The Enemy is One – and It Is Not Us

patriarchy. you know, that all-overshadowing social and political system that wants nothing else but keep us occupied with internal squabbles so we are kept unaware of how it is stealing our lives and our power.

patriarchy is the biggest and most violent equal opportunist monster there is. patriarchy has no gender, no race, no religion, no sexuality, no class, no ethnicity, it never did and it never will. patriarchy is gender-less and impersonal, colorless and indifferent.

as long as we keep ‘comparing notes’ on who is the most disadvantaged, abused and raped, who is the most victimized and vilified, patriarchy has won.

the Enemy is only one and E is winning while we fight each other. for me there has ever only been one enemy.

that one enemy has  managed to deceive us into believing that there are all those ranks, hierarchies and social structures that are trying to butt in on our specific turf or excluding us from some other turf, depriving us of our rights and our equality.

this is a lie. if we constantly assign power to others based on their  gender, race, religion, sexuality, class, ethnicity or (dis)ability, while claiming ourselves powerless, everyone of us will end up being powerless. that is what patriarchy wants.

i cannot convince someone to join me by alienating them with demands of special victim-hood status, i cannot convince people not yet aware/awake to wake up by yelling at them that they are stupid sheeple. i cannot make an ally out of someone i approach with contempt because of their gender, race, religion, sexuality, class, ethnicity or (dis)ability.

yes, we may disagree about the details, the interconnected issues and what not – but if we start attacking each other and judge each other as ‘not worthy’, we are playing right into patriarchy’s hands, and all we accomplish is a whole lot of hurt and loneliness, while patriarchy keeps on eating our hearts and souls.

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They aren’t for Life, they are for fetuses and themselves.

I do not often agree with Xians. But I do agree with John Pavlovitz. On many things. But this stood out this morning: The Fraudulence of ‘Pro-life, Christians’ Bullies

It is true what he says:

“If only these teenagers had stayed there in the womb: they’d be safe from the pro-life Christians.
There, they’d still be beautiful. There, they’d still be worth defending. There’ they’d still be sacred.”

The entire blog-post is so spot on I am speechless – and happy – finally a Xian who stands up to those bullies, those life-hating, war-mongering, gun-worshiping and fraudulent Xians, whose only positive concern is for those who agree with them.

Some of you know that I was once an evangelical Xian, albeit in Sweden and during the late 70’s, 80’s and early 90s, but I was just like those Evangelical Xians John speaks of. Fundamentalist, arrogant, life-hating and aggressive towards those who did not agree with me.

Given my personal experiences – which I will share about elsewhere – I think I can say with certainty that out-side a cataclysmic, personal and profound life-crisis, nothing will get through to the majority of them.

Why? Because at the core of their belief lies FEAR. However much they profess to be absolutely certain that G-d loves them, they do not really believe that. They believe that any little step, even in thought, out-side the narrow version of Xianism they are given by their pastors, will end them in hell with the rest of us.

They don’t trust G-d to be kind, gentle, forgiving, compassionate and present, much because they have split G-d in three. G-d the Father, whom they equate with a distorted understanding of the G-d of Israel – angry, hateful, vengeful and quick to anger and punishment; G-d the Son, whom they see as their Suffering Savior, constantly, desperately averting the impending doom and Wrath of G-d, and G-d the Spirit, whom they are taught is so fickle and sensitive, that just a mispoken word can rip said spirit out of their lives permanently. No wonder they have to be aggressive, fundamentalist, hateful and self-serving. They have no safety in G-d.

So all we, or rather Xians like John Pavlovitz, can do is try and catch the ones like me and give them a community that is not, 1. Fundamentalist, 2. Arrogant and 3. Self-serving.

I hope John gets through to some of them.