And so it begins.
LGBTQ+ folks weren’t the only people hiding in closets. There were plenty of people with white sheets in those closets, and those people are emerging–this time, without the sheets.
I recently posted that Trump’s rhetoric was received as permission, even encouragement, for the expression of bigotry and hatred. Friends who are nicer than I am remonstrated, insisting that not all Trump voters were motivated by racism and misogyny. (That may be true, although there’s a current Facebook meme that speaks to that protest: Question: What do we call the Germans who supported Hitler for reasons other than hatred of Jews? Answer: Nazis.)
The primary motivation for Trumpism is becoming very clear, and voters protesting that they based their choice on “the economy” (which is currently the best in the world) or who offer other, less reprehensible reasons need to face up to the fact that–like the businesspeople who once “went along” with the Klan in Indiana because it was dangerous or inconvenient to oppose it–have enabled the forces of bigotry Those few racists who were still closeted are now coming out in force.
Just a couple of headlines from a day or so ago underscore the point.
The Washington Post has reported on racist texts nationwide.
The FBI and authorities in several states are investigating racist text messages sent to Black people nationwide this week saying they would be brought to plantations to work as enslaved people and pick cotton.
People in at least a dozen states and D.C. have received the messages according to authorities and local media. The texts have spread alarm in the aftermath of a presidential election marked by President-elect Donald Trump and his campaign’s use of inflammatory language against minorities.
The origin of the messages is unknown, and it is unclear how many people received them. Reports from some states said the messages arrived Wednesday and appeared to target Black students at universities. Some, though not all, of the messages claimed to be from a Trump supporter or “the Trump administration,” according to screenshots shared on social media and local news.
Black people all across the country have reported receiving these messages, which evidently varied a bit in wording. All of them, however, ordered recipients to “report to a plantation and work in slavery.” Several claimed to have been from Trump supporters or Donald Trump or the Trump campaign.
It bears noting that these messages targeting Black people were facilitated by a worrisome lack of privacy protections, and the sharing of personal information–some in the form of lists, and others enabled by the broadcast messaging ability of cellphone carriers.
Closer to home, IU Students reported receipt of similar messages.
Not that it is comforting–far from it– but it is undeniable that the wave of fascism sweeping this country is part and parcel of a global phenomenon.
In Amsterdam, Israeli soccer fans were recently attacked. At least 62 people were arrested in conjunction with football contests, according to police, as a result of clashes that erupted overnight after a Europa League football match.
“In several places in the city, supporters were attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks. Riot police had to intervene several times, protect Israeli supporters and escort them to hotels,” said Amsterdam officials.
Social media platforms were flooded with unverified images purported to be of the violence, but confirmed details of the clashes were few, according to AFP.
The UN called the violence “very troubling” while Germany foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said it was “terrible” and “deeply shameful.”
Although nothing excuses the violence, the Israeli fans were hardly innocent victims: unverified video on social media appeared to show some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans chanting in Hebrew: “Finish the Arabs! We’re going to win!”
The human family appears to be devolving into a tribalism that many of us had thought was waning. The prevalence of global populism, the widespread rejection of civilized and humane behavior and the unleashing of old and ugly hatreds threatens to engulf us at a time when the existential threat posed by climate change requires a unified global response.
To call these times perilous is a serious understatement.
Frightening.
Yes, the bigots are rearing their ug!y heads, but I think most of the people who voted for Trump and those who didn’t bother to vote at all have no idea what they have unleashed. The voters are ignorant and gullible while the non voters are ignorant and foolishly complacent. When the shit starts hitting the fan they will look up in bewilderment and ask what happened.
In “Sapiens,” Yuval Noah Harari reveals and analyzes our species’ brief history as the new animals on Earth. The lens he peers through considers both DNA and culture.
When we began the journey, we were Homo but not yet Sapiens, and we, out of necessity, wandered. We tried to distance ourselves from threats and move towards opportunities as we do today.
I always thought of my adolescence as feral. When I learned where the front door led, I used it as often as possible to go to the “woods,” a short walk from the porch. My parents thought that was possibly weird, but I was who I was.
After reading Sapiens, I learned that my unconscious brain held some leftover memories from when we first became a species.
Today, the world is still aware of threats and opportunities, but there are no longer places to wander into or retreat from. We are lost and looking.
We have always successfully found adaptation, but now the environment changes at lightning speed, and we are confused by that.
We fear individually the changes that we’ve collectively made.
Indiana is one of 7 states without split ticket voting rights. What influence might that have had on the election?
Annalena should know a little bit about Nazism since her grandfather was a Nazi. Italy’s Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni, is a proud Nazi. Does anybody remember Keir Starmers’ and the Labour Party’s attacks against Jeremy Corbyn? They were done around the same time the DNC (with the help of Liz Warren) attacked Bernie Sanders, and both countries fell for it.
Yes, Sheila is correct. This is a global phenomenon, and immigration from the Middle East and Africa is sparking populism in Europe. Climate change and US wars are causing population shifts, but we (our oligarch media) don’t address the causes of immigration because the US foreign policy is to blame.
As for the racist text messages on college campuses, this is not at all surprising. The right-wing has been targeting college campuses for decades to remake the culture into its own image. Youth groups are being targeted specifically. In Indiana, a mainly rural community, it doesn’t take much. Nearly all my Indiana high school classmates have either deleted or blocked me from social media since I would call out racist posts. Those who claimed to be liberally minded didn’t want to rock the boat and wanted to stay friends with these people. #cowardice
During the Spring college campus protests against Israel’s genocide, I have a picture of a SWAT team member on an IU building pointing a rifle at the kids protesting against Israel and wanting the admin to divest from Israeli companies. Do you remember how college campuses ended those protests and those billionaires who funded the anti-protesters? Now, there are strict laws forbidding students from protesting on campus. And that was done under a Democratic administration.
What do you think Trump/Musk/Bannon/Miller will do against young dissidents across the country? 😉
Tribalism occurs when oppression is forced upon the population. It’s a symptom of top-down repression – the old divide-and-conquer mentality of “leaders.” They want us to fight among ourselves so we won’t join together and fight the real oppressors. (see Paulo Freire)
Another example of hatred seeping into the culture; elementary school girls are being taunted by elementary school boys with the phrase “Your body, my choice”.
Elementary school. Let tat sink in…wtf?
“I recently posted that Trump’s rhetoric was received as permission, even encouragement, for the expression of bigotry and hatred.”
I pointed out this this same information, adding his encouragement of violence on our streets, from the beginning of Trump’s presidential nominee announcement, repeatedly and over a number of years. People either ignored, disagreed, didn’t see it for themselves or just didn’t care so I stopped wasting my time.
It was the same with my repeatedly stating the Democrats did not understand that their lack of unity was going to drag them down and lose elections; I repeatedly pointed out that the in-party back-biting, petty bickering and pissing-contests between the Republicans came down the finish line with ALL of them voting for all Republicans no matter how ugly their campaigns or their actions within the legislatures at state and federal levels. I am now seeing posts from Democrats against Kamala Harris and and those who supported her and supporting President Joe Biden; to borrow a line by Dolly Parton in the movie “Steel Magnolias”…the Democratic party “…doesn’t know whether to scratch its watch or wind its butt.” They brought us here and they put Trump back in the White House; this time with a 71 MILLION popular vote win after his 2020 74 MILLION popular vote loss. That tells us a strange story about Americans which will cost us our democracy, Rule of Law, end our Constitution of the United States and America and world leadership position; neither party cared to vote in massive numbers.
Please excuse my poor editing but I am too pissed to much care about my writing abilities at this point.
Yes, Pete, “Sapiens” is a good book.
It has been apparent, since his descent on the Trump escalator in ’15, that he has been enabling and encouraging the bigots. And, now that he’s won a 2nd term, they are going to feel unencumbered by any cultural niceties.
I expect that tribalism rears its ugly head when a group, or groups, feel threatened, or, as in this case, are taught to feel threatened!
Trump has been a sick puppy for ages now, and the establishment media have given him a free ride, with a new name, “Norm.”
You are right that ugliness has been enabled by Trump. But I believe Robert Reich heard from meetings with voters in 2015 what is behind it all: the anger and the mistrust of government. He says today,
“ Regardless of political party, most thought the economic system was biased in favor of the rich.”
I cannot forgive the Democratic Party for veering right in the nineties and for squelching the Bernie Sanders campaign.
I supported him and attended his rally in Indianapolis. The enthusiasm was real. And he knows how to communicate. He is the real economic populist. And he supports all minority groups.
I wish the Democrats would listen to him now.
I tuned into “Morning Joe” to discover that the problem is that the Dems are too woke. All of the pundits claimed they knew this all along. Ha!
Personally, I believe that once again, the Dems don’t know how to market. They were doing pretty well early on, but they dropped the ball big time in the last two or three weeks of the campaign. The opposition ran adds that accused Harris of supporting transgender surgeries for prisoners. I kept waiting for an ad that would use that ad to make the point that the VP was only supporting a tRump policy. The failure to respond was so stupid it should be considered a criminal offense in Marketing.
Since it’s Veterans Day, I’d like to say thank you for your service to all of our veterans.
I wonder if we need to change the name of Memorial Day to Losers and Suckers Day?
In the years of Hitler’s reign, the human population was estimated at just under 3 billion. And STILL fascism, bigotry and virulent tribalism existed. Today, just 80+ years later, there are over 8 billion humans on earth. Clearly, we have done only one thing successfully: Reproduced. There are more humans than rats on earth and rats tend not to kill each other en masse.
This bit from the essay says much: The human family appears to be devolving into a tribalism that many of us had thought was waning. The prevalence of global populism, the widespread rejection of civilized and humane behavior and the unleashing of old and ugly hatreds threatens to engulf us at a time when the existential threat posed by climate change requires a unified global response.
My point is that I don’t think we’re devolving at all. It’s just that there are too many of us – 1/3 of which are food insecure. As with lab experiments dealing with controlled populations, mammals will eventually turn on each other when a threshold is crossed. Humans, it seems, try very hard to be civilized and at times we are successful. But the cycle of hate, bigotry and tribalism always seems to come around to push that vase of flowers onto the floor.
I guess it’s just who we are. Oh. And how many nations have nuclear weapons now? Asking for a friend.
JoAnn, I didn’t notice any editing errors. Your post was succinct and spot on. Your outrage was almost palpable, and I totally relate.
Meanwhile, I plan to continue to wear my Kamala T-shirt whenever possible, and damn the torpedoes. I’m old, and I can take shit.
Why we need moderate politics to save our democracy – one example: transgender rights. Pew research learned:
64% Favor/Strongly Favor: “Protecting transgender people from discrimination….” only 10% Oppose/Strongly Oppose
27% Favor/Strongly Favor: “Require health insurance companies to cover….gender transitions…” 44% Oppose/Strongly Oppose
It is not all one sided…it is not merely good vs evil….
Organize- Build Supportive Community- Grow Positive Love Based Action- don’t rely upon the ineptness of the Democratic Party Leadership! I’m trying!
seem it doesnt matter majority/minority. its now justifiable bigotry. possible homicide,and takeover of small communities. where does it start. ask the kids at school who is what. met a bank teller,she just started her career. small town, she said she was bullied at the local public school and had to leave. what was the bullying from? im Native American. She does not look Native American. her last name was the clue.and it wasnt born of wind,sky or nature,a Native word. three sisters all relocated to a school 33 miles away. while living in the same school district they attended. based on the conversation,the school chose to allow the bullies to interfere with thier rights and needs over the students rights. this is typical NoDak. and why after living near the same town for 23 year,ive never made any attempt to know anyone. 2 bars,i stepped foot in one while out riding my harley with a close friend, all the idea was, to mind our buisness when no one knew us. we said few words, and drove 50 miles to find the same kind of bar and same busy bodies who cant leave ya alone.
now in all this recent mistake at the polls, i have a feeling my known life as the guy with the BERNIE for pres poster that stood for 5 years in front of my drive,will now become perception of who i am.I do not associate withn these people unless its a helping hand along the road or casual conversation. these neighbors who claim were not bigots,in conversation to myself, lost the mirror to stand in front of.
they allow this in a public school,funded by the state and ? theres 4 denominations here in this town,and the church has a well used door. this is how its always been,and now it will always stay, its now justified..
JoAnn;
i reserve the right to not use capitals. thanks for tolerating.
jack smith 12:10 pm thanks for the first laugh i have had all day
Vernon, it seems that we are sharing a point of view about the idiocy of the human animal.