Part 1 of 2. We tell an epic saga of one of our listeners, a harrowing tail of violence, patriotism, and cured meats. Also, there’s a lot of horror in this episode. Enjoy!
QUESTIONS:
What can a progressive do to avoid an existential crisis in our current political climate? –Stu
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Fantastic discussion on the question today, thanks guys. Evidently, I seem to have written that one while in shock of the decision (with respect to readers who might beg to disagree that it was worth being shocked about). More-so, having seen my country of origin do something similar to normalize* these new opinions (overt racism and xenophobia on the rise, etc.).
I actually agreed with both points of view. It’s well worth noting we have our checks and balances, and that it’s only until the mid-terms that the outright majority will be enjoyed, assuming change. I’m disappointed that SCOTUS may be changed for a generation, but then I’m vehemently against SCOTUS justices having political party affiliation anyway (parties are NOT outlined in the Constitution, sounds like they were just a way to promote candidates in an age of difficult mass-communication).
I would also note I wrote the original question to be brief, but also mildly in jest. But I’d agree with Tony that it does really make me reconsider my core beliefs. Not in as much as they’re wrong, but evidently so horribly out of touch with reality that I sometimes wonder if I’m fringe. If being socially liberal (thanks for clarifying “progressive”, William) and wanting civil rights, fairness, etc. is beyond what we’d now consider social and political norms (there’s a word for it, think it begins with B – but a band of opinion that narrows over time, and anything outside is considered extreme, which is why we’ve seemingly trended towards hugely centrist policies).
Fiscally, I’m better off under a conservative government, but I don’t want to be. Others need it.
*this was my biggest take-away, not normalizing what we’re seeing. There’s some pretty overt racism in high schools here, which makes me incredibly sad. The county is solidly blue, very progressive (as you defined it) and to have such opinion emboldened makes me ill if I stop to think about it. I probably need to take breaks, as suggested. You can’t be “on” thinking about this stuff around the clock, it consumes you. However, I want to affect change, and citizenship is Step 1 of that 🙂
I don’t think progressive-minded people are “out of touch” or fringe. I think we need to be very careful not to conclude that the Alt-Right speaks for a large portion of the US… 15% at most, which is still scandalously large, but some people out there are thinking the Alt-Right speaks for nearly half of Americans, and it’s nothing close to that. The Alt-Right doesn’t even speak for the other 11% of Americans who voted for Trump.
I think what we all need to see here is how a “clueless minority” can help a “fascist minority” sail into seats of power.
Broadly speaking, Nazi Germany didn’t happen because the average German was such a horrible bigot. Nazi Germany happened because there were too many people with this attitude: “Well, I don’t think of myself as a Nazi, but I don’t really see how stuff going on with Jews has anything to do with me…” If 20% of a population is bigoted — far too small to seize power — but another 30% of the population that is NOT bigoted doesn’t feel particularly motivated to call the bigots out on their BS, then you have a situation where 50% of the population might support a fascist jerk… that is 20% bigots + 30% “He’s just joking about gassing Jews, right? But his economic policies sound good…”
It’s not good enough, in our culture, for a citizen to just *personally* not hate women and non-hetero-normative people and non-white people. A person also has to call out others who do exhibit hateful behavior towards women and non-hetero-normative people and non-white people.
BUT… calling them out doesn’t mean censoring them or screaming at them or calling them names. It doesn’t even have to be particularly confrontational. In fact, it’ll probably do no good whatsoever if it is particularly confrontational. Silence, however, is also not a valid option.
I realize, though, that many people don’t feel like they have the tools to have *reasonable* conversations around these issues. That is a very serious problem in our culture… people don’t know how to have conversations anymore, about *anything*, much less about heavy, potentially emotional topics.
In any case… speaking as just one US citizen, I’m honored, Stu, that you decided to join us. Truly. Sorry you didn’t get to vote, though. That was a little ridiculous.
Next time, though, Brother… next time…
I’m behind on episodes.
Went to the Holocaust Museum a couple weeks ago and learned that Hitler was elected in a 6-way race, and garnered far less than 50% of the votes.
Yes, that’s an important point. And in the US (in recent decades, anyway) a person typically becomes President with only between 25 and 30% of support from the electorate… I think Obama’s last run was 28%? Trump got in with 26%, I believe. Of course, these low percentages are due to low voter turnout and not drastically split races, but it still amounts to US Presidential candidates needing to persuade only a very small number of people to help them win the office. Well, and they also need to suppress only a small number of votes in a small number of select places to block their opponents from taking the office from them.