this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023

876 points (97.9% liked)

News

21687 readers

3117 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

876

A Political Candidate Beheaded a Satanic Temple Statue. Now He Faces Charges. (www.vice.com)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by MicroWave to c/news

134 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A former Mississippi political candidate is facing criminal charges after a bedazzled statue of Baphomet, a figure associated with the Satanic Temple, was discovered decapitated at the Iowa State Capitol.

Michael Cassidy, 35, a former U.S. Navy pilot, told Fox News that he saw the controversy surrounding the display, which was heavily criticized by Republican politicians like Ron DeSantis, and drove to the Iowa Capitol to see it for himself. He said it hit a “nerve” and went on to destroy it.

…

According to an archived version of his campaign website, Cassidy pushed for a 10-year prison sentence for anyone who destroys a statue in his own state.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] NounsAndWords 272 points 6 months ago (8 children)

For reference, the seven tenants listed next to the destroyed display:

I One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.

II The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

III One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

IV The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.

V Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.

VI People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.

VII Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

It makes a lot of sense to me why Christians would be against this.

[–] [email protected] 106 points 6 months ago

I absolutely love how the TST actually stands for the shit christians have pretended to care about for centuries.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 6 months ago

Hail Satan!

[–] agent_flounder 44 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Tenets to live by if you ask me. I wished we all did.

[–] Jivebunny 31 points 6 months ago (3 children)

TIL I'm a Satanist.

load more comments (3 replies)

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago

Wow that really hits a nerve!

What a jackass. Meanwhile supports statues of people who lived by the credo of "I feel so strongly that people should own other people as property that I'm willing to kill for that right, look here's my gun!"

load more comments (4 replies)

[–] dohpaz42 193 points 6 months ago (2 children)

He has since been released, and raised $40,000 in legal fees following praise from Republican politicians and far-right pundits across the country.

This is the real travesity.

[–] billiam0202 107 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Just another story reminding me how rich I could be grifting money off these assholes if I didn't have any morals.

[–] dohpaz42 28 points 6 months ago

Counter-balance it by taking the money earned and putting it toward programs to help combat racism, bigotry, and other indifferences.

[–] Broken_Monitor 33 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If one of us beheaded a jesus statue could we generate a similar response?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

No and we'd just have all the national media talking about how the left are just a bunch of godless communists that hate America. We have enough of that already :(

[–] [email protected] 129 points 6 months ago (1 children)

this is a hate crime and it's not being charged as such because our government favors violent christian fundamentalist terrorists

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago

I'm scared he might run for president and actually win.

[–] [email protected] 112 points 6 months ago (3 children)

According to an archived version of his campaign website, Cassidy pushed for a 10-year prison sentence for anyone who destroys a statue in his own state.

I'm sure he expects exactly the same punishment for himself.

[–] calypsopub 43 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

This is true Leopards Ate My Face territory.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 months ago (7 children)

Not quite lol Leopards Ate My Face is more Turkeys Voting for Christmas, where someone aligns with someone else in spite of the person they're aligning with clearly not having their interests at heart. Like the vast majority of Trump supporters, or LGBTQ hexbear users supporting Putin.

This is just plain hypocrisy, like "the only moral abortion is my abortion".

load more comments (7 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] [email protected] 95 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Cassidy was arrested and faces vandalism charges, which could carry a one-year prison sentence and a $2,560 fine. He has since been released

Why is he not being charged under Iowa's hate crime laws?

[–] dipshit 33 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I would like to see this, although I wonder if the correct answer is that religion is not a protected group. If religion is a protected group, this is a hate crime.

[–] MotoAsh 28 points 6 months ago (6 children)

Come now, we both know Christians would just then cry that non-belief isn't a religion.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I remember hearing that come up in the past... They're using motivated reasoning. They want a specific outcome, not a set of principles applied.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Sucks for them. They apparently haven't heard of Title VII of the Civil rights act.

"Religious beliefs include theistic beliefs (i.e. those that include a belief in God) as well as non-theistic “moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.”

"Religious observances or practices include, for example, attending worship services, praying, wearing religious garb or symbols, displaying religious objects, adhering to certain dietary rules, proselytizing or other forms of religious expression, or refraining from certain activities."

Those quotes are from the US customs and border protection website here. Straight from the horses mouth.

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (5 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] Caradoc879 27 points 6 months ago (6 children)

Because Iowa is still under a Christian stranglehold behind the scenes.

load more comments (6 replies)

[–] EmpathicVagrant 21 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Yep. Otherwise who’s to say a random cross somewhere doesn’t ‘strike a nerve’ precedent of him getting away w it just leads to chaos.

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] dohpaz42 93 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Now imagine for a moment what would happen if someone were to decapitate a statue of Mary or Jesus.

[–] xc2215x 41 points 6 months ago

Fox News would talk about it for the next week.

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] zzzz 79 points 6 months ago (22 children)

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Or, was that behead your enemies?

[–] Pilkins 42 points 6 months ago (1 children)

In their minds, this is loving your enemy. Because Christians are right and everyone else is wrong. So forcing your beliefs on people is a good thing because you're saving their souls.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

This is why slavery was a good thing for Africans.

[/s because 2023]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/07/ron-desantis-florida-slavery-curriculum

edited in the article in case people didn't know that this is an actual thing GOPs believe

[–] rockSlayer 35 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

The sarcasm tag was too little too late, DeSantis has made your comment part of the Florida curriculum

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] [email protected] 33 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Love your enemies, sure. But when they put a goat statue in a government building, that's a bridge too far! As a good Christian, you've got a right to defend yourself in life-threatening goat statue situations.

[–] Setarkus 17 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Who knows what it's up to once you're not looking at it?!

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] Yamainwitch 17 points 6 months ago

Awww the only words he can read are: enemies, hate, curse, mistreat. Bless his lil heart.

load more comments (19 replies)

[–] Juujian 71 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm actually surprised that the satanic temple isn't pushing for him to be charged with some kind of hate crime. Pretty sure if so decapitated a statue of Jesus it wouldn't just be destruction of property?

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends 29 points 6 months ago

I would love this to happen. For two weeks straight, conservative radio shows, Fox News specials, all talking about the "War on Christianity".

[–] Laughbone 61 points 6 months ago (10 children)

Don’t you just love political candidates that don’t believe in the first amendment, probably not a fan of the 19th or 13th either.

[–] ours 16 points 6 months ago

And technically he fought for the freedom he is now trying to suppress.

I love how these right wing "Christians" have such a selective definition of "freedom". Thankfully the Satanic Temple keeps shining a spotlight on their hypocrisy.

load more comments (9 replies)

[–] [email protected] 53 points 6 months ago (4 children)

His headshot looks like Jeff playing the dean.

load more comments (4 replies)

[–] frunch 50 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm completely unsurprised that this was a political stunt. If Trump taught these assholes anything, it's that the free press (and in turn, the crowd funding/find raising) they get from their virtue signaling demonstrations like this one will help them weather any punishments they may face--if they really face any at all

[–] halferect 39 points 6 months ago

He traveled across state lines to commit a hate crime, he should be getting some serious charges not some slap on the wrist BS

[–] [email protected] 29 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Seems like this would be a hate crime. Very un-American behavior from this Republican goon.

load more comments (4 replies)

[–] [email protected] 27 points 6 months ago

I think it should become customary that if a politician advocates for a certain punishment for a crime, and then commits that particular crime, that they receive the punishment they advocated for (within the bounds of current law of course). He wants a 10-year prison sentence for destroying a statue, he should get a 10-year prison sentence for destroying the statue.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 6 months ago

This guy hits a nerve for me.
So it's OK if I destroy him, right?

I mean, using his reasoning anyway.

[–] medicsofanarchy 21 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

I don't know why I didn't think of this before. Make sure future statues are in pentagrams, and put a little side blurb that "maiming, disfiguring, or destroying this statue will complete the act of sacrifice to the deity". Basically, anyone who defaces the display is, in effect, performing the "ritual of display destruction" - which pleases TST.

Edit: Make it a three- or four-panel cartoon. Reading is a tough concept for some people.

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 months ago

According to an archived version of his campaign website, Cassidy pushed for a 10-year prison sentence for anyone who destroys a statue in his own state.

Well well well, let's see if he sticks to his guns or of he's going to be your typical Republican hipicrite little bitch...

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 months ago

What a dickhead.

[–] Bonesince1997 16 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Harvard graduate 🤣

[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Just shows how meaningless that is.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments