Convergence

Kevin over at the American Street seems to once again be channeling my thoughts regarding the obsession ultra religious conservatives have with sex, specifically of the deviant variety. Maybe if these folks were better educated they would understand how their truly sick fascination with other people’s sex lives is a direct result of repression and projection (Psyche 101??). And my standard comeback to proselytizing door knockers sounds eerily familiar to his take on things. Namely, if Heaven is filled with repressed, uptight, judgmental ostriches like them, it sure doesn’t sound like anyplace I’d like to spend eternity. I’d much rather party it up in the fires of Hell, thankyouverymuch! Then, too - I figure that all the psycho serial murderers and other hardened criminals who have those miraculous prison chapel religious conversions will probably be with them too, in which case we'll be safer in the sauna.

Anyhoo, one of his commenters pulled a quote from the article he links to by one of the mouthpieces of the religious right that says: “It’s like when the hijackers took over those four planes on Sept. 11 and took people to a place where they didn’t want to go,” she added. “I think a lot of people feel that liberals have taken our country somewhere we don’t want to go. I think a lot more people realize this is our country and we’re going to take it back.”

Then I read a comment left by Sally (no relation, really) on my own post regarding the insurgent vs. belligerent question : “To my mind, "rebel" and "insurgent" are pretty much interchangible. I think Americans tend to avoid rebel because it has a lot of romantic connotations and because it's historically been associated with the Civil War and thus is pretty loaded.”

Finally, this afternoon my conservative co-worker has been all aflutter from a report I assume he got either from Drudge or the Freepers about how some school superintendent in Oklahoma removed all Christian references from the elementary school’s holiday play (including the nativity scene and the carol Silent Night), but left in references to Kwanzaa and Chanukah. Which is the latest in a long line of sob stories coming from the right about how Christians are being “persecuted”.

And I had one of those great epiphanies that you think is mind-blowing but which in all actuality, has probably already been thought about, and discussed, and published ad nauseum. To whit: As much as the Conservatives & their blowhards like to make fun of the alleged “victim mentality” of the Liberal Left, they’ve got an even bigger martyr syndrome going on over on their side of the spectrum. And what they’re really and truly pissed off about… is that they believe we’ve usurped their status of the ultimate martyr: the American Christian, red-neckian Underdog. As Sally reminded me, there is nothing, NOTHING more sacred to that “other”-hating, bible-thumping, homophobic portion of the population than the Confederate flag. The sons & daughters of Johnny Reb are inordinately proud of their rebel history. By some sick twist of logic, they see themselves as the natural successors to the Pilgrims, the American Revolutionaries, and Robert E. Lee. A huge part of their cultural identity is wrapped up in being the Underdog, and in being the religious minority.

So that’s why it is so important for them to continue to paint themselves as the Rebels and the Liberal Left/ACLU as cold-hearted tyrants who are persecuting them for their religious and cultural beliefs, even when reality is - *they* are the ones persecuting others. Without that over-romanticized rebel/ martyr identity, what do they have? This is why they delude themselves into thinking we’ve “taken over” when the reality is, their proclivity for procreation has ensured that *they* are the political majority and have been for quite some time.

The more I think about it the more I believe it might be a good thing they’re so committed to their beloved Underdog delusion. If they ever realize they have become the Alpha of the pack, we’re in big trouble.