Normally there’s not much of interest on Livejournal, unless you’re strange enough to take delight in random teenage angst, constant bickering and flame wars, or incessant whining about one’s love life.  But the following post from transformergeek is simply too good to resist quoting:

So I decided to join the KKK…

Sure, I don’t agree with their notion of white pride. And I don’t believe in their desire to cut off all American foreign aid, nor their desire to outlaw homosexuality, nor their anti-abortion stance. I think their plans for creating a Christian nation are horrible and damaging. And I think their history of racism is a truly terrible thing.

But there is a lot of good that comes out of being in the klan! A sense of community. A sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself. They’re deeply rooted in family and tradition. And some of the things they believe in, I also agree with. They believe in supporting strict environmental laws. They believe in balancing the budget. They stand behind states rights, and they strongly support veterans.

I can call myself a Klansman, even though I don’t agree with everything they believe in. And I can still go to klan meetings, even though I disagree with some of their core tenets. I’m just choosing the parts that I like, and I’m going to [go] with that, while I ignore the parts of The Klan that I disagree with.

So really, there’s nothing wrong with The Klan, or being a member. It’s just a personal matter of how the individual chooses to live their life.

The original post can be found here.

In case you’re a bit dense and don’t understand why this person wants to join the KKK, keep in mind that this is satire through analogy.

Still don’t get it?  Convert the phrases related to the KKK to those concerning Christianity and it may become clearer.

Now, while the analogy isn’t perfect, it is nevertheless amusing.  A lot of the rhetoric used by moderate Christians to explain past transgressions of the church, modern bigotry by fundamentalists, or the atrocities contained within scriptures is eerily similar to the framing techniques used by the modern KKK movement, which has apparently tried to distance itself from its claims of hatred and racism and instead sells itself as an organization devoted to community and love.  (I happened upon this knowledge after channel surfing and happening upon some sort of documentary on the KKK on the History Channel.)  This sort of rebranding occurs with most groups that spread bigotry and hatred once their shortcomings are revealed and they are villified.  Thus, homophobic groups are now scrambling to redefine themselves as protecting the family and children rather than oppressing homosexuals they see as abominations.

At any rate, I thought the analogy should be shared, because it deserves a more diverse audience than the trolls and preteens populating livejournal.  (And in case you are wondering, I fit well into the “troll” population on livejournal, and only rarely fill the preteen niche—please refrain from making any dirty sexual remarks about that last bit, by the way.)

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 11:31 PM and is filed under Atheism, Humor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.