As you work to ensure the USA reaches its Semiquincentennial, it is worth acknowledging that we have no history, experience or memory of true autocracy. Many (if not most) now-democratic countries have known autocracy, and may be better positioned psychologically to ward it off. It will be interesting to learn from Tato over the next week.
I’ve learned so much. It will be tough to distill into a week-long series. But if this calls more attention to the work he’s doing with a larger group, great. We need them.
Well thank you for that ray of sunshine. No, it's a good point. Unfortunately it's all too good of a point. (But then I think you lose points for showing off with 'semiquincentennial' 😉)
That was an orgy because it was in 1976, not because it was the bicentennial :) They don't make 'em like that anymore. Not sure whether that's a good thing or not!
I’m really looking forward to this series. I’ve been thinking about what happens next when you have maybe a third, maybe half of the population of this country who are basically brainwashed by propaganda and the reality they “know” from what they’ve been told is a) not the truth and b) dangerous to others and themselves. Everyone has close family members who are in this place. Where does it go from here? A national debriefing campaign? We just haven’t been in this sport before. I’m a hopeful person and have faith in our common humanity and ability to overcome things together but at this point see no strategy or even ideas about the way forward. So yeah, let’s do it!
I'm not sure we can deprogram those who are already captured, but we need to have a way forward such that this doesn't happen again. Listening to Tato was profound. I could clearly trace the trajectory of my own indoctrination, much of which I really couldn't control. It started when I was an impressionable child, and it built from there. That's part of the rationale behind putting the Ten Commandments in elementary school classrooms: Introduce this when kids are between 3 and 6 years old. Start teaching them how to relate based on that. It follows them their whole lives.
What makes me uneasy is 'such that this doesn't happen again' presumes that we're able to beat it this time. I think if it doesn't happen again it's only because of how disastrous the results this time end up being. Violence and acts of extrajudicial law enforcement. A reign of terror. And once that's gone from living memory, it creeps back. We're yet to see if Europe can hold back their own fascists, for instance.
We're living with a lot of unknowns. For sure. All we can do is try to equip ourselves with as many tools as we can to defeat them. I think Europe is in a better place because the fascists have to move to the center to appeal to people. In the US, that's not the case. I don't feel great about what that says about us.
I look forward to learning from Tato. Good idea to ask what will we do when we win. We can not expect that things will run smoothly until we deal with the MAGAts, longing for autocracy, wealth disparity, dark money.
Democrats don't do a great job of proactive thinking IMHO. I hope this jumpstarts that conversation. We need to have our own proactive democracy plan, because they won't stop writing their fascist theocratic plans and trying to implement them in red states.
I agree. I think the Democrats have been asleep at the wheel and were caught flat footed by trump and the MAGAts. The repubs have been playing the long game for at least half a century. They aimed for the judiciary and the local/state governments. They bought up newspapers and radio stations, and of course bank rolled/supported Fox not the News. They gerrymandered voting districts and prevented mostly democratic leaning voters from voting to assure they would stay in power regardless. Reversing their evil tactics is going to take will power and some time. But nothing will happen unless the democrats wake up, get a plan and act.
I think it's really difficult for decent, freedom-loving people to think that other humans would be this abominable. But here we are. And we have to understand their methods and anticipate their moves to beat them.
I agree democrats are very reactive. I feel we need to speak up and be respectfully aggressive to push back. It doesn’t take much to speak clearly sternly. I didn’t make it in the blue collar male dominated corporate world by being nice. I had to be aggressive to survive. 🤨
As you work to ensure the USA reaches its Semiquincentennial, it is worth acknowledging that we have no history, experience or memory of true autocracy. Many (if not most) now-democratic countries have known autocracy, and may be better positioned psychologically to ward it off. It will be interesting to learn from Tato over the next week.
I’ve learned so much. It will be tough to distill into a week-long series. But if this calls more attention to the work he’s doing with a larger group, great. We need them.
Well thank you for that ray of sunshine. No, it's a good point. Unfortunately it's all too good of a point. (But then I think you lose points for showing off with 'semiquincentennial' 😉)
He's very smart. :)
....and old enough to remember the red-white-blue orgy that was the Bicentennial.
That was an orgy because it was in 1976, not because it was the bicentennial :) They don't make 'em like that anymore. Not sure whether that's a good thing or not!
I’m really looking forward to this series. I’ve been thinking about what happens next when you have maybe a third, maybe half of the population of this country who are basically brainwashed by propaganda and the reality they “know” from what they’ve been told is a) not the truth and b) dangerous to others and themselves. Everyone has close family members who are in this place. Where does it go from here? A national debriefing campaign? We just haven’t been in this sport before. I’m a hopeful person and have faith in our common humanity and ability to overcome things together but at this point see no strategy or even ideas about the way forward. So yeah, let’s do it!
I'm not sure we can deprogram those who are already captured, but we need to have a way forward such that this doesn't happen again. Listening to Tato was profound. I could clearly trace the trajectory of my own indoctrination, much of which I really couldn't control. It started when I was an impressionable child, and it built from there. That's part of the rationale behind putting the Ten Commandments in elementary school classrooms: Introduce this when kids are between 3 and 6 years old. Start teaching them how to relate based on that. It follows them their whole lives.
What makes me uneasy is 'such that this doesn't happen again' presumes that we're able to beat it this time. I think if it doesn't happen again it's only because of how disastrous the results this time end up being. Violence and acts of extrajudicial law enforcement. A reign of terror. And once that's gone from living memory, it creeps back. We're yet to see if Europe can hold back their own fascists, for instance.
We're living with a lot of unknowns. For sure. All we can do is try to equip ourselves with as many tools as we can to defeat them. I think Europe is in a better place because the fascists have to move to the center to appeal to people. In the US, that's not the case. I don't feel great about what that says about us.
I look forward to learning from Tato. Good idea to ask what will we do when we win. We can not expect that things will run smoothly until we deal with the MAGAts, longing for autocracy, wealth disparity, dark money.
Democrats don't do a great job of proactive thinking IMHO. I hope this jumpstarts that conversation. We need to have our own proactive democracy plan, because they won't stop writing their fascist theocratic plans and trying to implement them in red states.
I agree. I think the Democrats have been asleep at the wheel and were caught flat footed by trump and the MAGAts. The repubs have been playing the long game for at least half a century. They aimed for the judiciary and the local/state governments. They bought up newspapers and radio stations, and of course bank rolled/supported Fox not the News. They gerrymandered voting districts and prevented mostly democratic leaning voters from voting to assure they would stay in power regardless. Reversing their evil tactics is going to take will power and some time. But nothing will happen unless the democrats wake up, get a plan and act.
I think it's really difficult for decent, freedom-loving people to think that other humans would be this abominable. But here we are. And we have to understand their methods and anticipate their moves to beat them.
I agree democrats are very reactive. I feel we need to speak up and be respectfully aggressive to push back. It doesn’t take much to speak clearly sternly. I didn’t make it in the blue collar male dominated corporate world by being nice. I had to be aggressive to survive. 🤨