This is not the blog I thought I would be writing this week. I had plans to write something hard-hitting about the death of truth, or about Bonhoeffer’s antifascist theology. But I feel led to offer a different piece, one that is both more gentle and yet more potent. (And isn’t there a mysterious potency in gentleness, when you really think about it?)
Here’s what I want to say: After Joe Biden’s is inaugurated,I invite you to lovingly and graciously extend an olive branch to your friends, family, and acquaintances who’ve fallen into conspiracy theories – particularly Qanon and/or the Christian “prophecies” that Trump will be a president for two terms. Only 1 out of a 100 of these conspiracy believers might be willing to emerge from the rabbit hole they’ve disappeared into. But you might be the one to help pull them out.
See, Inauguration Day marks a very significant deadline for both Qanon believers and the Christian prophets who are certain that Donald Trump will serve two consecutive terms. Right now, there are tens of millions of Americans – from a variety of ages, ethnicities, geographies, and socioeconomic backgrounds – who are convinced, against all logic and odds, that Donald Trump will somehow remain the president after January 20th. (I could post screenshots of people I personally know who believe this, but perhaps even more illustrative is to scroll for a few minutes through this Facebook group). Whether it’s through an act of God, a military coup, or some fancy legal maneuvering, these believers just know that Trump/Q/God couldn’t allow someone so wicked as Joe Biden to become president. (In fact, that’s what the insurrection on January 6th was all about; attempting to force Congress into throwing out the election results and keeping Donald Trump in power.)
Admittedly, the leaders of these cults have given other failed deadlines before January 20th, none of which have come to pass, and so they will probably just kick the can to some other deadline. But after Biden’s inaugration, some of the followers might be fed up and willing to start to back out of these conspiracy movements. And this is where you come in. By reaching out after the inauguration in a kind, confident, and non-aggressive manner, you may be able to win these people back to reality. This isn’t something I recommend for everyone, as it can be very emotionally draining and potentially risky if the person lashes out. And it will look different for different people. But by reaching out to your conspiracy-minded friend after Inauguration you may prevent the next terrorist attack, or the next lone wolf gunman–and never realize just how much of a difference you made.
Here’s a few tips and thoughts shared by a @QOrigins on Twitter that I think perfectly encapsulate the importance of this moment:
“For those with friends or family in QAnon, [Inauguration Day] will be quite a day. The Inauguration is going to plunge many Q believers into doubt and dismay. The most committed will simply double down, but others will want a way out. If you’re able, give them an off-ramp. No mocking. It’s HARD not to mock or taunt or say “I told you so” when, for months or years, the person you’re talking to has chosen conspiratorial, antidemocratic Trump worship over… y’know… a relationship with you. But the thing is, QAnon provides its followers with certain benefits: replacement friends. A substitute family. A wholesale new reality. And a sense of community that’s a powerful draw, especially when they’re feeling confused and upset. So… to compete with it, you have to draw on your old ties — and remind them what life was like before Q. Because the truth is that QAnon immiserates its followers. Their relationships falter. They find it difficult to sleep. They fear for themselves and their children — unreasonably, but the fear is often quite real. And while conspiracism GENERATES the fear, it also soothes it.
“So this is, however unfairly, on the shoulders of people who DO have a connection with reality. And that’s NOT to say that you absolutely must reach out to your Q person in a spirit of unity and rainbows. You’ve learned, & shouldn’t rush to un-learn, some ugly truths about them.And it might not be safe, either. Some of these folks were abusive and toxic before Q and will be abusive and toxic after. Some WEREN’T abusive and toxic before Q but will be afterwards. They’ve marinated in bitterness and revenge fantasies. It’s a long and bumpy road back.
“But if there are people in your life who you DO want back, odds are good that [Inauguration Day] is a pivotal moment. So if you want to reach out, what does that look like? Well, I can’t tell you the details. I don’t know your relationship. But I can tell you that it’s not triumphalist, it’s not mocking, it’s not taunting. It doesn’t demand they disavow all their beliefs immediately (if they do it on their own, GREAT). It offers them empathy. It establishes that you care about them as people & want a relationship. And understand they won’t shed all their beliefs in a day. You don’t have to SHARE their beliefs. You shouldn’t pretend to agree with them. Neither is healthy. But talk to them & then follow up. Stay in *very* frequent contact. Give them genuine love. And folks… good luck. (P.S. If you can’t do this, no judgment. QAnon folks are isolated from friends and family because they’ve *hurt* friends and family, and generally refuse to recognize that or make amends. It’s not always healthy to engage with someone like that. It’s VERY much OK not to try.)”
There’s not much I can add to QOrigin’s post, except to close with a story that feels very relevant here. If because of this blog even a one single person who is swallowed in conspiracies can be nudged even slightly towards the path of truth, love, and real community, it will have been well worth it. Helping one person out of a conspiracist mindset doesn’t erase the larger systemic, political, cultural, economic, and spiritual work that’s still to be done in our world. But it’s not nothing, either.
The Starfish Story
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…..
Our political culture has many problems, but a big one is an unwillingness to admit when one has been wrong…and we’re seeing that happen big time among many right now as they double down on defending things they know are wrong (e.g. the myth of widespread election fraud, Qanon, or arguing it was Antifa who invaded the Capitol, etc).
Thus, in an attempt to try to normalize the practice of publicly admitting past mistakes, here is a (partial) list of political views that I once held that I now believe I was wrong about. If you’re willing, I encourage you to publicly share your own list (only if it’s humble and sincere; snarky confessions don’t count!).
PS-this isn’t a space to disagree and to try to argue that my former views actually were correct; my point is to promote the idea that people can, and should, be willing to publicly change their minds when faced with the evidence, and that to do so is not shameful or “weak”.
1. I was wrong to have supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which I mistakenly thought would swiftly bring peace and democracy to that nation. I am grateful for Mr. Losee who patiently engaged in letters back and forth explaining why he, a Vietnam veteran, thought an invasion of Iraq would be a mistake. He was right, and I was wrong.
2. I was wrong in 8th grade to argue that affirmative action policies were fundamentally unfair; I now believe that they are one of many tools to try to correct an unfair past and build a better, more just future.
4. I was wrong to think that the Occupy Wall Street movement would lead to any major or systemic change. As massive as that movement seemed in 2011, looking back 10 years later I don’t think it produced any tangible results.
5. On a similar note, I admit I was overly enthusiastic regarding the 2011 Arab Spring. I thought that popular movements would swiftly topple dictatorships across the Middle East, but what we’ve seen in Syria, Libya, and other nations is overall pretty messy.
6. I was wrong to believe that Donald Trump would get the United States into a new foreign war. While I do think we had some close calls, and I would be worried if he had been re-elected, the fact is that he has (almost) completed his four years in office without starting an additional war.
7. I was wrong to expect that demographic changes would make Democratic electoral dominance inevitable. Instead, as was proven this November by conservative vote shifts in Florida, Texas, and many other places, one cannot assume that urban residents and ethnic minority voters are an automatic lock for Democrats.
8. I was wrong to think that Facebook, Twitter, and other large social media corporations could adequately govern their own spaces without government regulation. The profit motive is far too enticing to promote a healthy ecosystem, and I now think the government should take steps to break them up, regulate them better, and/or somehow ensure that these platforms are not fundamentally harming our society via fake news, extremist groups, and polarization.
Again, this isn’t an exhaustive list of political topics I have been wrong about, but these are some of the big ones that come to mind. May all of us, and especially our political leaders, be willing to admit when we were wrong–and commit to doing better.
One of the most common metaphors throughout the Bible is that of shepherds (political and religious leaders) who are in charge of the sheep (AKA the common people). Throughout the Hebrew scriptures, God continually calls out the bad shepherds that are misleading and mistreating the people under them, while trying to put into place good shepherds instead – Ezekiel 34 is a great example of this type of metaphor.
Truthfully, as an individualistic American, I don’t really like the shepherd metaphor as it implies that most human beings are simple sheep, without the capacity to make complex decisions on their own. (The pejorative use of the term “sheeple” as a secular insult to castigate people who believe in vaccines and a round earth hasn’t helped my aversion to the concept.)
However, after witnessing the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th, I actually realize the metaphor of sheep and shepherds is quite apt. Without shifting away any blame from the average Joes and Karens who perpetrated the Capitol invasion (I hope they all face appropriate civil and criminal penalties), the simple truth is that this act would not have happened without the long list of political, cultural, and religious leaders/shepherds who instigated it. After all, six months ago virtually none of these Capitol invaders knew about the role Congress plays in certifying the Electoral College vote. Thusthe mass gathering and violence we saw on January 6th is almost entirely due to the bad shepherds that organized it, promoted it, and then allowed it to happen.
Many of those who stormed the Capitol were planning to take hostages–note the zip ties– and execute them on camera. There was even a noose and gallows set up outside the Capitol.
It’s easy to imagine how differently January 6th would have gone if we didn’t have so many bad shepherds misleading the sheep
If Trump, the political shepherd of our nation, had peacefully conceded the election back in November or December, most of these sheep would have grumbled but peacefully gone along with it. If Trump had not demanded a mass rally in Washington DC on January 6, calling for his followers to march on the Capitol, a few diehard protesters still would have been there, but not the thousands we saw overpower the police.
If far-right newscasters, politicians, and media personalities hadn’t invented and spread hundreds of false and misleading narratives about the election, the sheep would have accepted the conclusions of the 60+ different federal judges (many of whom were appointed by Trump!) that the elections was free, fair, and without widespread fraud. If these same shepherds hadn’t kept stringing along false hopes that Mike Pence would magically overturn the election on January 6, the sheep would not have been so devastated when the inevitable certification of the election results happened.
If conservative Christian pastors and theologians had taught their flocks to love their enemies, instead of dominating and killing them, we would not have seen Christian banners and symbols waved as battle flags and taken into the halls of Congress. If these Christian leaders had accurately taught that white supremacy and Christian nationalism are satanic heresies from the pit of hell, these sheep would not have been so bloodthirsty and eager to overturn the legitimate election of someone who doesn’t represent those things to them. If these Christian shepherds had spent more time speaking against the dangerous Qanon / End Times conspiracies actively spreading in their pews instead of against scary liberal acronyms like “CRT”, “BLM”, and “AOC”, maybe their congregants would have been less likely to fly to Washington DC to beat up cops and scrawl “Murder the Press” on the Capitol walls.
A STUNNING 45 % of Republicans support the storming of the US CapitolLink
The blame for what happened on January 6th does not solely fall on the far-right: If the liberal shepherds who run social media corporations such as Facebook and Twitter had heeded the warnings of experts and taken steps to stop the radicalization of sheep on their platform via viral fake news and incendiary accounts, there would be far fewer people falling prey to conspiracy theories like Qanon or the election fraud narrative. Granted, there’s always a few kooks in every society, but without the aid of social media their numbers would be much smaller. [On a related note, I have actually come around to agree with conservative pundits that Section 230 should be repealed and the federal government should regulate social media corporations much more firmly than it currently is. These massive, greedy companies have shown over and over that they care more about profit than people; they are the bad shepherds that are allowing wolves to eat their sheep and cannot be trusted to keep self-regulating without any checks and balance.]
Those are just a few of the bad shepherds who are to blame for the shameful actions we saw on January 6th. To my knowledge, none of these shepherds have publicly repented of their ways. What will God’s judgment upon these bad shepherds look like? And perhaps an even more important question: who will raise up a generation of good shepherds to better guide the sheep?
This is one of my favorite bits of writing I did in 2020, and it was first published here for the website Eleven-ThirtyEight (which I would argue is one of the most thoughtful and insightful Star Wars blogs out there). I’ve been a guest writer on Eleven-ThirtyEight a number of times– you can view my other articles by clicking here.
As someone who works with college students through a campus ministry, my favorite part of the job is leadership development. Every year I try to guide students to take steps forward along a leadership “pipeline”: taking risks, sticking with commitments, inviting others into a vision, being honest about past mistakes, and dealing with failure—all while doing so with a measure of humility. That’s why I’ve loved the recurring theme of leadership development in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, particularly as it relates to passing the baton to the next generation. There are many ways that we see characters grow in this trilogy, but perhaps the clearest development arc of a leader is that of Poe Dameron.
Whether it’s his risk-taking in The Force Awakens, his lessons learned the hard way in The Last Jedi, or his final maturation in The Rise of Skywalker, we see a continued path of development for Poe into a leader far beyond just another stereotypical flyboy or lone ranger. Poe’s steady growth as a Resistance leader, under the guidance of Leia and other mentors, is a stirring model for anyone looking for a clear picture of a leadership pipeline in action.
Basic Leadership Skills: Boldness, technical skill, and beginning to cast vision
In the opening of The Force Awakens, Poe Dameron is a commander and a skilled pilot, sent by Leia to retrieve a valuable piece of intel. Within the opening twenty minutes of the film, Poe exudes basic leadership skills such as boldness, the ability to take risks, and technical prowess. Thinking quickly, Poe entrusts the map to BB-8 when he realizes his capture is imminent. After his X-wing is disabled, he grabs a rifle and starts providing covering fire for the Jakku villagers. A few scenes later, as Finn helps him break out of First Order captivity, Poe quickly teaches him how to operate TIE fighter weaponry, and coaches him through the process of destroying some of the turbolasers. Throughout their escape, Poe does not denigrate Finn or doubt him, but instead affirms him. Thus the viewer is introduced to Poe as someone with the clear stirrings of leadership qualities: he takes initiative, exhibits proficiency in technical skills, and can quickly teach other individuals basic tasks.
Although Poe disappears for the middle act of TFA, he jumps right back into the action for the final one. Back at the Resistance base, Poe advocates for Finn to Leia—“Finn’s familiar with [Starkiller Base]”. It’s a small moment, but meaningful: so often leadership simply involves networking the right people to each other, and then stepping back and letting the process take over. Poe could have tried to share the information on Finn’s behalf, claiming credit, but he happily lets Finn take the lead with Leia. Later, leading the attack on Starkiller Base, he keeps his dialogue centered and encouraging, reminding Black Squadron of the big picture: “Yeah, we gotta keep hitting it! (…) Remember, when that sun is gone, that weapon will be ready to fire, but as long as there’s light, we got a chance.” Perhaps a bit cheesy, as far as dialogue goes, but it gets the job done. At the climax of the film, Poe bravely flies inside the very structure he’s trying to blow up, destroying it from the inside.
Thus in TFA, we see someone with the basic building blocks of a leader. Poe is bold and daring, willing to take risks for the sake of others and the broader mission. Moreover, he has clear technical skills, and is able to quickly teach those to others, whether it’s describing how to fire a TIE’s lasers or explaining how large Starkiller Base is. Lastly, Poe is able to quickly encourage and refocus the allies he’s fighting alongside, even in the midst of battle. If TFA were the only film to show Poe’s arc as a leader, it would be inspirational, but perhaps a bit basic. TLJ and TROS take his growth as a leader to the next level.
Intermediate Leadership Skills: Leading squads, learning from failure, and preserving those you lead
At the beginning of The Last Jedi, Poe leads another stunt to save the day: attacking a Dreadnought head-on. Since the point of this is simply to delay the First Order, Leia orders Poe to retreat once she learns the evacuation is complete. Her priority is the continued existence of the Resistance, not a token military victory that she knows will do nothing to dent the First Order’s overall forces. Unfortunately, Poe only sees the opportunity to take down a Dreadnought, and refuses to retreat—leading to heavy losses.
“There were heroes on that mission!” Poe blusters to Leia after she demotes him. “Dead heroes. No leaders,” Leia corrects him. “I need you to learn that.” Unlike the First Order, which has limitless resources, it is crucially important for Resistance leaders to steward those under their care and raise them up to be the next generation of leaders. As Admiral Holdo says, “We are the spark that will ignite the fire that will restore the Republic. That spark, this Resistance, must survive.” I believe it’s this same dynamic that lies at the heart of Admiral Holdo’s dismissive attitude towards Poe. Holdo is surely aware of Poe’s incredible skills in an X-wing, but she knows that derring-do is not the right way to preserve the Resistance given their current tactical situation. For the second time in The Last Jedi, Poe has a choice: whether to sit back and accept his senior commander’s view of the bigger picture, or to attempt a flashy, riskier plan that will put him back in the center of the action.
Once again, Poe chooses action, supporting Finn and Rose’s plan to sneak aboard the Supremacy and disable the hyperspace tracker. Through the course of this doomed scheme, however, we see Poe take leadership in some new ways. He carefully listens to younger leaders explain their plan, and sends them on their way with the resources they need (coordinating with Lieutenant Connix to aid their escape). Later, he gathers additional co-conspirators who join him in mutiny after a failed attempt to win Admiral Holdo’s support for his plan. Say what you will about Poe’s mistakes here, but he is clearly willing to develop a plan, bring others into it, and risk his own reputation and life for it. It would be admirable, if it weren’t so risky to the overall Resistance. I can almost feel Leia’s frustration before she stuns him: Come on, you should know better by now!
Despite the mutiny, Leia and Holdo don’t seem to hold a grudge against Poe (perhaps they see a bit of themselves in him?). As Poe lies stunned on a gurney, Holdo gently touches his face and slyly nods to Leia, “That one’s a troublemaker—I like him.” “Me too,” Leia agrees. I might be reading too much into it, but I resonate a lot with this small exchange: two senior leaders smiling about a talented up-and-comer who has obvious potential but needs just a bit more maturing. Poe’s leadership skills are immensely valuable, if only he can grasp the bigger picture: preserving the Resistance is more important than immediate action. “[Holdo was] more interested in protecting the light than she was seeming like a hero,” Leia gently chides Poe once he regains consciousness.
Finally, at the end of TLJ, Poe begins to understand this lesson. In an echo of Leia’s order to him at the start of the film, Poe orders Finn to retreat from his futile attack on the battering cannon. And later, when Finn wants to leap into battle to help Luke Skywalker, Poe stops him. “He’s stalling so we can escape. (…) We are the spark that’ll light the fire that will burn the First Order down. Skywalker’s doing this so we can survive.” Poe gets it! Finally, Leia can relax, knowing the future of the Resistance is in good hands. “What are you looking at me for?” she says. “Follow him!”
Perhaps Rose’s quote summarizes this leadership lesson best: “That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.” In our own world, too many underdeveloped leaders are consumed by the causes they lead, becoming bitter as they face resistance, or devouring the very people they lead for the sake of the mission. This type of toxic leadership culture ends up treating individuals as pawns, not worth protecting if there is some short-term profit to be earned or goal to be achieved. In contrast, leaders who are actually maturing are those who begin, like Poe, to understand that the future of the movement lies more in saving and growing one’s fellow travelers over the long haul, rather than simply using them up for a short-term utilitarian gain. Poe has advanced a lot as a leader by the end of TLJ; in TROS, Poe will complete his growth.
Mature Leadership: Being honest about one’s past, acknowledging weakness, and raising up other leaders
In TROS, we see Poe become the general Leia always saw in him: he owns up to his past, acknowledges his shortcomings, and leads other leaders. For the first chunk of the film, though, Poe is the same risk-taking, pep-talking, squad-leading commander we witnessed in the previous films. That’s great—the need for those basic leadership skills don’t go away. But his turn to even deeper maturity comes in the second act when he realizes he needs to go back to Kijimi, a system where he had betrayed and deserted his old spice-running friends. We see Poe weigh the cost of facing those he had wronged (and coming clean about his past to Finn and Rey) against the bigger picture—“If this mission fails, it’s all been for nothing. All we’ve done, all this time.” In both the Star Wars universe and our own, too many leaders try to bury shameful past secrets, or attempt to hide present biases, vices, and weaknesses. Of course, those areas of brokenness only fester in secrecy. Poe takes the big step of not only facing his secret shame, but doing so in the presence of those he loves. In the end, it’s not as painful or embarrassing as he fears it will be, and the risk opens up the possibility of reconciling with Zorii and his other former compatriots.
Poe’s growth continues on Kijimi. After a tense reunion with Zorii, she offers him a chance for redemption, romance, and an escape from the destruction to come: by fleeing with her to the Colonies. Poe has the chance to save himself, but he turns it down. “I can’t walk out on this war. Not ‘til it’s over.” He then turns even more somber. “Maybe it is [over]. We sent out a call for help at the Battle of Crait. Nobody came. Everyone’s so afraid. They’ve given up.” This is Poe’s dark night of the soul, a level of vulnerability and lament that we haven’t seen from him before. Poe has been holding in these dark fears, but takes the time to share them with Zorii. Zorii, for her part, doesn’t try to take advantage of Poe’s dour mood, but encourages him: “I don’t believe you believe that.” Poe nods; encouraged or not, he’s committed to the Resistance, to the bitter end.
But Poe’s commitment to the Resistance isn’t necessarily enough. After a verbal spat with Finn on Kef Bir, Poe blurts out: “I’m not Leia!” Finn’s response doesn’t comfort him: “That’s for damn sure.” Up to that point, Poe could take comfort that the buck doesn’t stop with him and that Leia will always know what to do. Yet what happens when Leia is gone, and he has no choice but to take her place? All those fears—of failure, inadequacy, doubt—rise up within Poe as he sits in front of Leia’s shroud-covered body back at the Resistance base. Can he really lead the entire Resistance without Leia watching over him? Contrary to his prideful instincts in the previous films, Poe finally admits that he can’t be the leader the Resistance he needs: “I’m not ready.” He can’t simply defeat an empire all alone. But therein lies the secret, Lando tells him. “We had each other—that’s how we won.”
And this is the turning point, the final, most important lesson about leadership that Poe needs to learn: ultimately, his job as a leader is to empower other leaders. That’s what Leia, Holdo, and others have been doing for him this whole time, and their example pays off. Poe immediately asks Finn to come into command with him: “I can’t do this alone.” In an antithesis of the First Order’s philosophy, Poe knows that others have to be trusted, and empowered, to do the right thing to actually defeat the enemy. “The First Order wins by making us think we’re alone. We’re not alone. Good people will fight if we lead them. (…) What our mothers and fathers fought for, we will not let die.” And they don’t. Poe, along with Finn, Rey, Lando, Chewbacca, and dozens of other leaders, destroys the Sith fleet in poetic fashion: by targeting their central power systems (both personnel and equipment). Once Emperor Palpatine and General Pryde are gone, the First Order is leaderless and collapses under its own weight. The Resistance, on the other hand, is decentralized, chaotic, and chock-full of leaders—and it can’t be taken down quite so easily. This type of organizational structure makes no sense to the First Order: “It’s not a navy, sir, it’s just…people.” Yet like other mass movements we see in our world, the Resistance’s spark has turned into a raging bonfire, and no amount of opposing forces can ever snuff it out.
Poe’s journey as a leader is complex and not entirely his own; he owes much to Leia, Admiral Holdo, Finn, Lando, and others. But throughout the sequel trilogy, he consistently takes steps towards humility and maturity, and the Resistance is better for it. Leaders in our own world would do well to apply the lessons of Poe’s leadership arc to both their own growth and to how they develop those under their care.
