• neidu2@feddit.nl
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    3 months ago

    Basically, it’s a term used for infighting in a group/cult stemming from one or more members being pointed to as straying from the original cause. It often happens when one group sees another group within the same crowd as not pure enough. The first sign of this in this particular context was when Maga started referring to many supportive Republicans as Rinos.

    • bluemellophone@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Happened to my grand parents’ church in the 90s. They had this big disagreement over rocks (not joking) and then the infighting tore the church apart. Half of the group left and built their own building across the street and the other half stayed. Neither church ever really recovered from that.

      • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        They had this big disagreement over rocks (not joking)

        Please don’t leave us hanging on the details

        • bluemellophone@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          There was a children’s summer program where they painted crosses on rocks and other symbols of faith, like the Jesus fish. They were having the kids hold them in their pockets and hold them while they prayed, like a daily reminder kind of thing but also an arts and crafts idea.

          Well, one elder got super pissy about the idea their grandkids were “praying to idols” and got a bunch of parents all hot and bothered. After a bit of handwringing, the church asked the teacher to either step down or leave the church. That triggered the other half of parents who either 1) didn’t see the whole ordeal as such a big problem or 2) liked the teacher and their family. Chaos spiraled from there… all over painted rocks.

          Edit: this happened in rural Texas, there wasn’t much going on down there so I’m convinced people did this kind of thing for the mere sport of it.

          • Subtracty@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Amazing that arguments like this were tearing European cities and nations apart 500 years ago. At least this time no one was willing to die for their cause. But you can see how quickly it spirals out of hand.

      • Valmond@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        And the green party in Sweden. Went from a lefty pro environmental party to some crazy anti everything party.

    • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The term “RINO” is much older than MAGA. I remember hearing about them in the 1980s and 90s, and even then it wasn’t like it was a new concept.

    • Optional@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Yeah no it was clear from context, just never before publicized to any degree, and a weird term to begin with.