Red, Red, Red

Just as I think I've probably heard everything, something new pops up. Raises its ugly head. Crawls out from under a rock.

Reading about the protests over the death of George Floyd, I came across a post on Episcopalians on Facebook that said the Minneapolis protests had been co-opted by Accelerationists. Never heard of, so I've asked about the term and have read two lengthy articles about it, one quite critical of the other's shallowness. 

Also googled it on Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerationism,  which starts with this definition. "In political and social theory, accelerationism is the idea that capitalism, or particular processes that historically characterized capitalism, should be accelerated instead of overcome in order to generate radical social change."

With this in mind, and although it may be true because, by definition, fomenting violence evidently can be a means of it, and the object radical social change may be racist, I don't see how even an observer on the scene can identify rioters as accelerationists on the basis that they come in from outside to create violence. Again, maybe they were correct, but it seems more likely that whoever wrote it used a dramatic term to describe what they saw. People don't usually wear t-shirts labeling themselves Accelerationist. And riots always bring in people from outside. During the civil rights struggles, we in the South were constantly reading about "northern (or yankee) agitators who came down from way up north to meddle in our business". We didn't like them, and some were lynched, it never occurring to us that (1) our way of life and world view were evil and (2) if there's evil in America it's the business of every American, not just us local bigots.

I do not know how to reconcile my aversion to violence with my observation that Dr King's Nonviolent Resistance has not succeeded in the face of unrelenting evil. But anyone of the mindset that Violence Doesn't Work has forgotten the revolutionary origins of our nation; our Civil War that settled issues of slavery and secession; WW2 that crushed Nazi Germany and that settled Pearl Harbor with the Empire of Japan. Competently managed in opposition to unchanging Wrong, violence, including violent protest, can be an effective last resort to bringing down evil. 

Am I for violence? No. I oppose terrorism and militant extremism. But terrorism arises from societal conditions. And, as someone wrote, military might is the weapon of the powerful; terrorism is the weapon of the powerless. I'm against violence, destroying property, hurting and killing people. But not against protests to bring down the racism that defines a nation, when Nonviolent Resistance does not bring about enduring change against entrenched power. I visualize that, tragically, violent civil protest will grow and violent government response to violent civil protest will usher in the authoritarianism toward which America is already headed simply as history fulfilling its own destiny of ending everything that humans perceived as permanent. Which perhaps brings me back to Accelerationism, that those of its adherents who are extremists have as their objectives: to subdue and replace whatever is not in their interests.

Maybe I'd rather use one of next Sunday's readings to write about the Trinity, but this is the briar patch I wandered into this morning. While there I'm still thinking about the blog Episcopalians on Facebook, where now and then I read, such as the post I shared, but don't post. In addition to being where people ask the community for prayers, and where there's reasonable chat about the Episcopal Church, current events, news and goings on, it's sometimes a forum for nut cases. Maybe the post I shared that used Accelerationists to define outside agitators. Nothing is ever resolved by getting exercised about, or engaging with, ignorance or certitude. Even among other Episcopalians, who can be either or both.

Red, red, red. Tom likes red. Red cars. Red fire. Red pickups. Red Ford Expedition. Red Chevrolet Tahoe. Red ties. Red stole. Red furniture and furnishings. Red convertibles. Red jackets. Red book cover. Red hat. Red traffic signals. Red shirt. Red prayerbook. Red socks. Not red sunburn. Red snapper. Red flashing lights. Red sunsets. Red sunrises. Red dresses. Lady in Red. Red hymnal. Red channel marker. Red firetruck. Red sails in the sunset. Red glow on the horizon. Red Right Returning. Not red flags or red stars. Red Duesenberg J in front of my mansion in the sky. Red, red, red.