via unraveledpress on bsky

y’know just in case you needed more reasons to hate this garbage organization, here’s the most charitable thing the salvation army can come up with in the current context (apparently)

    • hellinkilla [they/them, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      50·
      9 months ago
      words from the linked track (but it's worth listening to if you can)

      Joe Hill wrote a song for the free speech fight of uh, 1910, and it was introduced on the streets of Spokane by Haywire MacMclintok - him what, he was a branch secretary then. He wrote “Big Rock Candy Mountain” and “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum”

      He got together a little band, T-Bone Slim and a tuba, a garbage can lid, and they stood in a doorway waiting to leap out at the unemployed throng and regale them with song

      They used a shill to build a crowd – you know a carny shill, somebody that uses tricks to build a crowd. His name was [Tresker?]. He wore a black suit, black bowler hat, and a string tie with an umbrella and a briefcase, lookedlike a banker. He’d walk down to where they were hiding in the doorway, and suddenly he’d start to yell: “Help, help, help, I’ve been robbed, help, I’ve been robbed!”

      Everybody would run across the street, “What’s the matter, what’s the matter?”. As soon as he got the crowd together he’d yell, “I’ve been robbed by the capitalist system, fellow workers!”

      He’d talk to 'em for 10 minutes and then the boys would leap out and start singing, and this is what they were singing:

      [Chorus]  
You will eat (You will eat)  
By and by (By and by)  
In that glorious land in the sky (Way up high)  
Work and pray (Work and pray)  
Live on hay (Live on hay)  
You'll get pie in the sky when you die (That's a lie)  
  
[Verse 1]  
Oh, long-haired preachers come out every night  
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right  
But when asked about something to eat  
They will answer in voices so sweet:  
  
[Chorus]  
You will eat (You will eat)  
By and by (By and by)  
In that glorious land in the sky (Way up high)  
Work and pray (Work and pray)  
Live on hay (Live on hay)  
You'll get pie in the sky when you die (That's a lie)  

[Verse 2]  
The starvation army, they play  
And they shout and they clap and they pray  
When they've get all your coins on the drum  
They will tell you when you're on the bum  
  
[Chorus]  
You will eat (You will eat)  
By and by (By and by)  
In that glorious land in the sky (In the sky)  
Work and pray (Work and pray)  
Live on hay (Live on hay)  
You'll get pie in the sky when you die (That's a lie)  
  
[Verse 3]  
Holy Rollers and jumpers come out  
And they roll and they jump and they shout  
Give your money to Jesus, they say  
And you'll eat on that glorious day  
  
[Chorus]  
You will eat (You will eat)  
Bye and bye (By and by)  
In that glorious land in the sky (In the sky)  
Work and pray (Work and pray)  
Live on hay (live on hay)  
You'll get pie in the sky when you die (That's a lie)  

[Verse 4]  
Workingmen of all countries unite  
Side by side we for freedom shall fight  
When this world and its wealth we have gained  
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain  
  
[Chorus]  
You will eat (You will eat)  
By and by (By and by)  
When you've learned how to cook and to fry  
Chop some wood (Chop some wood)  
It'll do you good (Do you good)  
And you'll eat in the sweet by and by (That's no lie)

      source

      I can’t remember which album it’s on but Phillips talks more about the specific role the starvation army assigned itself in fighting on the side of the state and capitalists in the early 20th century. Their bands would show up to disrupt public meetings by playing over the speakers. And they were rewarded with special rights to occupy public spaces. Now, their stupid shitty religion gets mega funding diverted from the public to run all kinds of “charity” projects. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen any deep investigations into the financials/relationships of this group. They fly somewhat under the radar compared to other cults with so much power and wealth. But for sure they got their greasy fingers into all kinds of things.

      I find it so wild how people are surprised that the starvation army is a nefarious organization. Like it’s an act of civil disobedience not to respect their stupid santas. Hello, anytime you have christianity (“salvation”) even gesturing towards militancy (“army”) you can know you you are dealing with some fucked up shit. Of course they hate LGBT people, that aint even the half of it, or 10%.