Thank you for distilling the horror of 2020 and the ritualistic mutilation of the Republic that preceded it. I awoke to the horror when I lived in a city that was systematically looted and burned during that summer of 2020. After the looting stopped at night the Biden voters would drive around neighborhoods in trucks ordering white people out of their homes. When that failed, they set fire to the forests around the city to smoke out the residents. To this day most people refuse to believe these events really happened but once I saw with my own eyes the brutal Satanic forces motivating the Democrats I would have voted for anybody but Biden. The entire country has now been treated to his corrupt, racist, incompetent administration, and I hope they reach the same conclusion.
I believe it happened. Watching CNN after 11:00 PM I saw and heard Don Lemon say "Right on" when it was announced the police precinct in Minneapolis was set on fire.
These Antifa people are the modern version of the “Christian” parabalani who destroyed the library of Alexandria to help the Emperor and bishops gain power.
Yes kudos to Coeur d'Alene. They stood up against the evil instead of encouraging it. The mayor of Portland and governor of Oregon (where I lived) encouraged the mayhem which made it last for months. The mayor was afterwards re-elected and the governor's hand-chosen Democrat successor installed as the next governor. There is no hope for such craven people. Portland has continued to spiral into a death cycle of drugs, crimes, homelessness and despair. This is the fate that awaits the entire nation and the Western world if the Democrats are not quickly thrown into the trash bin of history.
Thanks for sharing that! Impressive. We need to NOT tolerate their BS throughout our country and we have to fight back and hard. That was Trumps mistake in summer of 2020 though he had incoming from every direction imaginable. Now, they're persecuting him, J6ers and anyone who disagrees with their Marxist, crime supported tyranny....and we must fight, show up and say NO like these people did. Super heartening here! I want to go to Coeur d'Alene!! Maybe move there, though I'm in Florida and that's good too! :-)
Hi Faith, Glad you liked it. The same lady wrote a follow up piece about 2 weeks later, and I am including the link. I think similar things happened in other towns outside of the blue states, but you wouldn't know it from the MSM. Or the MSM would report that peaceful protesters were intimidated by "white nationalists". I would encourage any and all to send these links to others.
Thank you David! This one's great too. It's hard to believe how easy humans can be led astray by people they trust. It's pretty racist to call any White person with a gun a White supremacist for simply protecting their town and businesses.
Our major problems are the brainwashing of University students and the dishonest major media. Fight on we must, to get the truth out. They won't stop until we stop them. We're awake now...!
Outside of real professions, most people only use the education they received through eighth grade, so why are they going to college? (How often do most people use algebra?) The eighth grade system originally gave students all they would need, then they started an apprenticeship. (I speak as a university careerist.)
Interesting.... and true. Never thought about that.
So Colleges promoted the need (in the 90's & beyond), that EVERYONE must attend or they wouldn't be successful. What a racket, and a heck of a guaranteed revenue stream. Then they also jacked up tuition way above the inflationary rate, made borrowing easy and non bankruptable (is that a word?). I say that as a music major/theatre minor at Florida. Didn't graduate, didn't need to, I just went onto sales :-)
Wish it were otherwise but Dems will win 2024 simply because more Americans depend on big government than don’t depend on big government; and they vote their purse and not their integrity.
What do you think about the ongoing repetition of the "1930s Redux" narrative in particular that has prevailed since 2016 and that was so important in the 2020 and 2022 elections. Take a look at this article just out in The TransAtlantic for context, you might get something from it…
Interesting analysis that I not before considered. The narrow academic lens of our historical narrative distorts anything outside the angle of that lens. This has been going on for years and infecting all the power centers of the United States (and perhaps the West). Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor was in my history class in college in the mid-1970s. Even then our professor was a radical Marxist with a laser focus on the evils of Nazism and capitalism, and a proponent of early critical race theory. Sotomayor liked it so much she majored in history and the poison poured in her ear decades ago flows from her keyboard with each Supreme Court opinion she writes.
The 'Borg' determines--so true. This is a mind-washed cult who get as angry as any cult member when someone flashes the light of reality in their faces. It burns.
They really do behave similarly to other cults. They see themselves as some unique, world transforming awakening, but that is something that cultists pretty much always think. It actually helps me to think about the woke cult that way, like there is nothing very original or special about it. When you listen to one, you hear everything they all have to say.
In light of the Durham report, what do you think about the ongoing repetition of the "1930s Redux" narrative that has prevailed since 2016 and that was so important in the 2020 and 2022 elections. Take a look at this article just out in The TransAtlantic for context, you might get something from it…
The left has considered every Republican president since Eisenhower to be Literally. Hitler. It is boilerplate, and the media is in on it.
What is new is that the security state is now partisan too. Nothing I have seen leads me to believe that they considered Trump to be commander in chief.
I wouldn't disagree. However, this time it is having an effect in the electorate "Democracy is on the Ballot" (especially the young). Along with a couple other issues, I think it did have an influence on the 2020 and 2022 elections. Rather than just a blanket slur, it is being used effectively to shape interpretations of jan 6th and other events to give the Democrats an edge in some very tight electoral contests. This is one of those discourses that really needs to be pushed back against.
Your remark about the security state is on point. I would add that these institutions are staffed with precisely the kinds of graduates that have imbibed the trope that I am talking about and it is being enlisted to rationalize their partisan actions, so as to legitimize to themselves behavior that contravenes the law and their oaths of office.
Gather together as many as possible willing to join together to stop this cult, setting aside all other battles. I have no media background but I'm going to try a youtube channel that will put out messages for both children and adults. Almost all children love animals and we have a small farm so I will use life on the farm to convey my message.
This was truly an outstanding essay and summary of the last decade. I hope you write a book about this journey and the consequences. I think more than a few readers are already concerned this trend of Woke Authoritarianism Democratic Party will continue to dominate past our lifetime and into our grandchildren’s. That people like Biden, Fetterman, Feinstein, McConnel, Romney, Graham are in office show how deep the swamp is.
“will continue to dominate past our lifetime and into our grandchildren’s.”
Can you explain to me why you believe humanity can survive that long. The weapons we now have are vastly more powerful than in the past. Gordon Chang says China is itching for war with America. He said they know war would not be in their interest but on an emotional level they, especially their military, want it and this war will be “full spectrum” meaning nuclear, biological, cyber attacks to knock out the internet and electrical power grid and whatever else they have to throw at us. This would most probably collapse our entire global civilization and where would that leave humanity? And this is only one out of control monster. Why do so many people think these are merely some turbulent times which we will recover from as we always do?
I just read the city council in Chicago approved a $51 million dollar package to help the “migrants” aka illegals. Chicago blacks, many who voted for this, are furious about it and rightly so. It is wildly insane for this society to keep shoveling money into Ukraine and to keep giving money to illegals while we have so many of our own problems to deal with. Open borders is yet another out of control monster created by our wildly insane ruling class. This is unworkable and obviously unsustainable.
You're still thinking about the US as it was a hundred years ago. Today, there is no "we" in the US. Different groups have different (often incompatible) interests. Very few people in the US have any interest in Ukraine -- the most corrupt country in Europe, and one where the government is controlled by a small group of non-Ukrainian oligarchs. Hint: we are backing these oligarchs because the USA is likewise dominated by a small group of oligarchs -- related to the Ukrainian rulers. Both are related to the Yeltsinite oligarchs who Vlad Putin drove out of power in Russia. And that is why "we" are fighting the Russians with Ukrainian troops.
Both. The Woke democrats remind me of a weird combination of Hitler’s Nazis (race obsessed fanatics) and Mao’s Red Guard (Equal Outcomes obsessed fanatics). Certainly a very unfortunate development but it is what it is.
“History does not repeat itself, but ideas do.”
“Analyst of Totalitarianism-Reading Simon Leys Today.”
Spot on! Back during The Third Reich, even a doctor had to publicly endorse the idea that an Aryan’s & a Jew’s skull were differently shaped which is of course completely crackpot.
Yeah, we send a $5 million missile to take out their spy balloon. Meanwhile, they ship poison over here and we pay them for it.
I'm not a big China hawk, and I don't believe they're really itching for a fight. They have an abundance of problems of their own. But, I'm also no expert on the matter, and we've done a pretty good job of showing them all of our many weaknesses. If the roles were reversed, there would be plenty of neo-cons itching to attack and take full advantage.
They already committed an act of war against us by releasing the biological agent Covid 19 against us and the world. Unfortunately, no one in our government had the balls to nuke them into the stone age. Now they will take Taiwan and watch Biden wet himself.
Against us? The ruling class in DC did very well through the pandemic. US Taxpayer money funded the gain of function research that created the virus in the Wuhan lab. If Covid was a n act of war against the US by the Chinese then our ruling class is allied with them against us.
Yeah, I wouldn't put anything past the deep state elite cabal. There is always the theory they want to reduce the total population. Who know what they'll come up with for the 2024 election voting cycle.
Gordon Chang is just a China-hate group financed falun gong supporter. He's on the falun gong channel out here in the Bay Area, called 'China in Focus' Channel 24. Do you know how they say the Washington Times is owned by the Moonies? kind of like that, only worse, more like the scientologists. Gordon is like a better paid off Harry Wu, pointing his camera at who knows what he'll say and narrate. what was it? the US is crazy to send their athletes to their certain deaths when Beijing holds the winter olympics despite blue-team COVID panic hysteria. how did that crystal ball prediction work out for Gordon? Sorry, Seva, and I do not really consider you my enemy, but the US has warmongered for so much more and more often than China, where the PRC spends most of their time wading in flooded rivers with sandbags or looking under rubble for survivors of earthquakes. Gordon makes Elon Musk look like the most mature person in the world. All the China-hate stuff really accomplishes is encouraging more American psychos to attack Chinese grandmothers in USA Chinatowns/that's all.
Well, of course there is no "global civilization". E.g., China and Russia are completely different cultures and societies. This is because they are completely different peoples/races. To complete the cliche: "Politics is downstream of culture, and culture is downstream of race." If you're referring to current American 'culture' which is metastasizing around the globe, it is so degenerate that I can't call it a civilization at all. Homo sapiens as a species would be much better off if the US were buried in lava flows from the Yellowstone volcano.
There is indeed a global civilization. For many years I worked with mostly immigrants from all over the world in Chicago. Vietnam, Mexico, Assyrians from Iraq, Jews from the Soviet Union, Indian Muslims from Gujarat and many other places. I know them well since I often talked to them about their former countries and they would tell me stories of their lives. Quite fascinating. Excellent people with traditional values. I have infinitely more in common with them than with Woke white leftists born and raised here as I was. I cannot understand them at all and have nothing at all in common with them. Plus everything is now online which makes communication easy and instantaneous.
As is often the case, most arguments involve a different interpretation of language. As we see from the root word, "civilization" means living in cities. "Material culture" might be better understood. Cultures are all similar in structure (AKA Human Nature), but radically different in content. No need to subscribe to National Geographic, Chicago is a mess of different cultures. Sixty years ago, we lived near 65th and S. Halsted. Largely Irish, and very different from Italian and German neighborhoods..
I wonder what culture you grew up in. Normal people run into conflict with those from different cultures, because they (being normal humans) have thoroughly internalized the rules of their own society, and those rules seem to be the right way to do things. Those who do otherwise seem odd at best and hostile at worst. If you think this is pointing towards 'normal' being a synonym for 'conservative' or 'right-wing' you get a gold star. "Breathes there the man with soul so dead, that never to himself has said: this is MY country?" the answer is 'yes' -- they're called Leftists.
"Perhaps one day, when the fog dissipates, they too will hang their heads in shame." I'm not sure that day will come. For me, this realization came after watching Sam Harris interviewed on Triggernometry. This supposed paragon of left-wing reasonableness freely admitted that lying and manipulation of elections was all well and good if it furthered "The Cause." These people are true believers - they are in a cult. They are happy in this cult, the have friends, they have moral superiority. What's not to like? I don't know how to break through to them. I have a personal story on how I moved from left to right, as does Sasha, and perhaps many of her readers. But the move was on an individual level and required a lot of curiosity, research, mental effort, and honesty with oneself. Most of the people I know are on the left. They are comfortable where they are.
You're right. They are part of a cult. The tactics employed by the elites are very much in line with those used by cults to keep their members in line and spreading their "gospel". It takes a critical mind and a willingness to leave some assumptions behind to see through the gaslighting and the psychological games foisted on us, particularly these past 3 years as Sasha said.
Take a look at this article just out in The TransAtlantic for context, you might get something from it. What do you think about the ongoing repetition of the "1930s Redux" narrative that has prevailed since 2016 and that was so important in the 2020 and 2022 elections?
Good article. I think the notion of "Sharks and Nazis" explains some of the prevailing level of ignorance on a lot of important topics. I don't think though that it is indicative of some sort of 1930s redux. It will be something different, more along the lines of what Mattias Desmet writes about in his book, "The Psychology of Totalitarianism." There seems to be an acceleration of movement towards "something" and I don't know what it is or how to fully understand it let alone have a constructive influence on its direction.
"There seems to be an acceleration of movement towards "something" and I don't know what it is or how to fully understand it let alone have a constructive influence on its direction"
That's exactly what I'm trying to work through over at The TransAtlantic, so you should subscribe over there for more writing that tries to navigate this precise problem.
I tend to take a historicizing view. The essential structures or qualities in social phenomena do repeat, recur, and can be identified, but the historical forms will be different. Looking back to the 20th in order to recognize and model what is happening now is not helpful. This is why I agree fundamentally with your point. 'Fascism', if it was not confined to the context of the mid-twentieth century, will not take the same form in the 21st. We have to be imaginative and penetrate our understanding to the essence of developments, rather than rely on historical templates.
The cult leader of the Woke left is their Woke ideology which is based on race, black is good, white is bad, and their gender ideology which is that gender is fluid and can be switched. It goes beyond that and also is deeply committed to “Equity” aka Equal Outcomes. The left basically traded class for race and called it Critical Race Theory or Woke. Eliminating gender for the sake of equality and replacing meritocracy wherever it can be found with Equity for the sake of equality is also central to the Woke cult or mass psychosis. Basically a mind virus which attacks the mind similar to a biological virus which attacks the body. It also sees the world in terms of oppressor vs oppressed. Dave Rubin calls it “Woke Marxism!” Race based rather than class based Marxism/Socialism.
Many of us were also True Believers and the transition was a personal journey of discovery. You have been trained to invest all of your ego and emotion into The Ideology. You will respond with aggression and nastiness towards anything that contradicts what you believe without question to be reality. I will no longer engage someone with such a flawed reality.
Interesting piece Sasha, thank you. The problem we face is not one-sided, however. It is a uniparty. We have warhawks on both sides. We have MARXISTS, who hate God and everything normative. We have a perverse group pushing every form of idolatry and wickedness upon our children… grooming them not only for sexual exploitation but psychological illnesses. A Godless nation reaps what it sows. Apollyon is tying his shoes.
Sasha, I so admire you for having the fortitude to re-examine beliefs that you held for your whole life. Many of us cling to our anchors no matter what evidence is presented to the contrary. You present such a contrast to those who parrot the same things over and over, and constantly look for reinforcement from the same old tired tropes.
It’s not easy to wander from your philosophical base. Much easier to keep spouting the same conclusions that you reached at 18, confident that you have it all figured out.
Take a look at this article just out in The TransAtlantic for context, you might get something from it. What do you think about the ongoing "parroting" of the "1930s Redux" narrative that has prevailed since 2016 and that was so important in the 2020 and 2022 elections? Perhaps the re-enforcement and anchoring you mention lies in this media-driven story arc...
The angle that I find interesting, but not addressed, is why the 180 degree turn on the subject of fascism?
In the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, there was a complete ban on the comparison of anything happening in the US to the rise of fascism in Germany. Somebody (can’t remember the name) coined a tongue-in-cheek “law” regarding discourse: “Whoever brings up Hitler automatically loses the argument”. It was definitely verboten to even bring up the topic.
Now things have gone in quite the opposite direction. Everything opposed to the current ruling elites is akin to Hitler. They hysterically push that narrative.
So why was it completely forbidden during the time that this regime was consolidating their power? And constantly trotted out against dissidents now that they are firmly ensconced in every political and cultural institution?
Is it really simply a lack of a wider historical reference?
I think it’s interesting and revealing that our ruling class talks about Trump and supporters in exactly the same way they talk about Putin and Russia and they are actively waging war against both and doing incredible damage to America internally and to the world globally with their proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. There is absolutely no reason at all that we should be at war with Russia. We could have easily been friends and this would have countered China and made our world far more stable and functional. Too late now. No one does dance and ballet better than the Russians. I have a Jewish friend from the Soviet Union from work who’s retired but still lives in Chicago in Old Town. She sent me this recently. Really beautiful. Incredibly talented dancing.
Igor Moiseyev Ballet - Witches Sabbath (Night On Bald Mountain). (18 min)
That's a good point, to which I have no answer. My observation has only gotten as far as to answering the question as to why ruling elites have resorted to this particular narrative, and it is because there is a ready receptiveness in their activist base for this particular narrative that has been prepared by the things I mention in the article. Remember, they have little substantive that they are willing to say, so they have to resort to fear-mongering, internecine civil discord, and bumpf. Electorally, they also have to hive off identity interest groups from the working class/middle class, if they want to be electable. Pushing the 'fascist takeover' narrative helps them do that
All I can give you at this point, as to why there was a tacit aversion in public discourse before the last 10-20 years or so, is that the standards of our public discourse have been eroded in general over the last couple decades opening the space up to a lowest common denominator rush to the bottom. I'm not quite sure how far that answer really takes us.
I will say that a similar law to the one you mention goes something along the lines of "after x number of responses in a Youtube comment feed, Hitler or Stalin will be mentioned". Without the constraints of discursive 'validity conditions' (think Habermas), and in the absence of the good will that exists in face to face discussion, discourse and debate spiral off rapidly into lowest denominator type accusations.
I am starting to see a glimmer of hope for my Progressive friends. I think they are embarrassed by being taken in by the Russiagate thing, where their trusted news organs used and abused them. If we could only get an actual centrist party up and running, there are a lot of people ready to jump from both sides.
Idk, I had a conversation with 2 of my more “educated” liberal friends a couple months ago and I commented on: A) That the Russiagate stuff was b.s., and B) that I was not in support of financing the Ukraine fiasco.
Their response was that no, there really was Russian interference in our elections according to Barr and Steele report, blah blah blah. And that they were disappointed in my Ukraine stance and that Putin was a threat to our democracy (blah blah blah). I wanted to bring up J6 but stopped after that...
Hey Gabe, I suggest you tell your lib friends to go to Ukraine and fight. But my guess is that they want other people to go do the fighting while they sip tea. The Left used to have the high moral ground in being anti-war; they lost that at least 20 years ago.
Take a look at this article just out in The TransAtlantic for context, you might get something from it. Could the constant repetition of the "1930s Redux" narrative have a significant role in the 2020 and 2022 elections?
I think part of your TDS problem is that you’re turning to Reuters & the NYT for information. Both publish what Dems want published and absolutely nothing smelling of the truth, especially if it involves Trump. Give up, you’re hopelessly lost.
One criticism of yet another great post -- In the 2016 election, there was no measurable impact from pro-Trump bot posts on Facebook. Those of us in the online tech industry understand there were a relatively low number of these posts, and clickthroughs were extremely rare. What's hard for us to understand is how that myth still has credence with well-read, intellectual pros. The rest of this personal essay was enlightening and relatable.
Sasha, it didn't start in 2020. Yes, traditional Catholics like me are outraged that an FBI agent could seriously recommend spying on us. But they did it to MLK Jr. Even the much lamented Bobby Kennedy signed off on that, thinking it would be for a month, some say. Only recently reports came out that FBI agents suggested that MLK kill himself.
Hoover spied on nobody knows how many Americans.
Credible reports put mafia and CIA figures in the Kennedy assassination, and most terribly of all, some claim that Johnson knew.
You grew up as a well meaning flower child, but by God's help you're getting wise to the scene-- a very ugly scene. To be truly wise we need divine help and the divine word. My favorite translations are the Vulgate and Douay Rheims.
I am working so hard to despise the character of Obama, his comments, his politics, and not him personally that I am perspiring from the effort.
"Biden’s legacy might include wiping both Putin and Trump off the map, which would be, for the Obama/Hillary coalition quite the victory."
I don't believe I've encountered a more chilling prospect.
"Who will have blood on their hands once we make our way through this fog of war?"
No one currently living.
"Perhaps one day, when the fog dissipates, they too will hang their heads in shame."
I admire your optimism - I suppose it could happen, but it won't be those who were involved - it may be those who, studying it a generation on, come to realize just what happened. Even then, it won't matter - either republicans will have found a way to right the ship, or this nation will cease to exist as a constitutional republic.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was Hillary's campaign in the primaries that started the birther movement targeting Obama. Whether or not Obama was foreign born I can say that a good friend of mine and his wife took a trip to Africa and, upon landing in Nairobi immediately saw a large sign that said, "Welcome to Kenya, birthplace of Barak Obama".
Regarding the 2020 riots, see the link. I think what it really shows is that in Idaho the police and prosecutors would back up the innocent, while in Oregon and Washington one could be charged if one did not allow oneself to be victimized. The rioters had trashed the downtown of a city 20 miles away in Washington, and I doubt the those people were much different than those in Coeur d'Alene.
It started before Hillary. I remember it distinctly because I was teaching in the inner city at this time. It made for "lively" discussions in the teacher's lunch room.
Thank you for distilling the horror of 2020 and the ritualistic mutilation of the Republic that preceded it. I awoke to the horror when I lived in a city that was systematically looted and burned during that summer of 2020. After the looting stopped at night the Biden voters would drive around neighborhoods in trucks ordering white people out of their homes. When that failed, they set fire to the forests around the city to smoke out the residents. To this day most people refuse to believe these events really happened but once I saw with my own eyes the brutal Satanic forces motivating the Democrats I would have voted for anybody but Biden. The entire country has now been treated to his corrupt, racist, incompetent administration, and I hope they reach the same conclusion.
I believe it happened. Watching CNN after 11:00 PM I saw and heard Don Lemon say "Right on" when it was announced the police precinct in Minneapolis was set on fire.
These Antifa people are the modern version of the “Christian” parabalani who destroyed the library of Alexandria to help the Emperor and bishops gain power.
https://www.itsmac.com/2020/06/02/coeur-dalene-idaho-stands-up-antifa-stands-down/
Yes kudos to Coeur d'Alene. They stood up against the evil instead of encouraging it. The mayor of Portland and governor of Oregon (where I lived) encouraged the mayhem which made it last for months. The mayor was afterwards re-elected and the governor's hand-chosen Democrat successor installed as the next governor. There is no hope for such craven people. Portland has continued to spiral into a death cycle of drugs, crimes, homelessness and despair. This is the fate that awaits the entire nation and the Western world if the Democrats are not quickly thrown into the trash bin of history.
In Idaho they would probably not be prosecuted for defending themselves.
If only every community had done this. Hats off to the citizens of Coeur d'Alene.
Thanks for sharing that! Impressive. We need to NOT tolerate their BS throughout our country and we have to fight back and hard. That was Trumps mistake in summer of 2020 though he had incoming from every direction imaginable. Now, they're persecuting him, J6ers and anyone who disagrees with their Marxist, crime supported tyranny....and we must fight, show up and say NO like these people did. Super heartening here! I want to go to Coeur d'Alene!! Maybe move there, though I'm in Florida and that's good too! :-)
Hi Faith, Glad you liked it. The same lady wrote a follow up piece about 2 weeks later, and I am including the link. I think similar things happened in other towns outside of the blue states, but you wouldn't know it from the MSM. Or the MSM would report that peaceful protesters were intimidated by "white nationalists". I would encourage any and all to send these links to others.
https://www.itsmac.com/2020/06/16/a-tale-of-two-cities-coeur-dalene-id-vs-seattle-wa/
Thank you David! This one's great too. It's hard to believe how easy humans can be led astray by people they trust. It's pretty racist to call any White person with a gun a White supremacist for simply protecting their town and businesses.
Our major problems are the brainwashing of University students and the dishonest major media. Fight on we must, to get the truth out. They won't stop until we stop them. We're awake now...!
Outside of real professions, most people only use the education they received through eighth grade, so why are they going to college? (How often do most people use algebra?) The eighth grade system originally gave students all they would need, then they started an apprenticeship. (I speak as a university careerist.)
Interesting.... and true. Never thought about that.
So Colleges promoted the need (in the 90's & beyond), that EVERYONE must attend or they wouldn't be successful. What a racket, and a heck of a guaranteed revenue stream. Then they also jacked up tuition way above the inflationary rate, made borrowing easy and non bankruptable (is that a word?). I say that as a music major/theatre minor at Florida. Didn't graduate, didn't need to, I just went onto sales :-)
Wish it were otherwise but Dems will win 2024 simply because more Americans depend on big government than don’t depend on big government; and they vote their purse and not their integrity.
Which is why purses always have strings . . . back in the 70s it was 'there's no such thing as a free lunch'.
What do you think about the ongoing repetition of the "1930s Redux" narrative in particular that has prevailed since 2016 and that was so important in the 2020 and 2022 elections. Take a look at this article just out in The TransAtlantic for context, you might get something from it…
https://thetransatlantic.substack.com/p/durham-report-trump-russia-nazis-history
Interesting analysis that I not before considered. The narrow academic lens of our historical narrative distorts anything outside the angle of that lens. This has been going on for years and infecting all the power centers of the United States (and perhaps the West). Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor was in my history class in college in the mid-1970s. Even then our professor was a radical Marxist with a laser focus on the evils of Nazism and capitalism, and a proponent of early critical race theory. Sotomayor liked it so much she majored in history and the poison poured in her ear decades ago flows from her keyboard with each Supreme Court opinion she writes.
"Perhaps one day, when the fog dissipates, they too will hang their heads in shame."
The left controls academia, so no. Historians will dutifully write what the Borg determines to be The Narrative.
It will be memory-holed and historians will declare that Russia did in fact install Trump as his puppet in 2016.
Perhaps one day, when the fog dissipates, we can hang their heads along the 14th Street Bridge.
A far more likely outcome than their ever feeling shame.
Concur. “ Perhaps one day, when the fog dissipates, they too will hang their heads in shame."
They have no shame. All that matters to them is power & control.
The 'Borg' determines--so true. This is a mind-washed cult who get as angry as any cult member when someone flashes the light of reality in their faces. It burns.
They really do behave similarly to other cults. They see themselves as some unique, world transforming awakening, but that is something that cultists pretty much always think. It actually helps me to think about the woke cult that way, like there is nothing very original or special about it. When you listen to one, you hear everything they all have to say.
Let us prepare the Kool-Aid!!!!
In light of the Durham report, what do you think about the ongoing repetition of the "1930s Redux" narrative that has prevailed since 2016 and that was so important in the 2020 and 2022 elections. Take a look at this article just out in The TransAtlantic for context, you might get something from it…
https://thetransatlantic.substack.com/p/durham-report-trump-russia-nazis-history
The left has considered every Republican president since Eisenhower to be Literally. Hitler. It is boilerplate, and the media is in on it.
What is new is that the security state is now partisan too. Nothing I have seen leads me to believe that they considered Trump to be commander in chief.
I wouldn't disagree. However, this time it is having an effect in the electorate "Democracy is on the Ballot" (especially the young). Along with a couple other issues, I think it did have an influence on the 2020 and 2022 elections. Rather than just a blanket slur, it is being used effectively to shape interpretations of jan 6th and other events to give the Democrats an edge in some very tight electoral contests. This is one of those discourses that really needs to be pushed back against.
Your remark about the security state is on point. I would add that these institutions are staffed with precisely the kinds of graduates that have imbibed the trope that I am talking about and it is being enlisted to rationalize their partisan actions, so as to legitimize to themselves behavior that contravenes the law and their oaths of office.
I hate this response with all of my being.
I hate it too. But I also agree.
Nah, I’m more of a believer in the MLK quote: “The moral arc of the universe is long and slow but always bends towards justice”.
Hopefully the arc is shorter than our lifetime.
Good point
Thanks for the optimism. It's sorely needed- all this can be SO depressing. But, be positive and take action we must!
You think we are doomed. To tyranny. No way out. That’s what you think?
I agree with the comment, but I also believe in the long term we will beat tyranny.
Plot us a course. I’m listening.
Gather together as many as possible willing to join together to stop this cult, setting aside all other battles. I have no media background but I'm going to try a youtube channel that will put out messages for both children and adults. Almost all children love animals and we have a small farm so I will use life on the farm to convey my message.
Get at least one person to do exactly as Sasha has. It will go exponential.
This was truly an outstanding essay and summary of the last decade. I hope you write a book about this journey and the consequences. I think more than a few readers are already concerned this trend of Woke Authoritarianism Democratic Party will continue to dominate past our lifetime and into our grandchildren’s. That people like Biden, Fetterman, Feinstein, McConnel, Romney, Graham are in office show how deep the swamp is.
“will continue to dominate past our lifetime and into our grandchildren’s.”
Can you explain to me why you believe humanity can survive that long. The weapons we now have are vastly more powerful than in the past. Gordon Chang says China is itching for war with America. He said they know war would not be in their interest but on an emotional level they, especially their military, want it and this war will be “full spectrum” meaning nuclear, biological, cyber attacks to knock out the internet and electrical power grid and whatever else they have to throw at us. This would most probably collapse our entire global civilization and where would that leave humanity? And this is only one out of control monster. Why do so many people think these are merely some turbulent times which we will recover from as we always do?
Their fentanyl is already killing many of us.
I just read the city council in Chicago approved a $51 million dollar package to help the “migrants” aka illegals. Chicago blacks, many who voted for this, are furious about it and rightly so. It is wildly insane for this society to keep shoveling money into Ukraine and to keep giving money to illegals while we have so many of our own problems to deal with. Open borders is yet another out of control monster created by our wildly insane ruling class. This is unworkable and obviously unsustainable.
The black tribes and and their white liberal enablers deserve everything that is coming their way.
They are both individually an constitutionally incapable of seeing beyond their noses.
You're still thinking about the US as it was a hundred years ago. Today, there is no "we" in the US. Different groups have different (often incompatible) interests. Very few people in the US have any interest in Ukraine -- the most corrupt country in Europe, and one where the government is controlled by a small group of non-Ukrainian oligarchs. Hint: we are backing these oligarchs because the USA is likewise dominated by a small group of oligarchs -- related to the Ukrainian rulers. Both are related to the Yeltsinite oligarchs who Vlad Putin drove out of power in Russia. And that is why "we" are fighting the Russians with Ukrainian troops.
Insane or evil?
Both. The Woke democrats remind me of a weird combination of Hitler’s Nazis (race obsessed fanatics) and Mao’s Red Guard (Equal Outcomes obsessed fanatics). Certainly a very unfortunate development but it is what it is.
“History does not repeat itself, but ideas do.”
“Analyst of Totalitarianism-Reading Simon Leys Today.”
https://quillette.com/2020/09/28/analyst-of-totalitarianism-reading-simon-leys-today/
Spot on! Back during The Third Reich, even a doctor had to publicly endorse the idea that an Aryan’s & a Jew’s skull were differently shaped which is of course completely crackpot.
Yeah, we send a $5 million missile to take out their spy balloon. Meanwhile, they ship poison over here and we pay them for it.
I'm not a big China hawk, and I don't believe they're really itching for a fight. They have an abundance of problems of their own. But, I'm also no expert on the matter, and we've done a pretty good job of showing them all of our many weaknesses. If the roles were reversed, there would be plenty of neo-cons itching to attack and take full advantage.
They already committed an act of war against us by releasing the biological agent Covid 19 against us and the world. Unfortunately, no one in our government had the balls to nuke them into the stone age. Now they will take Taiwan and watch Biden wet himself.
I may have just talked myself into agreeing with you, but I don't think I like where this leads.
Against us? The ruling class in DC did very well through the pandemic. US Taxpayer money funded the gain of function research that created the virus in the Wuhan lab. If Covid was a n act of war against the US by the Chinese then our ruling class is allied with them against us.
Yeah, I wouldn't put anything past the deep state elite cabal. There is always the theory they want to reduce the total population. Who know what they'll come up with for the 2024 election voting cycle.
Hey Seva, I didn’t word my comment very well; I don’t disagree with you that we are in for nasty weather.
Gordon Chang is just a China-hate group financed falun gong supporter. He's on the falun gong channel out here in the Bay Area, called 'China in Focus' Channel 24. Do you know how they say the Washington Times is owned by the Moonies? kind of like that, only worse, more like the scientologists. Gordon is like a better paid off Harry Wu, pointing his camera at who knows what he'll say and narrate. what was it? the US is crazy to send their athletes to their certain deaths when Beijing holds the winter olympics despite blue-team COVID panic hysteria. how did that crystal ball prediction work out for Gordon? Sorry, Seva, and I do not really consider you my enemy, but the US has warmongered for so much more and more often than China, where the PRC spends most of their time wading in flooded rivers with sandbags or looking under rubble for survivors of earthquakes. Gordon makes Elon Musk look like the most mature person in the world. All the China-hate stuff really accomplishes is encouraging more American psychos to attack Chinese grandmothers in USA Chinatowns/that's all.
Well, of course there is no "global civilization". E.g., China and Russia are completely different cultures and societies. This is because they are completely different peoples/races. To complete the cliche: "Politics is downstream of culture, and culture is downstream of race." If you're referring to current American 'culture' which is metastasizing around the globe, it is so degenerate that I can't call it a civilization at all. Homo sapiens as a species would be much better off if the US were buried in lava flows from the Yellowstone volcano.
There is indeed a global civilization. For many years I worked with mostly immigrants from all over the world in Chicago. Vietnam, Mexico, Assyrians from Iraq, Jews from the Soviet Union, Indian Muslims from Gujarat and many other places. I know them well since I often talked to them about their former countries and they would tell me stories of their lives. Quite fascinating. Excellent people with traditional values. I have infinitely more in common with them than with Woke white leftists born and raised here as I was. I cannot understand them at all and have nothing at all in common with them. Plus everything is now online which makes communication easy and instantaneous.
As is often the case, most arguments involve a different interpretation of language. As we see from the root word, "civilization" means living in cities. "Material culture" might be better understood. Cultures are all similar in structure (AKA Human Nature), but radically different in content. No need to subscribe to National Geographic, Chicago is a mess of different cultures. Sixty years ago, we lived near 65th and S. Halsted. Largely Irish, and very different from Italian and German neighborhoods..
I wonder what culture you grew up in. Normal people run into conflict with those from different cultures, because they (being normal humans) have thoroughly internalized the rules of their own society, and those rules seem to be the right way to do things. Those who do otherwise seem odd at best and hostile at worst. If you think this is pointing towards 'normal' being a synonym for 'conservative' or 'right-wing' you get a gold star. "Breathes there the man with soul so dead, that never to himself has said: this is MY country?" the answer is 'yes' -- they're called Leftists.
"Perhaps one day, when the fog dissipates, they too will hang their heads in shame." I'm not sure that day will come. For me, this realization came after watching Sam Harris interviewed on Triggernometry. This supposed paragon of left-wing reasonableness freely admitted that lying and manipulation of elections was all well and good if it furthered "The Cause." These people are true believers - they are in a cult. They are happy in this cult, the have friends, they have moral superiority. What's not to like? I don't know how to break through to them. I have a personal story on how I moved from left to right, as does Sasha, and perhaps many of her readers. But the move was on an individual level and required a lot of curiosity, research, mental effort, and honesty with oneself. Most of the people I know are on the left. They are comfortable where they are.
You're right. They are part of a cult. The tactics employed by the elites are very much in line with those used by cults to keep their members in line and spreading their "gospel". It takes a critical mind and a willingness to leave some assumptions behind to see through the gaslighting and the psychological games foisted on us, particularly these past 3 years as Sasha said.
Yeah, Sam Harris..the polar opposite of sane and reasonable.
Take a look at this article just out in The TransAtlantic for context, you might get something from it. What do you think about the ongoing repetition of the "1930s Redux" narrative that has prevailed since 2016 and that was so important in the 2020 and 2022 elections?
https://thetransatlantic.substack.com/p/durham-report-trump-russia-nazis-history
Good article. I think the notion of "Sharks and Nazis" explains some of the prevailing level of ignorance on a lot of important topics. I don't think though that it is indicative of some sort of 1930s redux. It will be something different, more along the lines of what Mattias Desmet writes about in his book, "The Psychology of Totalitarianism." There seems to be an acceleration of movement towards "something" and I don't know what it is or how to fully understand it let alone have a constructive influence on its direction.
"There seems to be an acceleration of movement towards "something" and I don't know what it is or how to fully understand it let alone have a constructive influence on its direction"
That's exactly what I'm trying to work through over at The TransAtlantic, so you should subscribe over there for more writing that tries to navigate this precise problem.
I tend to take a historicizing view. The essential structures or qualities in social phenomena do repeat, recur, and can be identified, but the historical forms will be different. Looking back to the 20th in order to recognize and model what is happening now is not helpful. This is why I agree fundamentally with your point. 'Fascism', if it was not confined to the context of the mid-twentieth century, will not take the same form in the 21st. We have to be imaginative and penetrate our understanding to the essence of developments, rather than rely on historical templates.
I like your point though!
The cult leader of the Woke left is their Woke ideology which is based on race, black is good, white is bad, and their gender ideology which is that gender is fluid and can be switched. It goes beyond that and also is deeply committed to “Equity” aka Equal Outcomes. The left basically traded class for race and called it Critical Race Theory or Woke. Eliminating gender for the sake of equality and replacing meritocracy wherever it can be found with Equity for the sake of equality is also central to the Woke cult or mass psychosis. Basically a mind virus which attacks the mind similar to a biological virus which attacks the body. It also sees the world in terms of oppressor vs oppressed. Dave Rubin calls it “Woke Marxism!” Race based rather than class based Marxism/Socialism.
Basically, a camouflaged technique for amassing power.
Are people like Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tulsi Gabbard, Glenn Greenwald and Harmeet Dhillon also in the cult?
Anyone looking to those in the DC cabal, regardless of which "side" they're on, for ideological or moral leadership are doomed to never understand.
Many of us were also True Believers and the transition was a personal journey of discovery. You have been trained to invest all of your ego and emotion into The Ideology. You will respond with aggression and nastiness towards anything that contradicts what you believe without question to be reality. I will no longer engage someone with such a flawed reality.
Interesting piece Sasha, thank you. The problem we face is not one-sided, however. It is a uniparty. We have warhawks on both sides. We have MARXISTS, who hate God and everything normative. We have a perverse group pushing every form of idolatry and wickedness upon our children… grooming them not only for sexual exploitation but psychological illnesses. A Godless nation reaps what it sows. Apollyon is tying his shoes.
I agree. The uniparty have united to keep their power, influence, prestige and weatlth. Many republicans are in this party.
I imagine there is much more to this story, but we are not privy to it.
Sasha, I so admire you for having the fortitude to re-examine beliefs that you held for your whole life. Many of us cling to our anchors no matter what evidence is presented to the contrary. You present such a contrast to those who parrot the same things over and over, and constantly look for reinforcement from the same old tired tropes.
It’s not easy to wander from your philosophical base. Much easier to keep spouting the same conclusions that you reached at 18, confident that you have it all figured out.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Take a look at this article just out in The TransAtlantic for context, you might get something from it. What do you think about the ongoing "parroting" of the "1930s Redux" narrative that has prevailed since 2016 and that was so important in the 2020 and 2022 elections? Perhaps the re-enforcement and anchoring you mention lies in this media-driven story arc...
https://thetransatlantic.substack.com/p/durham-report-trump-russia-nazis-history
Interesting article, thanks for the link.
The angle that I find interesting, but not addressed, is why the 180 degree turn on the subject of fascism?
In the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, there was a complete ban on the comparison of anything happening in the US to the rise of fascism in Germany. Somebody (can’t remember the name) coined a tongue-in-cheek “law” regarding discourse: “Whoever brings up Hitler automatically loses the argument”. It was definitely verboten to even bring up the topic.
Now things have gone in quite the opposite direction. Everything opposed to the current ruling elites is akin to Hitler. They hysterically push that narrative.
So why was it completely forbidden during the time that this regime was consolidating their power? And constantly trotted out against dissidents now that they are firmly ensconced in every political and cultural institution?
Is it really simply a lack of a wider historical reference?
I think it’s interesting and revealing that our ruling class talks about Trump and supporters in exactly the same way they talk about Putin and Russia and they are actively waging war against both and doing incredible damage to America internally and to the world globally with their proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. There is absolutely no reason at all that we should be at war with Russia. We could have easily been friends and this would have countered China and made our world far more stable and functional. Too late now. No one does dance and ballet better than the Russians. I have a Jewish friend from the Soviet Union from work who’s retired but still lives in Chicago in Old Town. She sent me this recently. Really beautiful. Incredibly talented dancing.
Igor Moiseyev Ballet - Witches Sabbath (Night On Bald Mountain). (18 min)
Oct 21, 2021
https://youtu.be/b2-MirXVFy0
That's a good point, to which I have no answer. My observation has only gotten as far as to answering the question as to why ruling elites have resorted to this particular narrative, and it is because there is a ready receptiveness in their activist base for this particular narrative that has been prepared by the things I mention in the article. Remember, they have little substantive that they are willing to say, so they have to resort to fear-mongering, internecine civil discord, and bumpf. Electorally, they also have to hive off identity interest groups from the working class/middle class, if they want to be electable. Pushing the 'fascist takeover' narrative helps them do that
All I can give you at this point, as to why there was a tacit aversion in public discourse before the last 10-20 years or so, is that the standards of our public discourse have been eroded in general over the last couple decades opening the space up to a lowest common denominator rush to the bottom. I'm not quite sure how far that answer really takes us.
I will say that a similar law to the one you mention goes something along the lines of "after x number of responses in a Youtube comment feed, Hitler or Stalin will be mentioned". Without the constraints of discursive 'validity conditions' (think Habermas), and in the absence of the good will that exists in face to face discussion, discourse and debate spiral off rapidly into lowest denominator type accusations.
A good question though!
I am starting to see a glimmer of hope for my Progressive friends. I think they are embarrassed by being taken in by the Russiagate thing, where their trusted news organs used and abused them. If we could only get an actual centrist party up and running, there are a lot of people ready to jump from both sides.
Idk, I had a conversation with 2 of my more “educated” liberal friends a couple months ago and I commented on: A) That the Russiagate stuff was b.s., and B) that I was not in support of financing the Ukraine fiasco.
Their response was that no, there really was Russian interference in our elections according to Barr and Steele report, blah blah blah. And that they were disappointed in my Ukraine stance and that Putin was a threat to our democracy (blah blah blah). I wanted to bring up J6 but stopped after that...
Hey Gabe, I suggest you tell your lib friends to go to Ukraine and fight. But my guess is that they want other people to go do the fighting while they sip tea. The Left used to have the high moral ground in being anti-war; they lost that at least 20 years ago.
Old saying; talk is cheap.
Yeah, mostly the same here, but they did not try to justify the Russiagate lies. They at least knew that ship had sailed…
Take a look at this article just out in The TransAtlantic for context, you might get something from it. Could the constant repetition of the "1930s Redux" narrative have a significant role in the 2020 and 2022 elections?
https://thetransatlantic.substack.com/p/durham-report-trump-russia-nazis-history
I think part of your TDS problem is that you’re turning to Reuters & the NYT for information. Both publish what Dems want published and absolutely nothing smelling of the truth, especially if it involves Trump. Give up, you’re hopelessly lost.
I watched all this from Australia and was amazed at the madness that engulfed the left and media.
New Zealand is closer and just as insane.
Sasha,
I love your undying optimism regarding the coming reckoning for democrats. I really wish I had your sunny worldview.
I hope you're the first guest on Tucker's new show.
One criticism of yet another great post -- In the 2016 election, there was no measurable impact from pro-Trump bot posts on Facebook. Those of us in the online tech industry understand there were a relatively low number of these posts, and clickthroughs were extremely rare. What's hard for us to understand is how that myth still has credence with well-read, intellectual pros. The rest of this personal essay was enlightening and relatable.
Sasha, it didn't start in 2020. Yes, traditional Catholics like me are outraged that an FBI agent could seriously recommend spying on us. But they did it to MLK Jr. Even the much lamented Bobby Kennedy signed off on that, thinking it would be for a month, some say. Only recently reports came out that FBI agents suggested that MLK kill himself.
Hoover spied on nobody knows how many Americans.
Credible reports put mafia and CIA figures in the Kennedy assassination, and most terribly of all, some claim that Johnson knew.
You grew up as a well meaning flower child, but by God's help you're getting wise to the scene-- a very ugly scene. To be truly wise we need divine help and the divine word. My favorite translations are the Vulgate and Douay Rheims.
Almost home!
I am working so hard to despise the character of Obama, his comments, his politics, and not him personally that I am perspiring from the effort.
"Biden’s legacy might include wiping both Putin and Trump off the map, which would be, for the Obama/Hillary coalition quite the victory."
I don't believe I've encountered a more chilling prospect.
"Who will have blood on their hands once we make our way through this fog of war?"
No one currently living.
"Perhaps one day, when the fog dissipates, they too will hang their heads in shame."
I admire your optimism - I suppose it could happen, but it won't be those who were involved - it may be those who, studying it a generation on, come to realize just what happened. Even then, it won't matter - either republicans will have found a way to right the ship, or this nation will cease to exist as a constitutional republic.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was Hillary's campaign in the primaries that started the birther movement targeting Obama. Whether or not Obama was foreign born I can say that a good friend of mine and his wife took a trip to Africa and, upon landing in Nairobi immediately saw a large sign that said, "Welcome to Kenya, birthplace of Barak Obama".
Regarding the 2020 riots, see the link. I think what it really shows is that in Idaho the police and prosecutors would back up the innocent, while in Oregon and Washington one could be charged if one did not allow oneself to be victimized. The rioters had trashed the downtown of a city 20 miles away in Washington, and I doubt the those people were much different than those in Coeur d'Alene.
https://www.itsmac.com/2020/06/16/a-tale-of-two-cities-coeur-dalene-id-vs-seattle-wa/
It started before Hillary. I remember it distinctly because I was teaching in the inner city at this time. It made for "lively" discussions in the teacher's lunch room.
Great compendium, Sasha. This will take me the day to get through.
Speaking of dark money, though, and the Donkeys, I found this rather disturbing -- both that it happened and that it flew completely under the radar.
https://thefederalist.com/2023/05/30/meet-the-nonpartisan-dark-money-group-rigging-michigan-elections-so-democrats-cant-lose/
“Hang their heads in shame”...? Nope, not gonna’ happen. Never!