The Raven Foundation

The United States of America is under attack.  America has an enemy that will stop at nothing until it defeats our way of life.  If you are afraid of any possible threat to our way of life posed by Islamism, or China, or the European economic crisis, or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, well, those are all child’s play when compared to this threat.

You may be wondering, “Just who is attacking the United States?”  According to the conservative website Caucus for America, which is “dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the historic American civilization,” liberals are to blame.  Liberals are attacking the religious core at the heart of America’s way of life.  The secular Left, which, according to the website, has contaminated protestant Christianity, “knows that the only way to destroy the America we’ve known is by destroying the Christianity, the Judeo-Christian ethic, which has made it great.”  The Left is attacking America’s soul from the inside.  If this was an enemy from the outside our borders, “We would have raised our swords” against this threat.

That’s pretty serious.  But, there’s more.  According to the progressive website Common Dreams, it’s not the Left who is attacking America; it’s the Right.  And you should be very afraid of the policies those demons would legislate if they were to gain power.  “It’s very possible that Mr. XY Zombie Republican could seize power in November, with the backing of endlessly deep pockets like the Koch brothers, Big Energy, and Big Finance, and the blessing of the Supreme Court.”

As I read these equally hysterical but completely opposite viewpoints, I realized they had something in common that is more profound than their panic and fear.  Whether on the Right or the Left, the American way of life many of us are so eager to defend involves demonizing and shaming others so that you aren’t the one demonized and shamed.  Attack!  Attack so that the attention is on your opponent’s deficiencies and not on yours.  Seriously?  “Zombie Republican”?!?  Are you kidding me?  It’s sophomoric and certainly not progressive.  And the suggestion that we should raise our swords against the Left to protect our American way of life is an American way of life that I reject.

And so I’m attacking this American way of life.  Yes.  I’m attacking it because it’s pathetic.  It’s banal and I think it’s time for us to grow up.  The Left and the Right justify the demonization of one another in the name of protecting America.  And they both look pathetically similar.  The Left and the Right are caught up in a mimetic rivalry, where both sides assert differences where no difference exists.  They are exactly the same.  They both claim the mantle of righteousness while they demonize the other.  It is, apparently, what America is all about.

Indeed, it’s pathetic and weak.  It makes us into cowards because the American way of life that demonizes the other conveniently blinds us to our own faults.  It takes courage to look deep within ourselves and critique our own failings.  Under our current way of life, we will never have that kind of courage because we are possessed.  Make no mistake - when the bible talks about demon possession, it’s not talking about an archaic misunderstanding that our ancestors had about humanity.  No.  They had a much more powerful anthropology than we moderns do.  When we accuse others of being a demon (or a Zombie), when we blame the other for all of our cultural problems, we become instantly blind to our own demons.  You can be damn sure that you are possessed by a demon if are inciting fear of Liberals and accusing Republicans of being “Zombies.”

I’m attacking this American way of life because I demand better.  The American way of life that mimics accusations against one another needs to stop because it will destroy us.  I have little hope that politicians, the media, and bloggers have the power to change this pattern.  I do have hope, though.  I have hope that people like you and I can change.  We don’t have accuse one another.  We are not enslaved to a way of life that demonizes and shames our family members, our neighbors, our co-workers, or even those we call our enemies.  We must say no to that way of life, because only when we say no to that way of life can we be empowered to say yes to a way of life that respect opposing views and values dialogue over demonization.

When the American way of life emphasizes that spirit, I will stop my attack.

We live much of our lives in fear.  We fear being exposed as frauds.  We project to the world an image of ourselves that’s not entirely true in an attempt to gain the approval of others.  We conceal the bad, dirty, and ugly parts of ourselves and project other parts of ourselves that we think people will perceive as good, clean, and beautiful.

But there is another aspect of this self-deceptive pattern that is even more devious.  We have a tendency to project onto others the bad, dirty, and ugly parts of ourselves.  To paraphrase René Girard, “We are most indignant at the evil of others by which we ourselves are consumed” (Deceit, Desire, and the Novel, 73).

Few of us are immune from this pattern of self-deception.  It’s an infectious social disease that permeates human culture and it is on full national display during political season as we inspect and scrutinize candidates.  We saw it televised on Monday night at the Republican national debate.

The 24 hour news channels have been running the highlight of that debate since Monday evening.  (You can see the video below.)  It started when Fox News moderator Juan Williams asked Newt Gringrich a question about a claim Gingrich made while campaigning in Iowa.  Gingrich stated last November that "Black Americans should demand jobs, not food stamps."  He also claimed that “Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and nobody around them who works.  So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday.  They have no habit of staying all day.  They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash,’ unless it’s illegal.”

Williams asked, “Can’t you see that this is viewed at a minimum as insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans?”

As Gingrich replied, “No, I don’t see that,” the audience erupted in approval.  Williams then asked if the comments were “intended to belittle the poor and racial minorities.”

“First of all, Juan,” Gingrich rather belittlingly responded, “the fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history.  Now, I know among the politically correct you’re not supposed to use facts that are uncomfortable.”  He went on to claim that liberal “elites despise earning money” and that he wants to help people “learn how to get a job, learn how to get a better job and learn someday to own the job.”  The all white audience loved the confrontation and enthusiastically cheered for Gingrich.  After the debate Gingrich explained the enthusiasm by stating, “There was a spontaneous sense that somebody finally had the courage to just tell the truth about how we’ve got to go about helping people…”

The point I’d like to emphasize here is Williams’ term “racial minorities.”  Williams has been criticized by many on the right for asking a racially loaded question, while many on the left praise him for stating the obvious and then accuse Gingrich of being a racist.  Now, I don’t know if Gingrich is a racist, but Williams did ask a racially loaded question and race was an obvious issue at the debate.  Williams was the only black person in the room, and I specifically mention “the all white audience” because the incident exposed an uncomfortable truth about American self-deception when it comes to race and racism.

It has been said that slavery is America’s original sin, but America’s original sin is deeper than slavery, for only black people were enslaved.  The end of slavery did not end racism, nor did it end its counterpart, white supremacy.  Both continued through the practice of lynching and segregation.  It is a bad, dirty, and ugly part of American history that we would rather sweep under our cultural rug by ignoring its impact on modern American society.  “We don’t have race issues anymore,” many argue.  “We have economic issues.”  There is some truth in that statement.  Poverty doesn’t discriminate between races.  But my personal experience, which is confirmed by the experience of Monday’s debate, is that racism still plays a huge role in our culture. If we are ever going to move beyond racism in our country, we need an honest discussion about how it continues to infect our lives.

So, let’s be honest.  I’m infected with racism.  Like the all white audience at the debate in South Carolina, I live in a mostly white world.  I can go throughout my day without ever seeing a black person.  My neighborhood is an all white suburb just north of Chicago, my church is 95% white, and when I shop I see white faces.  The only time when I see black people is when I venture to Chicago, where many neighborhoods are all black.

Segregation is illegal, but don’t be deceived – whether you live in the North or the South, the United States continues to be segregated.  We have an implicitly segregated society, and segregation, whether explicit or implicit, fosters racist attitudes.  And here’s the ugly truth we don’t want to admit: we like it that way.  Because of our self-deception, we would rather not deal with the bad, dirty, and ugly truth of racism that continues to infect our nation.  We would rather show our indignation toward those racists out there than deal with the racism that infects us.

Is Newt infected by the evil pattern of racism?  Probably.  But so am I.  When it comes to racism, we cannot afford to be neutral.  Any accusations of racism that I levy against Newt will be an attempt to conceal my own pattern of racism.  That pattern needs to be transformed by a different pattern: the pattern of intentional acts of solidarity with people of other races.  Those intentional acts might include advocating for and participating in local intercultural events, seeking friendships with people of other races, and moving to a more diverse neighborhood.  These intentional acts, and others like them, are our only hope for overcoming America’s implicit segregation and continued racism.  Until we have the courage to live in the pattern of solidarity, segregation and racism will continue to infect American culture.

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"One of the most pressing questions facing the world today is, 'How can we oppose evil without creating new evils and being made evil ourselves?'"

-Walter Wink

It was at the end of our youth group.   Most already left to catch a ride home from their parents, but a few high schoolers remained.  They wanted to discuss Rick Perry’s anti-lgbt commercial called “Strong.”  The video went viral on youtube within hours of its release.  It prompted others to post their own videos on youtube, mocking Perry.  Even Jesus Himself got in the act.

“What Rick Perry said … well … it made me sad,” one of the students said.

“Sad,”  I responded.  “Why sad?”

“Because it’s not Christian.”

Wait.  Wait.  I had to call a time out, because this was powerful.   You know when you have those moments when you sense something big, I mean Big, is about to happen?  I tried to calm my mind so that I could ask a question that would take us further into the Perry controversy.

“What’s not Christian about it?”

“He’s putting down another group.  And he’s saying that gay soldiers who sacrifice their lives for us are somehow deficient.  I don’t care where you stand on the military and war.  That’s not Christian.”

(Note: This young lady is fiery.  She knows where I stand on war, which is why she brought it up.  She’s confrontational, argumentative, and sometimes stubborn.  And she’s all kinds of wonderful.)

“Okay.  Well, how would you respond to Rick Perry.  As a Christian.  Because there are all kinds of people responding to him.  They’re mostly mocking him.  Is that a good Christian response?”

“Well, no.”

I pressed further.  “So, how would you respond?”

“I don’t know,” she replied.  “I’d probably try to listen to his story.  Try to understand where he’s coming from.  Try to reason with him.”

At this point I was feeling bold, so I said something like, “Listening is great.  Do that.  But,” and maybe I should have stopped here, but, I decided to keep going.  “You can’t reason with people.  It won’t work.  He has plenty of ‘reason’ to say what he said.  He’d even quote the bible.  And then you could quote the bible back.  No, the only way for people to change is to see the consequences of their actions.  To see that you’re sad.  Stay sad.  Let people see the hurt.  And then move on.  Leave the sadness and the hurt behind.  Don’t let the hurt own you; let love own you.   Which means don’t fight evil with evil.  That only turns us into the evil we oppose.”

Sad.  I think that’s the right response.  It’s sad because Rick Perry used Jesus to “put down another group,” as my high schooler said.  Still, there is truth in Perry’s commercial.  Faith can make us strong.  But a faith that scapegoats others is the wrong kind of faith.  In fact, it’s a weak, demonic faith.  The faith that will make us strong is a Jesus-like faith that seeks to include others, especially those “others” that make us uncomfortable, into a community of love.  As hard as it is for my feeble heart to admit, Jesus seeks to include Rick Perry into that community too.

A faith that challenges us to love and include those we vehemently disagree with – that kind of faith will make us strong.

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How did you respond to Rick Perry’s video?

Can we “reason” with people who have differing points-of-view?  Why/why not?

What do you think of the statement, “The only way for people to change is to see the consequences of their actions?”

(For insights on the Iowa Caucus and scapegoating, see "A Unique New Year's Resolution and the Iowa Caucus.")

If you are like me, you believe New Year’s Resolutions are made to be broken. I struggle with resolutions. I’ve already failed three of the top twelve resolutions Americans make.  Lose weight? I always break that during football games on January 1^st. Stop drinking? Again, January 1^st football games. Eat healthy foods? Nachos, pizza, and burgers, all on January 1^st.

January 1^st is the day I resolve to make the hardest resolution I’ve ever had to make (and I make throughout the year) – to forgive myself.

To be more forgiving of one’s self and of others is certainly a resolution worth making, but the Iowa Caucus tonight reminds me of another resolution worthy of discussion. It’s a resolution few people will make this year. And it’s a resolution you are bound to break. Sometime during this first week of 2012, you are likely to be asked, “What’s your New Year’s Resolution?” Imagine their response when you reply, “I’m going to end scapegoating.”

It’s a big task. Scapegoating infects our culture, our lives, and our politics. For example, the Iowa Caucus is tonight and we find candidates scrambling to define themselves over and against their opponents. Mitt Romney, who seems to be the front-runner in Iowa, has attacked President Obama, accusing him of creating an entitlement society in the U.S. Romney said that Obama’s continued policies would “poison the American spirit by pitting one American against another and engaging in class warfare." He went on to say, “I prefer an America that is one nation under God and I will keep it that way.” While Romney attacks Obama, a Super PAC backing him has spent $3 million on ads slamming Romney’s Republican opponents. And Romney’s opponents have responded with similar attack ads. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post warns that this is just the beginning of negative ads run by Super PACs:

We are going to see hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ads bombarding millions of voters for months on end, with no knowledge of who is paying for them, no accountability at all for the candidates who are directly benefiting from them, and no meaningful effort to rebut the countless lies, distortions and sleazy attacks they’ll be leveling on a daily basis — ones that will directly impact who controls Congress and the White House next year.

That disturbs me, but it doesn’t surprise me.  After Christmas and New Year’s Day, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that average folk like you and I spend much of our time in rivalry with others. You can always tell when you are in a rivalry with another person or group. You know that feeling you get when your uncle starts making political comments during Christmas dinner? Or the feeling you get when you arrive at your office and your supervisor won’t stop talking about her New Year’s weekend, and you know that in two hours she’ll come back and ask why you haven’t been productive? Your blood starts to boil. You need an outlet so you gossip to your cousins or your coworkers.

(Not that I know from experience.)

It’s true. Politicians are corrupted by rivalry and scapegoating. But so are we. We are, as James Alison says, formed in rivalry and scapegoating.  “Our programming,” as Alison states in his book, Knowing Jesus, “forms us in rivalry, and the techniques of survival by exclusion.”

I can guarantee you one thing during this election year: The rivalry and scapegoating will heat up. Republican candidates and President Obama will continue to define themselves over and against one another in hopes of gaining a sense of superiority.

How do we end scapegoating? There are four key steps. First, I think it’s important to admit that we scapegoat others. Yes. You and I scapegoat. We scapegoat whenever we feel a sense of superiority by hating another person or group. Second, we can stop scapegoating when, instead of feeling superior through scapegoating others, we begin to mourn our scapegoating tendencies. Third, we know we are on our way to end scapegoating when we begin to honestly listen to our rival’s story. And fourth, to truly end scapegoating, we need to develop the courage to admit that maybe, just maybe, we don’t hold the truth, we were wrong about the truth of our rival’s story, and we were wrong about our feelings of superiority over and against our rival.

It’s 2012. And it’s time to end scapegoating.

(For an example of how to end scapegoating, see "Rick Perry and Jesus: Strength and Weakness.")

“Those who say that the media and our political leaders are out of touch with the ‘real’ America have a point.”  Thus begins Stuart Muszynski in his fascinating article on the Huffington Post called “Taking America Down the Rabbit Hole”. Muszynski (who runs "Purpe America", a really cool educational organization that explores America's values) claims that the news media has become a form of violent entertainment by “framing everything [in politics] as a fight.” This pattern of violence infects more than the news media, of course.  Muszynski says it permeates much of our television airwaves and he specifically holds “reality” TV responsible for its use of violence.  He tells a story of someone who works for a non-profit that raises money for an “important and worthwhile cause.”  According to this person, the co-chairs of the non-profit “have been increasingly disagreeable, catty and outright, publicly mean.”  Muszynskin explains the behavior by stating that it turns out “they’ve been watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

This violence has real effects on our culture, according to Muszynski.  He warns that “Our children and even adults replicate the language and actions they see on TV, on the Internet and in the newspaper.”  From a mimetic theory perspective, this is fascinating because of its truth about human nature.  As I read the first five paragraphs, I kept thinking:

“C’MON!  SAY MIMETIC THEORY!!!”

Then came the sixth paragraph.  “It’s human nature to mimic what we frequently see.”  Exactly.  But there is something missing from Muszynski’s analysis.  He’s right that we humans are mimetic, or imitative, creatures.  And it’s easy to see how the news media often frames political debates as a violent battle between gladiators, and how politicians frequently fall into the trap of demonizing one another.  The problem, though, is that this pattern of violence is much bigger than the news media or politicians. In fact, when we blame the news media, television, and politicians for their violent rhetoric, we usually do so using violent rhetoric in return.  Muszynski says that current American political conversations are not sustainable.  “By vilifying one side over the other and turning everything into a fight, public policies become intense wars that will be reversed once the other side comes to power.”  I appreciate the truth in that statement, however, I can’t help but think Muszynski is mimicking that fight.  His solution to the vilifying in media and politics is to vilify the media and politics.  The final paragraph of his article is evidence to my point.  The way to fight the corrupt power in American culture is through … yup, you guessed it, power.  “So let’s demand art, politics and citizenship that reflect the values and goodness of America and spur us to be our best.”

Now, I want America to be a more peaceful place and I agree that the escalating, combative rhetoric in politics and on television is a problem for American culture.  But I disagree with Muszynski’s solution.  Demanding that “art, politics and citizenship reflect the values and goodness of American” and vilifying the news media and politicians is simply another form of violent rhetoric, which is exactly what he is critiquing.  Violence, even violent language that seeks peace, breeds more violence.

What’s the way out of this cycle?  One of the first steps in transforming our pattern of violence is to acknowledge that we all (even good, peaceful people) fall into the “rabbit hole of violence.”  We all have our scapegoats that we enjoy vilifying.  Acknowledging this truth about human nature leads us to the next step, which is transforming the pattern of violence into a pattern of forgiveness.  Only through forgiving ourselves and others can we begin climbing out of the rabbit hole.