Tuesday, 18 January 2022
Cancel, cancel, and cancel some more.
Dear and gentle reader, I thought it high time to get back to my blog. I'm sure you're starved for the morsels of wit and wisdom which I dispense here. Yes, you may chuckle politely.
I intend this to be brief, whether or not it ends up being so, has yet to be seen. For whatever reason, the idea of the cancel culture we are currently enduring popped into my mind earlier this morning. To what I can attribute that, I am not sure. Yet it stuck.
We see it more often than not on social (in reality anti-social) media. It's easy to vent invective from the safety of a keyboard and behind the anonymity of a screen. We can block, mute, unfollow, unfriend all with the greatest of ease. Sometimes that is very necessary and even praiseworthy. No one needs to endure vile abuse, whether by word or deed. I think we can all admit, gentle reader, that there are some really nasty folk online. The best thing we can do is avoid them, and pray for their softening of heart.
What troubles me with the cancel culture is more in the real world, rather than online spats and rants. By this, I mean the destruction or removal of some statues of historical figures. Here in the USA we've seen multiple statues and monuments put up to honour Confederate historical figures. Most of these monuments were put up to memorialise the big names - Lee, Davis, Jackson, et al. Many too, were simple granite or marble monuments on the grounds of county court houses to honour those of that particular county who died in the Civil War.
Indubitably, some of these monuments were erected to reinforce the idea that white folk were "better than" black folk. Some were put up as a matter of history, a locality boasting about "one of their own" who became famous. Some were simply community signs of rembembrance, mourning the loss of loved ones. I can understand the sensitivity of those who are uncomfortable with such monuments remaining in place. Indeed, I shuddered in disgust, when last I was in London, walking past the Palace of Westminster, and seeing the statue of the regicide & genocidal maniac Oliver Cromwell scowling down upon me. As one of Irish descent, and as a monarchist, even speaking (or writing) his name leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Would I prefer to see that statue taken down? Yes. However, history is not a science which should sway with preference. As obnoxious as old Oliver is, the historian in me says, "Keep the bastard up there, as a warning against intolerance and bigotry.".
I think the zeal that motivates the cancel culture stems from our predilection for binary or dualistic way of thinking. In that view, things or people, can be either good or bad; holy or evil, never a mix of both. Setting the state of others souls aside, since God alone knows their eternal destiny; I think we can safely admit that each and every one of us is a mix of good and bad. Not one human person, aside from the Blessed Virgin Mary, was or is sinless. Each of us is a messy mix of both. Even our national heroes here in the USA are that way. Washington and Jefferson waged a war of independence for a land where freedom could prosper, yet both were slave holders till their dying day. Lincoln, the man who struggled for, and saved the Union, was convinced that slavery was wrong, yet that the blacks were not the equals of whites. Even our heroes are flawed, just as we. I'm glad that there are no mass movements to tear down monuments that honour these fellows.
What about the remnants of the former Confederate monuments? What should be done with them? Well, firstly, most of them were on public owned property, either state, county, or city owned; owned by taxpayers of all ethnicities. I can see the reasons for their removal. Perhaps place the statues on our preserved Civil War battlefields. Perhaps place some in museums dedicated to preserving the knowledge of that terrible war. As for the ones which memorialise the common soldier, put them in cemeteries. But I do fear that history is being erased, not retold. After all, atrocities were committed by both sides in that horrid war, not just against enemy troops, but against ordinary citizens, black and white included. Just two simple examples:
General Phil Sheridan lead the Union cavalry in raids in the Shenandoah Valley, burning every farm and barn they found, destroying the livelihood and homes of thousands of non-combatants. General William Sherman turned the entire civilian population of Atlanta out of the city, turning it into one huge military installation. Thousands of non-combatants of all ages without food, shelter, or comfort. Yet these men too have monuments in their honour. I hear no call to remove them, thankfully.
Mind you, Davis, Lee, Jackson, et al were no saints. They were flawed men, like you and I. Yes, they fought for a bad cause, a terribly bad cause. Yet, it was a cause for them that was worth fighting for and dying for. I suppose in their minds they were fighting for their independence, their right to self-govern, and probably somewhere in their thoughts was the idea that whites were "better than" blacks. Indeed, most white folk, North and South, thought that way at the time. These men, despite their errors in backing a bad cause, hold a place in our history. Were they evil? No. They were flawed, like us all. They were men of their time, the mid nineteenth century in the USA. Were they saintly? No. They were following the dictates of their consciences to the best of their abilities, even though we could say their consciences were in error. Even our Catholic Faith says that we are morally bound to follow our conscience, even when it contradicts what our Church teaches! It also calls for all human consciences to be well formed and informed, which means that we must know to the best of our abilities what it is that we are to do, guided by the light of faith, human intelligence, and God's grace.
No one of us was created evil. God cannot and will not create evil. He gives us free will - our ability to freely choose good or evil, and He will not force our hand in the matter. He has instructed us; He may well warn us, and even punish us if bad choices are made. He calls us to share in His life and love now and forever by freely choosing the good. As nasty as Hitler was, he was created as good by God, yet freely chose to commit horrendous evil, just the same as you and I when we choose serious sin.
Even old Lucifer isn't evil by his or her nature (he or she, since angels do not have gendered bodies). I suppose the best thing is to tell the truths about the figures of history. However, it is hard to do. The easy was is to cancel them. Demonise them. Teach how evil they were. To me that sounds like a page out of Stalin's playbook, or Mao's Cultural Revolution. Our heroes are not gods. They were human beings, flawed, capable of mistakes, error, sin, and even at times, horrific deeds. Present them as they were, warts and all, like old Oliver Cromwell. That way, hopefully, the errors of the past will never be repeated again.
God bless you all, and keep you safe!
Father P
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