The new Pope is American, and immediately some ‘MAGA’ commentators saw it as an affront to Trump. Last I checked, which was just now, the Catholic Church’s priorities were less American Geopolitics and more Christianity-oriented. As such, they elected a Christian Pope. However, why ‘MAGA’ types would even consider getting their feathers ruffled isn’t as absurd as you may think. It all has to do with a basis for what ‘common sense’ is regionally.
I’m going to oversimplify for the sake of explanation, so bear with me. We, as a species, have had four umbrellas of thought when figuring out how to explain the world. The Far Eastern view takes an organic approach; the world is nature, and we should all strive to be in harmony with the greater flow. The Central Asian (Indian, Hindu) view is we are all aspects of the Divine on a cosmic stage, engaging in some drama. Earlier human (Polytheist, Tribal, etc.) views were to anthropomorphize various natural functions; in other words, compartmentalize the natural world and assign them to various gods or spirits. Finally, the Monotheist view is to have a singular creator responsible for everything, and the monotheist view is that we and the world are tools of the creator.
Let’s ignore, for now, all but the Monotheist view – the one that says we are but tools of the creator; we are all a purposeful creation (as opposed to something that grows as part of a larger harmony). This view presupposes that the creator be exalted, for without them, we wouldn’t have been created. It funnels people towards hierarchy, and we can see it throughout western history. Kings ruled over kingdoms, Lords over regional lands, Men over households – and woe be to anyone who dared question the “natural order.”
When times are good, it is easy for the top of a hierarchy to bask in the glory and pretend they are the source of said good times. However, what happens when things aren’t so good? As we see from present-day (Trump) going way back in history, a deflection of blame is as familiar and predictable as inhaling after giving the masses the scapegoat du jour. In Christianity, the Church understood this as well. God wouldn’t look so appealing if everyone correctly directed their ire toward the person legitimately responsible for everything – childhood cancer, genocide, corruption, etc. So, even the Church has a scapegoat that makes no sense if you remember God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, but just don’t think about it too much. It’s someone else’s fault. It’s *always* someone else’s fault.
In modern times, we’ve had so many ‘others’ it is hard to keep track, but some of the big ones have been Communists, Liberals, Homosexuals, Immigrants, and Jews. Some of the buzzwords of today, ‘DEI’ and ‘Woke,’ are wielded by those who try to not only keep you constrained to hierarchy but want you to picture a garden like a commercial farm where everything is a perfectly spaced out monoculture of corporate perfection optimized for max profit and nothing in the garden interacts with each other, there are no weeds, no insects, no other plants than the cash crop – just chemicals, machines, and profit.
This monoculture farm, as opposed to a healthy, diverse garden, makes perfect sense from the viewpoint of the Monotheist’s common-sense foundation. Everything is created purposefully and serves the purpose for which they were created. When I think of the West’s struggles with Authoritarianism, what is Authoritarianism but someone trying to convince the masses they are the singular point of hierarchy at which the good times originate and from which all the scapegoats can be punished? The Authoritarian may not expressly be saying they’re God on earth, but it may not take much for the followers to elevate them to such a level – see the current ‘MAGA’ movement vs the principles on which they claim to stand.
Obedience is seen in the West as a resolution to conflict. ‘MAGA’ isn’t interested in debate, discussion, or education – they see opposing ideas as a ‘mind virus’ to be eradicated. This all-or-nothing approach isn’t new. The Church used to burn people at the stake because a woman dared practice science. However, we need not turn the history books at all – the fear being generated at the potential for a Transgender person to simply exist and go about their day is all one needs to see.
The truth of the matter is both more complex and simpler. The demand for obedience to the hierarchy is not itself the solution and never has been. For starters, corruption has been the norm rather than the exception, but it ignores a greater fact. Peace is not merely the absence of conflict. Conflict at one level is health at another.
At the quantum level, particles come in and out of existence, crash into one another, bounce between energy levels, and perform in ways we don’t understand. Yet, the larger physical universe exists, we think 🙂 . Your gut biome is home to a vast number of various entities performing tasks that are often in conflict with one another, but it, taken as a whole, is critical to your overall health. Such an analogy can be applied to our country. The conflict of the judicial branch checking and balancing the executive branch is good for our health. In fact, the removal of conflict at all levels is a surefire warning sign requiring immediate resistance.
One can be a Monotheist and move on from the view wherein everyone and everything is a tool created for a purpose. Personally, I think such a step is essential to sincerely experience the joy and vastness of the world and all it has to offer. When we talk through a healthy forest, it is packed full of plants, animals, and insects of all sizes and shapes from under the soil to above the canopy, all part of a singular concept difficult to put into words. The forest is not afraid if a tree falls, for that decay and shade fosters life anew. In more human terms, the song we listen to now may be put into a ‘genre,’ but those roots likely spread through a diverse web of cultures to arrive through your ears and into your heart.
What ‘MAGA’ and other Right-Wing Authoritarian movements want to do is bring back rigid hierarchies that funnel wealth, power, and privilege to a select few at the expense of the rest of us when capitalism is already doing so. It’s ok to fight back. It’s ok for the bird who lands nearby to brighten your day, just as it is ok to share in the joy of those who may not look or sound like you.
Whether you believe we were intentionally put here or we grew here, or we’re God itself – such beliefs shouldn’t come at the expense of others, and that’s what human history has been all about: one tribe viewing another as different and thus wrong and wrong must be eliminated. It is absolutely possible for us to work together; sometimes, all it takes is one person willing to extend a hand (or an olive branch).
We can choose to be better. We are worth it. 2025 : A Year of Compassion.
reBLUEvinate.