Two years ago, I wrote about the ugly ‘Upside-down’ reality Trump and MAGA were busy creating (that’s an image derived from the hit Netflix series ‘Stranger Things’). But recently, I realized our situation is even more threatening and dire than that depicted in ‘Stranger Things.’
The other day, I was musing about the term ‘backward.’ I realized that, over the past decade, our society has not only been turned upside-down but forcibly hurled into a vicious and oppressively ‘backward’ reality.
Even worse, I realized that our ‘backward reality’ operates on at least two levels. First, we are being dragged back to a crueler, more primitive time in our history. Second, this noxious feat is accomplished through a vast web of ongoing hypocrisy and misdirection that conceals multiple deceptions and manipulations — and constantly pushes us to do the exact opposite of what we should be doing (climate and racial issues come to mind).
Nothing is as it seems, or is said to be. Whatever the right and the GOP say — they usually mean and intend the opposite. When they talk of ‘freedom,’ what they mean is White folks’ right to freely oppress others. When they talk about ‘protecting women,’ they really mean protecting men’s right to oppress and control women. When they focus on ‘merit-based hiring,’ they’re not-very-subtly implying that only Whites have merit and should be hired — and that any minority hire must be unqualified and undeserving.
By now, the far right has almost entirely taken over our public discourse. The right’s continued insistence that our media all lean left is beyond ludicrous. And, their devious modus operandi has now become the operational reality for the entire GOP — and through them and Trump, for our whole society and nation.
Defeating modernity and re-establishing ‘Backward Land’
What is their modus operandi? It’s based on their fervent desire to return to a previous, supposedly ‘better’ time when White Christians ruled, Blacks and women were inferior and kept ‘in their place,’ and minorities in general were oppressed, devalued, and subjugated.
To instill and solidify their dark vision, they catalyze fear, anger, and racist hate in their ‘converts.’ They encourage the oppression and complete re-subjugation of all people who are not cisgender White male Christians.
Think about that: in our ‘modern,’ more inclusive society, these folks want and demand that we jettison all racial, sexual, and religious tolerance and return to a quasi-medieval outlook and morality. Yes, these far-right folks reject modernity almost totally (except for all our comforts and technologies, of course). They seek to plunge us back into the Dark Ages.
In their dark, oppressive worldview, the best and only ‘progress’ comes from moving backward — back to an earlier period when ‘men were men,’ gays were oppressed, Blacks and women were second-class citizens, and White Christians dominated and ruled our land.
That’s one way we’re being dragged down into ‘Backward Land.’
The nuts and bolts behind ‘Backward Land’
But I also realized that the devious methods the right and the GOP employ to accomplish this — the ‘nuts and bolts’ of their wild success — are perhaps even more alarming and dangerous.
To ensure that their cruel, backward-looking mission succeeds, they have to undermine and destroy people’s baseline compassion, empathy, and moral compass. They must undermine truth, objectivity, and all ‘modern’ ideas and concepts — crucial concepts like equality, inclusiveness, equal rights, and opportunity for all.
Then they need — and constantly seek — to replace all these ‘terrible’ modern ideas with their own backward, hateful, and oppressive version of reality. These vengeful folks are always yelling about the ‘Great Replacement,’ insisting that White Christians are being replaced by Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, and uppity godless women.
But the true and very dangerous ‘great replacement’ is the one they are foisting on our society when they replace modernity and social progress with hateful racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism.
. . .
As I said, it’s the ‘nuts and bolts’ of how they do this that alarm me the most. They aim to undermine the foundations of modernity, including our morality, inclusiveness, rationality, and even science and reason. To accomplish all these aims, the far right and the groveling GOP must utilize constant lying, distortion, and deception — and foster ‘total overwhelm’ and amorality. The ultimate goal is disabling our empathy and compassion and locking us into more primitive and hateful mindsets.
They want us irrational, fearful, and hateful. They want us off balance, afraid, confused, and angry. They want us to see modernity and anything remotely ‘inclusive’ or open-minded as dangerous — something to be hated and destroyed.
That’s why the far right and GOP always attack climate science, public health officials, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs, and abortion rights for women. Each of these sectors or programs is based on a rational, open-minded, and/or compassionate point of view. Science is based on open-minded rationality; public health depends on compassion and social cooperation (and science!); and DEI and abortion rights affirm full equality and rights for women and minorities.
Thus, the right and the GOP have to forcefully attack and redirect our reliance on science, public health, DEI, abortion rights, etc. To achieve their aims, they have to undermine every aspect of modernity. The goal is to corrupt and weaken our mental clarity and reasoning abilities — and paralyze our inner empathy, will, and moral compass.
Backward, deceptive, and deliberately devious
They accomplish this through an endless barrage of lies, half-truths, distortions, exaggerations, and hatefulness disguised as helpfulness. They use constant lies, hypocrisy, and outright deception to cloud our vision and disguise their ultimate goals.
They always cloak their actual, oppressive vision and goals with a veneer of caring and ‘patriotism.’ This deceptive veneer is the underlying foundation of ‘backward land.’ It hides their true intentions even as it empowers them.
Attacking women’s rights
When they restrict women’s rights and criminalize abortion, for example, it’s because (they claim) they ‘honor life’ so much and wish to ‘protect human life.’ Yet, they don’t care much — if at all — about the mother’s health and well-being.
Plus, once a baby is born all their ‘caring’ ceases — and they couldn’t care less whether an infant goes hungry, suffers, or gets adequate parenting. They couldn’t care less about the actual, on-the-ground reality facing a mother and child — and usually refuse to support family aftercare, financial assistance, or extended time off from work for the mother.
Their words say one thing, while their actions say something completely different. Their actions reveal that their main interest is in controlling and oppressing women. And, their belief in the ‘sanctity of life’ is at best an empty promise, and at worst an illusion and deliberate lie.
Chilling attacks on DEI and Black History
The ongoing attacks and restrictions on DEI policies offer another chilling example. The racist and White Christian supremacist overtones are clear, but the opponents of DEI never come right out (of course!) and tell the truth about their aims. Instead, they couch their nefarious goals in ‘modern’ ideas like fairness, ‘reverse discrimination,’ and ‘equal opportunity’ for Whites. They always muddy the waters, obscure the truth, and work to replace that truth with irrational ideas and racist beliefs that further their agenda.
They insist, for instance, that Blacks and minorities now have more than equal opportunity, and are getting unfair, preferential treatment that steals opportunities from deserving, qualified Whites. (Those pesky minorities are always trying to steal stuff from Whites, right?!) The right and the GOP aren’t racist, not at all; they are merely trying to right a wrong and ensure ‘fairness’ and ‘equal opportunity’ for unfairly rejected Whites!
In a connected ploy, the right and the GOP have made a huge ruckus about ‘Critical Race Theory’ and the teaching of accurate Black history in the U.S. They’ve used every imaginable deception to divert our attention and paint all efforts to teach about racism and slavery as ‘woke,’ anti-American, and unfair. They insist that Blacks and minorities already have equal opportunities and deny that systemic racism (which is obvious to any casual observer) even exists in the U.S.
Thus, we see their ongoing efforts to suppress the accurate teaching of Black history. Thus, their frantic efforts to demonize Blacks, liberals, and progressives as anti-White, un-American, and enslaved to ‘wokeness.’
These right-wing folks, and almost the entire GOP, are in deep, deliberate denial about the on-the-ground reality here in the U.S. — and they’re working overtime to drag all of us into their denial-based and racist worldview.
Taking over America and making it ‘Backward Land’
Here’s the critical centerpiece of their newly empowered White Christian supremacist movement: they must steadily and stealthily deceive us, undo our compassion and reasoning abilities, and redirect our emotions and thinking to support — or at least accept — their odious, backward goals.
They’d like us all (Whites, anyway) to join them in their White Christian supremacist quest, of course. But if they can’t get all of us to join them, they’ll settle for disabling any opposition, suppressing all resistance, and ensuring we acquiesce to their takeover. They’ll settle for our conquest and total subjugation — ALL of us who object to their backward, hate-filled plans.
Welcome to our American ‘brave new world’ of open oppression and cruelty. Welcome to the intensive undoing of empathy, compassion, equality, and democracy. Welcome to a new — and very ancient — world of hate, fear, racism, misogyny, and White Christian supremacy.
Welcome to an ugly, vicious world of deceptions, denial, autocracy, and brutality. Welcome, welcome to ‘Backward Land.’
Living in ‘Backward Land’ is… pure hell.
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This post was previously published on This America.
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