I remember going through a similar era of intimidation back in the early 2000’s when W Bush and Cheney misled and/or lied us into Iraq. “You’re either with us or against us” were the words of the day…ostensibly aimed at our allies…but subtly aimed at the American people as well. I was 100% against the war. But America went all gung ho… including all the networks which branded the war “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and the like. I seethed with anger but was careful to keep my mouth shut around people I didn’t know intimately. Fortunately there were more than just a few who shared my views...unlike today.
If the Iraq invasion was a Fascist movement from the right, today we are living in a Fascist movement from the left. And I think it is more damaging and dangerous. My mother was a child who grew up in Nazi Germany. She and my father, a Jewish American, often talked about how the Nazis took over the schools and indoctrinated the children with the party line. That is what I am seeing today. Our kids are being brainwashed with a “woke” and racist ideology. It has obviously been going on for some time now because you can see the results in what passes for “journalism” today. The New York Times has been taken over by radical ideologues who no longer know what objective journalism is. It’s tragic. And obviously social media is crawling with young people spouting lies they’ve learned in school.
Trump is a reaction to all this. But I’m hoping that sensible people who are opposed to this Stalinist/Maoist nightmare can ultimately band together under a more sober and sensible leadership.
Thank you. And I so agree. I'm reading The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad, which you should read if you haven't already. It's about how long this has been going and what, if anything, we can do about it. I remember that moment in 2000 also but back then dissent was allowed. Frowned upon, perhaps, but allowed. It was a good foreshadowing to how fearful our culture would become under Trump and how easily we would fall into suppression of dissent. I still have yet to hear anyone give me one really good reason why Trump inspired such helplessness and rage.
As you point out, it's human nature to want to blend in - thus the old fable of the emperor's new clothes ...
Yep.
I remember going through a similar era of intimidation back in the early 2000’s when W Bush and Cheney misled and/or lied us into Iraq. “You’re either with us or against us” were the words of the day…ostensibly aimed at our allies…but subtly aimed at the American people as well. I was 100% against the war. But America went all gung ho… including all the networks which branded the war “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and the like. I seethed with anger but was careful to keep my mouth shut around people I didn’t know intimately. Fortunately there were more than just a few who shared my views...unlike today.
If the Iraq invasion was a Fascist movement from the right, today we are living in a Fascist movement from the left. And I think it is more damaging and dangerous. My mother was a child who grew up in Nazi Germany. She and my father, a Jewish American, often talked about how the Nazis took over the schools and indoctrinated the children with the party line. That is what I am seeing today. Our kids are being brainwashed with a “woke” and racist ideology. It has obviously been going on for some time now because you can see the results in what passes for “journalism” today. The New York Times has been taken over by radical ideologues who no longer know what objective journalism is. It’s tragic. And obviously social media is crawling with young people spouting lies they’ve learned in school.
Trump is a reaction to all this. But I’m hoping that sensible people who are opposed to this Stalinist/Maoist nightmare can ultimately band together under a more sober and sensible leadership.
Happy Valentines Day Sasha. Great piece.
Thank you. And I so agree. I'm reading The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad, which you should read if you haven't already. It's about how long this has been going and what, if anything, we can do about it. I remember that moment in 2000 also but back then dissent was allowed. Frowned upon, perhaps, but allowed. It was a good foreshadowing to how fearful our culture would become under Trump and how easily we would fall into suppression of dissent. I still have yet to hear anyone give me one really good reason why Trump inspired such helplessness and rage.