[lbo-talk] christer propaganda (was: really bad political music)

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Mon Mar 22 13:32:43 PST 2004


Kelley:
> It's not at all clear to me that it's entirely about an uncompromising
> patriotism. Be that as it may, I think the far more political trick is
> this: to make it appear that 1. christers are oppressed by bigoted
> anti-xtian Yankee lib'rulz (they are a persecuted minority group, IOW)
AND
> (without contradiction) 2. xtianity is so pervasive (so natural, so
> normal, so foundationally True) in history and contemporary life, that
> anyone who objects must be condescend to. I know you're from Atlanta,
so
> you know that "Bless yo' heart" is an insult.

Depends on the definition of patriotism. I think a more useful approach to understanding this crowd is through the trope of "restoring the long lost glorious past." It is a modern form of ancestor worship - perhaps the oldest and most tribal form of religion - as it emphasizes "blood relations" over universal principles - which found its way to modernity in the form of nativism, Zionism, X-tian fundamentalism, nationalism, fascism, etc.

The main motive of this trope is that of a tribe with a glorious past that has been corrupted by some kind of outcasts or outsiders, so the most urgent task at hand is to bring that glorious past back. The usual gimmick of this trope is a selectively constructed mythological past - such as Mussolini's fascism which was a semantic reference to the Roman times (fasces denotes an emblem of power in ancient Rome; or Germanic mythology prominently featuring in Nazi propaganda (cf. Leni Riefenstahl documentary "Triumph of the Will.").

In the US - this is manifested by the combination of the cult of the founding fathers with religious tropes - see for example the Constitution Party and their presidential hopeful MD attorney Michael Peroutka http://www.citypaper.com/2004-03-17/feature.html

Those guys may be creepy - but they appeal to one of the most primitive forms of human solidarity - tribalism and blood bonds.

Wojtek



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