The one thing authoritarians want you to do is to accept that their conduct is normal, even when it is not. They do not want you to yearn for a freer, less oppressive and less corrupt time, and they do not want you to think it odd when, say, a government agency is purged or a bunch of protesters are arrested and vanish into the prisons without ever seeing trial. They want you to think it is normal when the president is openly selling your interests out to a foreign power, or when he is using the levers of government to materially enrich and empower his family. The presumption of normality during abnormal times is one of the most powerful weapons the authoritarian has, and that is why it is so important to recognize how profoundly abnormal Donald J. Trump will be as president. So I assembled a list.
• Given what’s been slouching to be born here in the U.S., I haven’t granted much attention to what’s also happening in the Philippines, where a “populist” authoritarian, Rodrigo Duterte, was elected president and human rights have evaporated, replaced by state-sanctioned murder in the streets. Adrian Chen reports from the Philippines, with a headline that invites us to see comparisons and heed warnings: “When a Populist Demagogue Takes Power.”
Related: Bunga bunga. Here’s the pertinent part of that for the American church: “Berlusconi’s cozy relationship with the Catholic Church in Italy wound up being a disaster for the institution’s credibility. Italians saw it as a cynical alliance, and when Berlusconi fell, so too did the hierarchy’s reputation.”
• Surprisingly, not Florida: “Authorities say a woman who asked them if it was legal to keep tigers at home in rural Nevada was arrested after police found three of the animals in her backyard. … Deputies found the big cats in the backyard surrounded by a 4-foot fence, and eight monkeys in the home.”
A 4-foot fence. For tigers. Can’t imagine what could have gone wrong.
• “Get Your Passports.” Good advice. Not for moving to Canada, but because petty authoritarianism tends to: A) make life miserable for those whose paperwork is not in order (according to them), and B) make it far more difficult to get or keep your paperwork in order.
• Jersey. (The link has autoplay video ads, but I wanted to go with the Asbury Park Press site anyway.)
• Lauren Larkin on Christiane Tietz on Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
Bonhoeffer is not a weapon to be wielded in our contemporary political battles. His life and his thought affirm neither mainstream American liberal politics nor mainstream American conservative politics (and especially not evangelical conservative politics). Rather, his life and his thought is that splash in the face of very cold water that jerks us back into reality, causing us to look around and ask questions (of the state, of the church, of others, and of ourselves). According to the life and thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theological and political contentment is no longer a viable option for us. It’s time to wake up.
• Yesterday’s post on saying goodbye to white evangelicalism included a gif made from The Specials’ video for “Racist Friend.” Here’s another song on a similar theme. “If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.”
Also too, “can’t shake the devil’s hand and say you’re only kidding” isn’t too far off from Proverbs 26:18-19 —
Like a maniac who shoots deadly firebrands and arrows,
so is one who deceives a neighbor
and says, “I am only joking!”
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