Stars and Bars

 

Jacob grew up in town, was circumcised proper American, by a doctor in the city. Daddy taught him to shoot, like his daddy done, said “your gun is Freedom, boy; never let ‘em take it.”

Jacob painted a rebel flag on his first car, because mama told him “only hate those who hate freedom;” he thought he knew what that meant from TV.

But Rachel would point to the night from their bed on his hood at stars uncaptured by bars, but they winked too fast and far, so he wrestled with God till he knew which protesting city to point his Freedom at.

Dictators and their ships

 

I’ve studied history enough to recognize some patterns when I see them.  Here’s what I learned about dictatorships by studying others who have historically misused their political power:

• Dictators use their power to attempt to discredit or completely undermine any criticism of them, often attacking journalism that critiques their policies or exposes their mistakes.
• Dictators use their power to circumvent the law in order to excuse their cronies, for example, commuting the sentences of duly convicted criminals who show the dictator loyalty. 
• Dictators use secret police forces to circumvent the regional authority of political rivals in the name of “security”; these secret police often don’t identify themselves, gather citizens up who express dissent and hold them without clear charge or notification of families.
• Dictators use divisive rhetoric, implying—or stating outright—that those who side with him are the “good guys” while those who criticize him or are members of the opposing party are “radicals.”
• When there are elections present in the dictator’s country, Dictators make sure to cast doubt on the legitimacy of elections they expect to lose (or have lost), such as calling them “rigged.”
• FASCIST dictators use classic propaganda techniques, such as repeating simple phrases that demean their opponents (ex., “crooked Hilary,” “Sleepy Joe,” “Lying Ted”) without bothering to substantiate them with evidence.  Using simple, emotional appeals and repeating them often to reach “the least intelligent among the masses” is a technique straight out of Hitler’s Mein Kampf. (I’ll show you the passage if you’d like to read it.)
• FASCIST dictators make themselves appear larger than life and use savior rhetoric in order to portray themselves as the only solution to the country’s problems.  (The term fascism, as a political ideology, was coined by Benito Mussolini when he refined these methods to gain control of Italy in the 1920s).
• FASCIST dictators use a combination of nationalistic identity and scapegoating techniques to vilify a foreign enemy (or minority segments of their own population), creating some “Other” against whom the dictator can then generate hatred and mobilize violence.

These are pretty easily verifiable facts. If you study any dictator in history, anywhere in the world, you will probably find most of these techniques.  And it takes only a simple exercise of deductive logic to say “Political leaders who exhibit these behaviors are dictators; So-and-So exhibits these behaviors: therefore So-and-So is a Dictator (Fill in the name)." 

Here’s what’s baffling to me: the United States has historically fought wars against dictators abroad and has always held itself to be the champion of democracy and freedom in the world.  Yet I hear people (family and friends whom I respect) claiming to love these ideals while simultaneously ignoring—if not actively supporting—the techniques of dictatorship happening right here.  I don’t think I’m an alarmist, but I’m deeply worried that the US is tilting sharply toward dictatorship if not outright fascism.  

I’m happy to be transparent here: my bias (my leaning) is toward kindness, forgiveness, inclusivity, patient dialogue, and for these leanings I might be labelled a “liberal,” though I’m not sure what that means these days, any more than I know what “conservative” means.  To me, freedom isn’t something I hoard for myself.  My freedom is greater when it increases the freedom of others, and it is limited when it limits that of others.  It only has value when I’m exercising it to support the freedom of others, and therefore it’s as much about responsibility as it is about being able to do whatever the hell I want.  Democracy is about making sure that as many people as possible are well educated and informed and have as few barriers to their participation as possible.  (That’s also the theory of government historically referred to as “liberal democracy.”)

For these reasons, I offer up this brief reflection, in the hopes that we can increase our dialogues, and get to the heart of our values and real needs, both great and small.  Let me know if you disagree.

Some Inoculations Against the Thought-Virus

I’ve been thinking a lot about viruses lately.  Such tiny things, simple clumps of DNA or RNA—nothing more or less than fragments of the same material that makes all of life on this planet possible.  The same four nucleotide building blocks that, in almost infinite permutations, build the twisted ladder of our basic human identities.  This is almost certainly an over-simplification, but one of the ways viruses are so effective at propagating is that they can insinuate themselves into our cells, convince them that it’s okay that they’re there, it’s perfectly natural, maybe even necessary, and thus turn US into THEM.

All this we learn in 9^th grade Biology class, but recently I’ve started to think about them differently:  viruses are like ideas—little fragments of a larger identity, perhaps, or a not-yet concluded chain of logic unchecked for validity by observation or time.  Ideas, like viruses, have a way of wriggling into our psyches, into our identities, co-opting parts of our thought-processes so that we become sure, over time, that the idea is our own, a part of us. 

I’m an observer by nature (or perhaps I’ve been convinced of that by some infectious idea in my past).  As I’ve watched this Covid-19 pandemic unfold over the past months, I’ve noticed how fearful people have become, even panicked—and understandably, please!  I have grief and hope to spare for those hardest hit, the vulnerable Elders on the reservations and in care centers and crowded homes.  Death and loss walk the streets of the world freely this year.  But I can’t help but notice how even the idea of the virus has changed people’s behavior in unexpected ways.  Social distancing just makes good sense, as do hand-washing and masks, but sometimes as I walk through a sparsely-stocked grocery store I see folks who seem afraid to say hello from behind a mask, or even make eye contact, as if Covid might be transmitted this way: through the most innocuous and benign forms of human contact.  

I notice this in myself too, as I avert my gaze or give lots of extra space—it’s amazing how easy it is to feel somehow tainted.  And I wonder what the long-term consequences of this infection might be on our identities when so much of what makes us is human is contact: a pat on the back, a handshake, a hug.

I have long seen notions like racism and sexism, political and religious bigotry as thought-viruses—strange little incomplete fragments of consciousness that can only reproduce in a viable host, that slip in and start muttering instructions with the sound of our own voice, casting feverish Thems and Usses, and centuries of culturally transmitted diseases ensue.  Especially when our defenses are down, when we’ve been wronged or hurt or scared, when we’re young and impressionable, old and intractable, just plain run-down or—perhaps most often—we inherit a thought-virus from a parent, we become more readily susceptible and sickness takes root.

Alas, I’m not remotely wise enough to offer a cure—either for racism or this new, covidious fear of infection by glance—though perhaps there are inoculations. 

A healthy dose of humility is good medicine, I think.  We’re not nearly as in control of our surroundings (or ourselves) as we like to believe and we’re almost never right.  About anything.  Not completely anyway.  Also, since so many thought-viruses reproduce by convincing us that they’re a part of us, part of our genetic identity even, a fit and trimmed down ego is a much less hospitable host. 

And finally love, or if you prefer, compassion (which I think of as the act of broadening your identity to include others).  Like garlic, it’s a good immune-booster and great for your heart.