Alienation: Alien Nation
One benefit of being a nomad is the sense of belonging nowhere, while belonging everywhere. Wherever I stop for the night, I'm home. I can befriend my neighbors immediately based on who is parked next to me in the Walmart lot or the RV park. We wave, say hello, comment on the weather, then remain apart. I don't have to deal with any racism, sexism or homophobia they may harbor. I'm like the beloved visiting relative who receives all the benefits of family with none of the responsibilities.
But sometimes we do get closer. While preparing for hurricane Irma's visit, I approached a neighbor who was using some flexible cover to tape over his window. As a new nomad, I hoped to learn from a more seasoned traveller who seemed to have a plan. We started talking about the storm, and he mentioned god in relation to Irma. Without thinking twice, I said 'well, if I believed in god, I'd have to have a serious talk with him about all this crazy weather and how it is really hurting people." My neighbor turned to me and said one word: "If?" He lived in a world where belief in god was assumed. I did not. Our conversation ended at that moment. He said he would pray with me later, if I liked... (Why would an atheist pray, and to whom?). When I politely declined, he actually turned his back on me and said 'goodbye.' Having read the Bible, I feel certain that this is not what Jesus would do.
But sometimes we do get closer. While preparing for hurricane Irma's visit, I approached a neighbor who was using some flexible cover to tape over his window. As a new nomad, I hoped to learn from a more seasoned traveller who seemed to have a plan. We started talking about the storm, and he mentioned god in relation to Irma. Without thinking twice, I said 'well, if I believed in god, I'd have to have a serious talk with him about all this crazy weather and how it is really hurting people." My neighbor turned to me and said one word: "If?" He lived in a world where belief in god was assumed. I did not. Our conversation ended at that moment. He said he would pray with me later, if I liked... (Why would an atheist pray, and to whom?). When I politely declined, he actually turned his back on me and said 'goodbye.' Having read the Bible, I feel certain that this is not what Jesus would do.
Driving through the Bible Belt is both scary and frustrating. I am annoyed that I have a hard time finding an NPR station. The entire left-end of the dial is now dedicated to Christian radio. I was thinking this while driving yesterday, and realize that this limiting approach to news was what I always accuse right-wing speakers of doing. So I stopped on a station that was talk radio, and clearly not NPR. I listened to a man who sounded deranged and erratic begin speaking about how the 'left elite' were major fans of the occult (I remember only the Reagans as followers of astrology). He then went on to claim that the Clintons practiced voodoo in the White House. In fact, the Clinton's visit to Haiti in 1975 did involve a visit with a voodoo practitioner and watching a ceremony. Of the event Bill later wrote that his brief foray into the world of voodoo furthered his fascination with "the way different cultures try to make sense of life, nature, and the virtually universal belief that there is a nonphysical spirit force at work in the world." Hardly the words of a voodoo cultist.
The radio rant continued. I finally realized that I was listening to Alex Jones on Info Wars. The man went on to link the 'left elite' with the occult, pedophilia, impending alien takeover of the world, Satan as a being who is real and will fool people into believing that good is happening when it is really evil, a group called the Luminus (Illuminati), Jews in finance, and the Biblical end times as described in the Book of Revelations, the Bible's psychedelic prognostication of doom. There was not a major conspiracy theory that he left out in the brief time I listened. And he was discussing all these ideas as actual facts in a previously agreed upon reality. That he sounded like a lunatic, it seemed to me, would have tipped off anyone that this was not reality-based reporting. But...
I was stunned. I knew about Alex Jones. I knew he was a nut. I'd read his statements before. But I had never actually heard his program. Or realized how many people took it seriously... it is a call-in show, so others called to offer their own versions of insanity. He is not alone, sadly. Nor is he that different from the Christian radio shows I made myself listen to. All present people as sinful, society as evil, and an external force of doom as the only answer; a pandemic deus ex machina, following a universal end times event. And these are the thoughts that currently drive Conservative thought, our relationship with North Korea, and American policy on Israel. These are the thoughts that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick.
© 2017 Joan Cichon All Rights Reserved
The radio rant continued. I finally realized that I was listening to Alex Jones on Info Wars. The man went on to link the 'left elite' with the occult, pedophilia, impending alien takeover of the world, Satan as a being who is real and will fool people into believing that good is happening when it is really evil, a group called the Luminus (Illuminati), Jews in finance, and the Biblical end times as described in the Book of Revelations, the Bible's psychedelic prognostication of doom. There was not a major conspiracy theory that he left out in the brief time I listened. And he was discussing all these ideas as actual facts in a previously agreed upon reality. That he sounded like a lunatic, it seemed to me, would have tipped off anyone that this was not reality-based reporting. But...
I was stunned. I knew about Alex Jones. I knew he was a nut. I'd read his statements before. But I had never actually heard his program. Or realized how many people took it seriously... it is a call-in show, so others called to offer their own versions of insanity. He is not alone, sadly. Nor is he that different from the Christian radio shows I made myself listen to. All present people as sinful, society as evil, and an external force of doom as the only answer; a pandemic deus ex machina, following a universal end times event. And these are the thoughts that currently drive Conservative thought, our relationship with North Korea, and American policy on Israel. These are the thoughts that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick.
© 2017 Joan Cichon All Rights Reserved
The last line is a killer!
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