The Politics of the Toilet Roll. What we can learn from Trump, Clinton and the USA Elections
My wife believes the toilet paper should sit over the roll. It’s how she was raised by her parents. It’s what she was taught according to her family, tribe, and culture.
But I believe the toilet paper should sit under the roll. It’s how I was raised by my parents. It’s what I was taught according to my family, tribe, and culture.
So who’s right, and who’s wrong?
Neither. These are our tribal preferences. She has her beliefs and I have mine. And we happily accommodate each others’ differences. We tolerate each others’ beliefs. This is what should happen in progressive, liberal, multi-cultural societies. It’s also what happens in a functional marriage!
So why was the Trump v Clinton USA election so heated?
Trump believes in anti-immigration, anti-Obamacare, pro-business, pro-guns, pro-life, anti-welfare, pro-Dakota Access Pipeline. It’s probably how he was raised by his parents. It’s what’s taught in right-wing families, tribes, and cultures.
But Clinton believes in pro-immigration, pro-Obamacare, anti-business, anti-guns, pro-choice, pro-welfare, anti-Dakota Access Pipeline. It’s probably how she was raised by her parents. It’s what’s taught in left-wing families, tribes, and cultures.
So who’s right, and who’s wrong?
If Trump and Clinton only represent tribal preferences, then we should happily accommodate their beliefs, especially if they are different from ours. This is what should happen in progressive, liberal, multi-cultural societies.
But we don’t.
If we are pro-immigration, how can we accommodate anti-immigration? If we are anti-Dakota Access Pipeline, how can we tolerate pro-Dakota Access Pipeline? What would that look like? How would that even work?
As much as our society preaches moral subjectivism, we behave as moral objectivists.
We promote cultural relativism. But it all falls apart when one tribe clashes with another tribe, and we ultimately have to choose one tribe's absolutes over the other's.
As much as we say we don’t believe in absolutes, we act as if there must be absolutes. That's why the election got so heated. We're not fighting over preferences (like toilet paper) but absolutes.
But how can we know what absolutes to choose? What gives one tribe the right to impose their absolutes over the other tribe? And how can we know if our absolutes are the right ones without being guilty of arrogance, smugness, cultural-imperialism, and self-righteousness?
This is why Jesus describes himself as the Light who shines in our darkness. Left by ourselves we’re fumbling in the dark. But with Jesus we can see the world the way he sees it.
But why should we trust Jesus and his absolutes?
Because in the end, Jesus was willing to die for his absolutes. Usually leaders ask us to die for their absolutes. But Jesus dies for his absolutes.
So it comes down to trust. If we can trust Jesus, then we can also trust his absolutes for us.