I am developing an increasing worry that with the way society is atomizing, that our progressive side is going to collapse under the tendency to make “everything I don’t like = conservatism and nazis” and I know that sounds a lot like the conservative complaint that the left calls everything they don’t like “nazis” but there is truth to it and the term “nazi” is just one word in a growing list of ideals and tools of power that are being discarded because “the other side” uses them.
For example: the US flag. It has become a stereotype in the US that if you fly an American flag on your house or car, you are a conservative/right-wing nationalist. “America bad” is a lefty stereotype for good reason.
Meanwhile, until we get to that post-scarcity Star Trek universe, we’re all still just tribes. And groups of nationalists have been the number one strongest force for change and power on our planet since we started drawing borders. It’s pure political capital to have the support of armed groups of “patriots” and this is why everyone in politics is so deferential to our orange clown president, because he commands a political nuclear weapon in the form of history’s oldest power source. January 6th was a weapons demonstration, not a real attempt at coup.
You simply do not get the massive global political machine to move with finger-wagging and lectures. You need force to back up your demands.
I wish I could get the left to reclaim the flag. I know America isn’t a source of pride for the people harmed by America, but if you’re here and you want to make the place better, you should show that you support at least it’s potential and promise.
Totally agree. I hung a flag for the same reason, why should the right get to “own” the symbol of America. I ended up taking it down though since my wife thought it would give people the wrong impression of us…
Guns are a great example under “accepting we’re mortals in an ugly world”, actually. Nobody is seriously claiming they’re going away, but the way they’re talked about by the left, you would think undoing a technology is on the table.
I mean, you can still want more gun control, and most other nations have gone that way, but the only people mentioning they’ll still be around in some way tend to be on the right - because that’s ugly.
For example: the US flag. It has become a stereotype in the US that if you fly an American flag on your house or car, you are a conservative/right-wing nationalist. “America bad” is a lefty stereotype for good reason.
Fun fact, it was leaking into Canada for a while. Unnecessary maple leafs meant you probably didn’t like vaccines or Trudeau. Then you guys (well, Trump; we know there’s another party) talked about annexing us and made patriotism neutral again. Thanks?
January 6th was a weapons demonstration, not a real attempt at coup.
That’s an interesting way of looking at it, although I’m not convinced it wasn’t just stupidity on their part. The right also have hangups that will self-correct, in their own way.
That’s kind of what I was going to say about tribalism as a force, too. Nobody turns their noses up at an Irish name today, and nobody will be impressed by lifted pickups and ill-informed scriptural references in the future. The idea of elected representatives has been around for centuries, though.
I do believe we need gun controls, strict federal systems to track and manage people who shouldn’t have guns, all the authoritarian nightmare stuff to gun nuts. It would sting at first and people would worry, and I wouldn’t want to see it under the current leadership, but that’s what instills some level of societal respect for a thing. A generation later and suddenly everyone treats guns a lot more seriously, because humans are adaptable. That’s just a whole other massive can of worms, but I am glad that at least out of all this recent fascist takeover that it finally spurred a segment of the left to finally start arming up. I don’t want an armed revolution or standoff, but I don’t like the memes of how “easy” it would be for orcs to raid the villages and wipe out the enemy.
I’m not convinced it wasn’t just stupidity on their part.
I think I’ve learned to dance in the space that lay between stupid reactions to feelings and deeply-planned chess games, for the sake of understanding how large groups of people behave and operate.
I don’t think there was or is a single intelligent individual in the Trump administration, but if you get enough people together under a momentum of energy and fear and the power-rush of feeling invulnerable, I think they’re going to instinctively learn they need to whip out their sword and wave it around when they feel backed into a corner. At that time, a lot of fascists suddenly were worried they were going to get thrown in jail the moment Biden took over. (Sidenote: every single one of those fucks should have been thrown in jail.) It was an unplanned, unfocused display of power. Like a group of militants firing all their guns into the air, somewhere between rage and celebration. They had an idea that they were doing something extreme by egging the crowd on, maybe some had this idea forged ahead of time in the back of their mind that they could “use” the crowd to exert pressure but I doubt they really planned it until they got up there and Trump seemed to want to do it. It was a half-assed mess but it proved a point, which side you should be scared of on a basic, physical level. Political capital, original flavor.
I’m done waxing poetic about our political woes. Thank you for listening and understanding.
I am developing an increasing worry that with the way society is atomizing, that our progressive side is going to collapse under the tendency to make “everything I don’t like = conservatism and nazis” and I know that sounds a lot like the conservative complaint that the left calls everything they don’t like “nazis” but there is truth to it and the term “nazi” is just one word in a growing list of ideals and tools of power that are being discarded because “the other side” uses them.
For example: the US flag. It has become a stereotype in the US that if you fly an American flag on your house or car, you are a conservative/right-wing nationalist. “America bad” is a lefty stereotype for good reason.
Meanwhile, until we get to that post-scarcity Star Trek universe, we’re all still just tribes. And groups of nationalists have been the number one strongest force for change and power on our planet since we started drawing borders. It’s pure political capital to have the support of armed groups of “patriots” and this is why everyone in politics is so deferential to our orange clown president, because he commands a political nuclear weapon in the form of history’s oldest power source. January 6th was a weapons demonstration, not a real attempt at coup.
You simply do not get the massive global political machine to move with finger-wagging and lectures. You need force to back up your demands.
I wish I could get the left to reclaim the flag. I know America isn’t a source of pride for the people harmed by America, but if you’re here and you want to make the place better, you should show that you support at least it’s potential and promise.
Don’t get me started on guns.
Totally agree. I hung a flag for the same reason, why should the right get to “own” the symbol of America. I ended up taking it down though since my wife thought it would give people the wrong impression of us…
Guns are a great example under “accepting we’re mortals in an ugly world”, actually. Nobody is seriously claiming they’re going away, but the way they’re talked about by the left, you would think undoing a technology is on the table.
I mean, you can still want more gun control, and most other nations have gone that way, but the only people mentioning they’ll still be around in some way tend to be on the right - because that’s ugly.
Fun fact, it was leaking into Canada for a while. Unnecessary maple leafs meant you probably didn’t like vaccines or Trudeau. Then you guys (well, Trump; we know there’s another party) talked about annexing us and made patriotism neutral again. Thanks?
That’s an interesting way of looking at it, although I’m not convinced it wasn’t just stupidity on their part. The right also have hangups that will self-correct, in their own way.
That’s kind of what I was going to say about tribalism as a force, too. Nobody turns their noses up at an Irish name today, and nobody will be impressed by lifted pickups and ill-informed scriptural references in the future. The idea of elected representatives has been around for centuries, though.
I do believe we need gun controls, strict federal systems to track and manage people who shouldn’t have guns, all the authoritarian nightmare stuff to gun nuts. It would sting at first and people would worry, and I wouldn’t want to see it under the current leadership, but that’s what instills some level of societal respect for a thing. A generation later and suddenly everyone treats guns a lot more seriously, because humans are adaptable. That’s just a whole other massive can of worms, but I am glad that at least out of all this recent fascist takeover that it finally spurred a segment of the left to finally start arming up. I don’t want an armed revolution or standoff, but I don’t like the memes of how “easy” it would be for orcs to raid the villages and wipe out the enemy.
I think I’ve learned to dance in the space that lay between stupid reactions to feelings and deeply-planned chess games, for the sake of understanding how large groups of people behave and operate.
I don’t think there was or is a single intelligent individual in the Trump administration, but if you get enough people together under a momentum of energy and fear and the power-rush of feeling invulnerable, I think they’re going to instinctively learn they need to whip out their sword and wave it around when they feel backed into a corner. At that time, a lot of fascists suddenly were worried they were going to get thrown in jail the moment Biden took over. (Sidenote: every single one of those fucks should have been thrown in jail.) It was an unplanned, unfocused display of power. Like a group of militants firing all their guns into the air, somewhere between rage and celebration. They had an idea that they were doing something extreme by egging the crowd on, maybe some had this idea forged ahead of time in the back of their mind that they could “use” the crowd to exert pressure but I doubt they really planned it until they got up there and Trump seemed to want to do it. It was a half-assed mess but it proved a point, which side you should be scared of on a basic, physical level. Political capital, original flavor.
I’m done waxing poetic about our political woes. Thank you for listening and understanding.