One can see these psychodymanics at work in the conflict between the ruling class (and their propagandists, the false prophets) versus the prophets of God who announced that God was about to destroy the kingdom of Judah. One might call these rulers and their false prophets the revanchists, the "nationalists" and "patriots" of their day, because they represented the hope that Judah might remain as an independent kingdom subservient to no one, and that Judah might one day regain all the lost glory of the kingdom of Solomon. Their desire for a return of lost glory could be viewed as an expression of national narcissism, because this desire for lost glory was not accompanied by a willingness to submit to their God.
On the other hand were the true prophets who accurately prophesied that God was about to destroy Judah. This sentence, "God is about to destroy Judah", had three implications:
- that the nation in which the rulers and the people had invested their identity was about to be destroyed;
- that God was the One who would do the destroying;
- and that this destruction was God's commentary, His verdict on the nation, its character and practices, as captured in the following quote: "Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say 'We are delivered!' - that you may do all these abominations?" (Jeremiah 7:9-10)
And this willingness to fight to the death to maintain a cause that is both immoral and losing made me think of other instances in history in which humans have chosen to fight for such causes. There is the obvious case of the second destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, a destruction which resulted from the rebellion of Jewish ethno-nationalists against the Roman Empire. But there is also the case of Nazi Germany from 1942 to 1945, in which the Wehrmacht chose to fight to the death rather than lose an identity which had been carefully constructed for them by the rulers of their society and which made sense only within the context of that society. (Side note: did you know that the motto of the Wehrmacht was "Gott mit uns" - that is, "God with us"?) And there is the example of the last days of both Rome and Byzantium. The fall of the Byzantine empire is noteworthy, as the decline of Byzantium was a long time in the making. The Byzantine emperors had focused for so long on infighting to maintain themselves as the top dogs in their empire that they had failed to notice that the world was changing around them while their empire was weakening. Nearly a century before their final fall, one of their emperors was arrested in Venice for outstanding debts incurred by hiring Crusader mercenaries in an attempt to recapture lost territory. (You might say that he nearly went broke trying to Make Byzantium Great Again.) During its last years, the Byzantine empire could only watch helplessly as its enemies obtained the most advanced military technology of the day - namely, devices capable of shooting large projectiles by means of gunpowder. These devices (cannons, to be precise) were the decisive factor in the fall of Constantinople, in which the last Byzantine emperor fought to the death.
Which brings me to the present day, in which those who cling to the hope of their own supremacy at the expense of everyone else on earth are beginning to fall on hard times. I am thinking particularly of Donald Trump and the regime he represents and of which he is a chief symptom. Consider these facts:
- The United States has lost its place among the top ten most innovative countries in the world. This is due to decades of underinvestment in education at all levels in this country.
- The United States has seriously begun to lose intellectual capital from this country, as smart foreign nationals (and some smart native-born Americans) are choosing either to stay away, or to relocate to other countries. (See this and this.) These are the results of a certain American brand of xenophobia/racism combined with longstanding cuts in funding for basic research. Continued American racism and hostility toward anything Chinese is not helping this trend.
- Speaking of China, by most accounts, Donald Trump has lost the trade war he started. (As an aside, for those members of the global Far Right who were hoping that Russia could return the world to where it was several decades ago, it appears that Russia has lost its recent oil price war with Saudi Arabia. In losing that war, it has lost far more in the process.)
- Because of Trump's blunders and malignant stupidity in his response to the coronavirus threat, the office of the Presidency (and with it the entire Executive Branch of the Federal Government) is losing its relevance in shaping American national life, as governors of states team up with each other to provide leadership for the good of their citizens without consulting Trump. (See this also.)
- Speaking again of coronavirus, the United States has decisively lost its former place as global leader and coordinator of global crisis response, as over twenty nations (including the most powerful nations of Europe) have publicly met via videoconference this past week to begin coordination of a global response to the coronavirus pandemic. (So much, by the way, for Russian hopes of fracturing the world order for its own benefit!) The United States was not invited to the call. (See this also.) Note also that these nations have thrown their full support behind the World Health Organization - counter to the wishes of Mr. Trump. This makes it very likely that effective remedies to the coronavirus pandemic will not be produced by the United States.
- According to some reports, the U.S. Dollar is about to lose a significant portion of its value vis-a-vis other currencies over the next several months. This is partly the result of government-mandated corporate bailouts (pushed by Trump and the Republican establishment) that have helped corporations prop up stock prices without creating any new actual value in the American economy.
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