WWII was a narrative of American moxie and bravery as I understood it from my childhood. Loved the tv show The Rat Patrol about North Africa. Born in 61’ here. My dad was a Korean War vet and his two brothers served in WWII, the oldest never returning, the other came back with a Bronze Star. My father though, was also ready to send me to Canada if the draft for the Vietnam war had continued. My cousin was drafted and he was not the same after he came back. Few were.
Unspoken was the admiration the Third Reich had for the Jim Crow laws of the American south. I was part of desegregated busing in 2nd and 3rd grades in Lansing, Michigan and might have had a class with Magic Johnson before we moved to a small town that chased away the only black family who dared to move to that town. Williamston, Michigan.
Peter Tiel, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk along with others, have created an ecosystem in which these tribal possibilities can again find form, exposure, and funding. The isolation of vast sectors of society by the pandemic was gasoline for those gathering the lost. Humanity is in the casino business with 8 billion chances.
"We cannot yet imagine what beliefs or values may divide and destroy our societies, or reduce them to chaos, but they will seem as compelling and right, as God and Nation appeared to our great-grandfathers."
Seriously? Seems like rabid theology is back in fashion, toxically so
Yes, it's a very perspicacious essay but doesn't count for resurgent nationalism wrapped up in very primitive racial-religious theology. OTOH QAnon is unique to our time and it has more adherents than possibly you or I would like to admit
WWII was a narrative of American moxie and bravery as I understood it from my childhood. Loved the tv show The Rat Patrol about North Africa. Born in 61’ here. My dad was a Korean War vet and his two brothers served in WWII, the oldest never returning, the other came back with a Bronze Star. My father though, was also ready to send me to Canada if the draft for the Vietnam war had continued. My cousin was drafted and he was not the same after he came back. Few were.
Unspoken was the admiration the Third Reich had for the Jim Crow laws of the American south. I was part of desegregated busing in 2nd and 3rd grades in Lansing, Michigan and might have had a class with Magic Johnson before we moved to a small town that chased away the only black family who dared to move to that town. Williamston, Michigan.
Peter Tiel, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk along with others, have created an ecosystem in which these tribal possibilities can again find form, exposure, and funding. The isolation of vast sectors of society by the pandemic was gasoline for those gathering the lost. Humanity is in the casino business with 8 billion chances.
I like the idea of social media creators/funders as "gathering the lost".
"We cannot yet imagine what beliefs or values may divide and destroy our societies, or reduce them to chaos, but they will seem as compelling and right, as God and Nation appeared to our great-grandfathers."
Seriously? Seems like rabid theology is back in fashion, toxically so
Yes, it's a very perspicacious essay but doesn't count for resurgent nationalism wrapped up in very primitive racial-religious theology. OTOH QAnon is unique to our time and it has more adherents than possibly you or I would like to admit
I hadn't thought of conspiracy theory as an ideology, but I suppose in a certain light it makes a surrealistic sense
we live in surrealistic times!