Our Cushion of Delusion

 

 

"We Float Above Our Carnage On A Cushion Of Delusion"
Picture of a Larger Painting - Addison Gallery of American Art

Canon G7x Mark II
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“The Doctrine of Discovery furnished the foundational lie that America was “discovered” and enshrined the noble innocence of “pioneers” in the story we white Christian Americans have told about ourselves. It animated the religious and cultural worldview that delivered Europeans to these shores far before 1776 or 1619. Ideas such as Manifest Destiny, America as a city on a hill, or America as a new Zion all sprouted from the seed that was planted in 1493. This sense of divine entitlement, of European Christian chosen-ness, has shaped the worldview of most white Americans and thereby influenced key events, policies, and laws throughout American history….” ~ Robert P. Jones - White Too Long SubStack ~  This post is a bit late.    It was meant for the Empire's stomach-turning "Columbus Day" holiday.    The late 1400's / early 1500's was when we white Christians began in earnest the vast genocide of the North American Indigenous population. We were breathtakingly brutal, killing millions. Men, women, children, elderly - all dispatched to the afterlife by our Manifest Destiny, by our convenient "Doctrine of Discovery." Those we didn't kill, we tortured by banning their culture, stealing their land, and herding them into pockets of wilderness that we couldn't make money off of.  And look at us now.    We stink of self-approbation.    Really, we are a nation of Pharisees braying to God about how grateful we are that we aren't like those Publican sinners in the back.  Deep down though, we know what we are.    Deep down, we know that we've built this facade of decency and democracy on the backs of those we've murdered.. ~