Sexular Colonialism
If my male, pale and stale heart could be warmed, it would be so by the growing realisation that the baton of colonialism, long the historic burden of the conservative, Christianised West, can now been handed to the woke Left in our culture.
The evidence is coming in in spades. The progressive narrative has created, and is the process of enforcing, a new colonialism and, in a great irony, is enforcing it upon those it once championed. For so long the progressive side of politics accused the historical nations of the West of colonising ethnic minorities, but suddenly they’ve signed up to the agenda.
And it’s all come down to sex. The progressives have their own version of cultural assimiliation – let’s call it Sexular Colonialism. What else to make of what is becoming a widening conflict between the self-aware sexular culture of big money, big government and big sport in the West, and many of those who are the actual players on the field?
In the wake of Israel Folau’s injudicious Instagram message, there has been a growing response from other rugby players of Islander backgrounds, who are backing his stance upon pain of sanction by their own unions.
Go through the list of those who have backed them. Not a Smith or Jones in sight. But plenty of names you can’t pronounce quickly and that you know come from Pacific Islander and other ethnic backgrounds.
So we get this from England’s Australian born Billy Vinupola, as quoted in The Guardian:
What was the UK response to this, frankly, historical orthodox view of Christian sexual ethics, minus the obvious “pleasure principle”?
Well Channel 4 cut him from their commentary team. The Rugby Football Union has hauled him before a disciplinary board. And when he took to the pitch to play this weekend he was roundly booed by spectators, and the tannoy speakers at the ground were pumping out “It’s Raining Men“, just to make sure he got the point. In other words, we’re watching you mate, and don’t forget it.
Well it might be raining men, but the men it’s raining are predominantly white, secular, well-heeled, well-educated men for whom sexual identity IS the foundational identity of a human being, and who have the power to enforce that perspective in the public square. It’s Sexular Colonialism big time.
Now don’t get me wrong. I do think Izzy blew it. I do think that we have all sorts of identity markers in our lives, and as a dreaded Pale/Male/Stale I’ve certainly learned to recognise this And as a Christian I’m not so pious to airily wave my hand and say “Well, my identity is in Christ”.
Yes it is, theologically and in reality, but that’s not how I always manage to live my life, and in some senses other markers are important. If we didn’t think identity markers were important then we wouldn’t have such clear gender definitions grounded in creation.
But notice what Billy said?
There just comes a point when you insult what I grew up believing in that you say enough is enough.
For Billy, for Israel, and for a host of other players in the spotlight, they’ve come to realise that their deep ethno-religious frameworks upon which they have built their lives have to bow down the idol of sexual identity. There is no option if they wish to continue in their employ.
These other markers – ethno-religious -, for so long championed by the Left, are now being viewed as barriers to progress. And we know how the Left treats barriers to progress. There is a pecking order when it comes to identity, and race and religion sit squarely below sex. It must be quashed.
Sexular Colonialism right there.
Still not convinced? So a friend working in the public service in our home state tells me that after a long intense PD day on how to promote sexual diversity in his workplace, he approached the organisers and said that many people within the Australian indigenous community would have a problem with this. The response? “Well they will just have to get on board.”
Get on board. The bulk of the indigenous community who hold to traditional values in terms of marriage, will have to get on board the whitefella’s agenda. Since when did that become anything but colonialism? If they don’t get on board, they’re gonna get run over.
Sexular Colonialism is also the reason why 600 Muslim families, of assorted racial backgrounds, have been protesting outside government schools in the UK, where a radical sexual curriculum is being rolled out across schools. The very cohort who the Left has championed for so long are now firmly in the same cohort’s crosshairs.
You would assume it would make the new colonists stop and think. And it does. They stop, think, and then say “You’re wrong, get on board.”
Now none of this is to say that there are not those within these communities who take a different approach to sex. But what it is to say is that when it comes to pushing a dominant cultural barrow that is alien to those outside the West, the Left is as good as any at doing it. And they’re hypocrites for denying it.
The other thing I’ve noted is the sheer bravery – if not always entirely sensible – of those such as Billy Vunipola. For all of those of you who wish to tear him down, I’d like to see you deal with anywhere near the public pressure and scorn that he is facing. You’d curl up in a ball and cry in a minute.
He’s actually had time to watch how Folau has been scorned by the progressive narrative. He’s seen the ridicule heaped upon Folau by the likes of Peter Fitzsimons and the ABC. He’s realised that Folau’s career is dead in the water, and that the sensible thing to do – the thing he would feel under enormous pressure to do – would be to distance himself from Folau, or try to find reasons to support him while not supporting him at the same time.
What does he do? He puts it all on the line. Of course Billy has been praised time and time again for putting it all on the line for his football. But for his faith? Don’t even think about it.
If anyone wants to say “Yes, but” at this point, especially a Christian, then just project yourself to The Last Day and ask, will Billy be ashamed of saying what he said about God and sex and the gospel when he stands before Jesus? If you can’t say “No” to that then perhaps you’ve been more colonised than you think.
And look, I don’t pretend that I would stand up and say what either of those two men said and I could find a way to consider it stupid, uneducated and not culturally savvy. But I am pale, male and stale after all, that’s how we pale, male and stale types justify ourselves.
For the large cohort in the West that seems to be insulted by just about everything that ends up on social media that drops onto the insular safety of their iPhone, the fact that Billy can stand on a grass pitch in the middle of an oval being booed by fans, and then scorned by the public address system before the game has even begun, before knowing that he faces disciplinary procedures from his employer, is testament to his bravery.
And that’s for saying something far milder, with less sting in it, than Folau did. But Sexular Colonialism will have its way. It must have its way. Dissenting voices in the public square now know what they will face. It’s both sad and admirable to realised that it’s those who have already emotionally muscled up to public scorn on the football field for their skin colour, who are emotionally muscling up for another round of colonialism.
Meanwhile the male, pale and stale of us sit in the comfort of the stands munching on a pie.
Steve McAlpine is approaching an age which would be a more than useful Test batting average. He is a pastor of Providence Church in WA, is married to Jill and together they have two children, Sophie and Declan. Steve grew up in Northern Ireland, but apart from rolling his “r’s”, and talking too fast, is a West Aussie through and through. He has degrees in journalism and theology and enjoys combining the two through writing and blogging, especially on matters of church planting and cultural negotiation for Christians in the increasingly complex West.
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