Facebook, Politics and Rising Nationalism

If my Facebook friends were the world - and liking official Facebook pages of politicians constituted real votes, then this is what the world would look like;

4.5% Like Jeremy Corbyn (Labour)
1.3% Like Boris Johnson (Conservative)
1.0% Like Natalie Bennett (Green)
1.0% Like David Cameron (Conservative)
0.8% Like Hilary Clinton (Democrat)
0.6% Like Bernie Sanders (Democrat)
0.3% Like Donald Trump (Republican)
0.2% Like Nigel Farage (UKIP)
0.2% Follow Tim Farron (Liberal Democrats)
0.1% Like Nicola Sturgeon (SNP)
0.1% Like Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union)

There's some odd stuff there and they're rather low percentages over all, but I'm kind of OK with the world as constituted by my friends - thank you friends.
However, taking the same list of politicians with the same rules and looking at the whole of Facebook we get this result;

7,871,190 Like Donald Trump (Republican)
4,012,803 Like Bernie Sanders (Democrat)
3,568,682 Like Hilary Clinton (Democrat)
2,030,104 Like Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union)
1,093,513 Like David Cameron (Conservative)
  620,285 Like Jeremy Corbyn (Labour)
  485,027 Like Boris Johnson (Conservative)
  351,007 Like Nigel Farage (UKIP)
  213,646 Like Nicola Sturgeon (SNP)
   53,493 Like Natalie Bennett (Green)
    6,841 Follow Tim Farron (Liberal Democrats)

(N.B the choice of politicians were selected by myself - there were others I looked at, but they didn't have official pages)

 

There are some encouraging and some disturbing things about both lists, but the 7,871,190 who have been fooled into supporting selfishness, bigotry and aggression towards our fellow human beings need to hear from the rest of us that this is not OK. It's not OK to build the politics of the future on who you hate, who you fear or who you consider to be different. It's not OK to build the politics of this age on walls, guns, being stronger than the other guy and blaming the poor for their poverty.

 

It is impossible as a Christian to support this kind of politics (if you think you are and you do then it's time go and learn some things about the Jesus you claim to follow). It should be harder than this for any intelligent human being of any faith or none to think this is the direction the world should be going.

 

We need to start speaking up for politics that are about caring for each other regardless of race, gender, culture or religion. We need to break down the walls not build them up; we need to be more together not more separated. National boundaries are a false division and the nationalism that is growing in global politics can only end badly if this tide does not turn.

 

The politics of the right in Britain are not so disturbing as Trump and America, but we are not without our problems; not without those who are willing to vote in similar ways for similar reasons, not without those whose fears about staying in Europe are rooted in that same false sense of separateness, not without people who will constantly vote for politicians who claim to do good for 'us' at the expense of 'them' and end up being bad for all but the very rich, because 'them' and 'us' are all part of the same system.

 

Jesus said "Come to me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 

Leviticus 19:34 says "The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt."

 

Jesus also said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

 

Paul said "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

 

And even if none of that had been said, choosing nationalistic politics that place the growth of national economies over the wellbeing of the poor and set the wellbeing of one nation against another, would still be a bad idea in a world with limited resources and a shared biological makeup. My wellbeing depends on your wellbeing; that is the nature of sharing the same eco system, the same creation, the same world that has no interest in national borders. Surely, at the very least, the international world of social media should know better.