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Jesus Walks: A History of the War on Terror, 1979-1992
- Thread starter DStecks
- Start date
MarshalBraginsky
Banned
Question: would the Cold War be suspended in favor of an earlier war on terror?
Bonus Material 2: Billy Beer
Billy Beer is the only beer in history ever endorsed by the President of the United States of America's fuckup brother.
In 1977, the Falls City Brewing Company approached Billy Carter, brother of then-President Jimmy Carter, about endorsing a beer brand to be named after him. During Jimmy's presidential run, Billy had become (in)famous as the beer-swilling redneck brother of the man who could become leader of the free world. Billy became a national punchline, playing on the image of Jimmy as a southern bumpkin. Falls City Brewing produced five test batches of beer, which they presented to Billy in hopes that he would take a liking to one, which would then be promoted as Billy Beer. He chose one, and in 1977 Billy Beer hit America with a massive, expensive ad campaign.
A local brewery, Falls City Brewing couldn't hope to produce enough Billy Beer for national distribution, so they outsourced production of it to a number of other local breweries. While the beer itself was of decidedly low quality, it took off as having perceived value as a collector's item. Soon after it was discontinued, cases of Billy Beer began fetching prices as high as $1000. The truth is that today, surviving cans of Billy Beer are totally worthless. They were manufactured by the millions and distributed nationwide.
IOTL Billy Beer was an immediate commercial failure. It was skunky, sub-PBR swill, and everybody knew it. Falls City Brewing ceased production of Billy Beer in 1978 (and in fact shut down completely), a year before our POD, so I'm invoking literary license. ITTL Billy Beer gained enough of a following to still have a national presence into 1980.
And that, my friends, is everything you will ever need to know about Billy Beer. At least it gave us a classic Simpsons joke.
Billy Beer is the only beer in history ever endorsed by the President of the United States of America's fuckup brother.
In 1977, the Falls City Brewing Company approached Billy Carter, brother of then-President Jimmy Carter, about endorsing a beer brand to be named after him. During Jimmy's presidential run, Billy had become (in)famous as the beer-swilling redneck brother of the man who could become leader of the free world. Billy became a national punchline, playing on the image of Jimmy as a southern bumpkin. Falls City Brewing produced five test batches of beer, which they presented to Billy in hopes that he would take a liking to one, which would then be promoted as Billy Beer. He chose one, and in 1977 Billy Beer hit America with a massive, expensive ad campaign.
A local brewery, Falls City Brewing couldn't hope to produce enough Billy Beer for national distribution, so they outsourced production of it to a number of other local breweries. While the beer itself was of decidedly low quality, it took off as having perceived value as a collector's item. Soon after it was discontinued, cases of Billy Beer began fetching prices as high as $1000. The truth is that today, surviving cans of Billy Beer are totally worthless. They were manufactured by the millions and distributed nationwide.
IOTL Billy Beer was an immediate commercial failure. It was skunky, sub-PBR swill, and everybody knew it. Falls City Brewing ceased production of Billy Beer in 1978 (and in fact shut down completely), a year before our POD, so I'm invoking literary license. ITTL Billy Beer gained enough of a following to still have a national presence into 1980.
And that, my friends, is everything you will ever need to know about Billy Beer. At least it gave us a classic Simpsons joke.
If the Soviets are smart, they'll argue the anti-terror angle for all it's worth with regard to Afghanistan. The thing is that, ITTL, there might actually be something of a rapprochement between Washington and Moscow on this issue, at least enough so that Carter might end up rescinding the Olympics boycott.
That will largely depend on whether Carter can sell Moscow on the War on Terror, and the best way to do that would be to offer American support for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. If that comes to pass, you might see quite a few more countries than OTL go communist.
Expect this to be the defining question of the election.
Was it always Carter's intention to occupy Tehran & overthrow the revolution. Because in that case, wouldn't it have made more sense to make the abduction/execution of the Ayatollah part of the occupation of Tehran, as opposed to it being a separate operation with fewer troops (& thus a greater chance of failure)?
There are many logical pros and cons to the various options, so all I'll say is that logic hasn't exactly been a major factor in the military's planning thus far.
As someone who was a teenager living in Fayetteville, NC, at the time, I can attest that logic wasn't in the primacy in the country at the time when it came to Iran, OTL. (We'll leave aside the question for another time as to whether it is now.
)What of the leaders of the Embassy Massacre ITTL? Think they'll be killed by other Iranian groups, since their actions led to the death of Khomeini?
If that didn't already happen after Carter swore vengeance back in chapter 1, then it's going to happen now. I don't know if I'll ever mention that in the story proper, since the Iranians would probably keep it quiet, since they've chosen to justify it instead of distance themselves from it.
Just managed to finish reading it, and man - I like it. Keep it up! I want my President Pat Robertson!
I'm consistently surprised as to how few people bring him up, despite me putting him front and centre in the title card, and the idea of Pat Robertson becoming president being so balls-out nuts. In any case, we're a few years from Pat Robertson entering the scene. As for if he becomes president, well, I can neither confirm nor deny that.
You should reveal it. And detail the feelings of the leaders as they are about to be killed. Bet they're terrified, remorseful, pleading with Allah quietly.
How could I do that in a way that wouldn't just be a rehash of Khomeini's death?
Do it from the perspective of one of the ringleaders. Go over their thoughts, recount their feelings. Don't use a scene where someone executes them. Wait, better yet, why don't you have one of them commit suicide out of guilt for being partly responsible for the Ayatollah's Death. That way, it wouldn't be a rehash.
Bonus Material 3: The Moral Majority
The Moral Majority was a right-wing Christian organization founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell (pictured), and it is the key to understanding the current state of religion in America.
(The following information is strictly OTL, and is provided for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with theological history.)
Before the 1980's, Christianity in America was politically much the same as it was elsewhere, and has been traditionally: socially conservative, but economically left-wing. While the church was usually last to embrace social change, they always explicitly supported programs benefiting the poor. The ministry of Jesus was preoccupied with the poor, and for most of the world this heavily informs Christian economic policy.
However, in America, things began to shift during the Cold War. The Soviet Union posed itself as both radically left-wing fiscally, and maintained a policy of state atheism. New Deal-type policies fell out of favour due to their association with communism, and many Christians in America felt themselves even more allied with the conservative Republicans, where before they were allied with the Democrats (the Dixiecrat phenomenon). This began to shift as a result of Nixon's Southern Strategy, which sought to play up the Republicans as socially conservative (read: pro-segregation) to win over southern voters. This was part of a larger political realignment which saw Democrats and Republicans trade stances on many issues, but the Southern Strategy was what spread the shift to American Christianity, and the Democratic Party's association with communist sympathizers intensified this shift.
The Moral Majority's part in completing this shift was a political realignment, not of any political party, but of the right-wing church in America. The Moral Majority presented the church with a compromise: embrace Reaganomic hatred of the poor, and be granted the chance at a president who could overturn Roe v. Wade.
As the 1980's went on, the Moral Majority collapsed. Not because of any internal strife or conflict, but because they'd succeeded. The religious right put Reagan in the White House, so donations to the Moral Majority dropped as people stopped viewing America as being in impending moral danger. Eventually it became part of the Liberty Foundation, then dissolved completely. And that is the story of how American Christianity sold its soul for victory; how they gave up on everything they ever believed about the poor so they could have their president.
And Reagan never did overturn Roe v. Wade. Funny that.
The Moral Majority was a right-wing Christian organization founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell (pictured), and it is the key to understanding the current state of religion in America.
(The following information is strictly OTL, and is provided for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with theological history.)
Before the 1980's, Christianity in America was politically much the same as it was elsewhere, and has been traditionally: socially conservative, but economically left-wing. While the church was usually last to embrace social change, they always explicitly supported programs benefiting the poor. The ministry of Jesus was preoccupied with the poor, and for most of the world this heavily informs Christian economic policy.
However, in America, things began to shift during the Cold War. The Soviet Union posed itself as both radically left-wing fiscally, and maintained a policy of state atheism. New Deal-type policies fell out of favour due to their association with communism, and many Christians in America felt themselves even more allied with the conservative Republicans, where before they were allied with the Democrats (the Dixiecrat phenomenon). This began to shift as a result of Nixon's Southern Strategy, which sought to play up the Republicans as socially conservative (read: pro-segregation) to win over southern voters. This was part of a larger political realignment which saw Democrats and Republicans trade stances on many issues, but the Southern Strategy was what spread the shift to American Christianity, and the Democratic Party's association with communist sympathizers intensified this shift.
The Moral Majority's part in completing this shift was a political realignment, not of any political party, but of the right-wing church in America. The Moral Majority presented the church with a compromise: embrace Reaganomic hatred of the poor, and be granted the chance at a president who could overturn Roe v. Wade.
As the 1980's went on, the Moral Majority collapsed. Not because of any internal strife or conflict, but because they'd succeeded. The religious right put Reagan in the White House, so donations to the Moral Majority dropped as people stopped viewing America as being in impending moral danger. Eventually it became part of the Liberty Foundation, then dissolved completely. And that is the story of how American Christianity sold its soul for victory; how they gave up on everything they ever believed about the poor so they could have their president.
And Reagan never did overturn Roe v. Wade. Funny that.
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Does not compute. Unless you have a very different definition of "liberal". Like, completely opposite.
I mean that communism is the extreme form of left-wing economics. What do you mean by liberal?
Outside of the United States, "radically liberal economics" means the exact opposite of what you mean; it refers to classical or neo-liberal free-market economics. That is really the proper use of the term.