Articles
Soft Power Emotionalism
I recently came across this term in an article by Rob Slane in explaining the extreme cultural shift we are witnessing and the mechanisms by which it is occurring. Slane speaks of those who “deliberately manufacture situations and manipulate language to achieve a clash between traditional, established values (thesis), and progressive, liberal values (antithesis), with the goal being to reach a compromise (synthesis). That compromise then forms the starting point for the next stage-managed clash. So bit by bit they keep us moving along to embrace new changes and new realities, each one of which takes us further and further away from … accepted Christian values” (Christian Healthcare Newsletter, p. 3). I think that about nails it.
Soft power emotionalism” pressures for change, not by fiat but by creating sympathy for the “oppressed.” People are manipulated not by arguments and facts but by emotional appeal. This is why Hollywood for years portrayed homosexuals in a sympathetic light; it is why the transgendered are treated favorably in the media. And it is why those who stand for Biblical and biological principles are demonized and vilified as cruel, heartless, self-righteous bigots.
Believers must be neither swayed nor intimidated by such emotionalism. We must resist but in a considerate and Scriptural way so as to expose the bankrupt values sweeping the land.
