Or, Deferral as Default
There are countless “culture war” agitators out there. They follow a program that is beyond political: it’s fiercely religious. It says, “Be willing to die for your political platform.” It even drops hints that you should be willing to kill for the culture war.
I’ve had many agitators over the past 15 years tell me to pick a side. I resent this. I have too many friends and loved ones on both sides, even many who are adamant politickers. They have wounds and hangups like anyone. I’ve decided not to pick a side, but just support.
Abstaining from voting in 2020 was the best political decision of my life. It’s allowed me to be clear-headed and see political agitation for what it is: deep-seated wounding that needs love and subconsciously seeks wisdom.
The celebrities calling for political agitation and saber-rattling for a civil war, for assassinations, would not die for the culture war. They would rather YOU die. They play on your insecurities, your desire for community and connection. Your loneliness.
By becoming an agitator, you choose not to see people as people, but as combatants on a battlefield. You become a soldier. You join the culture war, which is a death cult.
The culture war is a death cult.
This death cult is 100% a religion, comprised of human sacrifice (destroying the latest so-and-so), amulets, spells, martyrs, saints, flower wars, sacrifices, holy sites and temples, cities of refuge, worship of the dead, calendars filled with new holidays.
None of this fits into any preexisting religious program. It’s entirely novel. It’s not a state religion like Rome’s. At least that was codified in Fasti. This is a media religion, as fluid as your social media feed. Tomorrow there will be new martyrs, new rituals.
As per my ROBA Hypothesis, at the beginning of society church and state were one. They can be only differentiated through deferral of violence. Deferral has now collapsed. So church and state have collapsed into one again. Now it’s time to see them for what they really are.
Today, unfortunately, there’s no longer a clearcut difference between church and state. The political parties are simply competing cult factions, w/ priests, scribes, prophets, & leaders. In the past, these were relegated to the court. Shang dynasty China had an alternating liberal and reactionary party system.
But now, all are invited to participate in the cult. It’s good for business. Now they can fight flower wars using you. You don’t have to participate, but participation is good money for you. Makes you feel seen. Like you’re not alone. It’s a lie. You are alone in the culture war.
Do not bring up your children in the death cult, or you will raise them as soldiers. You can make them extremists, but you can’t control which party they will join. Studies show that recent generations are increasingly crossing to the opposite party and marrying their own.
The modern death cult of the culture war is therefore a bilateral endogamous restricted exchange kinship system that fools its members into thinking they can ascend the spiral and enter the temple. Perhaps you can even get people to die for you someday.
Media celebrities play up this story arc: campus debaters and activists gaining status, starting media companies, and becoming celebrities. It’s a tantalizing opportunity: become an important somebody.
But once you’ve “made it,” you will care less about the culture war. You will have a family, children, real community. You will even see your opponents as people. You would die for your loved ones, but no longer for the culture war. Perhaps you won’t want to see death anymore.
Yet you must sell the program. You must put on the mask every day and agitate for the faction. Your rhetoric must be fierce. You must abhor nuance or sales go down. You give your audience some hope. “Someday you can become somebody, so you won’t have to be a soldier anymore.”
There’s a difference between exercising your First Amendment rights, and being a culture war soldier. We must abhor violence and reject calls for escalation. If this is a “turning point,” then turn the other cheek, or this will become apocalyptic very quickly.
I am not your soldier. I will not agitate, die, or kill for you. I will not worship your dead saints or keep your fake holidays. I will advocate for non-violence even when you saber-rattle. I will love my neighbor as myself, even when you command me otherwise.