More ideas? You bet. Let's start by recognizing that we are all impacted by the narratives around us. As a die-hard liberal, I for one, need to continually practice restraint and self-care to avoid falling into the trap of demonizing and blaming ALL of them. Let's take in the facts AND avoid creating more 'us vs them' dynamic that further polarizes us. Let's practice ambiguity tolerance - so our nervous systems can be resilient enough to withstand the storms to come.
I grew up with JWitness grandparents, and even though Evangelicals don't think they are real Christians, every bad event that happened in the world was a sign that the "end of this system of things" was coming and that I needed to become a Witness so that I would see my grandparents again on Paradise Earth. This is what I heard my entire life. No wonder I have an anxiety disorder.
They sho' goin' be surprised when Jesus finally does show up and says, "WTF, guys? You seriously thought this is what I meant? How could you have gotten it so colossally wrong? Tell you what: I'm going to create a Paradise for all the people you thought were damned, and leave you to tend the wreckage you've made of your world. Byeee!"
I'm a retired English prof, and an atheist (after a childhood in a lukewarm Presbyterian church, and a decade or so as an animist Wiccan -- I think I'm still an animist -- and some of my writing is on Tolkien's legendarium (and Jackson's films) ((and slashy LOTR fanfiction, heh!), but a few years ago, I and others were attached because of participating in a "Diversity and Tolkien" virtual conference, and I began looking into just WTF the alt-right/christofascists were doing (I taught at a small university in rural Texas for 27 years, so I sorta knew, but!). I'm reading a lot of ex-evangelicals/ex-fundamentalist newsletters with great fascination. One thing I've been doing the past few years is seeking out progressive Christians (in Tolkien studies!) to ally with, and pushing back on the fundamentalist demands to allegorize Tolkien's work as "Christian" (I am old enough to remember when fundamentalists and a lot of other USians were anti-Catholic, so the alliance between the Opus Dei types and the fundamentalists surprised me). These readers, fans, and even a couple of published Tolkien scholars want to keep "Tolkien" "pure" and save him for "Western Civilization." I am trying to seek out and develop a much more diverse group of fans and writers (so when I saw your lines "MAKE ART. Value the humanities." I cheered (and subscribed!). Because, YES! (Also I'm realizing that just about every class I taught during my career except *maybe* the business communication writing class, is on some red state's list to be shut down (which makes me happy to be out of Texas). But I have friends still teaching, in some of those states, and I'm horribly frightened for them.
More ideas? You bet. Let's start by recognizing that we are all impacted by the narratives around us. As a die-hard liberal, I for one, need to continually practice restraint and self-care to avoid falling into the trap of demonizing and blaming ALL of them. Let's take in the facts AND avoid creating more 'us vs them' dynamic that further polarizes us. Let's practice ambiguity tolerance - so our nervous systems can be resilient enough to withstand the storms to come.
I grew up with JWitness grandparents, and even though Evangelicals don't think they are real Christians, every bad event that happened in the world was a sign that the "end of this system of things" was coming and that I needed to become a Witness so that I would see my grandparents again on Paradise Earth. This is what I heard my entire life. No wonder I have an anxiety disorder.
They sho' goin' be surprised when Jesus finally does show up and says, "WTF, guys? You seriously thought this is what I meant? How could you have gotten it so colossally wrong? Tell you what: I'm going to create a Paradise for all the people you thought were damned, and leave you to tend the wreckage you've made of your world. Byeee!"
Teeheeee!
I'm a retired English prof, and an atheist (after a childhood in a lukewarm Presbyterian church, and a decade or so as an animist Wiccan -- I think I'm still an animist -- and some of my writing is on Tolkien's legendarium (and Jackson's films) ((and slashy LOTR fanfiction, heh!), but a few years ago, I and others were attached because of participating in a "Diversity and Tolkien" virtual conference, and I began looking into just WTF the alt-right/christofascists were doing (I taught at a small university in rural Texas for 27 years, so I sorta knew, but!). I'm reading a lot of ex-evangelicals/ex-fundamentalist newsletters with great fascination. One thing I've been doing the past few years is seeking out progressive Christians (in Tolkien studies!) to ally with, and pushing back on the fundamentalist demands to allegorize Tolkien's work as "Christian" (I am old enough to remember when fundamentalists and a lot of other USians were anti-Catholic, so the alliance between the Opus Dei types and the fundamentalists surprised me). These readers, fans, and even a couple of published Tolkien scholars want to keep "Tolkien" "pure" and save him for "Western Civilization." I am trying to seek out and develop a much more diverse group of fans and writers (so when I saw your lines "MAKE ART. Value the humanities." I cheered (and subscribed!). Because, YES! (Also I'm realizing that just about every class I taught during my career except *maybe* the business communication writing class, is on some red state's list to be shut down (which makes me happy to be out of Texas). But I have friends still teaching, in some of those states, and I'm horribly frightened for them.