On blogging during election time

During the last three elections, I blogged concerning election-related matters. Not all my posts were about the elections, but enough of them were. I decided not to do that this election for several reasons. The biggest reason is that truth and logic have become the murdered victims of political partisanship. Fact-checking websites have become irrelevant as they have been denounced as being partisan. Their partisanship is proved by the reality that they do not always agree with your viewpoint.  And there you see the lack of logic as well. It is illogical to presume that everything you support is 100% true without the possibility that you might be partly mistaken.

Another reason is the rise of an extreme partisanship that is illustrated by the image that begins this post. We have come to the place in America that truth is judged merely and only by the person by whom it is stated. It is true if, and only if, the statement is made by a person whom I fully support. If the statement is made by a person whom I do not fully support then the statement is false. There is no verification and truth becomes merely a personalistic exercise in which my truth is the only truth.

Another reason is the complete loss of rational ethics. Again using the diagram above, we are currently in a situation in which if the person I support performs an action, then it must be ethical, regardless of the action performed. If the person I oppose performs an action, then it must be unethical even if I performed the same exact action at an earlier time. Currently, in America, a sizable part of the population has no working definition of ethics other than whatever my side may do is ethical while whatever the other group may do is unethical.

Another reason is memés. Yes, memés. Memés are the equivalent of a dirty bomb thrown into social media. If you do not know what a dirty bomb is, read here. They spread damage to both sides of a discussion. The side posting it does not realize that they are often posting a semi-false short statement that–according to our security services–often has been written by a foreign power who opposes the USA. The side posting is, therefore, harming themselves by believing a semi-lie. The side reading the memé is being harmed as they are egged on to a violently angry response and the growing conviction that the “other side” cannot tell the truth on anything. This feeds the type of separation into splinters that is the goal of the foreign power that originally came up with the memé.

We will not be able to overcome the partisanship and the divisions unless we return to a commitment to truth and discussion. Yes, I realize that truth has many cultural, emotional, and experiential components. Nevertheless, to say that truth does not exist is to lose the battle for reality. “I think, therefore I am” is an insufficient basis for truth. “I have an opinion, therefore I am correct” is an even worse basis for truth. If there is no truth, there is no reality. What is left is only partisan perceptions that may, or may not, match what is actually being experienced. C.S. Lewis wrote about this in his final book of the Chronicles of Narnia, in the scene with the dwarves in the stable. We have become the dwarves of that stable. But, our stable is the USA and we are harming this country grievously.

I could answer that truth is Jesus. This statement is true, but does not currently apply. There are professing church-going Christians on both sides of the divide. There are also disenfranchised professing church-going Christians who have no home in either side of the divide. The Christians on both sides of the political divide have essentially excommunicated each other by each side claiming that one cannot be a true Christian if one belongs to the other side. Worse is that each side seems to be happy to condemn the other side and to leave them in their supposed damnation. No fear is felt that if the other side is so easily damned, then what prevents my side from also being easily damned? It may be that true Christianity is hardly to be found in the USA and strong Christianity is to be found among the martyrs and confessors of the Middle East and Africa, the converts of Guatemala, etc., but barely in the USA.

Finally, yes, I am feeling pessimistic. I have stopped writing because this blog has most often sought to make comments that apply Scripture and Scriptural ethical principles to current situations. I find that nowadays, regardless of what is said, the possible political content of what I write is what is addressed. So, I have taken a hiatus. I will try to come back, but I may wait 30 days before I start posting regularly again. I hope to have one or two posts in the next month but basically will wait for a cooldown period.