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<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u2022 Given what\u2019s been slouching to be born here in the U.S., I haven\u2019t granted much attention to what\u2019s also happening in the Philippines, where a \u201cpopulist\u201d authoritarian, Rodrigo Duterte, was elected president and human rights have\u00a0evaporated, 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: \u201cWhen a Populist Demagogue Takes Power<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related: Bunga bunga<\/a>. Here\u2019s the pertinent\u00a0part of that for the American church: \u201cBerlusconi\u2019s cozy relationship with the Catholic Church in Italy wound up being a disaster for the institution\u2019s credibility. Italians saw it as a cynical alliance, and when Berlusconi fell, so too did the hierarchy\u2019s reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Surprisingly, not Florida<\/a>: \u201cAuthorities 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. \u2026 Deputies found the big cats in the backyard surrounded by a 4-foot fence, and eight monkeys in the home.\u201d<\/p>\n
A 4-foot fence. For tigers<\/em>. Can\u2019t imagine what could have gone wrong.<\/p>\n
Wikimedia Commons photo by HTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u2022 \u201cGet Your Passports<\/a>.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Jersey<\/a>. (The link has autoplay video ads, but I wanted to go with the Asbury Park Press<\/em> site anyway.)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Lauren Larkin on Christiane Tietz on Dietrich Bonhoeffer<\/a>:<\/p>\n
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<\/i> of ourselves). According to the life and thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theological and political contentment is no longer a viable option for us. It\u2019s time to wake up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u2022 Yesterday\u2019s post on saying goodbye to white evangelicalism included a gif made from The Specials\u2019 video for \u201cRacist Friend<\/a>.\u201d Here\u2019s another song on a similar theme. \u201cIf the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"FenceCat\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/52\/2016\/11\/FenceCat.jpg\")