THE SOUND OF TWO HANDS CLAPPING

"In the seventh century, as the Roman empire was in the decline period of its decline and fall, the emperor Heraclitus made plans to meet with a barbarian king. Heraclitus wanted to intimidate his opponent, but he knew that the Roman army, in its weakened state, was no longer terribly intimidating, particularly when the intended intimidatee was a barbarian. So the emperor hired a group of men to augment his legions -- but for purposes that were less military than they were musical. He hired the men to applaud." ("The Atlantic," March 15, 2013)

HIRED TO DO WHAT? WHY?

That's an interesting tactic, isn't it--the use of applause to intimidate. Somehow the emperor had learned that applause is a powerful means of non-verbal communication. It's a powerful way for human beings to create thunderous and rumbling noise, signifying approval.

10,000 AGAINST 1

I was in the coliseum on the SMU campus, an arena filled to capacity to hear Francis Schaeffer and his son Frank who would be speaking after the previewing of an anti-abortion film they had made and were about to release, mainly to churches.

After the film, Frank spoke to the assembled throng with a what-do-we-do-now theme. In his speech he called for the use of what Paul would call, "Carnal weapons of warfare"--the blockading of hospitals, doctors' offices, and clinics that performed abortions. (This meant breaking the law by trespassing on private property, but that issue never came up.) There were other carnal weapons Schaeffer told us to to use--demonstrations, picket lines, and marches--you get the idea. With each (and I mean each) suggestion of what we were to do once we got back home, thunderous applause broke out all over the coliseum as people stood and clapped and clapped and clapped at each carnal suggestion. His film went on to be shown in churches all across the land and many Christians put his proffered ploys into practice.

As near as I could tell, I was the only one who never stood, never cheered, and never clapped, although at the time I couldn't tell you why I didn't, other than something just wasn't ringing true in all of this. I was just as much against abortion (and still am) as the other 9,999 were, but something just wasn't sitting right in these suggestions. Later, after studying the subject, I knew why it didn't have that truthful ring to it.

But that's not the point. The point is that the effect of all that noise from the applause was as Heraclitus knew it was--intimidating. (Since that time, Frank Schaeffer has left the faith and written a book saying that his parents were crazy and Christianity a sham.) I don't remember all that much about the weaponry he was advocating, but I do remember the 19,998 hands applauding, the throats cheering, and the noise, the intimidation they generated. (Not to stand, not to cheer, not to applaud took no courage on my part; no one was going to accost, criticize, or attack me in any way. But I realized I was all by lonesome, even in a room filled with with a multitude of believers. Not applauding can do that to you.)

UNCLE JOE

Alexander Solzhenitsyn penned a terrifying description of what life was like for Russians under Joseph Stalin in his book "Gulag Archipelago." One part of the book is especially and dramatically intimidating:

A district Party conference was under way in Moscow Province. It was presided over by a new secretary of the District Party Committee, replacing one recently arrested. At the conclusion of the conference, a tribute to Comrade Stalin was called for. Of course, everyone stood up (just as everyone had leaped to his feet during the conference at every mention of his name). The small hall echoed with “stormy applause, rising to an ovation.” For three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, the “stormy applause, rising to an ovation” continued. But palms were getting sore and raised arms were already aching. And the older people were panting from exhaustion. It was becoming insufferably silly even to those who really adored Stalin. However, who would dare be the first to stop?

The secretary of the District Party Committee could have done it. He was standing on the platform, and it was he who had just called for the ovation. But he was a newcomer. He had taken the place of a man who’d been arrested. He was afraid! After all, NKVD men were standing in the hall applauding and watching to see who quit first! And in that obscure, small hall, unknown to the Leader, the applause went on—six, seven, eight minutes! They were done for! Their goose was cooked! They couldn’t stop now till they collapsed with heart attacks! At the rear of the hall, which was crowded, they could of course cheat a bit, clap less frequently, less vigorously, not so eagerly—but up there with the presidium where everyone could see them? The director of the local paper factory, an independent and strong-minded man, stood with the presidium. Aware of all the falsity and all the impossibility of the situation, he still kept on applauding! Nine minutes! Ten!

In anguish he watched the secretary of the District Party Committee, but the latter dared not stop. Insanity! To the last man! With make-believe enthusiasm on their faces, looking at each other with faint hope, the district leaders were just going to go on and on applauding till they fell where they stood, till they were carried out of the hall on stretchers! And even then those who were left would not falter. . . . Then after eleven minutes, the director of the paper factory assumed a businesslike expression and sat down in his seat. And, oh, a miracle took place! Where had the universal, uninhibited, indescribable enthusiasm gone? To a man, everyone else stopped dead and sat down.

         They had been saved! The squirrel had been smart enough to jump off his revolving wheel.

         That, however, was how they discovered who the independent people were. And that was        how     they went about eliminating them. That same night the factory director was arrested. They easily pasted ten years on him on the pretext of something quite different. But after he had signed Form 206, the final document of the interrogation, his interrogator reminded him: “Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding!”

AND HERE WE ARE

And so, here we are today; we must applaud, or else. Professors must applaud evolution or face firing. Teachers have to applaud multiculturalism or face firing or censure. California school mascots must be changed by law, and one must not criticize the law. Infer, hint, or even obliquely refer to your belief that same-sex marriage is sinful, anti-bibilical, or unnatural and you have shown that you aren't applauding, so down you have to go until you "evolve," or do some "re-thinking" of the subject and then apologize and repent of your ways. Your business, livelihood, liberty, occupation, and property hang in the balance until you applaud. We're not talking "tolerate" here; we're talking "applaud."

One way or another, no matter what, they are showing us that we must applaud. And as we stand and clap, we might remember this warning from Solzhenitsyn:

"The strength or weakness of a society depends more on the level of its spiritual life than on its level of industrialization. Neither a market economy nor even general abundance constitutes the crowning achievement of human life. If a nation’s spiritual energies have been exhausted, it will not be saved from collapse …by the most perfect government structure or by any industrial development. A tree with a rotten core cannot stand."