A lot of people have noticed the similarities between BLM and organized religion, and pointed out that BLM is like a cult going mainstream and taking over society. I've been rereading a lot of books I've read since college to try and make sense of today, and saw something which articulated a point I've mentioned several times, that the rise of BLM is like the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
Peter Brown is an historian who has written extensively on Late Antiquity--the fall of the Roman Empire, and the subsequent period. In his book The World of Late Antiquity I saw some things which very much reminded me of what we're seeing now, and the possible outcome of what is happening. Trigger warning, it's a bit long:
"At the end of the fourth century, the temples of the gods had survived in most great cities and in the surrounding countryside. After Constantine, they were partly 'secularized'; but they continued to be visited, and they were respected as public monuments by cultivated townspeople, pagan and Christian alike, rather like the beautiful cathedrals of some Communist states. To many bishops, however, they were a source of 'infection' to their congregations. To the monks, they were the fortresses of the enemy, the devil.
<SNIP>
From Mesopotamia to North Africa, a wave of religious violence swept town and countryside: in 388 the monks burnt a synagogue at Callinicum near the Euphrates; at the same time they terrorized the village-temples of Syria; in 391 the patriarch of Alexandria, Theophilus, called them in to 'purge' the city of the great shrine of Serapis, the Serapeum. Bands of monastic vigilantes, led by Scheundi of Atripe patrolled the towns of Upper Egypt, ransacking the houses of pagan notables for idols. In North Africa, similar wandering monks, the "Circumcellions', armed with cudgels called 'Israels', stalked the great estates, their cry of 'Praise be to God' more fearful than the roaring of a mountain lion. In 415, the Egyptian monks shocked collected opinion by lynching a noble Alexandrian lady, Hypatia.
Paganism, therefore, was brutally demolished from below. For the pagans, cowed by this unexpected wave of terrorism, it was the end of the world. 'If we are alive,' wrote one, 'then life itself is dead.'"
Replace religions temples with Wendy's, Targets, Confederate statues, replace "bands of monks" with "protestors", replace Bishops with "Social Justice/BLM Activists", replace "great estates" with Ken and Karen's house, replace 'Praise be to God' with 'No Justice, No Peace!' and you see scenes exactly like today.
And of course, the national leaders and politicians kowtow to the movement:
"In 390, the emperor Theodosius I massacred the inhabitants of Thessalonica when they lynched their military governor; he nearly did the same to the people of Antioch, when they refused to pay taxes. Yet he congratulated the Christians of Antioch for having taken the law in their own hands in destroying the Serapeum, one of the wonders of the ancient world."
How many leaders are now praising the protestors for toppling statues and destroying priceless art? But when vocal people want the world changed, all you have to do is roll with it and you come out on top:
"The emperor Theodosius committed the bloodbath of Thessalonica, his statues were overturned and pelted by the citizens of Antioch; yet he went down in history as Theodosius 'the Great', the exemplary Catholic monarch. He had aligned himself with the 'grass-roots' movements of the great cities of the empire. At Milan, he bowed dutifully before the bishop, St Ambrose; at Rome he worshiped at the shrine of St Peter and poured money into a magnificent new basilica to St Paul. At Alexandria, he condoned the atrocities of Theophilus. Like the duke of Plaza Toro, Theodosius the Great led his regiment from the rear; he and his court followed, with exceptional sensitivity, the seismic shift that had placed the Christian bishop and the holy man at the head of popular opinion in the nerve-centres of the empire."
KNEEL TO BLM
Like the Twitterati who are tiny in number but controlling the narrative, the actual movers and shakers of the early Christian movement were not at all numerous:
"The monks, of course, were never more than a tiny percentage of the population of the empire. Nevertheless, it was paradoxically just these eccentrics who turned Christianity into a mass religion. They did this largely through their ability to sum up, in their persons, the piety of the average Roman now turned Christian."
The Christian religion in the Roman Empire went from a fringe, literally underground cult to persecuted as it gained traction, to being forced to sacrifice to pagan gods, to being tolerated, and then becoming mainstream. The first Christian emperor, Constantine, was able to favor both Christians and pagans and deal with both professionally. His nephew Julian the Apostate actually tried to bring back paganism. There were debates over removing statues and altArs from places like the Senate house, but the debates could be had.
Theodosius ruled almost 29 years after Julian; but he was only 15 years younger and was in office less time than Julian. Yet he ushered in these changes, divided the empire between two long ruling but ineffective sons who had less power than the clergy. Paganism would eventually be extinguished by the sword, in one of the most brutal and total exterminations of a religion in history. Christians mercilessly converted or killed pagans and when they ran out they started rioting and fighting against each other, arguing theological minutia as more and more sections of the empire were lost to barbarians. I can't help but see the similarities between the changes in Roman society due to Christianity and the changes we are seeing due to BLM, the Social Justice movement, Intersectionality, and Marxism. And I can't help but fear that what happened to the Romans will happen to us.
BLM is a religion; it has sacrifice, praises, hymns, devotionals, chants and faith. You must donate money towards it. Worship is compulsory in society and the workplace. And this is what happens when religions take over a society. You want the playbook for what's next, read about Late Antiquity.
I only say the Republicans because they are the only ones who, as leaders, have any power whatsoever to defend us without us doing as you say, and fighting physically ourselves. But any individual who stands up and fights or kills will be sacrificing themselves. Maybe if hundreds do, then the leftists will back down but I doubt it. And then you've only got a bloody civil war anyway, which isn't much better than a total societal takeover by the left and will probably still lead to the fall of our govt and society.
