Fascinating series of articles ~ long but worth a look. Discusses some of the phenomenon we are witnessing today with the Tea Party 'Baggers. (Mods, because this series includes two parts with multiple sections, I have taken the liberty of quoting more than 4 paragraphs, while including their respective links.)
Dances with Devils
How Apocalyptic and Millennialist Themes
Influence Right Wing Scapegoating and Conspiracism
Part One:
The Roots of the Apocalyptic Paradigm
An Overview of the Dynamics
~snip~
A remarkable number of myths, metaphors, images, symbols, phrases, and icons in Western culture flow from Christian Biblical prophecies about apocalyptic confrontations and millennial transformation.2 The Bible's Book of Revelation contains warnings that the end of time is foreshadowed by a vast Satanic conspiracy involving high government officials who betray the decent and devout productive citizens, while sinful and subversive tools of the Devil gnaw away at society from below.
In The Origins of Satan, author Elaine Pagels points out that today:
"Many religious people who no longer believe in Satan, along with countless others who do not identify with any religious tradition, nevertheless are influenced by this cultural legacy whenever they perceive social and political conflict in terms of the forces of good contending against the forces of evil in the world."3
The anticipation of a righteous struggle against evil conspiracies has become a central apocalyptic narrative in our nation's religious, secular, political, and cultural discourse...
~snip~
Could it happen again at the end of the 20th century? Holly Sklar, author of Chaos or Community: Seeking Solutions, Not Scapegoats for Bad Economics, argues that it might:
"The demonization of immigrants, welfare recipients, people of color, and single mothers is already tolerated to an alarming degree in mainstream political debate. Now as we head toward the millennium, we also face the rising fervor of those driven by visions of culture war and apocalypse."8
~snip~
These apocalyptic fears and millennial expectations in turn influence three broad contemporary right-wing movements in the US:
· Activists in various sectors of the Christian Right, ranging from electoral to insurgent, and with varying views regarding whether or not the year 2000 marks the End Times. This includes attempts by Christian hard-liners to purify the society as part of a religious revival, such as the homophobic statements by Trent Lott, ...
· Right wing populists, including survivalists, gun rights activists, anti-elite conspiracists, and participants in the Patriot & armed militia movements. Conspiracist scapegoating is rampant in this sector. ...
· The far right, including neonazis and persons influenced by far right versions of the Christian Identity religion. ...
©1982-2007 Political Research Associates
http://www.publiceye.org/apocalyptic/Dances_with_Devils_1.html Conspiracism
It is very effective to mobilize mass support against a scapegoated enemy by claiming that the enemy is part of a vast insidious conspiracy against the common good. In conspiracist discourse, the supposed conspirators serve as scapegoats for the actual conflict within the society.49 The conspiracist worldview sees secret plots by tiny cabals of evildoers as the major motor powering important historical events; makes irrational leaps of logic in analyzing factual evidence in order to "prove" connections; blames social conflicts on demonized scapegoats; and constructs a closed metaphysical worldview that is highly resistant to criticism.50 ...
By blaming a small group of individuals for vast or horrific crimes, conspiracism serves to divert attention from the institutional locus of power that drives systemic oppression, injustice and exploitation. As explained by Frank P. Mintz:
"Conspiracism serves the needs of diverse political and social groups in America and elsewhere. It identifies elites, blames them for economic and social catastrophes, and assumes that things will be better once popular action can remove them from positions of power."52
Right-wing conspiracist scapegoating not only identifies and blames elites, but also identifies and blames alleged "subversives" and "parasites" from groups that have relatively low social or economic status.
~snip~
In highlighting conspiracist allegation as a form of scapegoating, it is important to remember the following:
· All conspiracist theories start with a grain of truth, which is then transmogrified through hyperbole and filtered through pre-existing myth and prejudice,
· People who believe conspiracist allegations sometimes act on those irrational beliefs, which has concrete consequences in the real world,
· Conspiracist thinking and scapegoating are symptoms, not causes, of underlying societal frictions, and as such should not be ignored,
· Scapegoating and conspiracist allegations are tools that can be used by cynical leaders to mobilize a mass following,
· Supremacist and fascist organizers use conspiracist theories as a relatively unthreatening entry point in making contact with potential recruits,
· Even when conspiracist theories do not center on Jews, people of color, or other scapegoated groups, they create an environment where racism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of prejudice and oppression can flourish.
©1982-2007 Political Research Associates
http://www.publiceye.org/apocalyptic/Dances_with_Devils_1.htmlPopulist Conspiracism
When conspiracism is blended with populism, the result is frequently a worldview called "producerism." Producerist movements consider the "real" patriotic Americans to be hard-working people in the middle- and working-class who create goods and wealth while fighting against "parasites" at the top and bottom of society who pick their pockets. 140
~snip~
Producerism not only promotes scapegoating, but also has a history of assuming that a proper citizen is a White male. Historically, groups scapegoated by right-wing populist movements in the US have been immigrants and people of color, especially Blacks. Attention is diverted from inherent white supremacism by using coded language to reframe racism as a concern about specific issues, such as welfare, immigration, tax, or education policies.143 Non-Christian religions, women, gay men and lesbians, youth, students, reproductive rights activists, and environmentalists also are scapegoated.144 Sometimes producerism targets those persons who organize on behalf of impoverished and marginalized communities, especially progressive social change activists.145
~snip~
Populism can come from the bottom up, but it also can be deployed from the top down--used to attack the status quo by outsider business factions seeking to displace entrenched power structures. These outsider factions use populist rhetoric and conspiracist, anti-elite scapegoating to attract constituencies in the middle class and working class. As right-wing populist movements grow, they can lure mainstream politicians to adopt scapegoating, in order to attract voters. Their theories can legitimize acts of discrimination, or even violence. And reformist populist movements can open the door for insurgent right-wing movements such as fascism to recruit from their own movements by arguing that more drastic action is needed.150 Fascism itself is a distinctive form of conspiracist right-wing populism. ...
~snip~
©1982-2007 Political Research Associates
http://www.publiceye.org/apocalyptic/Dances_with_Devils_1-02.htmlPart Two: Apocalyptic Millennialism and Contemporary US Right-Wing Movements
Right-wing populist movements can cause serious damage to a society because they often popularize xenophobia, authoritarianism, scapegoating, and conspiracism. This can lure mainstream politicians to adopt these themes to attract voters, legitimize acts of discrimination (or even violence), and open the door for revolutionary right-wing populist movements, such as fascism, to recruit from the reformist populist movements.
According to Richard K. Fenn:
Fascist tendencies are most likely to flourish wherever vestiges of a traditional community, bound together by ties of race and kinship, persist in a society largely dominated by large-scale organizations, by an industrial class system, and by a complex division of labor. Under these conditions the traditional community itself becomes threatened; its members all the more readily dread and demonize the larger society.121
Fenn argues that apocalyptic themes that lead to this tendency can be found in all three of the political tendencies examined in this study: the Christian Right, Patriot and armed militia movements, and the fascist right.122
By understanding the apocalyptic and millennialist roots of the conspiracist narratives peddled by right-wing populist forces, we can better understand why their claims--that seem on the surface to be outlandish--nonetheless resonate in certain alienated sectors of our society.123 ...
©1982-2007 Political Research Associates
http://www.publiceye.org/apocalyptic/Dances_with_Devils_2-01.htmlConclusions
~snip~
In times such as these, history passes a harsh judgment on silence. Instead of waiting to see who is next on the list, we must speak out against all forms of apocalyptic demonization, scapegoating, and conspiracism, because they are toxic to democratic discourse.
©1982-2007 Political Research Associates
http://www.publiceye.org/apocalyptic/Dances_with_Devils_2-02.html