556. Deliverance (XII)
The above image has been dubbed “St. Javelin” by its fans, it would be more accurate to call it “Our Lady of the NLAW”—yet for progressivism all religion is about the same mash, so the difference between a saint and the Virgin Mary is neither here nor there. To know the difference between the Virgin Mary and a saint would suggest that you actually take “the woo” seriously—and so perhaps are not a progressive person. As a heresy from Christianity, progressivism is obsessed by the religion from which it grew—much in the way Christians were fascinated by Judaism—and especially keen to do it down at every opportunity. The mimetic proximity leads to fierce hostility.
A particular trope in progressive propaganda is to use Christian symbolism in inappropriate ways, an iconoclastic act to negate the symbolism involved. Hence a halo is consciously arranged by photographers to appear over Obama or Biden—or it is painted over George Floyd or a Ukrainian mother in the Kiev subway. This is all conscious: the “accidental halos” that appear over Obama or Biden in photographs because they have stood in front of, for example, a yellow official seal are not synchronistic. Similarly, the above image of the Virgin consciously inverts Christian symbolism: it is technology, the missile launcher, that is truly the holy object in this picture—not the Virgin; and she is decorated with Ukrainian seals because this is about pseudo-nationalism, not Christianity. Finally, the mother has become a killer—she has become a man, normative progressive sex role inversion.
Residual Christians will be disturbed by this inversion, but non-Christians should be disturbed too—the halo is a general symbol for saintly enlightenment, seen on the Buddha and Mithras. Nietzscheans should be disturbed because the halo is deployed to venerate man: the progressives worship man as he is; and they worship the worst examples—politicians, thugs, and women. Nietzscheans want to step over man, not claim that man as he is today is perfect—a core progressive belief.
Much in the same way as progressive liberals—who historically went easy on the Soviets—tried to gaslight conservatives with their claims that Trump was a Russian agent, so too men like Biden like to invoke God in their speeches—albeit very insincerely. The psychology: “I know that you know that I would go soft on the Communists if they were still around; and I know that you know that I don’t believe in God and think Christianity is a load of guff. It is precisely I because I know you know this that I call you a Russian sympathiser and invoke God. I want to mess with you.”
This is also why progressive politicians sometimes mention “the New World Order” in speeches—they know it winds up the right. As noted before, the psychology is roughly the child who is told to tidy their room but then dumps all their toys in the bin: “There. I done tidied it.” “There. You said Russia was bad for decades, now we’re saying Russia is bad. How’d you like that?” “There. You say you like God. Well, I like God too—especially against Putin.”
The fantasy writer GRR Martin recently popped up to say that he dislikes the fact that in The Lord of the Rings Gandalf the wizard dies and then comes back to life. This was an indirect pop at Christ’s resurrection—for progressives resurrections are bad in all forms, since they all allude to the Christ. Martin especially disliked the fact that Gandalf died and then came back improved—came back as Gandalf the White. This is because Martin is an arrogant man who believes he is perfect; he cannot stand the metaphorical aspect to Christianity that you need to “die” in order to “resurrect” in an improved form; a view shared by Nietzsche. Martin, an obese and greedy copycat, cannot stand the idea that he needs to “die” to improve—hence his disdain for Gandalf’s resurrection.