Kevin D. Williamson
"Playing God"
"The Democrats take a pause from persecuting Christians to try to coopt them."
National Review, September 8, 2019
A certain Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is a rising star in the Democratic party and a potential candidate for its 2020 presidential nomination. Recently, he made a statement concerning environmental regulations and air pollution and used his Episcopalian background to abuse methods of religious appeal. His rhetoric is one of the focal points in Kevin Williamson's latest critique of modern progressive politics. Williamson is fond of dawdling on Buttigieg's simple and informal diction but nevertheless is able to present several examples of the "religious Left" using fake and obscure spiritual ethical codes to promote political beliefs that either fail to have a notable correlation with or outright defies Christian theology. His approach to exposing the falsehoods of left-wing "Christian" politics manifests itself as that of an almost satirical style. His language is straightforward and often sarcastic, and yet it still forces the reader to pay close attention to his tone to grasp his humorous insights. Williamson's arguments, however, rely mostly on said appeal of comedic political banter to strengthen his stance, as there is little actual theological evidence presented in the article. Instead of countering a point with an excerpt from the scripture, he chooses to point out human hypocrisy and throw moral insults at the opposition. And so, unfortunately, the article becomes nothing more than a typical piece of political ranting, complete with weak (and hypocritical) partisan attacks and a complete lack of logical evidence. If one is not already convinced of the dying Christian conservative movement in the face of "new-age conservatives" and hyper-capitalist libertarians, look no further.
Political Christianity does seem to be growing in popularity recently, but not on the side one would think. Classical conservatives resisted the progressive eras of American society for a long time before they finally received several blows to their movement that sealed its fate. Christian conservatism is almost dead, and this article does more than enough to shout that out. While Christians are still finding ways to stick true to their faith and traditions on the individual level, a real conservative party or interest group is entirely absent from major national politics. Progressive ideas keep winning, and as the Left continues to stray left, the Right is being pulled in with it. The Republican party has become nothing more than the party of neocons, libertarians, and centrist populists, and the Left has taken and corrupted our own faith for their political tactics while the Right stands idly by. What real Christian logic or appeal comes from this article? It's only a headline and a partisan attack, despite the author attacking partisan thinkers himself. Bear witness and hear the cries of a dying lion...
ReplyDeleteI agree that Williamson’s “humoristic” tone does provide some appeal, so long as the reader is able to find the humorous word plays amidst his litany of insults. Admittedly, Williamson’s diction and word plays — such as “sin of presumption” and “anno Domini 2019” — cleverly illustrate the sardonic tone of the column and communicate his contention. For the most part, however, Williamson only comes off as caustic and belittling. Whether he is right or not does not really matter; Williamson effectively pushes away any potential audience member with his aggressive remarks towards those with the opposing view. Rather than attempting to appeal to the reader in any conventional way, Williamson strives for the unique: he makes the opposing side out to be a villain and a fool. And Williamson certainly does not leave anything up for interpretation.
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