I am editing a physician friend's autobiography and just reviewed a brand new vignette about how David's German grandmother broke a plate over her communist brother's head, simultaneously calling his wife a "drechsau" - a "filthy pig."
I should also mention that Oma's communist brother was the only member of my friend's extensive German family who actively oppose Hitler during the Third Reich, while all the other relatives -- "good Germans" that they were -- "just went along."
"If real power is not fairly-widely distributed, the "head honchos" -- thinking they are "The Enlightened Ones" -- have no trouble whatsoever designating themselves the "know-it-all leaders," whose comprehensive knowledge of The Truth entitles them to usurp power.
I remember back in the day how Latin American Marxists occupied places in the pecking order by how well they could quote the "scripture" of Marx and Lenin (and perhaps even Trotsky).
My formal study of comparative religion -- and my continued keen interest in religion -- have lead me to believe that religious attitudes -- even "atheistic religious attitudes (or what we might more beneficially call "value systems") have given me considerable insight into gnosticism - which can be defined as any religion or value system in which the "acquisition of knowledge/enlightenment" is the linchpin determinant of one's (often self-arrogated) status within an institution (particularly a political party), or within a society-at-large.
And so, when I heard the following NPR analysis of contemporary right-wing politics -- and the role neo-gnosticism plays in contemporary right-wing American politics -- I was blown away.
The American Right-Wing's Ersatz Theology: Ancient Gnostic Heresy Is A Key To Understanding QAnon (An Illuminating Interview From NPR's "On The Media")
I think this On The Media episode provides a remarkably accurate rendering of "where we're at in contemporary America" (although it does not take much for "the tables to turn").
Just last week, I had opportunity to correspond with a right-winger about a "rainbow rally"in which the chant concluded with the words, "and we're coming for your children." NOT the way to win hearts and minds on the other side of the aisle.
I think you would be hard-pressed David to find a more fruitful way to spend your evening than listening to the NPR audio file at the link above.
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