Stephen L. Young
@slyprofessor.bsky.social
#BLM | Professor in Mountains of NC | Nerd about Religious Studies - Mediterranean Antiquity | I study how ancient and modern Christians imagine history | Cycling | he/him | Writes @RDispatches | OpinionsMine
OMG, who ever could have foreseen this consequence?!
November 15, 2025 at 3:27 AM
OMG, who ever could have foreseen this consequence?!
Here we go. The story is completely off the top of the NYT this morning.
November 14, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Here we go. The story is completely off the top of the NYT this morning.
We are so far beyond the point of major media being actively complicit in Trump/GOP lies and mass harm when they "report" on whatever stated Trump/GOP plans without the main emphasis being Trump's histories of lying, bait-and-switch, and saying whatever he thinks sounds good in the moment.
November 14, 2025 at 2:58 PM
We are so far beyond the point of major media being actively complicit in Trump/GOP lies and mass harm when they "report" on whatever stated Trump/GOP plans without the main emphasis being Trump's histories of lying, bait-and-switch, and saying whatever he thinks sounds good in the moment.
It's absolutely the norm in our field for scholars, often senior ones, to publicly direct their ire at people trying to de-platform the reputaion of known sexual predators, not at the sexual predators. The "but his work?!" and "Don't let his mistakes define him" is beyond predictable. 🤮
Love the Scholarship But Hate the Scholar’s Sin?: 'Himpathy' for an Academic Pedophile Enables a Culture of Abuse
In her excellent book Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, the philosopher Kate Manne coined the term Himpathy, which she defined as “the excessive sympathy sometimes shown toward male perpetrators of se...
religiondispatches.org
November 14, 2025 at 2:46 PM
It's absolutely the norm in our field for scholars, often senior ones, to publicly direct their ire at people trying to de-platform the reputaion of known sexual predators, not at the sexual predators. The "but his work?!" and "Don't let his mistakes define him" is beyond predictable. 🤮
Shit. I still feel dirty from when that happened, and there's still so much of a mess for us white dudez to clean up...
November 14, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Shit. I still feel dirty from when that happened, and there's still so much of a mess for us white dudez to clean up...
Mainstream Media's response to evidence that the President knew about and participated in a pedophile ring is to (checks notes) normalize the sex-trafficking of kids. If this isn't an abject professional and moral failure by our legacy media class, what is? [Oh wait, they've got a long list going]
November 13, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Mainstream Media's response to evidence that the President knew about and participated in a pedophile ring is to (checks notes) normalize the sex-trafficking of kids. If this isn't an abject professional and moral failure by our legacy media class, what is? [Oh wait, they've got a long list going]
Not to be old-fashioned and all, but I'm old enough to remember several months ago when GOPers had a multi-generation moral panic about the dangers of "Big Government interference in private industry."
November 13, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Not to be old-fashioned and all, but I'm old enough to remember several months ago when GOPers had a multi-generation moral panic about the dangers of "Big Government interference in private industry."
It’s easy to overlook the usual filler. And I approve not devoting too much time to Dreher!
November 12, 2025 at 2:37 AM
It’s easy to overlook the usual filler. And I approve not devoting too much time to Dreher!
All good points. But my gawd, Dreher and the conservative ecosystem have turned decades of Foxnews bullcrap into (fake) reality.
November 12, 2025 at 2:34 AM
All good points. But my gawd, Dreher and the conservative ecosystem have turned decades of Foxnews bullcrap into (fake) reality.
Media allowing reality to get in the way of their GOP propaganda work?
November 5, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Media allowing reality to get in the way of their GOP propaganda work?
So, late capitalism brings us enshitification?
November 4, 2025 at 3:28 AM
So, late capitalism brings us enshitification?
Ha. I agree with your analysis. My question is what GOP leaders and hearers think they are saying when they stir up a moral panic about "nationalized elections"?
November 4, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Ha. I agree with your analysis. My question is what GOP leaders and hearers think they are saying when they stir up a moral panic about "nationalized elections"?
Thanks! And really, Yoo's book is not messing around. He comes out swinging! 🔥
November 3, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Thanks! And really, Yoo's book is not messing around. He comes out swinging! 🔥
What do GOP talking heads mean by "nationalized elections" that's in any way different from what they're trying to do now?
November 3, 2025 at 9:20 PM
What do GOP talking heads mean by "nationalized elections" that's in any way different from what they're trying to do now?
The wild thing is that sometimes books / articles that profoundly shaped us and our projects aren't even in the bibliographies of those projects because they just don't fit how the publishing process needs things to be... 🤷♂️
November 3, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The wild thing is that sometimes books / articles that profoundly shaped us and our projects aren't even in the bibliographies of those projects because they just don't fit how the publishing process needs things to be... 🤷♂️
Figured it went without saying for super-nerds (A POSITIVE CATEGORY!) that there's just no way that we even pretend to list all the fun stuff!
November 3, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Figured it went without saying for super-nerds (A POSITIVE CATEGORY!) that there's just no way that we even pretend to list all the fun stuff!
The People know that Fourth and 26 was the one...
November 3, 2025 at 1:47 AM
The People know that Fourth and 26 was the one...
Anyway, check out Yoo's book. He does history right and comes out SWINGING at the ways white Christians often talk about enslaving that de-center the violence inflicted on Black people for white benefit. And all of these faulty strategies pervade public discourse today. #AwesomeWork 10/10
November 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Anyway, check out Yoo's book. He does history right and comes out SWINGING at the ways white Christians often talk about enslaving that de-center the violence inflicted on Black people for white benefit. And all of these faulty strategies pervade public discourse today. #AwesomeWork 10/10
For real, when I attended a conservative Presbyterian seminary (Westminster Theological Seminary) in my previous life, all three of these paradigms framed pretty much all discussion about enslaving, which we (again) treated like it was most basically a "discussion" for theologians to debate. 🤮 9/10
November 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
For real, when I attended a conservative Presbyterian seminary (Westminster Theological Seminary) in my previous life, all three of these paradigms framed pretty much all discussion about enslaving, which we (again) treated like it was most basically a "discussion" for theologians to debate. 🤮 9/10
Third Faulty Interpretation: The most tragic result of Black enslavement was the division within Presbyterianism such that "some white Presbyterians today feel more remorse for church disunity than the oppressive abuse and reprehensible violence ... inflicted upon ensalved persons" (12-14). 8/10
November 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Third Faulty Interpretation: The most tragic result of Black enslavement was the division within Presbyterianism such that "some white Presbyterians today feel more remorse for church disunity than the oppressive abuse and reprehensible violence ... inflicted upon ensalved persons" (12-14). 8/10
"..But this fallacious line of thinking .. [misdirects] our anger from actual individuals and institutions to more anonymous ways of reading the Bible" (11-12). It turns the brutalizing of Black bodies into a "debate" that has to be solved before, you know, we stop the violence. Sound familiar? 7/10
November 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
"..But this fallacious line of thinking .. [misdirects] our anger from actual individuals and institutions to more anonymous ways of reading the Bible" (11-12). It turns the brutalizing of Black bodies into a "debate" that has to be solved before, you know, we stop the violence. Sound familiar? 7/10
Second Faulty Interpretation: White Christians treat our history of enslaving like a lesson about bad Biblical interpretation instead of "Fully grappling with the histories and legacies of economic exploitation, sexual violence, and virulent anti-Black racism perpetrated by white Christians..." 6/10
November 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Second Faulty Interpretation: White Christians treat our history of enslaving like a lesson about bad Biblical interpretation instead of "Fully grappling with the histories and legacies of economic exploitation, sexual violence, and virulent anti-Black racism perpetrated by white Christians..." 6/10