One remedy is a moral outrage meme that reaches breakthrough pitch, like in the Congressional hearing that toppled Joe McCarthy in the 1950's Red Scare ("Have you no shame . . . ?"). AOC's rhetoric is a good example of moral outrage, but her signal is drowned in the noise of many voices.
Another remedy is the slow and steady resistance of the three branches of government, plus media and people power. The challenge is velocity. Can outrage and resistance keep pace with the drift, propelled by its power levers flooding the zone?
It may come down to pocketbook issues. When the regime's policies ultimately fail, survival themes will float to the top.
Thank you for your summary of America 🇺🇸 forgetting past history, and being condemned to repeat it. Those that lived through authoritarian and repressive regimes or had parents or grandparents who lived through them know this history. Wiping out all our painful past and reliving it again is something We The People must stop at all costs before it is too late.
What people say, how they say it matters. Words shape our thoughts. They define us. We must continue to condemn the abhorrent things said and not normalize them.
I suppose a good question, but one certainly requiring a several book-length answers is:
How did we slide, slowly but surely, into our current position of out-and-out tribal/racial/cultural warfare? How did millions of American become so gullible and hardhearted as to wander so far from basic kindness and charity? I think political systems, unless they are subjected to periodic stress tests, get old and creaky--and prone to sclerosis. Maybe our current descent into autocracy will cause us to awaken... I don't wish a great depression or a world war as a wake-up call, but maybe, if you take a long view of history, that's what snaps a society out of the coma of morally numbed self-involvement...
One remedy is a moral outrage meme that reaches breakthrough pitch, like in the Congressional hearing that toppled Joe McCarthy in the 1950's Red Scare ("Have you no shame . . . ?"). AOC's rhetoric is a good example of moral outrage, but her signal is drowned in the noise of many voices.
Another remedy is the slow and steady resistance of the three branches of government, plus media and people power. The challenge is velocity. Can outrage and resistance keep pace with the drift, propelled by its power levers flooding the zone?
It may come down to pocketbook issues. When the regime's policies ultimately fail, survival themes will float to the top.
Clear and concise warnings...Thank you again James B. Greenberg. Put this on a billboard!
Thank you for your summary of America 🇺🇸 forgetting past history, and being condemned to repeat it. Those that lived through authoritarian and repressive regimes or had parents or grandparents who lived through them know this history. Wiping out all our painful past and reliving it again is something We The People must stop at all costs before it is too late.
As I just read from @lishashi:
"Because language isn’t just how we speak.
It’s how we think.”
What people say, how they say it matters. Words shape our thoughts. They define us. We must continue to condemn the abhorrent things said and not normalize them.
I suppose a good question, but one certainly requiring a several book-length answers is:
How did we slide, slowly but surely, into our current position of out-and-out tribal/racial/cultural warfare? How did millions of American become so gullible and hardhearted as to wander so far from basic kindness and charity? I think political systems, unless they are subjected to periodic stress tests, get old and creaky--and prone to sclerosis. Maybe our current descent into autocracy will cause us to awaken... I don't wish a great depression or a world war as a wake-up call, but maybe, if you take a long view of history, that's what snaps a society out of the coma of morally numbed self-involvement...