Active duty Military member expresses sincere appreciation for MRFF’s intervention against superior who “ordered [them] to stop reading the classic book ‘The Catcher in the Rye'”: “He had told me that ‘as a believing Christian’ it offended him to see me read it.”
thank-you-6
From: (Active Duty MRFF Client’s and Military Member’s E-mail Address Withheld)
Subject: The Catcher in the Rye
Date: June 2, 2023 at 2:09:41 PM MDT
To: Information Weinstein <[email protected]>
Mr. Weinstein, I am stationed overseas in an active duty combat billet and wanted to finally thank you all the MRFF for intervening on my behalf to help me when my (mid-level military command title withheld) ordered me to stop reading the classic book “The Catcher in the Rye”. I only read it on my personal meal time at the DFAC (“dining facility”) at (military installation name withheld).
He had told me that “as a believing Christian” it offended him to see me read it. He never ever said how it offended him. He outranked me by a lot so what could I do?
I also want to stress that this (mid-level military command title withheld) is always reading aloud from his bible and carries it everywhere in front of all of us under his command and is almost always present with him at our (unit title withheld) meetings.
After you contacted our (senior level commander’s title withheld) 2 things happened within a few days.
First, I was informed that I could go back to reading my book “The Catcher in the Rye” by author J.D. Salinger at the DFAC or any other time I was not on mission duty.
Second, Our (mid-level military command title withheld) was told to stop publicly reading from and displaying his bible at our mandatory unit meetings.
This all happened back in mid- April and I’m sorry it took so long to thank you.
I cannot stress enough how much I owe to the MRFF for making this mess go in the right direction.
V/R
(Active duty military member’s name, rank, unit and installation all withheld)
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YAY!
I’ve never read “Catcher in the Rye” so I have no idea what is in it that could offend someone’s religious beliefs. However, that obviously isn’t the real issue, the issue is Military Officer Bible Thumper parading his religious devotion and attempting to impose it on people under his command. It’s none of his [expletive] business if his report is reading a Bible, a Quran, the Tao Te Ching, any novel, or one of the Dawkins/Dennett/Hitchens anti-religion books over dinner.
I’ve not read Catcher in the Rye and I’m not sure my brain would settle long enough to read it now (Fibromyalgia + multiple concussions = brain works differently now).
That said, I read up on the Cliff Notes online. Yep, it’s everything a Nationalist Christian would hate – coming to terms with one’s emotional state, cussing, intense rebellion against a system that is particularly unfair. Seems like a good read, sorry I missed it when younger.
I am amused by all the banning of books. Clearly none of these folks heard of the Streisand effect or Banned in Boston.
The Nationalist Christians seek to bury us. They do not know we are seeds.
The book bannings are just part of all the other Christian bullshit Republicans are peddling today in a last ditch effort to stay in power and create the Gilead they want.
Texas just lost their bid to put the ten commandments in every classroom but they did win in the effort to replace licensed school counselors with chaplains! What a fucking joke! Texas is going out of its way to ensure it retains it’s 43rd place in educational attainment. Let’s race to the bottom, maybe we can beat out Mississippi!
Republicans don’t know the first thing about governing. They’re experts at grifting but don’t know shit about running a country, city, state. Clueless. Their fear-mongering is their calling card. Important issues like whether pissing in public should be allowed in Wash DC., as opposed to discussions on how to stop little babies from getting their faces shot off while they sit at their desks in school classrooms!
Fuck that dick head Trump and fuck the Republicans! You’re never going to get Republicans to pull their tongue out of Trump’s ass long enough to ever get anything done!
“But what about Benghazi?”
What about Obama wearing brown suits?
What about Hunter”s dick pics?
What about Joe?
What about, what about, what about.
If you’ve got something, which you don’t, then bring it! If not, then shut the fuck up!
These Christian Nationalist Republicans are a fucking joke!