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Adam Hamilton writes,
Our culture is in the midst of an important shift in which more people will be able to accept paradox and to hold fast to a compelling faith while living with ambiguity. (p30)
This was one of the issues we discussed yesterday at the discussion group. I don’t see it. I see more polarization, more extremism, and more black and white.
Hamilton’s book was published in 2008, and my point for the group was that during that time, our culture was excited, for the most part, about the Presidential election and the real possibility of electing someone completely different in appearance from those who had gone before. There was a great promise and a great hope.
Now? Now we have bigots for pundits, morons for movement leaders, and we are slipping back into those extremists positions – on both sides. Compromise is an evil word.
Do you see our culture shifting? Positive? Negative?
Joel Landon Watts is a Masters of Theological Studies student with a focus in Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific ideals of the past century. Currently, he is a TA for Old Testament at United Theological Seminary under Dr. Vivian Johnson, Associate Professor of Old Testament. His first book, Rhetorical Strategies of the Evangelist: Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark, is expected to be published by Wipf and Stock early next year. He is currently co-editing a book on moving from Fear to Faith (Energion, 2013).
What I’m seeing more and more–and it terrifies me–is apathy. “Would that you were hot or cold!”
I think that’s going to be an even bigger problem post-Obama. Obama was supposedly the “hope/change” candidate. He was going to be the one to bring about a post-racial America. Now that he’s been revealed as just another partisan hack politician, I think many people are just going to give up hope altogether.
I think, unfortunately, and I hate to agree with you, but you are correct. No one has the drive anymore to start over and keep going.
Allow me to disagree with you both, for different reasons. Michael, Obama is not “another partisan hack”, but my guess is you are far too deeply invested in that picture to accept actual evidence that is not the case.
More broadly, Joel, the deeply divisive nature of our current political climate is actually if one looks close enough and reads broadly enough, what happens when entrenched but failing power structures are threatened by rising powers. So, we have billionaires bankrolling fake grassroots movements in order to undermine an agenda of pretty radical change.
More to the point, surveys are pretty clear about one thing – younger people, including those younger than me! – are far more open on issues of race, religious affiliation, sexual identity, and what not, than older folks. The change Hamilton is speaking about is one we are in the midst of defining for ourselves; the challenge, I think, is seeing through the facade of division, largely created to prop up a senescent status quo, to the reality underlying it.
Geoffrey, no doubt about your second paragraph, on both sides. I would suspect that this election will showcase a shift into apathy by those whom you have enumerated, which is a shame, as they will no doubt grow to be more apathetic. Unfortunately, because of the current state of affairs and the knowledge of the bankrolls, our one person one vote myth is even more destroyed.
Apathy among younger potential voters is nothing new. The many failures of the Obama Administration are pretty clearly not motivating his base, including newer, younger voters, to come out this year. Not his failures because he is too liberal (the MSM narrative), but his failures to use his spine to stand up to the Republicans and coherently construct and defend policies that are actually even more liberal – and popular – than the ones actually passed.
For the life of me, I don’t understand how people can think that the President is ‘too liberal’….