Many of us have been stunned into silence the first part of this year, as Trump’s new administration rolls toward implementing the authoritarian U.S. government that had been predicted. We’re warned almost daily not to be complacent, not to be the frog in the pot of boiling water. Yet the majority of us continue to go about our daily lives, trying to suppress the great unease we now feel.
Nor is America the only place witnessing the ascendancy of the far right. It is a worldwide phenomenon now, and it frequently seems there is no stopping it from growing even more pronounced.
Why is this happening?
The best explanation to date for Trump’s rise and the appeal of “strong men” around the world.
The Northern Irish writer Richard Seymour provides the best set of answers we’ve yet seen in his book Disaster Nationalism.
And what is disaster nationalism? According to our search engine’s AI assistant, “Disaster nationalism refers to a political phenomenon where far-right movements exploit crises, such as environmental disasters or economic turmoil, to promote nationalist agendas and rally support. This concept highlights how these movements thrive on societal fears and insecurities, often offering a sense of identity and belonging in times of chaos.”
That is a high-level view, and also something of an understatement. Disaster Nationalism is an adroit manipulation of the resentment and anger that everyone feels from time to time—it can harness the latent fascist tendencies lurking within many citizens, and it is doing so at an alarming rate today.
Seymour is a strong writer and his exegesis is compelling. If you’re concerned about what’s happening today, in America and around the world, you should read this book.
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I had actually planned to write a mild, informative post on recent developments in software for writers. Instead, unfolding events compel a look at some atrocious happenings in the world and our so-called United States.
Which to address: the looming, horrific use of nuclear weapons or the flagrant resurgence of right-wing ignorance and violence throughout this country? I’m going to opt for the latter, on the grounds that once nuclear weapons are flying again, blog posts, Facebook, Medium et al. will all become instantly irrelevant. Trump’s Twitter as well. You could argue they are already irrelevant, of course. But while there is still some degree of social structure and control in place, social media may have some role to play. Bear in mind, though, that both sides believe this. Hence the heading for this post—it’s not sufficient to opine or respond on social media alone. If you want to protect what’s good in our society, genuine action is required.
Murderous moron: James Alex Fields Jr. Photo: Charlottesville Police Department, via Reuters.
Trump has encouraged, and thereby unleashed, a kind of hillbilly fascism at the grassroots level. We saw the most recent results in Charlottesville, VA this weekend: helmet-wearing thugs wielding various weapons to protest the removal of a statue honoring a 19th century racist and Civil War relic. Confederate flags and Nazi slogans were there in abundance, along with plenty of “Make America Great Again” merchandise. David Duke said “We’re going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump” in order to “take our country back.” And Trump responded to the violence by decrying hatred on “many sides” (certainly his supporters cannot be asked to bear the blame alone).
Apart from the particulars, though, none of this is really new. Trump is an especially crude and vulgar exemplar of America’s worst tendencies, but he is hardly the first president whose statements and actions belie the nation’s stated principles and laws. Be honest and admit it: the highest ideals of America have always been an alluring lie. Yes, many admirable and dedicated people have sacrificed greatly to try to bring those ideals to life. But a great many other people in this country are either indifferent, or closer in spirit and sympathy to the idiots who gathered in Charlottesville to “Unite the Right.”
So what action can be taken in response, by those of us who would prefer to live in a country that actually adheres to its stated ideals? Here are some quick thoughts:
Band together. Not in small, local groups ringing doorbells but across states and regions. Progressive people must stand together regardless of location, and do so in big numbers.
Push to form regional alliances: California, New York, New England, for example. These areas already cooperate closely on issues like the environment. Let’s push for cooperation on other major issues that cry out to be addressed.
Urge the adoption of state-level legislation to form legally binding ties among these regional partners. If the South wants to secede again (and I say, let them), then progressives can respond by forming a sort of country within a country as a preliminary step toward building a new, blue America. The U.S. has never been truly united and it never will be. It’s time to acknowledge this.
BTW, the newblueamerica.org domain is available and I’m available to help build a site there if others want to pitch in with money, resources and political connections in progressive states.
It’s time to Think Different, as the late Steve Jobs once said about something much less important. Very little is working today, a great deal is broken. Catastrophe is barreling toward us on multiple fronts. Keeping one’s head down and going with the flow is only inviting disaster. We need to start thinking about big, unconventional change outside the normal political boundaries, and working to achieve it, before it’s too late.
