Of Memes and Men

Has there ever been a time when the stakes for civilization have been so high and the quality of political discourse has been so tawdry? We have come to the point in this endless SNL nightmare of a skit in which the president of the United States posts a ridiculous image of himself as Jesus Christ, then claims he thought it portrayed him as a doctor, then takes down the image from his social media feed all the while carrying on lengthy rants against the Pope who, rightfully, is teaching the world about the profoundly moral issues of war and peace.  The line between farce and tragedy, always somewhat thin, is decaying rapidly.  The farce IS the tragedy as the consequences of horrific and unjust wars ravage innocent communities abroad and tear apart the fragile social fabric of our domestic lives.

The memification of contemporary politics has gone from an amusing sidebar distraction to a mainstream weapon of mass psychic destruction as each new iteration of the once-silly pictures and phrases becomes more toxic, more dangerous, less tethered to anything resembling what mature adult leaders should be thinking and doing.  The very idea that the president of the United States thinks it’s ok to spend his time bleating out inane pictures while berating the pope for preaching the Gospel — exactly the pope’s job — speaks volumes about the dangerous zone our society has wandered into.  Critics on both sides of the aisle wonder aloud online about the president’s mental stability while others take the president’s criticism of the pope as license to mock, demean and try to silence the pope’s voice.  The president’s surrogates — the vice president, the House speaker — weirdly and wrongly tell the pope that he’s wrong on theology.  Then the administration cancelled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities in Miami to help migrant children.  We are very deep into the rabbit hole of official obfuscation and gaslighting.

What we all should be talking about is how do we move our country and our culture back from this perilous edge of self-destruction.  The silliness of the memes and late night jokes masks the appalling dangers inherent in a war conducted by someone who seems unable to separate fiction from reality on many days.  The problem is not just the president; the problem is everyone who defends him, and also everyone who looks away from the obvious signs of impending social and cultural catastrophe.

This is not the first time that the president has promoted scurrilous memes — his disgraceful and truly disordered posting of a meme showing the Obamas as apes is a fresh and painful gash in our recent national memory.  As a political writer noted in 2019 that, “The weaponisation of memes through mass replication has created a powerful tool for waging political war against opponents” (Marina Bulatovic in 2019 Sage Journals)   There’s a whole dark industry of political “dirty tricks” that is now empowered with AI tools to take the manipulation of communications and public perceptions to increasingly destructive levels.

The current president surely is not acting alone — someone makes the images that he gleefully sends out to entertain his “base” while supposedly taunting his opponents.  Every day brings more examples of the amoral use of artificial intelligence to bend our perceptions of reality in directions dictated by largely unknown operatives-behind-the-scenes who secure power and wealth through manipulation of public discourse.

Serious leaders of civilization’s communities know how to communicate and act with profound reverence and respect for their responsibilities and the people they serve.  Pope Leo XIV is a very serious leader, not just for Catholics but for all of humanity whose future is at risk when other leaders threaten to keep us in a state of constant war, conquest, subjugation and the not-unimaginable spectre of nuclear annihilation.  The current U.S. president is not the only target of Pope Leo’s message of peace, but he is the one behaving in the most alarmingly bellicose ways in the present moment with the military and economic capacity to follow-through on his threats.  When the president writes that, “A whole civilization will die tonight,” if they don’t bend to his will, he has crossed a line from the merely offensive to absolutely irresponsible and dangerous abuse of power.  Pope Leo has had the courage to confront the amoral danger of this moment.

The president’s scandalous attacks on Pope Leo have had the effect of unifying the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in support of the pope.  Bishop James Massa, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine, issued a strong statement explaining “just war” teachings and making the pope’s role very explicit:  “When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ. The consistent teaching of the Church is insistent that all people of good will must pray and work toward lasting peace while avoiding the evils and injustices that accompany all wars.” 

Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of USCCB, also issued a strong statement on the pope’s role in proclaiming moral teachings.  And three of the most influential U.S. cardinals  — Cardinals Robert McElroy of Washington, Blase Cupich of Chicago, and Joseph Tobin of Newark — gave a joint interview to 60 Minutes to set forth Church teachings and the pope’s role.  Cardinal McElroy of Washington also received a rare standing ovation from the congregation after his homily during the Vigil for Peace on April 11.

We must pray for peace, yes, but we must also act as citizens of the most powerful nation in history to demand an end to the perpetration of unjust war, the manipulation of public communications, the demeaning of not only the pope but anyone who dares to disagree, who dares to challenge immoral political actions.  We must confront the wholly disordered and inappropriate use of religious rhetoric — especially the rhetoric of the Secretary of War — to somehow justify launching missiles against civilians, blowing up boats on international waters, and otherwise committing the most heinous belligerent acts of war and destruction.

We must stop condoning and looking away from the silliness of the memes.  There is nothing funny, nothing religious, nothing patriotic about using power to destroy lives.  Even when war is necessary, it is a terrible tragedy.  When war is not necessary, it is a horrific crime and profound sin.  Those who perpetrate war must be called to account, not dismissed as daft old men with scores to settle.