We’re living in a moment where the US government plans to televise an execution by firing squad, while at the same time working to curtail any dissent in books or museums? With their whole chest, they say we don’t have to watch an execution, but the cultural output of free speech could spark dangerous ideas. In this simple contradiction, Christofascists’ mindset becomes obvious.
Violence is their sole tool to control the masses. These are people who show up every Sunday to hear they’re sinners. They pay out for both salvation and the path to the riches their pastor has. Jesus is not a path to a better world but instead a passkey to their personal riches. As I’ve discussed, much of the American evangelical agenda has little to do with Jesus and everything to do with capitalism. They pick and choose from Scripture.
Books aren’t meant to be understood; they're used as crutches for their worldview. They treat the bible as they treat the internet. They have an idea, then find what matches it. Text is a backup for preconceptions, not a way to challenge your existing worldview.
What exactly do they challenge? The plurality of arts and culture challenges anyone whose worldview is boxed into narrow boxes. Their actual ideas about the books are pretty simplistic. The Diary of Anne Frank should be banned because it’s a downer. Bridge to Terabithia should be banned because the kids don’t go to church. The Day the Crayons Quit should be banned because children might see a naked crayon.
Underlying the silliness of their reasons is a much bigger issue. LGBTQ lifestyles aren’t damning. Communism might not be the bogeyman their media tells them. Families don’t all look the same. Love can be given without the fear of reprisals.
That’s the real threat of books and museums–free thought. The idea that someone else sees the world differently is particularly pernicious, as you could see that your normal is, in fact, incredibly cult-like, bizarre, and harmful. The best way to change your ideas is not to be preached at or attacked, but to immerse yourself in something that breaks your existing cognitive frames. Exploring the complexity of thought both makes you immune to mind control and helps foster resilience in general.
If books and museums offer substantive ways to look beyond the veil of high-control faiths, violence keeps you from changing. Violence becomes linked to Christianity thanks to its use by power to keep its populace in check. Public violence by the state does not keep criminals from acting that way, but it does propagate violence. But in a violent world, no one has the emotional reserves to imagine differences.
The idea that we can just not watch a public execution implies we can also just check out of a society that is ever more violent. Every five days in the US, a woman is murdered by her male domestic partner. Men regularly get away with raping women only to become power figures, like presidents and CEOs. Even if I don’t watch the execution, its violence could be unleashed on me.
In comparison, we can all read what we choose (at least right now) and develop our individual worldview. This is the biggest difference—public executions make societies more violent writ large, while books and museums make each of us more resilient and individually powerful.
