(no subject)

[theweaselking]

Rich American Christians are horrifying, horrible goddamn people sometimes.

UpTV, a TV channel for "uplifting" Christian programming, decided to air a Fuck With Poor People Special for Christmas this year.

They went to Atlanta, found a bunch of poor kids between 6 and 11, and asked them what the most expensive thing they wanted for Christmas was, and what the most expensive thing their parents wanted for Christmas was. Then each child was handed their ultimate gift and told that they could either keep it, or give it up and their parents would get their gifts instead.

EVENTUALLY UpTV revealed that both parents and kids would be keeping the gifts, they weren't actually giving them up, but, seriously, "Dance for our table scraps, unwealthy child! Dance!"

That's amazingly fucking cruel. YouAreDumb puts it wonderfully.

The Salvation Army, given that they have an actual literal death toll of people they've murdered for being insufficiently compliant, are still the worst "Christian Charity" organisation, but fuck you UpTV, that's not a title you should be competing for.

Comments

[kjn]

s/Salvation Army/Starvation Army/g

("And the Starvation Army they pray, and they sing and they shout and they play, 'til they've got all your coins on that drum, then they'll tell you when you're on the bum")

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I wonder how hard they screened to make sure they didn't get any kids who thought their parents would like "hospital bills paid" or "no worries about rent for a year". >.>

(I actually guess it was framed pretty hard as being "a thing you could buy in a store", vs "any gift at all".)

[torrain.livejournal.com]

(The Starvation Army sounds like an excellent Hellblazer antagonist.)

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

It's using other people for their own ends, and that's pretty much what defines an asshole.

Someone they might have trouble recognizing said, "when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others."

[kaph.livejournal.com]

It's really fun to imagine what Jesus would say to their faces. I had a professor once who said the best modern rendition of the phrase "brood of vipers" is "sons of bitches."

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

The Salvation Army, given that they have an actual literal death toll of people they've murdered for being insufficiently compliant

You have a link for that? I'd really like to know.

When I first came to NYC, I lived in a Salvation Army residence for women on Gramercy park, and there were very strict rules about ¡no men! and since the building was basically a single-room-occupancy hotel, none of the rooms had cooking facilities, so you were kind of expected to take at least some meals in the dining hall.

Not a total deal-breaker, but my parents had expected me to live out my four years there, and I didn't last three months.

[aeduna.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a vampire GM, the Salvation army makes a good antagonist on its own.
"Blood and Fire" is their motto....

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but the thing with antagonists in Vampire vs antagonists in Hellblazer is that there's a much higher odds of players in Vampire deserving it than people in Constantine's England. >.>

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

The only one I know about for sure is Jennifer Gale. But I imagine their treatment of her wasn't particularly unusual.

http://transgriot.blogspot.ca/2010/12/rest-in-peace-jennifer-gale.html

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Jennifer Gale was turned away from an Austin Salvation Army homeless shelter in 2008 and froze to death (http://transgriot.blogspot.ca/2010/12/rest-in-peace-jennifer-gale.html), because the Salvation Army insists that LGBT people should be killed in Christ's name (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/06/23/audio-australian-salvation-army-chief-gay-people-should-be-put-to-death/), and as a matter of official policy they do not help them.

The Salvation Army has closed locations and stopped operating in areas where they can't get an exception to racial and social antidiscrimination laws.

The Salvation Army in Australia runs literal concentration camps, (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/28/manus-case-manager-truly-disgusted) and has been *at best* grossly negligent and far-more-likely actively complicit in the rape and murder of prisoners in the camps.

The Salvation Army abuses children. (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/28/children-in-cages--salvation-army-home)

The Salvation Army are human garbage, and, given the military trappings, relatively small size, and hyperfocused discipline of the cult, they don't even have the "NOT ALL" defense that moderate Catholics take to disassociate themselves from the abusive nature of the Catholic church.