You Didn't Just Say That? genre: Nouveau Thoughts
"You Just Didn't Say That?" is a recurring posting here at Thought Theater. The intention of the category "Nouveau Thoughts" is to present a provocative thought for debate and discussion. A key objective is to take established or accepted ideas or beliefs and challenge their legitimacy in order to extract any hidden or overlooked truth. The thoughts posted herein are not intended to offend or impugn...they are merely topics or issues I have pondered in search of meaning and clarity. Feel free to share your opinions, observations, and objections. A search for truth cannot be completed if one is afraid to explore the extremes. Today's new thought has to do with the persistent conflict between the left and the religious right.
Nouveau Thought:
The assault on liberals and the use of the term "liberal elite" is the manifestation of doubt within the religious right regarding the validity of their Biblically derived way of life and its associated reliance upon God to withstand the fear of their own pending mortality.
The mere presence of secularism is interpreted by the mindset of the religious right as an attack that must be extinguished. The psyche of the religious right is threatened by the existence of this discordant theory. The mere chance that secularism could prevail is seen to have the potential to force them to confront their beliefs such that they could find themselves absent a functional means to confront their mortality. Tolerance of secular thought is therefore unacceptable because it permits this internalized anxiety to persist. Comfort can only be achieved when there is an absolute consensus of thought that unanimously supports their singular ideology.
Daniel DiRito | April 27, 2006 | 11:01 AM
Comments
1 On April 27, 2006 at 1:24 PM, Susan Case wrote —
The first time I encountered the conservative need for comfort was when I was 13 in a poor neighborhood of Florida and the Supreme Court decison mandating desegregation was handed down. People seemed to go crazy. My own anxiety rose because the adults around me were not just angry, but frightened and pretty obviously irrational. They kept using otherwise meaningless phrases like "our way of life!" as if they meant something; what that particular phrase meant, obviously, was comfort -- a comfort that was in danger of being taken away.
Like many children, I was frightened by the fear in adults, and sought to fix things for them. I had a new source of power, the public library -- I had been mining the adult section for a while, and now looked up the experts on race. For an essentially southern town, our library was well stocked, and I came away with lots of material that I thought would reassure my family and teachers and neighbors. Namely: It's okay, colored people aren't really different, we can have desegregation and no harm done.
Oh boy. It was as if I was aiming a rifle at someone and saying, "Don't worry, you'll survive being shot!" If I had been an adult, and thus perceived as more of a threat, I might have been literally shot.
A very striking follow-up to this is that racism suddenly became socially disreputable around 1970; white people just stopped expressing racism openly and began to strike down de jure barriers to blacks, without discussing and eschewing their previous attitudes.
Discomfort levels had shifted. The new hidden anxiety is that we have ever been racist, or that racism might persist underground. This anxiety is less intense: "playing the race card" is considered low-down but it doesn't mean you're a communist in league with the enemies of the country, as I was once accused of.
I think this need for continuity is stronger in some people than in others, and that those who feel it strongest have played a vital role in maintaining cultural continuity, itself a vital force in the success of our species. In periods of great social change, however, like 14th century Europe or presently, they become obstacles, and their anxiety generates a lot of real craziness. If it is true that we have now entered upon a culture of constant change, I don't know what will become of such people. Some of them are people I love, and I worry.
2 On April 27, 2006 at 2:08 PM, Daniel wrote —
Susan,
Your story is quite compelling and tells me you were a very perceptive and insightful child. What is so wonderful is that you pushed past the prescribed garden variety fears and reactions to seek larger "truths"...without bias.
I also appreciate your compassion for, and understanding of, the people we are discussing because it is necessary if change is to be a possibility. I wish them no ill and I do not seek to deny them their beliefs...I simply wish that sentiment were more reciprocal.
Thank you for your contribution and I hope to hear more of your thoughts.
Daniel
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