In this first clip, Dr. Bettina Love talks about the difference between allies and co-conspirators (full video available here). She explains that "allies" show up to the meetings and know all the "right" words. Co-conspirators put something on the line for others. Short-form videos can be a way to equip your audience with tools to become co-conspirators. On the most basic level, you can teach your audience how to engage with their representatives.
Below, you'll find the latest video I used to teach viewrs how to contact their representatives. This may not seem like an act of decolonization directly; however, I do believe in the power of TikTok to decolonize, and I want the platform to survive! This also gives viewers practice calling and making their voices heard.
TRANSCRIPT
Karen: Are they really trying to ban TikTok again?
Pastor Sarah: Yes. To be clear, I’m posting this in 2024. The Energy and Commerce Committee is having a hearing on Thursday to consider a bill that would ban TikTok unless they divest from Chinese ownership.
Karen: But isn’t Biden on TikTok now? Along with tons of candidates from both sides of the aisle?
Pastor Sarah: Yes. But Biden supports this bill. A White House National Security Council spokesperson said the Biden administration would work with Congress "to further strengthen this legislation and put it on the strongest possible legal footing.” That’s from the Associated Press.
Karen: Are you sure it’s about TikTok specifically?
Pastor Sarah: It literally says the point of the bill is to “protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications, such as TikTok and any other application or service developed or provided by ByteDance.”
It also makes it illegal to update or distribute TikTok in any way. So if you were to make TikTok and TikTok updates on a website, for example, you could be charged a $5000 fine for everyone who downloads it.
Karen: Gross. Does this cover all Chinese apps?
Pastor Sarah: It's not even just mobile apps. Desktop apps and websites are included too, as long as they have over a million users and some kind of chat feature or the ability to share videos or images. Although there’s an exception for websites whose primary purpose is to produce product and travel reviews, for some reason.
Karen: I thought the ban they tried in Montana was just blocked by a judge because they said it was unconstitutional.
Pastor Sarah: That’s right. And the ACLU already called this bill unconstitutional. But that doesn’t mean it won’t pass.
Karen: If it's actually about national security, why is the Energy and Commerce Committee hearing it? Their website says their focus is America’s economy, and our global competitive edge… Oh…
Pastor Sarah: That committee is responsible for legislative oversight relating to telecommunications, so that includes TikTok, but I do suspect there are some economic things going on…
Karen: Can we stop it?
Pastor Sarah: Very possibly, yes. The last time this happened, the public response to the RESTRICT Act shut it down. Emails work. Call are much better. This is in the House; you want to make sure you call your Representative in the House. You can look them up online by searching “Who's my representative” or you can call the House Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Tell them your zip code and ask to be connected to your representative.
I do recommend keeping it short. Be polite. Write out what you want to say ahead of time if you think you'll be nervous. And make sure you tell them your name and where you live.
If you want to add why TikTok matters to you, that's great. Try to put it into one sentence, like “TikTok’s helped me grow my business in New Mexico.”
The key is to get your voice heard and get those numbers logged.
Karen: Can I call more than once?
Pastor Sarah: You can call every day.
Bonus Video
Another way you can empower your viewers is by translating and clarifying complex documents like Supreme Court decisions, legislation, and theological documents. This bonus video discusses the Roman Catholic Church's document "On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessing," published in December of 2023.
TRANSCRIPT
Karen: Did you know the Pope said Catholic priests can bless same-sex unions now?
Pastor Sarah: He did not. He said priests can bless people IN same-sex relationships, but not the relationships themselves. It’s still a controversial document.
Karen: How?
Pastor Sarah: For starters, it expands the definition of blessings and clarifies anyone can receive one. It even says that people seeking blessings shouldn’t be required to have prior moral perfection.
Karen: Could that shift the way priests decide who takes communion? Like… if communion is a blessing…
Pastor Sarah: The declaration mostly talks about blessings outside of official rituals and church services. The Eucharist is a whole thing with its own rules. But this document DOES openly critique unhealthy attachments to doctrine and discipline. It also uses a surprising amount of female language for God, which for me, as a Protestant whose church is also historically entangled with patriarchy, felt like a big deal.
Karen: Wait what?
Pastor Sarah: It says “The life of the Church springs from the womb of God’s mercy.” Later it says “God is father, he is mother, he is pure love.”
Karen: And the Pope wrote this?
Pastor Sarah: Technically, the group formed to defend the Catholic Church from heresy wrote it. But the Pope signed off.
Karen: So just to be clear on the first point all the Catholic Church still condemns divorce and same-sex marriage.
Pastor Sarah: Right.
Karen: So…basically nothing’s changed.
Pastor Sarah: I wouldn’t say nothing. In addition to saying that priests can bless people in same-sex and “irregluar” couples, which IS new, they said the church has to avoid resting pastoral care on doctrinal or disciplinary schemes especially when they, in the words of Pope Francis, lead to a “narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying.”
Karen: Whoa.
Pastor Sarah: It also says priests can say blessings that aren’t in the official Book of Blessings.
Karen: Sounds like it’s giving priests a little bit more power to use their discretion when it comes to caring for people in everyday life.
Pastor Sarah: It also says it would be unwise to make these unofficial blessings part of an official church service or ritual.
Karen: Because that would go against Catholic teaching?
Pastor Sarah: That’s not the only reason given. It says that ritualizing those blessings “would constitute a serious impoverishment because it would subject a gesture of great value in popular piety to excessive control, depriving ministers of freedom and spontaneity in their pastoral accompaniment of people’s lives.”
Karen: So… ritualizing some blessings would be bad, because it would take something life-giving and subject it to excessive control? I feel like maybe we should chew on that one for a second.
Pastor Sarah: It simply broadens the understanding of blessing. But that might be a really big deal.
Church of the Good Shepherd, UCC | Albuquerque, NM
Pacific School of Religion | Berkeley, CA
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