Hobby Lobby: Intersection Toxic Masculinity and Christian Nationalism

Nothing makes me not want to be a Christian more than seeing crap like that in a store and knowing how many Christians believe it and buy it.

A few months ago, I saw some “art” at Hobby Lobby that celebrated the 2nd Amendment. (Apparently, it is still available on their website.) No other amendments were celebrated in this way. I wonder why.

I once saw a “decorative” sign (not at a Hobby Lobby, being sold at a grocery store) that said “In this house we don’t call 911” with a gun on it. Horrifying.

I once (reluctantly) attended a Sunday service on July 4th that included a song called “Stand for the Flag, Kneel at the Cross.” When they brought out the giant flag, everyone stood. There was a giant cross in the same sanctuary. No one knelt or was encouraged to kneel.

I grew up in a church that, for July 4, sang “America The Beautiful” and the national anthem while military personnel from all branches came in carrying branch flags and rifles.

We stood, hands over our hearts — but something like crossing oneself was considered a dead “ritual”

There really is no better visual representation of the relationship between toxic masculinity and Christian nationalism than Hobby Lobby.

And none of those signs were made in this country.

I think if you’re a company that wants to promote America and patriotism and all that, be a real patriot and have your products produced in this country. There’s something false about a sign or other product promoting our country that says “made in China.”

 

Replying to

@KaitlynSchiess
I was there the other day and saw this. My first thought was “oh I found the Christian Nationalism aisle”

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Replying to

@KaitlynSchiess
No joke that place legit scares me, I stumbled on this Christmas ornament there a few years back. A cross with cowboy boots, sheriff stars, a lasso? maybe nails wrapped around the sides, and possibly a crown of thorns? This isn’t #JesusandJohnWayne, this is #JesusisJohnWayne.

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Replying to

@KaitlynSchiess
It seems worth mentioning that the core target hobby lobby shopper is “women of all ages.” Anecdotally, the most “tough guy” men I know wouldn’t be seen dead in a craft store. Very weird to think a lady would be buying this for a guy’s man cave.
Replying to

@KaitlynSchiess
This is exhausting (because I’m a nine and anger is exhausting). But it makes me want to muster up the energy to write a blog, sermon, book, or series along the lines of: “The Folly of Modern Proverbs.”
That the garage is the sanctuary of the man is correct for the men in the Village where I live (not for me)
Replying to

@KaitlynSchiess
I love Hobby Lobby, especially for Christmas decor, but I just can’t shop there anymore. My stupid conscience won’t let me. Some of this is just gross.
And this isn’t even the worst of their offenses.
“Give an example of something you might find at Hobby Lobby or a Truck Stop.”
Replying to

@KaitlynSchiess
The one that makes me ill is the cross with the flag painted on it. 
I weirdly want to stand up for the men seeing this. It’s super insulting and makes men look like children. Just yikes.
Replying to

@KaitlynSchiess
after reading “Jesus & John Wayne” this all makes so much sense to me now.
Maybe I’m glad we don’t have a Hobby Lobby in Canada.

Obama on masculinity: ‘You don’t need eight women around you twerking’

Barack Obama offered some advice on self-confidence to young men at an event hosted by his foundation in Oakland, California, on Tuesday. When asked by a member of the audience about his definition of being a man, and how it relates to the LGBT+ community, the former US president said being a man was ‘first and foremost being a good human’ before going on to say that ‘if you are very confident about your sexuality, you don’t have to have eight women around you twerking’

Let’s talk about how Trump is playing Kamala Harris like a video game….

Transcript

Well howdy there internet people it’s bo again so today we’re going to talk about how president donald j trump is playing and what his campaign against her says about him more importantly what it says that he knows about himself we’re going to do this because i made a joke in a recent video kind of an offhand statement the president said that men were bothered by the idea of a woman being nominated for vice president i said that wasn’t true i said that no men were bothered by that but maybe some little boys were i had women push back on that statement and say no that’s not true there are men who are bothered by it now to be honest had it been men saying that i would have written it off and just believed it was them trying to justify their own behavior but the observation was there ever since then i’ve been trying to figure out why that might be i found my answer in a 2015 study about video games specifically halo 3 was the one they used and they were trying to determine why women were subjected why women players were subjected to hostility they viewed it through the lens of evolutionary psychology and what they concluded was that female initiated disruption of a male hierarchy incites hostile behavior from poor performing males who stand to lose the most status i mean that’s funny in and of itself but there’s more to the study not just not just it determined that men who were poor performing that were low-skilled that they reacted this way to women it also determined that they were more submissive to players who were men look at trump’s interactions on the world stage look at the way he reacts to other world leaders this is why putin and people like putin can basically pull him around by his ear and then if you look at the way he reacts to world leaders who are women even if they’re not traditional world leaders look at the way he reacted to greta it demonstrates that this is true i’d like to take this moment to stop and point out that higher skilled higher performing men didn’t do this they reacted more positively but see there’s there’s one other piece to this politics isn’t a video game especially when you take it to the international stage it’s not like he can look at a screen and know that he’s poor performing know that he’s low skilled there’s nothing objective telling him this you know it’s not like domestic politics where he has poll numbers or something that he can go off of on the international stage this behavior has to be rooted in in his own personal acknowledgement that he is low performing that he’s low skilled there’s nothing telling him he has to know deep down under the facade under the image that he tries to put forth of being a tough guy deep down he behaves this way because he knows he’s a failure anyway it’s just a thought y’all have a