Friday, August 11, 2006
Setting Priorities
Two of the people with the most on the ground experience in dealing with white christian nationalists in the United States--Devin Burghart and Eric Ward (both currently with Center for New Community's Building Democracy Initiative in Chicago)--will tell you that the formula they've found to be effective is Isolate; Inoculate; Educate. Borrowed from the public health model, they will tell you it is a sequential formula for good reason.
When viewed as a social disease, aggression based on unreasonable fear that leads to hate can only be constrained by isolating the transmitters (social movement entrepreneurs), inoculating their targeted audiences (potential recruits), and educating society at large in prophylactic praxis. Continuing the analogy, they find it almost impossible to conduct education amidst a full-blown epidemic; hysteria is also not a conducive atmosphere in which to reach out to fundamentalist constituencies.
Beginning with the assumption that right wing followers aren't especially more misinformed than liberals, it is their behavior that must be addressed first and foremost. It's not OK to threaten, harass, or assault people who think or believe differently (a non-negotiable principle). If we find we can recruit some to support standards of public conduct where all can feel safe and welcome to participate, great, but we should be cautious in our hopes for conversion of our present self-declared enemies; many are damaged beyond repair.
And so it becomes a matter of setting priorities: do we focus on stopping the instigators of the anti-democratic movement in America, or do we emphasize efforts to persuade those who hate us that they are wrong? In the end, I am convinced that the network of churches in the Midwest who tithe to the Center for New Community have it right: keep an eye on the bad guys, listen to what's going on in their communities, report suspicious organizing activities, and keep lines of communication open with conservative moral authorities who have the ear of those most vulnerable to hate mongering.
Because the message we need to make abundantly clear is that hate crime and political violence will not be tolerated. Their followers need to understand that not heeding this message will have consequences: loss of job, loss of family, loss of freedom. If we are not willing to back up these warnings, then we do not deserve to be self-governing.
When viewed as a social disease, aggression based on unreasonable fear that leads to hate can only be constrained by isolating the transmitters (social movement entrepreneurs), inoculating their targeted audiences (potential recruits), and educating society at large in prophylactic praxis. Continuing the analogy, they find it almost impossible to conduct education amidst a full-blown epidemic; hysteria is also not a conducive atmosphere in which to reach out to fundamentalist constituencies.
Beginning with the assumption that right wing followers aren't especially more misinformed than liberals, it is their behavior that must be addressed first and foremost. It's not OK to threaten, harass, or assault people who think or believe differently (a non-negotiable principle). If we find we can recruit some to support standards of public conduct where all can feel safe and welcome to participate, great, but we should be cautious in our hopes for conversion of our present self-declared enemies; many are damaged beyond repair.
And so it becomes a matter of setting priorities: do we focus on stopping the instigators of the anti-democratic movement in America, or do we emphasize efforts to persuade those who hate us that they are wrong? In the end, I am convinced that the network of churches in the Midwest who tithe to the Center for New Community have it right: keep an eye on the bad guys, listen to what's going on in their communities, report suspicious organizing activities, and keep lines of communication open with conservative moral authorities who have the ear of those most vulnerable to hate mongering.
Because the message we need to make abundantly clear is that hate crime and political violence will not be tolerated. Their followers need to understand that not heeding this message will have consequences: loss of job, loss of family, loss of freedom. If we are not willing to back up these warnings, then we do not deserve to be self-governing.
