re: #172 Dopamine Fish

Here’s my take on missionaries: It’s all well and good, if there’s no coercion involved. I, for one, welcome any chance to increase our ability to communicate with native peoples with whom few, if any, white people have had any contact, as long as they’re amenable to opening the exchange. My concern, of course, is the spread of militant evangelical white nationalism, but in general, those sorts aren’t really the ones going outside the country to preach the gospel to “others”. Otherwise, I don’t see a problem with wanting to preach a belief system to people who aren’t familiar with the particulars, as long as they’re free to say, “No, we’re quite good as we are, fuck you very much.”

Which is the ideal. Opening up a better exchange of ideas.

The historical outcome of this has been much much spottier. Plus all too many cases where a charitable service directly ties itself to the evangelical work; e.g. If you want a meal you also have to attend service. Which starts down another whole slippery slope.