Well, I stand corrected in thinking that the creme de la creme of the conservative reich ended with the Bush administration and the devil's whore, Lynne Cheney.
The latest figure head for extreme fundamentalism, under the guise of 'legitimate' Christianity, is Dr. Bob Jones III, president of Bob Jones University in Greensville, SC.
His November 4th congratulatory letter to George Bush made recent headlines for its extremely conservative comments. The highly moralistic (which assumes his flawless character, if he can appoint himself a position of moral judgement) university president deifies the US president with the claim, "God has graciously granted America, though she doesn't deserve it, a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly."
While elevating the status of his version of Christian conservativism to an undisputable position of mainstream authority, he also bludgeons the the character of any individuals with opposing views or values. Although Bush has neither publicly endorsed nor discredited the letter, Jones has already successfully capitalized on his wealth, media access and faith-based support to circulate his manifesto to the masses and, to some extent, perpetrated instutionalized racism and religious intolerace on a wide public scale.
Factoid Aside: Bush spoke at Bob Jones University in February of 2000 during his 2000 campaign run. At the time, the private Christian college instituted a ban on interracial dating.
The school has since dropped the ban on interracial dating (I'm sure Jones' personal views have dramatically turned towards racial sensitivity).
In the tradition of the priviledged access of individuals like the Cheneys and the Bush family, much of Jones's success can be attributed to his massive wealth, media access and the successful fusing of public policy, faith-based value systems and self-imposed and unchallenged entitlement, which authorizes him to eradicate the diversified interests and value systems of lower-class Americans.
Jones's ideological American is a simplified white-washed Christian conservative who subscribes to his value system, and those outside of that cultural framework be damned.
Who else had a similar vision for his people? Ah yes, Hitler!
A successful mainstream extreme conservative right media blitz desensitizes the public to the fact that diverse cultures with oppossing inherent value systems, are further alienated and demonized towards the goal of extinction.
Baby steps towards normalizing the fusion of fundamentalist views and state policy should not go unnoticed by the masses.
Fascism = Fascism despite its subtle brush strokes.
As a Media Ecology graduate, it would behoove me not to recommend reading the writings of French theologist and sociologist Jacques Ellul (1912-1994).
His literature of the topics of Christianity, propaganda, technology and power are prophetic, timeless and appropriate for our Western technological society (I hesitate to call it a civilization).
Other Ellul Works:
Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, 1961
The Politics of God and the Politics of Man, 1972
No comments:
Post a Comment