Satan is Having a Moment
Most recent proof is Trump/Putin meeting
I take my liberation theology where I can get it, and South Park is getting it done.
Liberal theology, let me be very frank, is not up to this current time in the US. I always credit liberal theology for what it did accomplish, namely bringing God into the world (Schleiermacher) and (sometimes) validating women’s experience of the sacred, though largely white women.
Liberalism’s mistake was to credit all humans with moral goodness and discount the pervasiveness of sin and evil in the human condition, especially structural evil and the temptations it poses.
Leave it to South Park to expose that. Season 27’s “Got a Nut” revolves around the moral negotiation required to live in a capitalist society. Yes, really.
So, not to spoil the episode for you, I will quote a summary. “Clyde starts a racist, sexist and homophobic podcast that’s straight from the manosphere.” Guidance Counselor Mr. Mackey tries to reason with him, but “Clyde argues he’s just trying to get his ‘nut,’ aka trying to make enough money to afford his expenses.”
The guidance counselor gets fired because of cuts to school spending, and “with nowhere else to go and a massive nut to fund, Mr. Mackey joins ICE.”
Mackey does so well he gets invited to Mar-a-Lago. Skipping past the sexual abuse parts of the episode, though they are a big part of the reality of Satan’s influence in our time, Mr. Mackey gets exposed to this, and he wants out. He meets Clyde who is very sad. And then he says the theme of the episode: “I know we all have a lot of pressures and we all want nice things,” Mr. Mackey says. “But if you’re doing something you don’t really believe in just to make your nut, you’re going to find you just get sadder, and your nut just gets bigger.”
The nuts of billionaires (i.e. piles of money, don’t mistake me here) just get bigger. But it’s never enough.
There’s much more in this episode. The subplot on Kristi Noem is vicious, but not as vicious as her actual dog killing and enabling ICE violence.
In South Park, Satan is portrayed with a mix of evil and good traits. While “he is the ruler of Hell and has engaged in evil schemes he's not purely evil; he has fears, insecurities, and even desires for positive relationships.”
The twist in South Park, therefore, is that Trump is MORE evil than Satan.
In the Trump/Putin meeting, however, it difficult to select the most evil of the two and the one most beholden to Satan.
John 8:44 says, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Lying is like breathing to both Trump and Putin. There are horrible crimes to be laid at both their feet.
I believe that their shared goals are to obliterate all democracy and freedom and dominate the world.
There is not room in the world for two absolute tyrants, however.
The structure of systemic evil is always pyramidal. At the top is absolute evil and that is ultimately self-defeating.
Even cartoon Satan, I think, would agree.