My friend is easily triggered these days. He’s wound tight. He goes off at the mere mention of a certain name.
I’m worried too, I tell him. But I was a philosophy major, so I look at this situation philosophically.
Situation? Is that what you call the apocalypse?! A SITUATION?! The world is ending right in front of our eyes, brother. Democracy is dying and you call it a “situation”?
Sorry. That does seem trite. I should have called it a “Hegelian moment.”
HUH? That sounds even dumber.
Bear with me.
The German philosopher Georg Hegel was born in 1770. He studied the course of human history and noticed a rhythm. Repeatedly, over thousands of years, one idea, or world, would clash with another idea, or world, and out of the collision a completely different idea, or world, would emerge.
Two worlds battling.
Thesis. Antithesis. Synthesis.
From an old world a better world emerges. Not painlessly. It’s like birth.
I get it. What we white educated people have enjoyed since World War II is the thesis. A certain world order. NATO. United Nations. World Court. World Bank. IMF. G-7. Nuclear treaties. USAID. Those sorts of things.
Right.
And the current rise of authoritarian populism all around the world is the antithesis. Right?
Yes.
And eventually a synthesis will emerge.
You got it. That’s how it works.
So if the president represents the antithesis, is that like being “the Antichrist”?
Well, I don’t think of it that way.
I do. And I hope nothing good comes from his hands. No peace treaties, no stability, no prosperity. Only misery and turmoil.
You can’t mean that.
I do.
But why?
Because I’m a patriot. I love my country and hate this president with every bone in my body. I hope he blunders his way to the gates of Hell.
You would destroy our country to save it?
Yes. Exactly. It must get very, very dark in this country because that’s the only way all those willfully ignorant people will see the light and turn from idolatry.
On second thought, maybe “Hegelian moment” isn’t the right concept. I’m now thinking this is a “Jesus moment.”
And what does THAT mean?
Love. Peace. Understanding.
Sorry. That’s not for me. Not now. I like your Hegelian battle metaphor better. You sing “Kumbaya.” I’ll sing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
We need truth now, not pabulum.
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