I found these opening paragraphs from an essay on Zadie Smith and optimism to be comforting:
All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up,” John Steinbeck wrote to his best friend at the peak of WWII. “It isn’t that the evil thing wins — it never will — but that it doesn’t die.”
Caught in the maelstrom of the moment, we forget this cyclical nature of history — history being merely the rosary of moments the future strings of its pasts. We forget that the present always looks different from the inside than it does from the outside — something James Baldwin knew when, in considering why Shakespeare endures, he observed: “It is said that his time was easier than ours, but I doubt it — no time can be easy if one is living through it.” We forget that our particular moment, with all its tribulations and triumphs, is not neatly islanded in the river of time but swept afloat by massive cultural currents that have raged long before it and will rage long after.
It is easy to be depressed and disheartened–as discussions on this site have illustrated–by evidence that what most of us believed was progress toward a kinder and gentler world is being intentionally dismantled by MAGA’s cult leader. The Steinbeck quote is apt; it reminds us that there have always been, and always will be, people whose moral and emotional defects drive them to do evil. The unspoken element of that observation is that there are always good people, too, and the “long arc of history” teaches that the good guys eventually prevail.
Not, granted, without a lot of suffering and losses…
In a speech delivered in the wake of the 2016 election, Smith offered an example of “overcoming” that is particularly pertinent when considering MAGA’s racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic White Christian Nationalists.
My best friend during my youth — now my husband — is himself from Northern Ireland, an area where people who look absolutely identical to each other, eat the same food, pray to the same God, read the same holy book, wear the same clothes and celebrate the same holidays have yet spent four hundred years at war over a relatively minor doctrinal difference they later allowed to morph into an all-encompassing argument over land, government and national identity. Racial homogeneity is no guarantor of peace, any more than racial heterogeneity is fated to fail…
I find these days that a wistful form of time travel has become a persistent political theme, both on the right and on the left. On 10 November The New York Times reported that nearly seven in ten Republicans prefer America as it was in the fifties, a nostalgia of course entirely unavailable to a person like me, for in that period I could not vote, marry my husband, have my children, work in the university I work in, or live in my neighborhood. Time travel is a discretionary art: a pleasure trip for some and a horror story for others. Meanwhile some on the left have time-travel fancies of their own, imagining that the same rigid ideological principles once applied to the matters of workers’ rights, welfare and trade can be applied unchanged to a globalized world of fluid capital.
In her speech, Smith reminded us that one must be willfully blind to ignore the fact that the history of human existence is a history of pain: “of brutality, murder, mass extinction, every form of venality and cyclical horror” and that no tribe is entirely innocent of it.
But there is still this redeeming matter of incremental progress. It might look small to those with apocalyptic perspectives, but to she who not so long ago could not vote, or drink from the same water fountain as her fellow citizens, or marry the person she chose, or live in a certain neighborhood, such incremental change feels enormous.
You really should click through and read her remarks–and those of the essayist–in their entirety. The essay serves to place our own very dark time in context, to remind us not just that “this too shall pass,” but that we have a moral obligation to make it pass.
I have always loved a maxim attributed to Native Americans (I’ve forgotten which tribe). It frames morality as our response to two wolves who are fighting within us. One wolf is evil and one is good. The one that wins is the one we choose to feed.
As we face the current cyclical eruption of evil, we need to cling to the lessons of history–and keep feeding our good wolves.
Thank you, Professor. I needed your words, today.
“As we face the current cyclical eruption of evil, we need to cling to the lessons of history–and keep feeding our good wolves.”
We find ourselves currently in the position of recent historical freedom of the press, now being suppressed, when we and around the globe watched George Floyd, with the permission of his local police force, being murdered on a public street before a crowd of people begging police to stop. We appear to have a South African’s knee on our necks with Trump and MAGA holding down our backs so we cannot move. Mr. Floyd, who did have a somewhat criminal past, was “redeemed” with the conviction of the officers who murdered him before the world…but he is still dead. The same will be true of too many of us here on this blog who will not live long enough to see Trump’s and Musk’s evil eventually lose…but will not die.
I don’t hate Americans, but at the moment, I hate the USA. I feel similarly about Israel and Russia. I won’t visit any of the three countries, and I won’t buy any of their products.
The USA is currently working–presumably at Russia’s behest–to undermine the western world that was created at the end of the second world war. I’m Canadian. We will ally with our trusted neighbours–Japan, UK, EU, Ukraine, etc–and we will not let you succeed.
How the USA comes out of this is up to you. Perhaps there will come a day when I list you with those I trust once again.
All things in life are impermanent. ~ Buddha
Capital may be global, and corporations can always move their HQ (which many have already done), but they cannot move their stores or local operations. Without local workers, they are nothing. Furthermore, all corporations can be replaced with worker-owned entities. I can’t think of any business model that can’t be replaced.
Therefore, I disagree that believing in “worker rights” is a “rigid ideology.” “Incremental change” is the bullshit that the self-declared progressive Hillary Clinton peddled. How did it work out for her? LOL
Americans were in disbelief that the “good Germans” failed to do nothing during Hitler’s Nazi takeover. Look how many Americans support the ethnic cleansing (genocide of women and children) of Palestinians in Gaza! Our public servants invited a war criminal into the people’s chamber and treated him like royalty. How is that NOT evil? Our media, politicians, and Americans branded anybody objecting as anti-Semite. What a load of shit!
For those who aren’t paying attention, the working class is under attack and will be handed the bill for a $4 trillion theft from the Treasury. Be prepared for major assaults on the already meek unions in both the public and private sectors. Koch and his think tanks know how the working class can respond to this government takeover, and so they will neuter it further. Thiel will also monitor the web and social media for signs of an uprising against the oligarchy. This is the second Gilded Age with surveillance, military police, lame media, no unions, and a pro-oligarchy fuhrer. The American people are going to learn just how powerless they are in this “democracy.” Any resistance to this theft will be labeled as “unpatriotic.” Control and manipulation are on the horizon. Look at the assault on the media (lame free press).
Does anybody want DOGE gaining access to Ft. Knox? 😉
Last night Rachel Maddow showed some town halls where Republicans were loudly booed for their support of the horror show in Washington. But there were also boos and screams for more actions by Democrats. That was a good sign for the cycle mentioned here to come round the corner of evil now trying to run the show.
More of that, please. The cries from people being active on their own behalf will bring out the torches and pitchforks in sufficient numbers to get the MTV idiots the hell out of our lives. I’d say, “Find a town hall event to attend,” but I think the Republicans will head for their bunkers and ignore their constituents who now realize they voted for someone with no honor or intention of serving their needs. That said, lean on the Democrats to do more too … like field viable candidates who ARE honorable and will attend to the duty of the Constitution.
History is about both the oppressed and the oppressor. The vast majority of books have been about this subject.
I just finished Mila 18 by Leon Uris. It opens in the 30s and is about the Nazi takeover of Poland and the turmoil as half a million Jews get restricted more and more, day by day, until they have been herded into a ghetto. The book continues through organizations and individuals until the inevitable revolution happens. Most of the Jews and 100s of loyal German soldiers die.
Israel is the result of that German oppression, and part of the Jewish culture is the memory of not only that event but many others like it.
Savagery and nobility are baked into the human soul. We see them emerge again and again, place and place.
We will revolt here as the oppression gets unbearable, and someday, our ancestors will live again as we have for all of my 82 years wiser for all of that.
Power is achieved by some people by injuring other people, by forcing them into debt, by forcing them into bondage to pay off the debts and ultimately taking their land as a means of support. That’s creditor power. And you see it through ancient history.
— Professor Michael Hudson
We need to use the Potential Power w
We have to resist.
1. Observe – this Fridays “Don’t Buy”- boycott. If you don’t know what it is,find out.
It may become a small but important beginning
2. Connect with more deeply with others and join or increase involvement in local groups
3. Support our young, those laid off government workers, trans groups and much more
4. Breathe- but don’t wait as the Germans and others did
5. Be curious and use it- build Love but well beyond- just your family- Action is love
6. Organize- potlucks or cookie sharing without competing with The Girl Scouts
7. You can’t do Everything but you can do a lot.
The sh*t show continues, but the resistance seems to be building.
My wife and I took a week’s vacation to do a professionally led birding tour in Costa Rica, being away from the above mentioned show was nice.
John H. I can understand why you say you hate the U.S. right now. I would have preferred that you said you hate the Republican Party. I hate them too. Let me reassure you that your good neighbors down here are rallying to correct the situation.
In the last fifteen years, government has done two things that have made a difference for people. The first was creation of the CFPB, a watchdog group that actually returns money to the people being scammed. The second was the hiring of Lina Kahn, who began going after the trusts that have proliferated since the Reagan administration. Kahn is already gone and for all practical purposes CFPB is in its death throws. Unrestrained capitalism is a monster.
A resistance idea from a friend:
During the upcoming tax season, consider this letter to the Internal Revenue Service:
I am writing in response to recent White House events allowing outside access to my personal data.
I’m a registered American voter. I believe in the power of government to enhance and protect the lives of its citizens. From time to time government undergoes contentious efforts to better achieve its goals but does so using the balance of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. I understand and support this.
Intrinsic to my support is my absolute trust in my government’s commitment to safeguard my personal data and information from use by outside forces. That trust is gone.
As such, and as a law-abiding citizen, I will file the appropriate tax form on or before April 15th or seek an extension. With the exception of my name and state address, however, the rest of the form will contain no personal data.
As required when filing for an extension, I will enclose a check for the estimated tax due and submit both.
I believe in the rule of law. As a citizen I am required to file and pay taxes. I support this effort to fund the common good of Americans. But I am unwilling to have my personal data put at risk by unelected officials. Such outside access also vastly increases the opportunity for foreign hackers to access my information, which has up to now been effectively secured by my government.
Thanks Shelia & all for the comments.
Need to keep thinking of ways to be on the plus side.
And not totally caught up in hate your neighbor, because they belong to the wrong political party.
Lester, nice idea, but they simply don’t care.
A headline in Celia Farber’s 2/20/25 8:53 AM Substack reads,
“Despite his family’s targeted campaign of angst, RFK Jr gets standing ovation and warm welcome from HHS staff who told him they’ve been waiting for American science to be “unleashed.””
Included in the Substack is a graph of U.S. Life Expectancy vs. Health Expenditures, 1970-2018, showing a drop in Life Expectancy starting in 2014 at peak of 79 years, and continuously descending through the 2018 time limit of the graph.
Lester and Vernon; who will be there to read any letters…or to send out tax forms and collect the owed taxes or send tax refunds?
And what about Indiana IRS tax forms which are based on federal IRS tax amounts and always a bigger headache to deal with?
Look guys,
The government’s going to do what the government does. The government does not work for the people, it works for the politicians who don’t work for the people either!
Once again, I will say that American exceptionalism is a myth for the good, and a blueprint for the bad. The Europeans came, and they slaughtered the natives, somewhere around 100 million. That’s a lot of people! Then slaves were imported from Africa and brutally forced to work for agrarian businesses. These human beings were abused and they were used at the discretion of their owners.
Then of course the United States of America rolled out the Manifest Destiny so it could rule the Western hemisphere. Hedgemonic government with an agrarian society that would use slave labor to accomplish its goal.
Did that mindset just disappear? It just evaporated into thin air? Did the Klan disappear? Did the American Nazi party/Bund dissolve? Did they stop their insidious actions? No, they just melded into society! And it wasn’t just in the south, I really believe there are more Nazis in the north, more KKK in the North, then exist in the south.
This country is run on being subversive, it treats its own citizens as commodities. The United States government initiated the drug flow here. The money was used to fund off the book and clandestine military campaigns. It also accomplished the destruction of black society and many cities and Harlem was a prime example. This is not a secret but people will bury their head in the sand because they don’t want to believe it. The war on drugs was just a smoke screen. And you mean to tell me that the government couldn’t stop elicit drugs from entering this country?
Eugenics were also started by American and English Nazis, at least Nazi in belief. They sterilized non-white and poor white women so they could not procreate. They hoped to eliminate those others with a scalpel.
The rape and murder of native Americans, African slaves both male and female, was a calling card for militias and regular military. And, there was plenty of rape and murder during the civil war, on both sides! Does that sound wholesome? Does that sound like good citizenship? It sounds absolutely evil. Rounding up Japanese Americans and putting them in concentration camps? Binding in servitude Shanghaied Chinese citizens who were also refused basic human rights, to work for nothing and we’re routinely murdered by their railroad masters.
America is not a wholesome country, it is not a compassionate country, it is not an empathetic country, and it is still run by barbarians. Do you think that will change anytime soon? If anything, it will continue to get worse, because social media is a game changer, and so is AI.
I don’t think anyone has even come close to seeing the scope of evil that will be unleashed probably in the fairly near future. It’s not going to be good for anyone!
And that’s not something I would wish on my worst enemy!
Ecclesiastes 8:1-8
Who is like the wise man? Who knows the solution to a problem? A man’s wisdom lights up his face and softens his stern appearance.
2 I say: “Obey the king’s orders out of regard for the oath to God. 3 Do not rush to depart from his presence. Do not take a stand for anything bad; for he can do whatever he pleases, 4 because the word of the king is absolute; who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’”
5 The one who observes the commandment will not experience harm, and the wise heart will know the right time and procedure. 6 For every matter there is a time and procedure, because the troubles of mankind are so abundant. 7 Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him how it will happen?
8 Just as no man has power over the spirit or can restrain the spirit, so no one has power over the day of death. Just as no one is discharged during a war, so wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape.
Gordon E:
thanks, the nail is in the coffin.
done… i needed some ammo for my discussions..i remember 1986 and
the fair credit reporting act,, its been downhill for the working class even
since..
George Marx:
during the road const work season, i bring smoked ribs i make. seems the magas which are the majority here enjoy the liberal Bernie guy.. discussions resume..with a smile
LMAO… did you hear that the Republicans did not want to allow Donald Trump to be called “Grifter in Chief” on the record? I say we all make protest signs for the two Grifters that are enriching themselves at the expense of the American people.
Sharon, more accurately, I suppose, I refer to the government of the countries I mentioned. There are certainly decent people in each of them. That said, I feel like I’ve been giving your country the benefit of the doubt for awhile now, and I think I’ve just been willfully foolish; willfully trying to pretend the situation wasn’t as dire as the trend was indicating. I was a frog subjected to a slow boil. And I give up on that. I’m too angry. Obviously, I am angry with the Republicans–they are awful–but I am deeply angry with the Democrats, too. The Dems blinkered adherence to outmoded ideas and ideals is resulting in untold damage both to your country and to the larger world, including my country, and I am in no mood to forgive them for that.
So, I am looking elsewhere. I believe the world order can be rebuilt, but without the USA in a prominent position.
If you’re wondering when I might be able to forgive, I think it’ll be around the time the Dems are led by someone like AOC. Until then…