{"id":939,"date":"2018-10-13T20:37:38","date_gmt":"2018-10-14T03:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?p=939"},"modified":"2018-10-15T08:50:41","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T15:50:41","slug":"this-rolling-spectacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/10\/13\/this-rolling-spectacle\/","title":{"rendered":"This Rolling Spectacle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Too much ink has already been spilled and key strokes manipulated regarding the Kavanaugh appointment, for me to add to that din.\u00a0 I\u2019ve frankly been a little shell-shocked the past couple of weeks (years?).\u00a0 How to keep up?\u00a0 What are we to make of this rolling, flaming, spectacle?\u00a0 That people who despised Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, for all their supposed failures of either morality or policy, are now eager to back a president whose failures in both areas make the other two look like pikers, simply staggers the imagination.<\/p>\n

There is nothing conservative, or Republican, about our current president.\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 There is nothing Christian about him, which isn\u2019t a comment regarding his salvation, or relationship with God, just a simple matter-of-fact statement regarding his words and actions.\u00a0 He\u2019s a failed business man, who became a reality television personality.\u00a0 That\u2019s it.\u00a0 Before November 2016, that was it.\u00a0 That was his resume.\u00a0 People who say they still wake up and smile because Hillary Clinton isn\u2019t president, are the surest sign we have passed some sort of Rubicon, and not toward anything good or redemptive.<\/p>\n

In my years as a fundamentalist\/evangelical, I was, of course (duh), registered as a Republican.\u00a0 Since leaving that world, and especially since this last presidential election, I have re-registered as an Independent (although I may join David B. Hart<\/a>).\u00a0 I\u2019m truly suspicious of both major parties and, frankly, our entire political system.\u00a0 I\u2019m suspicious of the political left and right.\u00a0 I\u2019m suspicious of capitalism, the modern, and the secular.\u00a0 I\u2019m suspicious of religion too.\u00a0 Each seems to be about gaining power, even if that power is to do, \u201cgood\u201d things.\u00a0 The political discourse in our country right now is incredibly disappointing.\u00a0 We are witnessing the failures of our institutions, both secular and religious.<\/p>\n

Part of the genius of modernity, of classic liberalism, was its supposed neutrality.\u00a0 By appealing to a common and universal reason, it was able to subdue the unwashed masses of sectarian divisions, religious or otherwise.\u00a0 Whatever each wanted to believe in their own heads, or in their houses of worship, or basements, was fine.\u00a0 However, once in the public square, they were to suppress those beliefs and conduct business within the bounds of this common and universal reason.<\/p>\n

One aspect of the postmodern, is that it called into question that which I just described.\u00a0 This aspect asserted there was no such thing as a common or universal, \u201creason.\u201d\u00a0 It noted that this, \u201creason,\u201d was entirely socially\/philosophically constructed and built for the very purpose of keeping those other voices at bay.\u00a0 This aspect posited that the modern, or the secular, was a construction, a belief, a perspective, just like those of religions, or other philosophies.<\/p>\n

This aspect of post-modernity acted like Toto and pulled back the curtain of modernity to reveal that the wizard, was not a wizard, but a person, just like the rest of us.\u00a0 A person with a history, culture, and geography\u2014a person with a perspective.\u00a0 There was no, \u201cGod\u2019s\u201d eye view, there was only varied and diverse views from, \u201csomewhere.\u201d\u00a0 The supposed neutrality, the supposed universal or common reason, was revealed to be a totalizing, biased narrative, no more foundational, and as located, in every aspect, as any other.<\/p>\n

I am asserting nothing new or novel here.\u00a0 What I claim here is accepted by many scholars, both Christian and otherwise, even with many quibbles no doubt.\u00a0 There are also many scholars who would either strongly disagree or provide many qualifications to the above.\u00a0 With that said, I still think the above to be fairly accurate, and I also think this unmasking, this deconstructing, of the modern\/secular to be a good thing.\u00a0 But it is one reason we no longer see either political party, academia, or the news media as neutral sources of information.<\/p>\n

However, this unmasking, seemed to converge with another one, which was the loss of virtue in our personal and national lives.\u00a0 Imagine if Dorothy and her crew\u2019s reaction to the false wizard, was to seek to become the new wizard themselves.\u00a0 A lack of virtue would have moved them to see an opportunity for power, rather than a return home.\u00a0 And imagine if they would have sought to become the new wizard by any means necessary.\u00a0 Such is where we are.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not blaming our current national and political circus on the post-modern.\u00a0 The causes for what we see happening are varied, deep, and would no doubt require much more space to address.\u00a0 I\u2019m only suggesting that what we see is partly analogous to what we saw after the fall of the Soviet Union.\u00a0 Once the power over their satellite states was gone, we saw many of the old hatreds and prejudices return.\u00a0 The peace was manufactured and maintained out of fear.\u00a0 We seem to be living in a similar return, or perhaps, the rising to the surface of what was always present.<\/p>\n

The modern, the secular, even as it needed virtue to survive and work, acted as a solvent that slowly destroyed the very thing it needed to maintain the illusion.\u00a0 Once the illusion was revealed, and virtue lacking, and lacking the most within our Christian churches, everything now becomes a struggle for power, for power\u2019s sake.\u00a0 Every unmasking is an opportunity for the next wizard to arise.\u00a0 There is no decency, no integrity, no honesty, or love, within our tribalism, or demonstrated by the political class.<\/p>\n

The current wizard has been found out and the resistance is trying to pull that curtain even further back so all can see.\u00a0 The question is: Do they have any other path for us, other than becoming another wizard holding power, for power\u2019s sake.\u00a0 We will see.\u00a0 I will say this however, when the house is on fire, such is not the time to discuss the wisdom of fire prevention; it is time to exit the house and put the fire out.\u00a0 Vote blue.<\/p>\n

I have a Patreon<\/a> Page\u2014please consider supporting my writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Too much ink has already been spilled and key strokes manipulated regarding the Kavanaugh appointment, for me to add to that din.\u00a0 I\u2019ve frankly been a little shell-shocked the past couple of weeks (years?).\u00a0 How to keep up?\u00a0 What are we to make of this rolling, flaming, spectacle?\u00a0 That people who despised Bill Clinton and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":945,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[344,485,627],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-political","tag-trump","tag-vote"],"yoast_head":"\nThis Rolling Spectacle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Too much ink has already been spilled and key strokes manipulated regarding the Kavanaugh appointment, for me to add to that din.\u00a0 I\u2019ve frankly been a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/10\/13\/this-rolling-spectacle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Rolling Spectacle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Too much ink has already been spilled and key strokes manipulated regarding the Kavanaugh appointment, for me to add to that din.\u00a0 I\u2019ve frankly been a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/10\/13\/this-rolling-spectacle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Divergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-14T03:37:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-15T15:50:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1004\/2018\/10\/carnival-2570021_640.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"551\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"294\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@darrelllackey1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/10\/13\/this-rolling-spectacle\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/10\/13\/this-rolling-spectacle\/\",\"name\":\"This Rolling Spectacle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-14T03:37:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-15T15:50:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\"},\"description\":\"Too much ink has already been spilled and key strokes manipulated regarding the Kavanaugh appointment, for me to add to that din.\u00a0 I\u2019ve frankly been a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/10\/13\/this-rolling-spectacle\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/10\/13\/this-rolling-spectacle\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/10\/13\/this-rolling-spectacle\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This Rolling Spectacle\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\",\"name\":\"Divergence\",\"description\":\"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - 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