Not seeing the face of the man he speaks to will encourage him to give vent to contempt and hatred against another of his kind with a much greater degree of freedom— there’s nothing so frustrating to our efforts in this area as the sense of shame

which the Enemy often allows to be kindled in the breast of such a man when he hears himself speak aloud in ways that he has habituated himself to on Twitter. One moment of that shame has been enough to lose us many who were well on their way to being firm adherents of our cause.

As I wrote you in an earlier letter, war— actual war— is not nearly as helpful to our purposes as you (somewhat naively, I am sorry to say) seemed to think. Men may in war exhibit courage; many soldiers die literally laying down their lives for their friends, and are lost to us.

Culture war, however, is a much more helpful tool for us. It can promote all the jingoism and hatred of an enemy, all the sense that since one is on the right side, that makes all one’s actions justified, that one gets in a real war, but without the attendant dangers.

Schmitt has of course been a nearly endless source of help for us, for decades now, but one must hope that those culture warriors who are taking him as a guide do not press too deeply—

let them linger on the friend/enemy distinction, and not understand the distinction he makes between enemy and foe.

Let them treat their personal foes, those fellow-citizens and often enough fellow-Christians, with whom they have a grievance, as though they were the enemies of their country in war.

Indeed, what is wanted most is to stir up hatred against those who are in these matters as close as possible in terms of shared Christian belief and shared institutions.

It’s very little good to us, though of course every little bit helps, if a man hates and attacks those who genuinely differ profoundly from him in belief. It’s much more helpful for our longer-term strategy for people to hate and attack those who are nearly identical to them.

Your patient is an American evangelical— let him by all means focus most of his vitriol on American evangelicals very slightly to his left or to his right.

Remember, our primary task is to foment hatred and schism and disunity within that interesting object which the Enemy has described as his Body. (I am sorry to speak so crudely.)

Of course this is not the only way these culture wars can serve our plans— disgusted with them, a patient may abandon the actual ethical positions, primarily about sexuality, over which they are fought, or become indifferent to corruption in the church,

or indeed find great self-satisfaction in considering himself to be “not like those other Christians”. This is a very good position for a man to be in, for our purposes, and I will have more to say of it in the future.

But for now I will send these few lines along, and I can assure you that your report of your patients progress will do a good deal towards allaying the dissatisfaction with your work which I have been hearing, to my great regret, from some of our friends in the Lower Echelons;

and believe me to be, Your affectionate Uncle Screwtape

PS I need hardly remind you that the crucial thing in these matters is for your patient to never look at his own words in terms of basic courtesy. “But is it discourteous, is it bad manners, to speak in this way”— that is the one question which he must never raise to himself.

@suzania

@suzania Screwtape absolutely would have been on Twitter though.

@suzania My Twitter use is a chivalric act. When I’m not arguing.

@suzania that is good i have this one in my pic favs