Donald Trump Presidency discussion Thread VIII (threadbanned users listed in OP)

briany wrote: »

I've often heard that American public education systems are under-resourced and overstretched. How bad is it that it can lead to some of the discourse you see being employed over there?

Like, specifically, what kinds of things are not being taught over there that we get taught here such that we don't have such a deeply divided politics and susceptibility to conspiracy theories? (not saying we're totally without guilt on either count).

Destruction of public education is one element of building a population that will buy into right-wing culture wars.

But imperialism in the educational culture and the culture of a country in general is a key element. That doesn't just mean the educational system itself, but what people read, listen to and look at, and by look at, I include statues in this. Statues are an important element in the official culture of a country. The official culture is like the air we breathe, we cannot exist independently of it, and it shapes us.

Imperialism was always about the hegemony of the "macho" straight, white Christian male. The type who believed he was superior, because, well, he just was, or so he believed. The type who believed in "might is right". The type that did not believe in listening, but in telling others what to do, and telling others, others he believed were inferior, to shut up. The type that believed in his bones that any gain in rights for others meant a loss of rights for him.

That's Trumpism in a nutshell, it's Brexit, it's Putin, it's Modi, Erdogan, Bolsonaro, Xi, Netanyahu, Salvini, Le Pen, Orban, and the DUP.

In the educational system itself history and how it is portrayed is a key element towards grooming young people into a right-wing mindset, so it makes perfect sense how there's a continual effort among right-wing politicians in general across the US and Europe to downgrade and indeed ridicule history and liberal arts subjects, because liberal arts subjects are designed to give people the ability to think, which is not what right-wing politics wants in people.

If there is no real reckoning with the evils of slavery, imperialism or genocide in the official culture of a country, and there has never really been such in the US, UK, France, Russia and Australia among others, it's totally unsurprising then that much of the population will carry an essentially racist, imperialist mindset through their lives and be hostile to critical examination of that past and, on an individual level, be hostile to self-examination as to how it has shaped their mindset.

Being a small country I think is an advantage in terms of reality-based politics. Small countries tend not to carry delusions of greatness. They know they have to work with other smaller states, and indeed bigger ones, in order to prosper. That said, being small is not a foolpoof innoculation against fascism and authoritarianism by any means.

But in Ireland, I think our history of being colonised has been an advantage to us in this era. We have no "glorious history" to hark back to, which is an advantage in guarding against fascism. Our history of colonisation gives most of us, I would like to think, anyway, an identification with the underdog and the "other", though that is not to say we do not have significant problems with racism. Our youth as a state gives us an appreciation for education as a means of continuing to that build that young state, in a positive sense.

I often think there are uncanny comparisons between the hegemonic political and media culture in the US, the UK and Australia and their conceited belief in national "greatness", compared to their smaller and seemingly more sensible neighbours, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand.

That said, for the first 60/70 years of this state's history, the official culture was a backward looking, insular one, and even though the official culture and ruling politicians were not fascist, the culture did contain some elements which are essential to fascism. It seems to me that a lot of small countries which gain independence have to go through a period of reactionary post-colonial insularity and political conservatism based on nationalism and ethnicity. I think we're seeing that in many of the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries.

What I think is a common thread between the right-wing fascist or crypto-fascist cultures which exist in the US, the UK, France, Russia, Australia, China, India and Turkey is an obsession with national "greatness" which usually harks back self-consciously to an imagined glorious past associated with military might, but also the classic fascist traits of ultra-nationalism based on ethnicity or religion, and a willingness to blithely dismiss the pain of others who are not part of the dominant ethnic group.

Our one real vulnerable area in terms of guarding against an Irish fascism is the North - it's easy to see how a toxic Irish nationalism could develop if the prospect of a united Ireland is seen to be within reach, or after it happens.

"National greatness" is a truly dreadful concept. It leads to ignorance, arrogance, delusion, fake victimhood, the worst kind of sickening sentimentality, and ultimately mass stupidity in a culture.

Nobody should want to live in a "great" country, just a good, decent, open, free, compassionate one.

Water John wrote: »

Spicer was forced to lie, McAnany is very willing.

Spicer willingly lied and willingly lied hard.

He knew full well he was lying, and his body language gave it way.

He was "just following orders".

But you have to be willing to follow orders to do what he did.

Spicer also didn't have the excuse that he would be executed if he didn't follow orders.

He would have just walked back into society and got a cushy job somewhere in the RNC or the media.

Spicer is a classic example of somebody who is willing to put naked careerism ahead of any sort of principle. That's how fascism advances.

Headshot wrote: »

"Comrade Trump" will catch on big time.

Cue Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, Krystal Ball and Katie Halper ranting that the Biden campaign is being run by Russia-hating Republicans, no doubt.

Ironically enough the "burn down the state" strategy of the likes of Charles Koch, Steve Bannon and Dominic Cummings, ie. the people who run the Trump/Brexiteer strategy, is modelled on Lenin.