I had no cosmic plan in mind when I read Chris Hedges'
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America right after George Orwell's
1984, but they sure have lots in common. OMG! I'm finding links between everything. But it's okay. I'm not making note cards explaining the connections and covering the walls of my room with them. Until that happens, I'm safe. I'm in no danger of waking up to find myself a prisoner in a movie directed by little Opie Cunningham.
Seriously, though, I wasn't even thinking about parallels until in
American Fascists I read the following: "Dominionists* and their wealthy right-wing sponsors speak in words and phrases that are familiar and comforting to most Americans, but they no longer use words to mean what they meant in the past. They engage in a slow process of 'logocide,' the killing of words." (page 14) I snapped to attention. Newspeak is upon us, and it's being brought to us by the Christian right as they gain political power.
And the rest of
American Fascists (AF) continues to be just as scary. It analyzes the use of fear evangelicals employ as they bring people into the fold, and I was taken back to a teenage experience. One summer two of my friends attended a camp called Word of Life in upstate New York. They had a great time and the next year I wanted to go with them. My parents, apparently leery of religious cults long before the phrase entered our language, opposed the idea, but I won out. For two weeks I experienced the fear AF discusses. Now I joke and say that in that two-week span I was saved at least thirty times and dedicated my life to the lord probably fourteen. It's funny sixty years later, but I was one terrified kid. I'm troubled that the technique is still in use. And I also wonder how it works for so many. In all those times I was saved, the born-again grace never lasted. I'd hear the next night's sermon and know I wasn't any different. If I'd been a sinner the night before, I hadn't changed; I was still a sinner. I wondered then—and I wonder now—how people could accept the comfort of being born again so easily.
Anyway, back to AF. At one point fundamentalism is defined as "the religion of those at once seduced and betrayed by the promise that we human beings can comprehend and control our world." (page 81) Sounds to me like the thinking behind the war on terror. The Republicans are gonna keep us safe. Yeah. Right.
Most scary of all is that AF makes some points that convince me the Christian right is winning.
The Accelerated Christian Education curriculum, one of the country's three major publishers of Christian textbooks, defines "liberal" in its schoolbooks as "referring to philosophy not supported by Scripture" and "conservative" as "dedicated to the preserving of Scriptural principles. (page 152)
And creationism is now a science. Stephen King couldn't create a scarier world.
AF frequently devotes pages to individual preachers in the christian right. Rod Parsley is one of them, and the worst aspect about him comes near the end of his section. "He has, in the past, urged followers to burn their household bills and give the money to him to be free of debt." (page 163) And his followers believe they are listening to a man of god. Does anyone still think?
Bottom line? It's a frightening book, even more so as we anticipate a second terrorist attack and know how our administration, backed by the christian right, will use it to create more fear that in turn will mean, to many, that it's now necessary to curtail even more rights. Is there any way to stop it?
*I couldn't find "dominionists" in a dictionary. From context, my understanding is that it means those who strive for dominion.
Now I'llgo check
OpAl's link.
