Reading Erica Chenoweth for the first time (where have I been) and the historical explanations she gives for civil resistance + your sharp insights into Daddy culture is really strengthening my resolve. You’re right that it’s the kids who always pay. In the face of parental anger, a child who refuses to engage will likely only heap more punishment and anger upon themselves. It’s the most cruel and twisted power imbalance, and so many of us were trained that there was nothing wrong with it at all. Now it’s playing out in our politics. Those of us who are not children and do not see dear leader as Daddy have so many more tools and resources at our disposal than we often realize. We have so much more power collectively than they want us to know. Daddy and his fawning administration are weak and cowardly — and we see through this. We do not need to play along. I’m done being afraid. Seriously, this feels like a turning point. Thank you as always for doing what you do so well. Your book has been instrumental to me in the transformation of my inner landscape. Really appreciate you.💜
As always on Sunday morning, I’m glad that I’m not in church. But I’m also imagining how terrible the sermon would be this morning. Now that I’m away from it, I can recognize how anger was always directed away from any authority and towards ourselves.
I walked out of church (Orthodox Christian) during a sermon after the El Paso Walmart shooting. Essentially it was “we’re all sinners.” No one else understood why that was so offensive. It sounds nice on the surface. Very “Orthodox.” “Don’t judge.” “Eyes on your own plate.” “Sinners, of whom I am first.”
But that plays right into the hands of authoritarians. It’s never their fault. It’s your fault because “we’re all sinners.” It’s always the most vulnerable who pay the price for this.
I appreciate how you see this. I am so tired of hearing people talk about their hypocrisy and how they are not “real Christians.” I think those people completely miss the point. They want to make excuses for Christianity.
Thank you Tia for that analysis. I hadnt thought of it and It makes sense. It will make them more powerful if they threaten disaster then reel some of it back at the last minute. Do I have that right? Then it doesn't look as horrible as we predicted it would be. villainous!!! Also, a name for the bill: Trumpdon'tCare.
"This hurts me more than it hurts you." Yeah, I've gotten that many times before in fundamentalism. I remember being told "hard truths," being cut off from relationships, etc. And it's always that, "it hurts to do it."
Maybe I needed to hear a hard truth. I don't know. But I realize now, that's a form of manipulation. Not psychologically healthy.
I remember when I first started attending a church where people had a lot of very conservative views. At the time, I was a caregiver through a homecare agency that cared for, largely, Medicaid clients. They were receiving home and community-based services, which are supposed to keep people in the community with round the clock assistance. It cuts the costs of institutions. This was in the 2010's. I cared for these people during the day. But at church, I heard people rail against Obamacare, socialized medicine, and talked about dismantling the social safety net.
I wondered how this was going to work out.
I did not grow up with these beliefs. I spent years trying to gaslight myself to believe conservative politics, all in the name of 'the Christian worldview." I can no longer force myself to believe in the every-man-for-himself, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps-mentality. We live in the real world.
I once heard a news report somewhere of some American Christians who went to Scotland to visit the Presbyterian churches there. Because most white Americans are spiritual cousins to the Scots Protestants. When they go there, they were surprised that even the most conservative Christians there still supported socialized medicine.
And I've also realized in this administration that MAGA doesn't mean return to the patriarchal, segregated 50s. It means return to the choking, horrific Gilded Age where a few thrive and the rest are trod underfoot. With bonus 1940s concentration camps.
Reading Erica Chenoweth for the first time (where have I been) and the historical explanations she gives for civil resistance + your sharp insights into Daddy culture is really strengthening my resolve. You’re right that it’s the kids who always pay. In the face of parental anger, a child who refuses to engage will likely only heap more punishment and anger upon themselves. It’s the most cruel and twisted power imbalance, and so many of us were trained that there was nothing wrong with it at all. Now it’s playing out in our politics. Those of us who are not children and do not see dear leader as Daddy have so many more tools and resources at our disposal than we often realize. We have so much more power collectively than they want us to know. Daddy and his fawning administration are weak and cowardly — and we see through this. We do not need to play along. I’m done being afraid. Seriously, this feels like a turning point. Thank you as always for doing what you do so well. Your book has been instrumental to me in the transformation of my inner landscape. Really appreciate you.💜
Tia, as always you bring such clarity to what we’re witnessing. And you give me hope that we are strong enough to turn things around.
As always on Sunday morning, I’m glad that I’m not in church. But I’m also imagining how terrible the sermon would be this morning. Now that I’m away from it, I can recognize how anger was always directed away from any authority and towards ourselves.
I walked out of church (Orthodox Christian) during a sermon after the El Paso Walmart shooting. Essentially it was “we’re all sinners.” No one else understood why that was so offensive. It sounds nice on the surface. Very “Orthodox.” “Don’t judge.” “Eyes on your own plate.” “Sinners, of whom I am first.”
But that plays right into the hands of authoritarians. It’s never their fault. It’s your fault because “we’re all sinners.” It’s always the most vulnerable who pay the price for this.
I appreciate how you see this. I am so tired of hearing people talk about their hypocrisy and how they are not “real Christians.” I think those people completely miss the point. They want to make excuses for Christianity.
Thank you Tia for that analysis. I hadnt thought of it and It makes sense. It will make them more powerful if they threaten disaster then reel some of it back at the last minute. Do I have that right? Then it doesn't look as horrible as we predicted it would be. villainous!!! Also, a name for the bill: Trumpdon'tCare.
"This hurts me more than it hurts you." Yeah, I've gotten that many times before in fundamentalism. I remember being told "hard truths," being cut off from relationships, etc. And it's always that, "it hurts to do it."
Maybe I needed to hear a hard truth. I don't know. But I realize now, that's a form of manipulation. Not psychologically healthy.
I remember when I first started attending a church where people had a lot of very conservative views. At the time, I was a caregiver through a homecare agency that cared for, largely, Medicaid clients. They were receiving home and community-based services, which are supposed to keep people in the community with round the clock assistance. It cuts the costs of institutions. This was in the 2010's. I cared for these people during the day. But at church, I heard people rail against Obamacare, socialized medicine, and talked about dismantling the social safety net.
I wondered how this was going to work out.
I did not grow up with these beliefs. I spent years trying to gaslight myself to believe conservative politics, all in the name of 'the Christian worldview." I can no longer force myself to believe in the every-man-for-himself, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps-mentality. We live in the real world.
I once heard a news report somewhere of some American Christians who went to Scotland to visit the Presbyterian churches there. Because most white Americans are spiritual cousins to the Scots Protestants. When they go there, they were surprised that even the most conservative Christians there still supported socialized medicine.
This is all so. Damn. True.
And I've also realized in this administration that MAGA doesn't mean return to the patriarchal, segregated 50s. It means return to the choking, horrific Gilded Age where a few thrive and the rest are trod underfoot. With bonus 1940s concentration camps.