Black Aziz Anansi [In Exile]What do you think it will take to effectively defeat fascism in the United States?
NMgal@BlackAzizAnansi But seriously. Racism is America's original sin, so that's a fundamental, but... I think back to a few decades ago when, though USA had serious problems with bigotry, we were at least moving toward a society where overt racism, misogyny, antisemitism, etc. were publicly shamed. Then the reactionaries got their shit together , and ramped up their pushback. What did they do that was so effective that we ended up where we are today, on the verge of a fascist takeover?
@BlackAzizAnansi The number one thread I see is propaganda: relentless, coordinated, targeted. Pushing an alternative "American dream," an alternative narrative building on the underlying individualism and suspicion of collective action to completely trash any notion of promoting the general welfare, of the value of the commons. Once that was accomplished with right-wing media (Fox, hate radio, crazy uncle email forwards), they hit the jackpot with the rise of social media and microtargeting.
Cardboard Robot@NMgal @BlackAzizAnansi Propaganda has always been the true weapon and very few took it seriously on the left. They'd role their eyes and laugh about Fox but I saw what it did to family members, it changed them fundamentally, to their core.
@CardboardRobot Man, it's horrible. Like, as a Black person I've always known there's been some degree of racism with a lot of white adults, but I've seen so many folks who seemed like somewhat decent folks just go from casually ignorant to flat out raving and out of their minds.
@CardboardRobot @BlackAzizAnansi Yes, it's completely horrifying what Fox does to people. The hermetically sealed information ecosystem makes it impossible to penetrate with facts. But what happened to their ability to reason? All I can think is that the shit make you stupid. Weed got nothing on FoxNews and InfoWars yadda
@NMgal I think Kwame Toure said it best when he said you can't work to reach out to your oppressors conscience when they don't have one to reach out to. That's the GOP today, they have no conscience.
@BlackAzizAnansi I was having a similar conversation today (over Zoom, so modern) with some empathetic, compassionate, aware folks. How do you reach out to oppressors, and wannabe oppressors, who straight up want to see you suffer and die? How do we find common ground with that? I think at least we have to be honest about it. In (mostly white) liberal spaces I see a lot of denial: "Can't X see that Y action will actually hurt people?" Yes, yes, they can, and it's a feature not a bug to them.
@NMgal Bingo! It's the definition of being between a rock and a hard place. On one hand you have the GOP, who sees Black and Brown people as inferior, and wants to pass policies to ensure that they're a permanent underclass. On the other hand, you have some mostly white liberals who think you can negotiate with the GOP, and lecture them into morality.
@BlackAzizAnansi I see a need for a clear-eyed view of the problem and better solidarity. A sliver of silver lining in the derangement of the GQP is that more white liberals might understand the othering of POC is rapidly extending to them (I should say us, I'm an older white liberal). The "them" they salivate to subjugate is EVERYONE not a member of their Dominionist cult. In a crowd whites can pass, but if they have info on voting record or even social media posts, skin color won't be armor.
Idris 💙@NMgal @BlackAzizAnansi Absolutely! For them to feel REALLY superior, their circle must be small. And it's not enough for them to hate - they want to crush anyone who isn't them.
@RomanticSkeptic @BlackAzizAnansi Crushed but licking their boots and telling them their horror is heaven. Lincoln's Cooper Union speech is so goddamn on the nose, it's awful.
"...what will convince them? This, and this only: cease to call slavery wrong, and join them in calling it right. And this must be done thoroughly - done in acts as well as in words. Silence will not be tolerated - we must place ourselves avowedly with them."