Planet Critical – Creating The Alternative
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I’m all for philosophical dialogue but I found this a bit… baggy. Rambling at times.
We could not avoid familiarity with Christianity growing up, but as a never-believer the New Testament stories are interesting in describing a popular, dissenting, communist, pacifist movement whose leader is identified and executed by the religious and state authorities. That was a very peculiar archetype to omit from this discussion, especially given the beard-and-sandals counter-culture and personalities mentioned.
The Jesus story is relevant on many levels, from the ‘danger of a good example’, the accumulation of followers, the non-violent protest tactics, the heavy-handed policing, the discomfort of the authorities, the martyrdom, the (very long) aftermath, the way some authorities have turned an early story 180° so now Jesus loves nukes and capitalism, apparently. And some people even today are said to have saviour complexes.
It’s so useful that writers like Douglas Adams can elegantly reference it. It’s so relevant in how empires (Roman, British, USAmerican) handle the emergence of ‘good examples’ within their territories. Whether the original characters ever existed is not the point: the patterns are. So the apparent omission of the Jesus story from this interview (sorry, I may have nodded off at one point and missed it) looks odd, unfree, and particularly awkward in regard to the coverage of crypto-currency, imagined realities and what divides the human world today.
Also, what sentence would British courts hand out to Jesus today? (and what would Suella Braverman demand?)