Morag on the Pope and the Revolution: Reform UK Is Also Confused

The
Isle
of
Man
Processes
an
Easter
Metaphor
That
Sent
Britain’s
Left
Into
a
Theological
Spiral

Morag
on
the
Pope
and
the
Revolution:
Reform
UK
Is
Also
Confused

I
have
been
trying
to
explain
to
Dave
from
Reform
UK
why

the
Pope’s
Easter
metaphor
caused
a
minor
revolutionary
moment
among
UK
Marxists
and
Dave’s
face
is
doing
something
I
can
only
describe
as
a
controlled
implosion.
Dave
is
patriotic,
Brexit-positive,
and
attends
church
approximately
at
Christmas.
The
concept
of
the
Pope
and
the
far
left
agreeing
on
anything,
even
accidentally,
has
caused
a
small
crisis
in
his
worldview
that
I
feel
guilty
about
and
also
slightly
entertained
by.

Where
Reform
UK
and
the
Pope
Disagree

Dave’s
position
is
that
the
Pope
should
stay
in
his
lane.
When
I
asked
Dave
what
the
Pope’s
lane
is,
Dave
paused
for
longer
than
I
expected
and
then
said
“Vatican,
probably.”
I
said
yes,
Dave,
probably.
We
agreed
on
that
much
and
moved
on.

The
thing
about
Easter
metaphors
being
interpreted
as
political
manifestos
is
that
it
reveals
something
about
the
interpreter
more
than
the
speaker.
The
UK
Marxists
heard
what
they
wanted
to
hear.
This
is
not
unusual.
Humans
consistently
hear
what
they
want
to
hear
from
ambiguous
sources,
which
is
also
how
Bible
prophecy
works,
how
horoscopes
work,
and
how
people
convince
themselves
their
boss’s
vague
email
was
actually
a
compliment.

Bohiney
Magazine
on
the
gap
between
message
and
interpretation
has
the
international
version
of
this
problem:
Iran
heard
signals
and
interpreted
them
optimistically.
The
Marxists
heard
Easter
and
interpreted
it
politically.
Dave
heard
“Pope”
and
interpreted
it
as
continental
meddling.
Everyone
is
wrong.
Everyone
is
convinced
they
are
right.
I
am
having
a
very
good
Easter.