The Arendt quote even more relevant is this: "An adult consents where a child obeys.” From Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship, which ends: “Much would be gained if we could eliminate this pernicious word ‘obedience’ from our vocabulary of moral and political thought. If we think these matters through, we might regain some measure of self-confidence and even pride, that is, regain what former times called the dignity or the honor of man: not perhaps of mankind but of the status of being human.”
Yes, she's a coherent/consistent thinker. I like the pithiness of the children/adults one. And its ties to self-infantilization -- I haven't forgotten yet about the crowd chanting "Daddy's home!" after Tucker Carlson shared his disgusting girl-beating fantasy at a TPUSA rally.
Earlier this week Le Monde's daily podcast held a brief debate on the 'is trump fascist' question. The opposing argument cited thugs in the street, etc, and I was struck by how deeply, as you say, that misunderstands the function of the regime now. Beyond the ability to quickly see and silence much public discourse on social media, there's also the fact that harassment can quickly lead to violence, and the people targeted know and feel this pretty acutely.
as they tighten down society, i think the resistance, the individuals in the resistance will begin to better see each other and feel our strength, to some extent. things are becoming more and more distinct.
being in the streets, at least a couple of hours a week (eg, fed bldg, ICE quarters) with others, is a gift to the soul and to society. Next Tuesday, I'll be 76, and i'll be in the goddam streets.
Thank you for this essay, John. If I didn't have 173 books in my must-read stack, I would immediately divert my attention to the Kennan memoirs. On a personal note, I went to college with von Moltke's grandson, who is also a person of integrity, morality, and keen intelligence (you may know him, as a cineaste yourself). As a callow undergrad, I did not have a grasp on the importance of General von Moltke or the strength of his character, but over the years it has sunk in. That section, in particular, moved me deeply, and I'm grateful to you for quoting Kennan at length.
"There’s a ton of bullshit on the Right now about 'protecting Western Civilization.'” And so there has been these past fifty years. They defund our museums and our universities, neglect or denigrate our actually existing artists and scholars, and no-one gives a shit; but attack a minor right-wing celebrity pundit of no particular intellectual or stylistic distinction and they give us "Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone" at maximum volume over and over again. What is this "Western civilization" they claim to be protecting?
> There will always be some justification that’s minimally persuasive
It looks like the party line is that since there was no official order from FCC to shut Kimmel down, therefore it's not a 1st Amendment violation, and just a simple case of "free speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences, you leftists started it!".
I spend a lot of time thinking from the POV of Russians/US right-wing, and what keeps me grounded is the realization that it's never about making things better for them, but about finding the smallest of the specks of sawdust in their opponents to justify making things immeasurably worse.
I think the admin knows that there is likely to be a strong public reaction to, say, arrests of his critics or the public beating of a prominent and admired (by some) critic. So far they haven’t been willing to risk it. Kimmel had low viewership, and people don’t care about late night tv where they might if Robert Reich or Bernie Sanders or Mamdani were arrested. Thank you for your writing, John, and for introducing me to a new hero of WWII. We need inspiration, not wallowing in some version of ain’t it awful.
John - your sharp, distinct, singular commentary, inspires me every week and is why I subscribe. Little did I know that as a-time-has passed-me-by mainline Protestant, today you have gifted me a brand new martyr I had no clue about. And of course, by raising him up, you are asking for witness and sacrifice that is not mere gesture. Point taken. For all your work, I give thanks.
Personal favourite right now is the White House (smacks mostly of Vance and Miller) declaring war on antifascists for accusing the White House of being…fascist. Online rhetorical murk is the world in which these two reside, and no one should question that eliminating the liberal stone in America’s shoe is far more important to them than avenging someone who got shot.
Always striking to me that Vance virtually never says anything about what any elected Democratic legislator does or says. The public doesn't care about them so neither does he. His wars are all in the public arena, not the narrowly-political/legislative one. He's the ultimate anti-wonk, the pure ideologue whose only interest in the state is its power to exterminate his enemies.
Kennan’s memoirs are a feast, top to bottom. The man could write.
I like your general take on what we need to be doing individually (causing good trouble, in essence), but I keep thinking about collective action. What would make a real impact? Truly massive protests maybe. A widespread and sustained general strike, probably. And then I ask myself what the holdup is. What factors keep us from responding in those ways? What are your thoughts?
We are a divided nation of course, and a depressing number of people are happy with what's happening. That extends to the worker population of every big employer. Also, the things that make the sprawling US "fundamentally ungovernable," as you've described it, probably work against a unified response.
I think you also nailed the tendency to rationalize—the boiling-frog acceptance of things, plus general apathy. Here, Russia (Putin's but also Stalin's) feels like a good comparison, China too perhaps (Xi's but also Mao's). As long as enough people (especially those who have bills to pay and mouths to feed) feel just content enough and just safe enough, a lot of them are satisfied to lay low.
People feel the collapse in the form of rising prices, neighbors disappearing, and the snuffing out of various institutions and pleasures. But it doesn't hurt enough for them to risk their own safety. They might know Niemöller's poem, but they're not feeling it yet.
Great piece, John. I feel increasingly helpless and impotent when trying to fight against this unAmerican and seditious tyranny. Clearly, too many Americans take our freedoms for granted and have forgotten the price so many throughout history and the world have paid to defend and protect them. I’m just glad my parents are not alive and have to go through this dark time. It would have broken their hearts.
The Arendt quote even more relevant is this: "An adult consents where a child obeys.” From Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship, which ends: “Much would be gained if we could eliminate this pernicious word ‘obedience’ from our vocabulary of moral and political thought. If we think these matters through, we might regain some measure of self-confidence and even pride, that is, regain what former times called the dignity or the honor of man: not perhaps of mankind but of the status of being human.”
I think those quotes are pretty much equivalent
Yes, she's a coherent/consistent thinker. I like the pithiness of the children/adults one. And its ties to self-infantilization -- I haven't forgotten yet about the crowd chanting "Daddy's home!" after Tucker Carlson shared his disgusting girl-beating fantasy at a TPUSA rally.
Earlier this week Le Monde's daily podcast held a brief debate on the 'is trump fascist' question. The opposing argument cited thugs in the street, etc, and I was struck by how deeply, as you say, that misunderstands the function of the regime now. Beyond the ability to quickly see and silence much public discourse on social media, there's also the fact that harassment can quickly lead to violence, and the people targeted know and feel this pretty acutely.
as they tighten down society, i think the resistance, the individuals in the resistance will begin to better see each other and feel our strength, to some extent. things are becoming more and more distinct.
being in the streets, at least a couple of hours a week (eg, fed bldg, ICE quarters) with others, is a gift to the soul and to society. Next Tuesday, I'll be 76, and i'll be in the goddam streets.
Resistance = doing anything that has nothing to do with Charlie Kirk.
there is a lot to be done that has nothing to do with Charlie Kirk.
Thank you for this essay, John. If I didn't have 173 books in my must-read stack, I would immediately divert my attention to the Kennan memoirs. On a personal note, I went to college with von Moltke's grandson, who is also a person of integrity, morality, and keen intelligence (you may know him, as a cineaste yourself). As a callow undergrad, I did not have a grasp on the importance of General von Moltke or the strength of his character, but over the years it has sunk in. That section, in particular, moved me deeply, and I'm grateful to you for quoting Kennan at length.
"There’s a ton of bullshit on the Right now about 'protecting Western Civilization.'” And so there has been these past fifty years. They defund our museums and our universities, neglect or denigrate our actually existing artists and scholars, and no-one gives a shit; but attack a minor right-wing celebrity pundit of no particular intellectual or stylistic distinction and they give us "Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone" at maximum volume over and over again. What is this "Western civilization" they claim to be protecting?
> There will always be some justification that’s minimally persuasive
It looks like the party line is that since there was no official order from FCC to shut Kimmel down, therefore it's not a 1st Amendment violation, and just a simple case of "free speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences, you leftists started it!".
I spend a lot of time thinking from the POV of Russians/US right-wing, and what keeps me grounded is the realization that it's never about making things better for them, but about finding the smallest of the specks of sawdust in their opponents to justify making things immeasurably worse.
"This is all feeling awfully like home,” a friend of mine from Russia texted me yesterday evening. And so it is."
My husband grew up in Bresnev-era USSR. He says trump is worse.
Well said, but the section on Moltke is riddled with errors, I presume from the OCR process. It would be worth editing to correct them, imo.
Fixed
I think the admin knows that there is likely to be a strong public reaction to, say, arrests of his critics or the public beating of a prominent and admired (by some) critic. So far they haven’t been willing to risk it. Kimmel had low viewership, and people don’t care about late night tv where they might if Robert Reich or Bernie Sanders or Mamdani were arrested. Thank you for your writing, John, and for introducing me to a new hero of WWII. We need inspiration, not wallowing in some version of ain’t it awful.
John - your sharp, distinct, singular commentary, inspires me every week and is why I subscribe. Little did I know that as a-time-has passed-me-by mainline Protestant, today you have gifted me a brand new martyr I had no clue about. And of course, by raising him up, you are asking for witness and sacrifice that is not mere gesture. Point taken. For all your work, I give thanks.
Great piece, John- thank you
Personal favourite right now is the White House (smacks mostly of Vance and Miller) declaring war on antifascists for accusing the White House of being…fascist. Online rhetorical murk is the world in which these two reside, and no one should question that eliminating the liberal stone in America’s shoe is far more important to them than avenging someone who got shot.
Always striking to me that Vance virtually never says anything about what any elected Democratic legislator does or says. The public doesn't care about them so neither does he. His wars are all in the public arena, not the narrowly-political/legislative one. He's the ultimate anti-wonk, the pure ideologue whose only interest in the state is its power to exterminate his enemies.
Kennan’s memoirs are a feast, top to bottom. The man could write.
“There will be deliberate attempts to confuse all our moral categories and judgments.” Holy crap is this true!
Conservatives have always felt threatened by center-left liberalism. They are now freaking out.
Unhappy is the land that needs heroes, as another gentleman of that time and place once wrote.
I like your general take on what we need to be doing individually (causing good trouble, in essence), but I keep thinking about collective action. What would make a real impact? Truly massive protests maybe. A widespread and sustained general strike, probably. And then I ask myself what the holdup is. What factors keep us from responding in those ways? What are your thoughts?
We are a divided nation of course, and a depressing number of people are happy with what's happening. That extends to the worker population of every big employer. Also, the things that make the sprawling US "fundamentally ungovernable," as you've described it, probably work against a unified response.
I think you also nailed the tendency to rationalize—the boiling-frog acceptance of things, plus general apathy. Here, Russia (Putin's but also Stalin's) feels like a good comparison, China too perhaps (Xi's but also Mao's). As long as enough people (especially those who have bills to pay and mouths to feed) feel just content enough and just safe enough, a lot of them are satisfied to lay low.
People feel the collapse in the form of rising prices, neighbors disappearing, and the snuffing out of various institutions and pleasures. But it doesn't hurt enough for them to risk their own safety. They might know Niemöller's poem, but they're not feeling it yet.
Great piece, John. I feel increasingly helpless and impotent when trying to fight against this unAmerican and seditious tyranny. Clearly, too many Americans take our freedoms for granted and have forgotten the price so many throughout history and the world have paid to defend and protect them. I’m just glad my parents are not alive and have to go through this dark time. It would have broken their hearts.