Religio-Facism

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By John Kelley (about the author) Page 2 of 4 page(s)

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One promised defense while the other a solution to superstitious fear both were organs designed to generate capital and power for their leaders. The formation of nation-states and their geographical boundaries along cultural and language lines allowed leaders to consolidate the feudal system, reducing wasteful internal skirmishes. It also allowed the standardization of currency and regulation, the ability to levy taxes, conscript armies and enforce laws to control the population.

These two sources of power, church and state, merged to bring about some of the most vicious and brutal wars and inquisitions in history with little benefit for the lower classes who served as cannon fodder. Religion and nationalism serve as devices to motivate people through the manipulation of abstract symbols and superstition to justify the acquisition of property and power for the masters of those institutions. When they cooperate, the church gains an army and the state moral authority.

In historic times the community's unity, limited their power. In times of peace local bureaucrats and priests had to live alone and dependent on the citizenry, communication and power were distant. Obviously they couldn't anger locals too much.

The Rise of Industrial Capitalism

The industrial revolution and the growth of the waged based economy were to have severe impacts on both the family and the community. In spite of the fact that many times whole families were employed, working conditions prevented the learning of trades or type of interaction previously normal. 12- 18 hour days under poor and harsh working conditions six or seven days a week left people too exhausted to maintain the kinds of relationships that were previously nurtured. The ill, elderly and infirm, no use to industrial capitalism, became cast aside by industry, the nations and neglected by their exhausted families.

The day to day interactions with their immediate and extended families and community were gradually being replaced with their relationship with their employer. Severance of the connection with the natural cycles of the earth also had the effect of severing people from an their traditional spiritual relationships. Communication with outside events became controlled by the hierarchy of industrial bosses, the nation-state bureaucrats and of course the ever present religious leaders. The community hierarchy was removed from interpreting these events for themselves and their needs as communities were reorganized around industrial needs.

Unions were really an attempt to recreate these community processes within industrial groups. They attempted to create not just economic security but also benefits as compensation for the destruction of family and community units, the community interpreters and leadership hierarchy, and the social aspects of community life. Those not able to participate in the industrial capitalism model in any manner were cast aside by the system. Reform movements fought against this abandonment and were able to gain some success in the form of welfare, social security, disability, mental health and social work programs. But all of these approaches tried to find ways to help people adapt to the industrial capitalist system, a way to maintain them in a minimally burdensome state or to cast them as being personally irresponsible and therefore deserving of abandonment or confinement.

Nation states once saw industrial capitalism as benefiting its ability to maintain a modern war machine and extend its power. At the same time industrial capitalism saw the state as a way to sanction its behavior. Religion, most of the time was willing to abandon its stated philosophy and sanction both to maintain its wealth and secular power.

Needful Things

There are two foundations for the consumer society. The first is the alienation felt by people in a modern society that can't be filled by material wealth and consumer goods, political power or religious fanaticism. It is a direct result of the loss of emotional anchoring that happened because the nature of wage capitalism separated people from their family, their community and their physical environment. The second is the impact of technology and the information age on the isolated victim of the first.

That is why the post World War II period is looked at as a golden age by most people today. It was the high point of industrial capitalism. New deal economics and post war optimism made for economic expansion while providing for the elderly and disabled, unions were strong and negotiating security in wage and benefit packages, mental health and social work services were expanding. Small towns prospered with small factories and farm mechanization. Universal education and civic organizations provided communities with centers of social interaction.

Even though African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans and women still suffered from denial of economic and political power, white working class people enjoyed the widespread restoration of family, community ties and economic stability that hadn't been available to them for generations and was an aberration in the history of capitalism. In actuality the period of prosperity and growth in the United States, Japan and the European countries after WWII were examples of socialist democracy in action.

The Medium is Indeed the Message

I didn't realize until long after her death what a profoundly insightful person my grandmother was. She gave me Marshall McLuan's The Medium is the Message as a high school graduation present. I didn't take the time to read if for ten years and when I did I was astounded.

Corporate capitalism, national statism and religion all require the maintenance of a basic level of anxiety in their client populations to maintain their worth. Too much serenity and none of them are needed. All three are forms of created consumer need based on fears. All three sell a cheap substitute for the very family and community securities they corrupt and seek to supplant.

With the rise of modern media technologies, nations, capitalism and religions had the opportunity to expand their control. Propaganda and advertising are about breaking traditional barriers to local control and interpretation, bypassing local interpreters and processing. Modern media especially television allowed the three kings to solve the problem of excess production capacity, excess capital and to shape individual thought independent of family and community.

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