Call it my soft bigotry of low expectations, but as the Cuban people have bravely risen up to oppose their oppressors in recent days, I haven't really counted on seeing any supportive tweets or statements of solidarity from all our distinguished left-wing politicians, academics, entertainers, and journalists who have regularly sung the praises of the dictatorial regime.
Nor have I anticipated any light bulb moments for the thoroughly indoctrinated graduates who have emerged from our overpriced conformist factories we affectionately refer to as universities. My general rule is that if you can suspend your moral conscience enough to ever don a Che Guevara T-shirt, pretend socialism helps the impoverished, or pledge allegiance to any organization like Black Lives Matter that honors a madman like Castro – a monster who had the blood of thousands on his hands – with a tweet like this:
…well then, I don't hold out much hope that what is currently unfolding on the streets of Havana will move you to rethink your willful folly.
Remember, these are the same visionaries who applaud academic frauds like Nikole Hannah-Jones.
They are the ones who once held out an old, white statist like Bernie Sanders to be champion of their New Frontier.
So, like I said, I wasn't expecting any meaningful support for the liberty movement in Cuba from people who lie for a living, or the students who learn from them.
But what about those who claim to be working on behalf of the kingdom of Christ? All those voices who for the four years of the Trump presidency couldn't write enough panic pieces about the "public witness" of Christians who were unwilling to stand with the immigrant, the refugee, the exile at our border?
Surely our progressive Christian friends would be equally motivated on behalf of the oppressed Cuban people, and equally appalled by the strident actions of the Biden administration to reject safe haven for those fleeing violence there:
But oddly enough, a quick survey of these leading voices of a "justice-oriented," "love-driven," "Jesus-centric" Christianity have gone AWOL when it comes to being a voice for the oppressed.
The self-titled "Rev. Dr." William J. Barber was too busy touting his "Moral Mondays" crusade to demand a minimum wage hike to $15 an hour, and an end of the Senate filibuster. Apparently those things rank as slightly more moral than freeing souls from government bondage.
Brian McLaren was wringing his hands about where we stand with global warming, and the Red Letter Christians were pushing their new groundbreaking article, "Mother Earth has suffered enough: We need stronger methane rules."
Shane Claiborne, who praised communist Cuba a year ago for providing cheap medical school to train doctors who are now "doing incredible work around the world," was preoccupied with quoting atheists like Carl Sagan, as well as excessively advertising his upcoming speaking event. Claiborne interspersed promotion of the "Be Love" conference with a series of demeaning, specious, and hate-fueled accusations that everyone who doesn't agree with his politics is a racist. Apparently doing so is a critical part of "being" love?
Jemar Tisby, meanwhile, could be found lecturing that Jesus and the Bible teach Critical Race Theory, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove was panicking over "white Christian supremacy," and Jen Hatmaker was pointing followers to her recent commentary on, "how to ensure everyone (regardless of race/gender/sexuality) has the same rights, dignity & worth as others." Except for the Cubans, apparently – not one of these "justice" advocates could spare even a single tweet on their behalf.
But my favorite, as always, had to be outrage-merchant John Pavlovitz. The man who wrote so often about the plight of the oppressed immigrant for four years, suddenly appears to have developed an immigration blind spot. Rather than demanding open borders for the Cuban refugee, Pavlovitz's social media feeds seem oddly obsessed with a former president and his supporters.
Tagging them as "terrorists" who don't deserve to be tolerated, Pavlovitz spewed vitriol towards Republicans as being, "the worst combination of cruelty, arrogance, and ignorance." He did this in a tweet right before following with another hawking his new book, "If God is Love, Don't Be a Jerk." You can't make this up.
As I skimmed Pavlovitz's feed, which echoing the themes so familiar amongst all of these "progressive Christian" voices, I couldn't help but marvel at how the terms "barbarism" and "malevolence" were so recklessly attached to anyone on the American political right but never associated with the actual barbarians in Cuba's government.
The good folks at PragerU said it best:
