, 2004; Foretold by Gyromancy

Frosted Flake posted:

Have you ever heard of Charles Gordon?

Can you elaborate on this?

# ? Dec 12, 2023 19:28

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

I saw the power team in 1990. very inspiring, I saw them break handcuffs and run their heads through blocks of ice

# ? Dec 12, 2023 19:30

Frosted Flake: Sep 13, 2011; Semper Shitpost Ubique

MeatwadIsGod posted:

Can you elaborate on this?

Well, Muscular Christianity was as big, and as important, to the late victorians as it is in America today. It was a hugely promoted cultural force, you know Newbolt and all that, and the standard bearer for a good deal of it was the life and martyrdom of Gordon, who loved exercise, horseplay, and roughly washing boys in horse troughs to revitalize them.

# ? Dec 12, 2023 22:56

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

sir, this is smith wigglesworth country

# ? Dec 12, 2023 23:31

galagazombie: Oct 31, 2011; A silly little mouse!

Azathoth posted:

Reminds me of those Christian weightlifters my school brought in for an assembly back in the 90s. They'd rip phone books in half and other assorted feats of strength while spouting Bible verses and inspirational messages.

Holy poo poo the Righteous Gemstones didn�t make that up?!

# ? Dec 16, 2023 04:02

Radical 90s Wizard: Aug 5, 2008; ~SS-18 burning bright,
Bathe me in your cleansing light~

Workaholics too

https://youtu.be/lGeY8osZEo4?si=KXqQZUO7Jxg6ejFn

# ? Dec 16, 2023 12:09

Orange Devil: Oct 1, 2010; Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!

Frosted Flake posted:

Well, Muscular Christianity was as big, and as important, to the late victorians as it is in America today. It was a hugely promoted cultural force, you know Newbolt and all that, and the standard bearer for a good deal of it was the life and martyrdom of Gordon, who loved exercise, horseplay, and roughly washing boys in horse troughs to revitalize them.

Pushing an ideology through the aesthetics of your strong physique scans incredibly fashy.

# ? Dec 16, 2023 13:08

Nosfereefer: Jun 15, 2011; IF YOU FIND THIS POSTER OUTSIDE BYOB, PLEASE RETURN THEM. WE ARE VERY WORRIED AND WE MISS THEM

Orange Devil posted:

Pushing an ideology through the aesthetics of your strong physique scans incredibly fashy.

reported for making GBS threads on socialist realism

# ? Dec 16, 2023 15:24

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Orange Devil posted:

Pushing an ideology through the aesthetics of your strong physique scans incredibly fashy.

Oh yeah? How would you like a knuckle sandwich?

# ? Dec 16, 2023 15:30

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

gradenko_2000 posted:

Oh yeah? How would you like a knuckle sandwich?

I'm praying for you, brother

# ? Dec 16, 2023 15:46

StashAugustine: Mar 24, 2013; Do not trust in hope- it will betray you! Only faith and hatred sustain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf0ZvY2usbY

# ? Dec 16, 2023 17:34

Frosted Flake: Sep 13, 2011; Semper Shitpost Ubique

Orange Devil posted:

Pushing an ideology through the aesthetics of your strong physique scans incredibly fashy.

Yeah sure pal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg3q6qW2aKo

# ? Dec 16, 2023 17:51

Orange Devil: Oct 1, 2010; Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!

Nosfereefer posted:

reported for making GBS threads on socialist realism

Those celebrate the dignity of labour and labourers. Not merely the aesthetics of either.

# ? Dec 16, 2023 18:12

Nosfereefer: Jun 15, 2011; IF YOU FIND THIS POSTER OUTSIDE BYOB, PLEASE RETURN THEM. WE ARE VERY WORRIED AND WE MISS THEM

Orange Devil posted:

Those celebrate the dignity of labour and labourers. Not merely the aesthetics of either.

maybe, but also

# ? Dec 16, 2023 18:37

galagazombie: Oct 31, 2011; A silly little mouse!

Rosie the Riveter, fascist?

# ? Dec 16, 2023 18:42

121423_2: Dec 14, 2023

Rosie the Riveter, socialist realist?

# ? Dec 16, 2023 18:44

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 27, 2024 18:50

121423_2: Dec 14, 2023

Orange Devil posted:

Pushing an ideology through the aesthetics of your strong physique scans incredibly fashy.

dude somehow is able to finance Wishes from some bank somewhere

# ? Dec 16, 2023 18:45

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > [Modern History] Guns Condoms and Electricity

«‹›87 »