The Significance of Trumpism

For most of my occupational life, I have been an IT professional, either as a code writer or network employee/consultant, dealing with business proprietors, accounting controllers, office and plant managers. In other words, I belonged to the grey-collar set on behalf of the white-collar. But in the autumn of my working life, I have doubled as a blue-collar, just in order to put sufficient bread on the table, while flailing in my attempts to establish myself as a no-collar.

But re-introduction into the blue-collar milieu has been a bit of culture shock, although nothing compared to the psychological disarray experienced during a night in 1979 in a bus station in Tétouan (Morocco). In having been so familiar with the relatively cultivated and effete metrosexual ethos of the corporate office, where collaboration was the modus operandi; the hierarchical and masculinist ethos, which still permeates the factory and warehouse floor, was and continues to be disorienting.

I belong to neither milieu, being too Scythian for the metrosexuals, and too cultivated for the masculinists. As it seems to be in all things, I occupy the middle, in a schismatic age which the middle is largely devoid of fellow sojourners, while the extremes are steadily being saturated to the hilt. But I have discovered that it is psychologically destructive to pretend to be that which one is not, even if it results in social isolation and economic denigration.

And like many in the no-class class, I have been trying to comprehend the sociopolitical significance of the Trump phenomenon. Donald Trump himself is less important. As the ethical barometer has precipitously declined these last many decades, the rise of demagogues and demise of free civic self-governing polities has been expected, although not in the form of Trump. It is the supporters of Trump who will endure, well after Trump (likely) self-destructs and/or becomes absorbed into the Borg of Washington venality, who are more historically and prognostically important. 

Gender Neutral Bathrooms and Circumcision

My wife and I never saw eye to eye with regard to the circumcision of our three boys. But she was a nurse from Britain, where this operation is a “minority” procedure; whereas at the time, most North Americans allowed the members of their boys to be given a slice.

The medical arguments which I floated, and which might have substance in ancient Israel or modern undeveloped countries, seemed feeble even to me. There is absolutely no Christian warrant for circumcision (Gal 5:6, 6:15). The best argument that I mustered was so that our sons would not feel alienated from their father and later their siblings if by chance, such members were sighted; the rawest form of traditionalism. I am loathe to admit that she was right.

So, when I see Mark Joseph Stern argue himself rouge that circumcision has significant medical benefits in the antiseptic West, it becomes obvious that other motivations are driving his drivel. Having lived in Israel for eight months, it is likewise obvious that circumcision serves as a fundamental distinctive ethnic, cultural, and religious marker. Mr. Stern’s arguments seems to be “pseudoscientific argle-bargle—it’s about religion and very little else.”

Transgenderism: The Trumping of Reason and Rationality

A major and long promoted argument on behalf of gay rights has been that sexual orientation has a genetic or other direct physiological basis. This claim is proven by a promissory note of future conclusive scientific evidence and the repeated number of times it is proclaimed.

Motivated researchers thrash through the DNA code, in hopes of finding some statistically significant anomaly, no matter how minor, which corresponds with self-identified homosexuals. (“Then, researchers went through each man’s samples looking for unique genetic markers shared by all men in the study.”[1]) The laws of probability dictate that, in any given study of limited sample size, one will almost invariably find such anomalies. Such findings will not likely be consistently duplicated in further studies. But by the time that claim is totally falsified, some new study with dubious findings will have taken its place, in order to uphold the general propagandistic claim.

These genetic studies are normally conducted on identical and fraternal twins, under the premise that environmental influences can be largely isolated out, especially if the twins are separated at birth. However, the morphological factor never seems to be considered or addressed. Twins, especially identical twins, look quite similar. Social and sexual response to each of those twins, deemed gorgeous or contrariwise homely, will have similarity within any social context.

Dependent upon whatever masculine physiological ideals exist within the gay male community in any given era; identical twins, in which both twins will inherently meet such criteria, will probabilistically attract similar flatteries and solicitations by gay males. Furthermore, the beautiful are prone to physical self-admiration, a psychosocial reality attested by those Hellenistic pederast cultures, which gave us the myth of Narcissus. If one twin be gorgeous and likely self-admiring, so will his double. Such will more likely like like, and like to be liked by like.

But although the underlying similarity of physiology is generated by genes, these are not direct genetic causes of sexual orientation but indirect environmental factors. Twin studies are not as immune from environmental factors as has been hitherto purported.

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But let us assume, for the moment, authenticity of belief within the LGBT… community. While the case for gay and lesbian rights is ostensibly rooted in “born this way” determinism; so soon after achieving that last victory, the clamor for legal recognition of transgenderism is premised upon subjectivist, even Existentialist sensibilities, in the face of genetics, morphology, significant differences in brain structure, let alone genuine conscious experience.

The LG component of this sexuality paradigm is premised upon “genetics,” while the T component is premised upon “not genetics”; indeed contrary to “genetics.” This violates a rudimentary principle of rational logic, the Law of Non-Contradiction. And in such manifestations as the bathroom wars, they and their allies insist that all others dwell within this their contradiction, this their irrationality.

It is supremely difficult not to perceive this blatant inconsistency in their public arguments as nothing but a will-to-power sophistic shell game, by those who lack belief in and/or care about the Truth and the Good; in order to give intellectual cover for their vices; in order to dupe the simple, naïve, and gullible, whose ability to think critically lay dormant or has atrophied.

© Copyright John Hutchinson

[1] Carl Engelking, “Study of Gay Brothers Suggests Genetic Basis of Male Homosexuality,” Discover, November 18, 2014, http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/11/18/study-of-gay-brothers-suggests-genetic-basis-of-male-homosexuality/#.Vz1J3-R0dII.

Well done, you good and faithful servant

These are the times that try men’s souls. – Thomas Paine – Dec 23, 1776

Every so often, God sends a test to publicly differentiate the wheat from the chaff. During the Decian (250–1 AD) and Diocletian/Galerian (303–311 AD) persecutions, the official test of fidelity was whether professed Christians would renounce Christ and sacrifice to the gods under pain of punishment including death. Those who succumbed, were branded lapsi (apostates) and traditores (“those who had handed over” – e.g. Scriptures, other religious artifacts, or the names of other Christians). Such would later have understandably difficult time being accepted back into the fold.

In 1934, the church was confronted by fascists and their Deutsche Christen wolves, who attempted to sublimate and subordinate the mandate of Christ under the immediate needs of the Volksgemeinschaft. Yet there remained a minority of faithful who were among those who signed the Barmen Declaration and belonged to the German Confessing Church.

I suspect that the Trump phenomenon might be one of those divine tests. For whether from the sociopolitical perspectives and concerns of conservative Evangelicals or of progressive Evangelicals, Donald Trump, this lawless one, violates the ethics and ethos of them all.

The Coming Persecution in America Revisited

The most popular of my blog entries over the years has concerned Christian persecution within America. The next general area of interest is in regard to sex and gender relations. This seems reasonably indicative of where the heads of modern Evangelicals are located.

Revisiting that entry, I must confess a deep disdain and wincing shame. It is not so much that I repudiate any of the ideas expressed. It is that the entry was so horribly written, with inchoate and tangential thoughts and an incoherent flow of argument. Retaining that entry in the public sphere serves as a talisman for a justified humility.

So let me try again.

The Long-Form Census (and Madison Avenue Journalism)

Census day is here and who knew a government questionnaire and the return of its mandatory longer version could inspire such goodwill among Canadians . . .Suzanne Crone, a writer living in Uxbridge, Ont., was excited to complete her census online. “I was just thrilled that it was coming back and we were back to the Information Age,” Crone told CBC News. She completed the short-form census, found the questions clear and says she understands how the information would be useful for running the country. If census data becomes unreliable, “it’s governing by assumption and just taking shots in the dark,” . . .

Census expert Doug Norris says Crone’s census sentiments are widespread in Canada this time around.[1]

It seems that Canada has its share of spin journalism. However, next time the CBC decides to conscript a Shopping Channel shill to promote the mandatory long-form census, it might be prudent to find one who actually completed the mandatory long-form census. Seriously. The narrated comments from this lass from Uxbridge sounds like a CPAC commercial (if CPAC had commercials) that those artsy accountants at Statistics Canada would put out.

Interpreting the Signs of the Times

One of the bloggers, I follow, as somewhat of a Dionysian foil to my severe Apollonic propensity is Rick Marschall. I may not always concur with the views of this “social critic, political commentator, and Christian writer.” But I, nevertheless, cherish one those cultivated rarities who are well-informed about their own heritage. However, Mr. Marschall occasionally galvanizes a reaction such as in his recent article, People of Faith Ask, to Trump or not to Trump, which complacently soothsays that the current commotion in the American body politic is not unlike those of yesteryear. Mr. Marschall thereupon gives a fairly detailed history of past political turmoils in his nation; particulars, much of which supplement my own knowledge; and as is therefore much appreciated.

I tend to look upon history more from the perspective of broad ideological, cultural, and social trends. Furthermore, as a student of world history, I will situate American history and politics within the context of a larger ideological narrative with sociopolitical consequences. Whereas, you will find many Americans, such as George Will, unable to think outside of their Exceptionalist box. Historical and external events are measured in the context of American situation and psyche, a civic form of (Ayn) Randian egoism, which I would suggest poses a great noetic stagnation.

It is not unusual for persons dwelling inside the kettle of a society to be oblivious to the tumult that is about to occur within their midst; and when it begins, to be freshly surprised on frequent basis as new travesties and atrocities unfold. I, on the other hand, am inclined to be on the side of the Chicken Littles.

However, this tumult in the U.S. has been anticipated, as has been claimed elsewhere, since the late 1980s. Events since then have pretty well gone to script of previous run ups to civic conflagration. And indeed, I have noticed in the last couple of years, a remarkably dizzying acceleration in the disintegration of the social peace and cohesion such that I am having problems catching up.

Age of Demagogues

I will go further: Mr. Trump is precisely the kind of man our system of government was designed to avoid, the type of leader our founders feared — a demagogic figure who does not view himself as part of our constitutional system but rather as an alternative to it.[1]

Although I have long expected the emergence of demagogues into the American political arena, one like Donald Trump was as much anticipated as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. But in hindsight, Trump make more sense. For just as Hitler represented a caricaturish manifestation of German culture and Bismarckian conservatism, Trump is very much the extrapolated embodiment of American mores; the “self-made” Gilded Age vulgarian; the self-satisfied Babbitt; the Ugly American; James Brown and the circus extravaganza in Rocky IV (1985), displaying American decadence in all its Las Vegas glitter and pyrite. “The devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape” (Hamlet 2.2). And what is pleasing to those steeped in a German cultural milieu, will differ from that percolated in an American.

© Copyright John Hutchinson

 

[1] Peter Wehner, “Why I Will Never Vote for Donald Trump”, The New York Times, January 14, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/opinion/campaign-stops/why-i-will-never-vote-for-donald-trump.html.

Reclaiming Natural Law (Excerpt)

Virtually all of my Evangelical life, I have operated upon the belief in the existence of Natural Law. Or so I thought. Of late, I discover a subtle but substantive difference from how the larger part of Christendom, including Reformed Protestants, has understood the concept.

The form of Natural Law, upon which I have always operated, is ontological. The purpose behind natural laws is to provide experiential benefit and prevent experiential harm to the cosmological and psychosocial order in natural cause and effect fashion. This ontological understanding of Natural Law allows for the theoretical possibility of epistemologically ascertaining those ethical principles and their ontological effects through natural human faculties (e.g. reason and empirical evidence), although this can be quite difficult even with highest commitment to intellectual integrity. This enables genuine social discourse between all members of society regarding the nature of the Good, while being realistic as to the success of that project.

Nevertheless, just like the law of gravity, natural moral laws operate at the objective level of being, existence, and actuality; quite independent of the (subjective) knowing.

Canada and the “America First” Policy

Donald Trump recently declared that he would “put the interests of the American people and American security above all else.” His campaign has already been exemplifying this policy through nativist hostility to foreign journalists. But Trump’s “America First” is merely the explicit expression of a creeping mindset, long in the making; the foreign policy manifestation of the rapid moral decadence in that society, whereby enlightened self-interest, which had undergirded the Pax America, devolves into raw self-interest.