The beginnings of a response to the election

Like so many others, I am reeling about the US election result, as I start – through feelings of, by turns, fear, anger, alarm, outrage and sorrow – to think through what this means and will mean. I fear for the protection of our fragile planet, for the environment, and for so many members of our human communities who will become yet more vulnerable – because of wars and genocide, and because so much is at stake, for women and their reproductive rights, for the security and futures and rights and freedoms of refugees, migrants, the LGBTQ+ community, those of persecuted citizenship status… – the list is so long.

In terms of this project, it means we need to keep going. The Shiloh Project, its activities and its blog, has always been something we, directors and collaborators, do mostly in our own time, sometimes with support from external grants. We have deliberately, in the interests of independence, taken the blog off a University-overseen site and we pay for its maintenance ourselves.

Our focus on rape culture, religion, and the Bible remains crucial – not least, because violence at the heart of rape culture, including misogyny and racism, is being emboldened, and because religion and the Bible have played and continue to play critical roles in a multitude of ways, as both weapons and resistance. Just look up some of the terrifying stuff likening the presidential candidates to Jehu and Jezebel: right there we have the whole package – rape culture, racism, misogyny, Bible, and the fierce power of religio-political factions.

Right now, as I for one, feel pretty helpless and defeated, I know we need to do much more to train and inspire and promote critical thinking and critical empathy. So, while I’m not feeling very articulate or ready for action just now, I will rally.

I will post again soon with something we can do (I’m still awaiting permission). I also want to invite posts that harness our outrage and protest in constructive ways. And, to get us started, I include below (with permission and in full) the words from a Facebook/Meta post by Eric Vanden Eykel, who says so well some of what is in my heart.

Nil bastardum carborundum (that’s the only – albeit fake! – Latin I’ve ever been taught, “don’t let the bastards grind you down”)

Johanna 

Now, here from Eric:

I have nothing pithy or profound to say about the results of this election. I am disappointed in voters and terrified for the people that Trump has promised to terrorize and marginalize.

I have spent a good deal of my life around conservatives. Heck, I was a lukewarmly committed one for a short while. I exist in a field that is built on testing ideas, arguing about them, and often agreeing to disagree. I am familiar with healthy dialogue and dispute.

This election was never about policy differences. Our country just elected a person whose platform is built on a foundation of xenophobia, misogyny, and false information. This is Trump, and it has been Trump since long before he decided to run for president in 2015. What happened in 2015 is that his hate and racism resonated with a sizable portion of the population. We do well to remember that Trump is a SYMPTOM of a much, much bigger sickness. 

This sickness is obviously the consequence of a lot of factors. One of the most glaring, in my view, is a profound failure of our educational system, on every level. How did we get to the point where grown adults have no idea how to verify sources, understand data, or do research past a handful of memes? And, for the record: possessing a degree does not make one educated. I have seen PhDs post some pretty ridiculous nonsense.

We have also lost the collective sense that certain groups both inside and outside of the United States are people with dignity. Or maybe we never really had that collective sense, but we have pretended that we did sometimes. Regardless, if you believe that a Trump presidency is going to fix inflation and that’s why you were willing to overlook all of the ways that he will harm people, this paragraph and the previous one are for you.

I’ve been mostly off social media today, but scrolling through my feed I’ve seen plenty of comments about how “real” Christians would never have voted for Trump. Let’s talk about this. <cracks knuckles>

“Christianity” does not exist in a vacuum. It does not exist apart from the contexts in which it has been practiced. There is no “normative” form of Christianity (or any other religion) that we use to judge the legitimacy of all others. There is the particular brand of Christianity that you either subscribe to or have in your mind as the “pure” form, and then there are the ones that you don’t like because of…well, take your pick. The people who voted for Trump in the United States *are* Christians. When you “other” them by saying that they aren’t “real” or “authentic,” you are being Trumpian. “Real Americans do X” and “real Christians do Y” are manipulative and nonsensical. Let’s do better.

If you are theologically minded, perhaps the thought just popped into your mind: “but what would Jesus think about all this?” The answer is simple: we don’t know, and it doesn’t matter because he lived 2,000 years ago. Jesus is a shape shifter and a Rorschach test – you can use the New Testament to argue for violence, slavery, misogyny, inclusivity, and peace. What you choose to focus on in those texts frequently says more about your own priorities and ideologies. And of course that’s ok. That’s how reading works. Just be honest about what you’re doing.

For quite a while now, I’ve been mostly staying out of politics on social media. This is not something that I have done a good job of in the past (that’s the understatement of the century!). I’m sure I’ll have moments in the future where I’ll jump back in. Facebook is an echo chamber, and I suspect the algorithm will do a good job of showing this post to people who are already inclined to agree with it. And that’s not going to affect the kind of change that we desperately need. That change isn’t happening on social media.

So: I’m disappointed and bewildered. But I remain committed to standing with all of the incredible women I am privileged to know and work with. I am committed to my LGBTQ friends and colleagues. I will continue to point out the hypocrisy of those who call for kindness and compromise while also adopting slogans like “fuck your feelings,” “trump that bitch,” and “fuck Joe Biden.” I will continue to teach my students how to spot lies and respond to nonsense arguments. I will continue to teach my kids to be compassionate, informed, intelligent, and considerate citizens.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Vanden Eykel (Facebook/Meta, 7 November 2024)