This is kind of a follow up to my previous post about SCCL (link at bottom – the group was recently mocking the T. Burpo book).
I found at least one blog post chronicling some of the abusive tendencies within the SCCL group (see link below) – this is so odd.
The SCCL like group members depict themselves as champions of the hurt and abused, but they sometimes bully and abuse other people themselves.
In addition, Drury (who is the owner and maintainer of the SCCL like groups, Twitter account, and blog), who tries to present herself as a feminist, and who also tries to come off as sensitive to homosexuals and more recently, transgendered people and their concerns, has made comments some of them have found offensive on several occasions on Twitter and/or Facebook, but she was reluctant to apologize.
You can read examples here:
A person (Shelly) on that blog left this comment (excerpt from her comment):
Another couple of people [at SCCL] were triggery for me, as they did shit that reminded me of the abuse I received when I was younger, and I no longer felt safe staying there, knowing that
she was perfectly fine to call out the abuse within the church system but wouldn’t call it out within the page that was supposed to be a safe place for the abused.
So I unliked the page, unfollowed her SCCL Twitter (I had unfollowed her personal one after t-gate), and stopped following the blog.
(end excerpts)
I’ve noticed the same thing.
It’s a group that scolds churches or Christian culture for perpetuating certain damaging views, or for allowing or committing abuse, but pretty much allows the regular members to bash the new-comers to the group who may speak up and disagree with whatever topic is under discussion.
I never joined the SCCL Facebook group. I may have left one post at one SCCL blog page once a long time ago (I don’t recall), but something never sat quite right with me about the types of people who post at either the group or blog, so I didn’t join.
The majority of SCCL members can seem kind-hearted and supportive most of the time, but then turn like sharks the next instant on an individual who isn’t keeping with the group think.
- (Speaking of which:
(Link): The Danger of Groupthink Part 1: Consensus and Power – post on “Blog on the Way” blog)
I once read a blog post about how even blogs / groups intended for survivors (survivors of church abuse or whatever) can turn out to be just as abusive as the church or cult the person has left. (That post may have also been on Blog on the Way, I can’t remember where I saw it).
If you have been hurt by a Christian, a denomination, or a church, be very, very careful which other groups you choose to align yourself with in the aftermath, or for support or healing.
The group you choose to make your “new home” or support system just may turn on you in the future.
I have seen some people post perfectly polite, fine questions or comments on SCCL Facebook page and get rudely ripped to shreds, ganged up on, by several SCCL members at once over it.
It’s not pretty, and some of the SCCL members, at times, act just as horribly as the fundamentalists, evangelicals, sexists and “homophobes” (what a stupid, inaccurate word, by the way) they complain about.
There are also some hard-core atheists who sporadically show up to SCCL to bitterly complain about theism, the Bible and Christians, and they are some of the most condescending, obnoxious jerks I’ve come across. They usually get shouted down by other SCCL members, but they do post there on occasion.
There is a Christian guy, an older gentlemen (his personal profile photo shows a white-haired guy) named “Warren” who participates at SCCL.
I’d say the guy makes good sense about 95% of the time, but he still gets shouted down and treated rudely by the SCCL regulars – because, in knee jerk reaction, they recoil at anything that smacks of Christian or traditional values.
In one recent thread, for instance, Warren mentioned that extra-marital sex can create problems for people, including emotional issues after the fact, or STDS, etc, and he was immediately jumped on and shamed by a few SCCL ladies for trying to make sex “shameful” or whatever, all for posting these perfectly valid, reasonable points.
I thought it was ridiculous. Warren was totally correct in his comments about sex (and he wasn’t being rude or hateful in how he expressed his views), but folks at that group do not like to hear anything that goes contrary to their views on that topic.
Free sex, sex with no rules, is on the agenda at SCCL. They do draw the line at child sex abuse (thankfully), and they do seem grossed out by men having sex with dogs (also thankfully). But anything else sexually comes pretty much with an “anything goes” outlook.
One reason I would never post to SCCL is precisely because I already hold some view points some of them would label ignorant, awful, or homophobic, and they would likely flame me to eternity merely for holding those views, and daring to politely speak my views in their presence.
I wonder if the lady who runs the SCCL realizes that – That the tenor of the whole group can and does discourage people from even joining and posting at all? Or maybe she knows that and just doesn’t care. I don’t know.
I’ve never trusted the entirety of the SCCL group or blog enough to join either one, as they are hostile towards those who don’t repeat the views in their echo chamber, and they turn on each other like Raptors in the Jurassic Park movies.
Sometimes you can see when and if the wolf pack will turn on a poster, but sometimes it’s unpredictable there.
Sometimes the folks at SCCL make some good sense, sometimes some of them can be kind-hearted, but I see enough meanness, sarcasm and hostility directed at people who post there to keep me away.
I sometimes visit the “Stuff Christian Culture Likes” group to see what news stories they’re posting, but I don’t always agree or approve of all the views expressed at their group, whether by Drury herself or by people who post there.
EDIT. Aug 11, 2014.
I figured my tweet about this blog post from yesterday would get picked up and RT on Twitter, or someone from SCCL would eventually come across this blog, and yep, that’s what happened (Drury made a tweet linking her followers to this post).
A few SCCL regulars showed up to comment on this post, or the one about the Burpo book. One lady was polite enough, so I approved that post.
(If you check the blog’s main page at the top, as it says there, I don’t usually post argumentative posts from visitors. I use this blog to rant or talk about things, not to debate people. I get enough debating when I visit other blogs or forums.)
Some of the rest of the comments I received by SCCL members were kind of rude, combative, or a little disagreeable, so no.
I only skimmed over one or two of the other posts. One comment by one guy said, “This is a condemning piece” and “why don’t you visit SCCL every day to get a feel before you criticize it.”
My response:
1. No, it’s not an altogether a “condemning” piece.
As I explained above, there are aspects of that group that I think are fine or helpful and some not so much.
I don’t agree with all the views of most of the group’s participants, and I have noticed a mentality to gang up and bully or harass people who don’t share the group’s views on all, or certain, issues.
I don’t feel it’s a totally safe place for a vulnerable person to participate in, or for someone who doesn’t see eye to eye with SCCL mentality about certain topics.
2. I have lurked at SCCL almost daily for a few months now, and on my first visit, I even went back and read the posts (and most comments for each one) going back months, so I have a pretty good idea of the culture there.
I did not just come across their site yesterday, glance at two posts, and make this one.
There are some good things about SCCL, but some things that I perceive as being troubling.
Related posts:
(Link): Stuff that Stuff Christian Culture Likes Facebook Group Likes
(Link): The Ex Christian, Ex-Exvangelical, Now Atheist Hits the Nail on the Head About Exvangelicals – post mentions SCCL, etc
(Link): Christian Virginity Peddlers Vs Muslims Who Molest Girls and The Liberals Who Look the Other Way – (post mentions SCCL Facebook group)
(Link): White Democrat Political Donor Gets Prison Time for Sexual Fetish Deaths of Homosexual Black Men
(Link): Some Muslims Don’t Know or Care about American Liberal Intersectionalism
(Link): Liberals Bully Porn Actress Online For Refusing to Film Sex Scenes With Homosexual Actors
(Link): The Left Can Be Just as Bad as the Right – The SCCL Pence Post
(Link): Stuff Christian Culture Likes Facebook Group Yukking It Up By Mocking Todd Burpo’s Book
(Link): According to One Poster (at SCCL), If You Are A Virgin, You Have Wasted Your Life or Time
(Link): ‘Transfeminist Bioethicist’ Calls ‘Gendering Animals’ Wrong, Only Serves to ‘Normalize’ Gender
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