The Perverted Order of Things

I’m a fan of Asian dramas in general and South Korean dramas in particular. Beyond gaining insight into the culture, history, and landscape, I like them because they spotlight, in the most real way, the human condition. Inside a K-drama I can laugh, cry, be scared, be angry and experience the harshest of human frustration and finally satisfaction. Netflix recently released its newest K-drama titled, “Itaewon Class”. The 16 episodes depict the reality wherein the rich and powerful ruthlessly trample on the both the rights and the dignity of the poor and weak. In one scene, the arrogant heir brags that laws are in place to control the poor, but didn’t apply to people like him. Sadly, I think this reality is true all over the world, including here in the U.S.

We have huge numbers of black, brown, and poor people in prison for crimes that the well-connected and wealthy get away with every day. Watching both Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen both be released from prison this week says a lot about our society and our two-tiered justice system. Both men will get to spend the rest of their prison sentences in the comfort of their luxury homes surrounded by family and eating great food. Yes, they are on “house arrest” but look at the houses. And yet, this is the society we have collectively allowed to exist. We shrug our shoulders, stay silent, and accept that this is just the reality of things, recognizing the perversion of justice but feeling unable or unwilling to do anything about it.

In our society, like that depicted in the South Korean drama, the rich and powerful get to lie, cheat, steal, kill, and break all the laws of human decency and honor while pointing their dirty fingers at others with impunity. And despite this shameful reality, we not only allow this strange order to exist but in 2016, we actually elected a person who epitomizes this perverted order to be president of our country. Since Trump’s election, the perversion of justice and decency seems to worsen every day. Now we even have to contend with lies being spewed about Obama, the continual firing of any person who tries to hold wrongdoers accountable, and with an abuse of power that has never been so blatant and so overtly cruel. This president has actual blood on his hands with his handling of the border and now COVID-19.

And yet, we’ve become so perverted that there is still a question as to whether we would re-elect such a person in November. The sad thing is that a lot of this perversion can be laid at the very feet of Evangelical Christians who once were the standard bearers for what is good and right and decent and loving. Jesus told us that we would know a tree by the fruit it bears. But too many of them refuse to look at the fruit because they want judges who will trample on the rights of those who disagree with their theology. Too many Christians have turned away from the teachings of Christ and have embraced a man who breaks every law of love that Jesus has taught us. The poor and strangers whom Jesus told us to embrace don’t stand a chance with Trump in power. They want to protect the rights of the unborn while enacting death-sentence policies for the people who are already walking this earth. The perversion is not only real, but growing with these Trump supporters protesting against public health policies designed to keep us safe from a deadly virus.

The first step in solving a problem is to realize there is one. I’m calling out the perversion I see in the hope that others will recognize it and join me in helping to turn the tables. In the K-drama I just watched, the main character is fighting hard to turn the tables. The struggle was hard and painful and hellishly frustrating at times. But in the end, with the help of others, the table is turned and justice prevails.

The point I took away from the story is that “liberty and justice for all” doesn’t happen on its own. We have to bravely and collectively make it happen. For us in the U.S., this begins with voting in the presidential election this fall against Donald Trump and convincing our friends and loved ones to do the same.