Idolatry--updated for 2023

Worship of the institutions

The working definition of “idolatry” here—courtesy of Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary—is “the giving of absolute religious devotion and ultimate trust to something that is not God.” In the context of this piece, we consider how this can become a mindless allegiance to once-respected institutions, to a point whereby cognitive dissonance is shamelessly demonstrated.

The 1919 World Series is infamous for the bribery scandal causing the heavily favored Chicago White Sox to tank key plays to lose to the Cincinnati Reds, thus creating a bonanza for certain gamblers. The 2017 Series is also infamous for the elaborate sign-stealing scandal, propelling the Houston Astros to victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In both cases, individuals were heavily penalized, but the statistical coverage of the games, as well as the final outcomes were unchanged. Thus, even though both Series were plagued by massive scandals, the INSTITUTION of the Series was left intact. What exactly was being preserved here? How could the Reds or the Astros claim victory under such conditions? Why didn’t Major League Baseball simply choose to declare a “mistrial,” and not have a Series winner in those years?

During COVID, it was abundantly clear—to anyone who chose to venture slightly outside of the box—that the CDC, FDA, and NIH were derelict in their duties. Whatever you think of the vaccines, it became obvious early on that, contrary to the narrative, they did not prevent infection or transmission of the disease. In fact, the betrayal of trust was so substantial that these agencies should have suffered an immediate loss of credibility.

For the most part, though, they didn’t. That’s because they had sufficient gravitas to maintain their status as healthcare institutions that must be respected. They must be respected BECAUSE they are healthcare institutions.

To any rational observer, Kamala Harris is a fairly stupid, obnoxious, cackling affirmative action hire, who still must be respected because she is the vice-president. And before that, she was a US senator, and before that, the California attorney general. That was preceded by various positions in the San Francisco district attorney’s office, based upon graduating from a prestigious law school (U.C. Hastings College of the Law)—not to mention being the mistress of California politician Willie Brown. Talk about your identity politics.

Joe Biden is a remarkable case of a man with no discernible skills other than being able to get reelected in a small state to a point where he became a fixture in the US Senate. From there, it was easy enough to become a non-threatening vice president to Barack Obama, which led to the election of 2020.

Much has been written about the irregularities of that election, but one thing is indisputable. Had the Hunter Biden laptop story been properly reported, a goodly number of people would have changed their vote to Trump. Indeed, the quantitative effect has been debated nonstop, but no one can deny that this was a factor.

Notwithstanding the granular details of irregularities, or even the Establishment’s sick animus toward Trump, it didn’t take long for cries to emerge of respecting the sacred institution of elections. Too bad that real respect would have inspired aggressive investigations, instead of their suppression.

Finally, while government corruption and incompetence in Hawaii probably dates back before statehood, the tragic situation in Maui is based completely on incompetence, even if they are perversely trying to tie it into climate change.

Let’s end with some cynicism. People will go on respecting failed institutions, and will keep reelecting the same miserable politicians. Sloth seems to supersede even self-preservation.