Primitive Christianity Revived, Again
The Religious Society of Friends group on Facebook is very quiet on the subject of impending war with Iran. That's a kind of silence I don't want to be around. I left the group. Not enough authentic Quakerism for my taste.
Hello Kirby,
I walked away from facebook years ago. I'm curious. What about the possibility of military conflict with Iran should Quakers vocalize?
Oh you know, how we're opposed to outward wars 'n stuff. I know individual Friends who express principles, and I have no serious issues with Facebook in general. I just find the "Quaker group" to be on the phony side. Too many average Lower48ers maybe, who consider themselves Friends. Not really my type I guess.
Are you reflecting on most people on the facebook "Quaker Group" that they are engaged in using the promotion of Quaker testimony on outward war to hide their actual intent (Phony). Also what specifically do you mean by reflecting on them as "average Lower48ers." Will you share some examples of the nature of an average Lower48er?
My beef with the Qs on FB was not that they are engaged in promoting Quaker testimony on war, but that they're dodging the peace testimony and the history of conscientious objection rather uniformly. Bringing up outward war is deemed "political" whereas warm-fuzzy quotes from the Bible are not.
Average Lower48er in "United States of Amnesia" (Gore Vidal) has a rather poor grasp of timelines beyond his own, especially when it comes to the USA against the backdrop of world history. How did the US manage to come by a base in Guantanamo, Cuba wasn't there some failed Bay of Pigs thing? Why are so many adult US citizens ineligible to vote in presidential elections, even with no criminal history (hint: US territories (what everyone else calls "colonies")). Stuff like that. Never got it in school, not in elementary, high, or in college. K-16 very sanitized of information about what's been going on. Expensive though. Average Lower48er is in debt to a lot of ghostly banks and corporations he doesn't know personally (despite corporate personhood, and AI wanting to be your friend (talk about Phony!)).
https://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2019/06/opting-out-in-cascadia.html
I carry on with these conversations in my own Quaker journals.
I actually am moderating a Facebook group: Quaker Theology. I agreed to it "temporarily" and my predecessor deleted his Facebook account!
And my group isn't exactly squawking about it either. This isn't particularly an issue for me. I don't think "Stupid things the US does" isn't de facto a Quaker topic of conversation. Maybe as a non-USican not talking US politics comes naturally to me. I also assume that if people want to talk peace testimony they will and if bothered me they were not then I probably would post something to stir the pot.
The acceptance of war seems too toxic, so I'm just squirming around trying to get some air. I'm having fantasies of leaving the country, but for my 90 year old peace activist mom who depends on me. Anyway, the Facebook group is closed to onlookers and therefore was not the best way to communicate with my friends (in Iran and elsewhere). At least with QuakerQuaker, I can point to my saved / stored communications by URL. In retrospect, I feel led by my transparency testimony. I'm escaping from a "behind the scenes" channel that doesn't jibe with my sense of best practice.
Thank you Kirby. Your responses help me better understand the reflective constructs that are guiding you in this matter.
I mention leaving the Facebook group somewhat obliquely in this video below, in which I share about my Quaker values more generally.
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