Resurfaced comments in which new House Speaker Mike Johnson talked about how he and his son monitor each other’s online activity using “accountability software” have raised questions about national security.
Johnson, a Republican who was first elected to Congress in 2016, spoke in 2022 about how he installed software called Covenant Eyes on his devices during a panel called “War on Technology” at Cypress Baptist Church in Benton, Louisiana, Rolling Stone reported.
According to a clip first posted on X, formerly Twitter, by a user called Receipt Maven, Johnson spoke about how the subscription-based service helps people abstain from internet porn and “objectionable” websites.
Former fundie here. Y’all are probably misinterpreting what is going on.
Mike Johnson is a True Believer™ from what I’ve seen. Doesn’t mean he’s not a terrible person, but his motives and actions aren’t necessarily as simple as repressed urges to view gay porn.
The most likely explanation is that Mike Johnson’s son was watching porn and got caught, probably more than once. He probably admitted his guilt early on, but he attempted to hide the activity. So, not only do you have the kid for sexual immorality but you’ve got him for dishonesty. After hours of lectures at the boy - involving his mother, father, possibly clergy or youth leadership - the poor kid is probably swearing on a stack of bibles that he sees the light and will never do it again. That’s not good enough. He can’t be trusted as this isn’t the first time.
This passage was probably pounded in bone deep:
Matthew 5:
27Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
So, the boy should rip out his own eyes and cut off the hand he jacks off with. Maybe he should castrate himself. If the behavior continues, he’s willfully hellbound. Doesn’t he understand?
So, Mike Johnson, wonderful paragon of fatherly leadership, says they will both install this software. That way he can prove what a good person he is and bear the cross of his son’s sin. See how great he is? He’s helping the boy with his problem. Barf.
So, now the kid’s ‘sin’ is making national news and impacting his father who is a Great Man™.
Christian guilt in a nutshell.
I really feel for the poor bastard. Hopefully he makes it out from under the shadow of his father’s insanity. It’s truly evil shit.
Yeah thats all fine, scratch that. That’s probably cirrext but dies nothing to stop the national security risk.
No doubt, the national security risk from something like this is pretty significant. IIRC, Covenant Eyes is basically a rootkit that you voluntarily install and you can get around it by booting from USB.
Many fundamentalists take a lot of pride in being Luddites. Knowing too much about computers and the internet can be ‘Worldly’. Church networks are often wide open and church computers are frequently infected. Leadership roles in fundy churches - as low as Sunday School teacher - can come with an email address and instead of using webmail, members will install add-ridden software given by the webhosting company of their website. There are companies that specialize in providing webhost and associated services to fundie churches.
There’s an entire cottage industry of ‘Christian’ software and computer services. You know they’re good people because they have a fish symbol on their homepage and some bible crap in their about section.
The exploits write themselves.
Yeah I was in a catholic school, so all this sounds really on brand.