A Study in Populism

Editor's note .... Okay, I am back! At least, for today. I will endeavor to do better with future postings. I have been ever consumed in the vagaries of life and letting it overwhelm me beyond the pale. The rantings that my friends and mentors have been subjected to has certainly pushed them to the limits -- and so I return to the mountain top. I begin -- again with my views in blog......

Image from Examiner.com

TODAY -- In a recent article by Right Wing Watch, Reverend Franklin Graham conveyed the Family Research Council's Watchmen on the Walls conference, that pastors should be willing to get "their head chopped off..." in relaying the truth to homosexuals. He said the following,

"Are we going to be cowards?... Could we get our heads chopped? We could, maybe one day. So, what? Chop it off!" Take note of the laughter as he says this. See the video below.

He goes on state he was "not afraid of homosexuals" that he "loves them" but to "compromise" was, in a sense, giving too much. His belief that the "rule book" from god was (and is) beyond refute and that god will question one's courage and veracity, which will be met by the condemnation of the savior entity and his lack of compassion.

This, of course, was (and is) the perspective of the religious social conservative, in that, the morality and ethics are entwined in the belief of a saving deity and a religion -- Christianity. The religious social conservative, in the framing of moral values within the culture writ-large, proclaims the perversion of society has lost its way from believing in the "all knowing" entity. Moreover, this failure of belief has condemned society and it is a matter of time before "judgment" shall be reigned upon the masses by the "all knowing" god. It was therefore, the development of "rights" for the LGBT communities, aka homosexual and associated "deviants," are thus the signal that "judgment day" was coming soon.

The rhetoric that was presented by Franklin Graham, and, his fellow pastors, such as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell before his death, and others has been crescendoing for quite some time. And, may in fact, been it's loudest between 2004-2006, when the passage of same-sex marriage amendments passed in more than twenty states plus. Yet, the pushing of religious social conservatism and the usurpation of Tea Party "financial" puritans have vivisected the once reasonable and rational republican party into irrationality and emotionality.

This emotionalism with ideological and theological fervor has excoriated into the public market place and has become entrenched in hypersensitivity. The raw nerves of public discourse embellishes popular movements and brings about a hastier pace of civil evolution. For instance, the generational gap that notices change of civil development or civil evolution of same-sex marriage rights has been evolving aggressively for more than forty-years; yet, the onslaught for immediate change did not fully engulf the passion of progressives until after the passage of the  Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996 and Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) in 1994 implemented by the Clinton Administration.

This aggression by political progressives also came at a time when the religious social conservatives were apexing in political power. In addition, the trauma and tragedy of September 11, 2001 awoke a sleeping giant hybrid:  a mixture of nationalism, ideology, and religious fanaticism with branded patriotism warped the normal sense of America's cognitive dissonance.  The computer technological advancement of information access with the twenty-four hour news cycle via the Internet and cable expansion allowed for a greater saturation of information.

These expansive platforms larger saturation meant that the  extremes from both the religious right and the socialist left could provide misinformation, extreme rhetoric, and divisive political gridlock; and,  become the girding factors of the mass media entrenchment for the twenty-first century. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to name a few, changed how Americans interacted with each other socially and therefore changing how populist movements and civil development evolved.  And, on the side of the expansive platforms, popular media, such as television both cable and over the air transmission, and the dispersion of cultural mores helped shift the Displacement of views (such as racism and homosexuality) with Validation, Narration, and Deployment (DVND) of the ever evolving civil values.

Television shows dating back from the 1970s, such as the All in the Family, MASH, Soap, WKRP in Cincinnati,  and The Jeffersons gave Americans an opportunity to examine stereotypes about race. The assumptions of the stereotypes in the 1980s challenged racism and sexuality in shows, such as Star Trek: Next Generation, Spenser for Hire, and The Cosby Show deployed both negative and positive imagery of the taboo speaking stereotypes.

While popular media in the 1990s and 2000s  not only redeployed tabooed stereotypes examinations, but also broke wide open populist views with shows such as, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, In Living Color,  The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Will  & Grace, Ellen, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and The L Word. On the other side of populist media Evangelicals or similar in nature television shows, such as The PTL Club, The 700 Club, which has been on the air since 1966 (now on Cable), and the generally well produced televised sermons of "super churches" gave further access to televangelists, such as Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson,  Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Creflo Dollar to propagate their views. In addition, representative "Christian" valued shows, such as 7th Heaven,  and Touch by an Angel added to the public deployment of foundational religious values. Additionally, both sides of the public aisle for religious social conservatives and socialist left had greater access through online social media and video sites, such as youtube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu.

In a 2013 study by Pew Research, online civic activism participation was more likely for the economically advantaged. However, the income disparity becomes less pronounced with users of Facebook and Twitter; moreover, the generation gap in 2013 was less prominent. Emotionalism, a driving force for populist movements, tended to drive online activism among the economically advantaged, youth, and the political extremes.

The extremes of the religious social conservative used the media of today to stir the pot of its base to enact action. In doing so, representatives of religious social conservative and  tended to use emotion of fear, paranoia of the other, and "moral certitude" of religion. For example, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell in 2001 indicated that homosexuality and abortionists behavior gave way for the divine to lift the "curtain" of protection for the attacks of September 11 to succeed. Focus on the Family's James Dobson have used their power of persuasion to campaign for same-sex marriage bans in the early 2000s, and religious purist have used a campaign of terror to bomb abortion clinics, murder abortion clinic doctors -- see Dr. George Tiller as the most recent example, and used political elections to set up TRAP laws to restrict access to abortions for women. These examples listed allowed for the transmission of attitudes to be retained and redeployed into the "principle," "core," "foundational" values of culture-writ large and in populists formations.

Populists, such as Rush Limbaugh have used his radio show, for instance, to campaign against the "evil of liberalism and progressivism", while the socialist left, such as George Soros, Nancy Pelosi campaigned for income equality and the danger of unfairness in the myriad platforms, such as television, radio, cable, and the Internet to the unfairness in terms of equity, liberty, voting rights, equal pay, and access to a living wage.

To be continued...