Why I Am Protesting on #InaugurationDay

Last updated on: January 20, 2017 at 7:56 am by Guest Contributor

Why I Am Protesting on #InaugurationDay 2017-01-20T07:56:19-05:00 Guest Contributor

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by Frank A. Thomas

There is a basic and perverse strain of self-preservation in human nature that those who have freedom protect their privilege, not just against “tyranny,” but also from others in a society deemed unworthy of the rituals and benefits of freedom. Usually, the “unworthy” tend not to be members of one’s group, however that group is defined, whether composition around morals, politics, economics, race, nationality, gender, region, or religion. For the most part, the moral imagination of the free is limited, and the practical result in a culture or nation is that only a few lives matter.

In a strange twist of fate, freedom is kept free by the moral imagination of those who do not have the rituals and benefits of freedom; those who, by sentiments and actions of protest, continue to push, prod, poke, and break the boundaries and pre-set limits of freedom. My chief concern is that it takes moral imagination to envision freedom for more than ourselves or our particular group, and because of a lack of such moral imagination, freedom and equality is often found sorely lacking in American culture and society, often despite steps of progress from generations before.

Moral imagination is a term coined by Edmund Burke and popularized by Russell Kirk as “the apprehending of right order in the soul and right order in the commonwealth.” According to Kirk, modernists responded to metaphysical dis-orientation by developing the “idyllic imagination.” The term, idyllic imagination, coined by Irvin Babbitt, rejects old dogmas and old manners and rejoices in the notion of emancipation from duty, honor, decorum, standards, and convention and “escapes into an endless stream of exciting sensation and sensuality.” A second kind of imagination is the “idolatrous imagination,” posited by Vigen Guroian; it fixates on and inappropriately honors celebrity culture that is full of famous false heroes from sports, music, movies, and television that are prepackaged and sold by mass marketing through corporate media.

Finally, once individuals become bored or disillusioned with the idyllic and idolatrous imagination, many turn to the diabolic imagination. For Kirk, death, destruction, cynicism, and despair are the raw materials of the diabolic imagination. The diabolic imagination dominates most popular fiction, television, cable news, and theaters, including pornography, because it panders to the lust for violence, revenge, destruction, cruelty, and sensational disorder. Much of this is standard fare on prime time television and in Hollywood scripts. The diabolic imagination is singularly lacking in moral imagination. The pressing question for Kirk was how these imaginations would shape the rising generation, and for me, the next four years of the presidency of Donald J. Trump and the Republican majorities.

The American public is engaging in idolatrous and diabolic imagination in the election of Donald J. Trump. While many good people voted for Trump, his victory by only a few thousand votes in a handful of states does not warrant a mandate or guarantee of respect. Every leader must earn respect based upon fair treatments of citizens, regard for law, and deference to truth. I will protest on Inauguration Day because to this point the rhetoric and actions of Trump and the Republican majorities is another version of freedom for a few. What has been hard fought and pushed to the corners of American political space – overt racism, glaring misogyny, anti-intellectualism, xenophobia, and conspiracy theories are once again at the center of American political life. This is the idolatrous and diabolical imagination that brings out the worst in Americans. Protest and resistance is my only choice.

Frank A. Thomas is a R3 Contributor.

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