He is and has been representative of a form of faith that betrays, to the best of my discernment, the essence of the Gospel. It's brassy and loud and materialistic, celebrating and centering wealth and power in a way that is utterly alien to Christ's teachings. It puts pastors on gilded pedestals to be adored and showered with lucre, and as such is indistinguishable from hucksterism. It's an Elmer Gantry cosplay, far as I can see it.
But in pitching out a post noting Copeland's newly found political focus, I bumped into an oddity.
Right after the mess of the last election, videos circulated of Copeland laughing maniacally at the notion that Biden had actually won. It was, as presented, more than a little insane, as he and his congregants howled and hooted. I mean, here. Watch this:
It's...well...demonic. Like the cacophony of the possessed, creepy as hell in the most literal of ways.
As I dug about for a version to pitch into my last post, though, I came across this, from the Independent, a British news outlet. It's from the same event, only with a tiny and important snippet of context added. Copeland leads in to the cacophony by noting a Johns Hopkins study that suggests laughter alleviates pain. Watch this:
It's still politics from the pulpit. It's still validating a false narrative. It still gets...weird.
But it makes what we're looking at seem less like demonic possession or insanity. It's more like a masterful act of rhetorical manipulation. First, there's a clear on-ramp for his right-wing listeners, something to gain rational assent. It's a Hopkins Study! Laughter, even faked laughter, alleviates pain! He's set the stage, offering an appeal to authority, and any reservations or rational objections are lessened.
Then he's faking laughter, being intentionally obvious about it, so that it's clear to his audience what he's doing. He's not possessed. He's clearly in control, and being silly. They laugh at that, of course, both in on the joke and caught up in the joke. He's got them. The endorphins and the crowd dynamics kick in, and they're utterly, willingly, in the palm of his hand.
Is Kenneth Copeland a charlatan? Of course. But he's good at it. Smart about it, even. It's a talent, a craft, a skill, one shared by hucksters and demagogues alike.
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