One of the reasons I loved it so much was how it reminded me of Jehovah Witness missionaries and their insistence that one know and say the right name of God. Every successful proselytizing religion has a similar gambit - although most aren't that overt and strident. Mormonism has authority or modern revelation. Breakaway cults (or sectarian movements) have a verse or meme that they expand on and which quickly becomes a lynch pin point of contention.
From that perspective, watch the following clip.
The intent is to get away from the trees and to start to look at the forest.
Say my name. The name of god is....
This type of stuff is all legit. It is a great way to show where the power is. To deny populist power is to be a tar-and-featherable heretic.
We are at the point where an ideological politically infused (directed, energized and authorized) movement has flipped into the tools of religion and conventional "bend the knee" dynamics.
Say my name!
The obvious rejoinder is that no consequences will come if you don't. You just show how much of a racist you are.
No nuance is possible. There is no alternative to bending the knee. And, this should set off some alarm bells. Why? Because it is painfully obvious that Pence believes that a black life matters. Any and all of them. But it is also painfully obvious that this is an ingenious trope whose ultimate aim is power dynamics. Any one who doesn't bend becomes "othered".
This is great if you want change. It's not so great if you don't want civil war. Or, if you think similar outcomes could be effected by less (inevitably) violent ends.
Oh well. Once you accept that civil war is largely inevitable (unless democratic norms can be seen as a good idea) these obvious signs of collapse and religious-like authoritarianism become less aggravating. Que sera, sera. It's just people's glee in the power that gets me.
I hate the new priest caste
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