Mastodawn

BobAges Apr 18, 2023

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅

Quote from article: Once the Nazis took power they banned books, outlawed drag shows and homosexuality, changed school curricula to remove mention of their atrocities in WWI, and rewrote election laws so they’d never again lose an election.

My thoughts: A whole bunch of people, myself included, started pointing out parallels between the Trump-era GOP and the Nazis well before he was elected. We were accused of employing hyperbole, and told to "give him a chance."

Well, just call me Cassandra ... because here we are.

Just. Like. I. Said. We. Would. Be.

https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartmann/p/whats-behind-the-gops-war-against?r=1ekuyr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

What’s Behind the GOP’s War Against Democracy?

And are rightwing billionaires who want more, more, more money willing to make common cause with bigots, fascists, and wannabee killers to get it?

The Hartmann Report

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart on this long road to Fascism there has been a constant whine of "don't upset the fascists, and don't call them 'Fascists', you'll hurt their feelings" and I want to see what those people think now or are they still lying to us and themselves?

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

@Lazarou I spent many fruitless hours asking people why the blatant behaviors Trump displayed (misogyny, anti-semitism, racism, mocking people with disabilities, etc.) were not deal-breakers for them. None of them could give me an answer.

I now know it's because they felt their own horrific biases were validated.

I naively believed we were doing better as a country than this ... and now all I can do is to continue to raise my voice, whether verbally or through my writing, to speak truth in the face of their lies.

EJJames Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart @Lazarou for at least one I talked with, ending legal abortion was worth putting up with anything. SMH

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

@EJJames @Lazarou

So for that person, women dying of illegal abortions was an acceptable outcome.

That's the kind of thing we need to keep pointing out ... because abortion has been with us since time immemorial, and is not going anywhere any time soon.

Authoritarians like having the ability to punish. In this case, they want to punish women for having sex without wanting to be pregnant.

NancyAnn Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart @EJJames @Lazarou
And now pregnant women dying in ever higher numbers is acceptable.

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

@nancyann @EJJames @Lazarou

Yep. Dead women are a feature, not a bug, to a certain crowd. They don't care that the US maternal mortality rate is the highest in the developed world. They don't care that every single pregnancy carries the risk of complications, up to and including death, that cannot be predicted until they occur. They don't care that a legal abortion is orders of magnitude safer than gestation.

They just want to punish women for having sex without wanting to be mothers.

NancyAnn Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart @Lazarou
It’s difficult for those of us who saw this coming from the first and tried to sound the alarm. I had no idea what ignorant hateful people our neighbors are. I just hope that, after the past few years, those who didn’t believe we’ve been living through creeping fascism now are convinced fascism is here and we all must fight it.

Javier Carrasco Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart @Lazarou I can easily relate to this. Whenever I asked why Trump's blatant behaviors, no one could give any answer besides "He's not like that at all, you're just seeing it the wrong way". For instance, despite the fact I'm their gay disabled (two groups targeted by the guy) son, my parents still voted for Trump because he was "the lesser of two evils"

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

@SuperJerrBear81 @Lazarou

My dad (RIP) voted for him, too ... on the grounds that "he's going to do a lot to help guys like me."

My dad was a 100 percent disabled Vietnam-era vet and former POW. You know, the kind of guy that Trump called "a loser and a sucker." 😞

I told my dad that while that might have been true, he was going to do a lot of harm to people who *weren't* like him.

Dad: "I don't have enough time left on this planet to worry about people who aren't like me."

Me: "I don't have enough time left on this planet *not to.*"

Dad: "Whether you believe it or not, I'm incredibly proud of you for that."

My dad was complicated ... but that's not the point.

I think a lot of people fell for Trump's bull, and I'm glad that at least some of them are waking up.

Javier Carrasco Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart I would hope my parents changed their minds about Trump, but my mom still wholeheartedly supports the guy. My dad is a party-line tower, so despite it all, he'd still probably vote for Trump (if the guy ran again). What is extra disappointing for me was they said they would never vote for him if he got the nomination, yet they did. I knew they would, as well. They didn't like John McCain, but they still voted for him because he was "the lesser of two evils"

Darwin Woodka Apr 18, 2023

@sharonecathcart @Lazarou Because this is all interpreted as "strength" and "powerful" in men instead of as the misogynistic anti social fucking bullshit it is. I'm sick of it.

We need to call it out and cut off anyone who thinks this garbage is ok, in themselves or in their "leaders".

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

@Lazarou Also, I had no patience with the mollycoddling of "we need to try to understand them."

I grew up in a rural part of the country. I understand them, because I lived among them in the trailer parks. They believe they're temporarily embarrassed millionaires, and if only "those people" weren't cutting ahead of them in line, they'd be rich. They believe that their government assistance checks are because of genuine need, but everyone else is a fraud and "taker."

It's a level of magical thinking that truly boggles my mind.

I refer to my move away from where I grew up as an escape ... and for good reason.

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart the people who say "we need to try to understand them" have never actually met them, never been a victim of them and deep down, probably agree with them.

PJ "Vote Green" Coffey Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart @Lazarou

I think that does injustice to the people from those parts of the country.

The Jan 6th protestors could take time off work and book hotel rooms.

That doesn't sound like the preserve of poor hard-working types to me.

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

@Homebrewandhacking @Lazarou

I had to sit with this one for a minute to figure out how to respond.

I think this is a case of "yes, and ..."

While it's true that the Jan 6 insurrectionists could take time off from work and book hotel rooms, it doesn't change the fact that a whole slew of people with whom I grew up wished they were there. It doesn't change the fact that the authoritarian attitudes and magical thinking exist.

Just because they weren't roaming Capitol Hill looking for blood doesn't mean they didn't want to. 😞

PJ "Vote Green" Coffey Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart @Lazarou

No, indeed fair enough, but there's an important gap between _wanting to do something_ and having the ability to do it and doing it.

The framing of people harbouring these hatreds and irrational beliefs as solely being ignorant and ill-educated is very widespread, as you know.

But... fish rot from the head down...

Peter Relph Apr 18, 2023

@Lazarou @sharonecathcart

"They aren't Fascists because they weren't grown in the Fascisti region of Italy"" .....

Yeah, no, they're Fascists.

Fascism has nothing to do with time & place, it is a basic human pathology that has always existed, under different names.

Stevens R Miller Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart

Same. As the creator of "Miller's Paradox," I felt it was actually my duty to point out that, sometimes, Godwin's Law does not apply. Trump is a Nazi, his supporters are Nazis, and they are doing what Nazis have always done.

When a Nazi comparison is hyperbolic, I say so. But the Nazis did not give other Nazis a license to avoid being called out for what they are, just because some comparisons are hyperbolic.

@sharonecathcart

OTOH: https://www.monopol-magazin.de/maennerfantasien?slide=6

Warum haben sich so viele Wehrmachtssoldaten als Frauen verkleidet?

Der Künstler Martin Dammann sammelt Amateurfotos von als Frauen verkleideten Wehrmachtssoldaten. Nun ist ein Buch mit den Bildern erschienen

Katelyn Collins Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart "you're just being dramatic" uh huh, stripping away my access to Healthcare and living under constant threat of hate crimes is just me being dramatic.

Marvin Apr 20, 2023

@Klushy225 @sharonecathcart lol

KatQ Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart Count me among the modern day Cassandra’s. I followed you for that reference. It remember the people who said you used hyperbole are the same people who say no one could have predicted this.

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

@katq906 We who studied the classics must stick together. ;-)

KBSez ✅Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart

Thanks for this.

I feel like a broken record sometimes and have questioned myself when I am constantly saying "Florida is 1930's Germany. Make no mistake, Desantis is using the same playbook" but it's true.

The rest of the loons around the country and slavering watching what he does and how no one seems to be trying to stop him ready to do the exact same thing in their states.

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

A lot of people disregard atrocities that don't affect them. They think of them as minor inconveniences at best.

The problem is that once you're acclimated to accepting minor inconveniences, it becomes easier to accept incrementally bigger ones.

And then, when the atrocity suddenly affects you (the general you), you wonder how it happened and how we got here.

KBSez ✅Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart

That's the whole plot --- start with the one group so when you go to the next it's not as big a deal and down the slippery slope you go.

All these Hispanic supporters of desantis are starting to realize this

Javier Carrasco Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart I have a friend who has talked to me about empathy in the moment. They don't empathize unless they witnessed it firsthand, and even then there's a 50 percent chance they won't care. As long as it's not them.

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

@SuperJerrBear81

Until it affects them *personally* they won't care. As long as it's someone else, it doesn't matter. 😞

Javier Carrasco Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart It's true, sadly.

Martha Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart
The GOP wants a Tumpocracy with them ruling over America - and to Hell with Democracy

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

You are not wrong. Authoritarians want to be in charge of everything so that they can punish people whom they perceive as "lesser than" or other ... which, in this country, is anyone who is not straight, white, Evangelical Christian, and preferably male.

Martha Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart
Sad but true.

CaryHHart Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart The trouble with this sort of argument is that using parallels to draw a conclusion can be fallacious, but in this case there is recurrent daily evidence the conclusion is correct, like Florida making it much easier to assert the death penalty for trans people.

PeachMcD Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart

💯 same

My dad started calling me Cassandra when I was in 10th grade

Kim Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart in 1988 the conservative in Canada were reduced to only 2 seats in Canada parliament. The people were fed up. Lesson for USA. Vote

James Harris - Find my bridged Bluesky account May 20, 2023

@kimhoar @sharonecathcart that happened in 1993, but lesson is still the same. We see this happen a lot in Canada, where Conservatives do the unpopular hatchet work while they can, then get booted from power for like 15 years. Then of course people forget how terrible Conservative governance is and we give them another kick at the can. We’re living through it right now in Ontario as they gut our healthcare and sell off our protected Greenbelt to their developer buddies.

TopKnot Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart
Because I have lived in a state with crazy right wing extremists for most of my childhood and all of my adult life, I can easily say, religion and their "god" tells them what to to believe and what to dismiss ... regardless of the facts.

When you believe you have an all-powerful deity on your side that you must fear and worship so the deity doesn't do evil, you'll believe and do pretty much anything.

We should look at the definition of a cult before moving forward, right?

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

I'm a medical anthropology major, so for me "cult" has two definitions: the academic one and the popular culture one.

In the pop culture sense? I absolutely concur with you. MAGA is every bit as much a cult of personality as the People's Temple or the Branch Davidians.

Ann Lamott said it best: "You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

Ruby S.Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart

YEP! I've been calling out Republican fascism since George W. Bush stole the 2000 election. It's hard not to give up, but hope is a discipline.

https://lotusmedia.org/cassandra-speaks

It’s time for SOLIDARITY, not SURPRISE

I keep coming back to the feeling of being Cassandra – cursed to know the future and never be believed. Of course she went insane. I am trying not to follow that path by doing what I can: tak…

Ruby Sinreich

Threadbane Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart
You think you've had tough row to hoe, I felt the same way about Reagan! And I was right too! It's been a long fall, but the tripwire seems to have been school desegregation, which indirectly destroyed public AND private education systems because half the white population refused to cooperate - and still does. Inferior, anti-scientific religious and private k-12 cropped up everywhere, public schools were defunded and here we are, a nation of racist nitwits.

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

@Threadbane I was in high school when Reagan was elected, and oh-so-proudly apolitical.

Heh.

I got older and came to know better.

River (they/them) 🏳️‍⚧️✡️🪬🏳️‍🌈Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart He also went after transgender people and the first trans clinic to exist in the West

Token Sane Person Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart Anyone who doubts the Rethuglican descent into #fascism should take a look at Umberto Eco's list of #fascist tropes. Trumpists tick pretty much all the boxes.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_fascism#Umberto_Eco

(Side note: Putin likewise. No wonder Trump and Putin got on so well). #trump #maga #republican

Definitions of fascism - Wikipedia

Samhain Night Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart Cassandra was right.

Javier Carrasco Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart I remember historians pointing out the parallels. Yet, none of the Trump supporters wanted to listen. As long as they get what they want, they could care less

Bill Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart

Yep. I cornered at least one friend on why the analogy was invalid, and his answer was essentially, the body count wasn't high enough yet. 9_9

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

Wow. I have no words.

Bill Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart
Excuse me, I meant to say, former friend!

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 17, 2023

I took that as a given. 🙂

Kris Samsel Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart Justice isn’t working right now. You see the sedition leaders still in Congress! The two party system are the same billionaire contributors! And I agree with you. Seems to me the Democrats don’t want to do their job. I don’t hear them screaming calling them traitors, or demanding the Supreme Court get fixed. Or the billionaires that are in the post office and the federal reserve chairman. Who destroyed the middle class by raising interest rates! Letting his billionaire friends increase the prices for no reason! United States has a big problem. 🆘🇺🇸🔥 And President Joe Biden? Could add Supreme Court justices. He won’t. Do you think he’s going to get my vote? I sure the hell won’t vote Republican!

Southern Leftist Apr 17, 2023

@sharonecathcart
The road to fascism is lined with claims of hyperbole.

When we got a Hitlerite, they became Nazis themselves.

We are the lone sane peoples.

Fight for your fucking life, my fellow leftists.

Frank Cote Apr 18, 2023

@south_lib @sharonecathcart
Yes yes yes, fight for your grandchildren's futures.

Veirling | #MMIWG #LandBack Apr 18, 2023

@sharonecathcart I hope people aren't seriously suggesting there was bliss before Trump. The Jim Crow era, slavery, mass incarceration, genocide against indigenous people. We don't even have to get in to our massive crimes of colonization in the global south. Lastly, Hitler used the US as a model for the 3rd Reich. He literally wrote about it. Trump wasn't an anomaly, but an inevitability.

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 18, 2023

@veirling I don't think anyone is suggesting that at all.

SFborn1940 Apr 18, 2023

@sharonecathcart Amen, and I hope your observations are shared by every thinking American.

Squee Apr 18, 2023

@sharonecathcart yep. Every day it looks more and more like the flashback scenes from Handmaid's Tale.

📎🖐️ Alan Taylor 🎬 📚Apr 20, 2023

@sharonecathcart

See CABARET?

Author Sharon E. Cathcart ✅Apr 20, 2023

Indeed.

"Don't believe me? Try Helga."

msgbi Apr 20, 2023

@sharonecathcart @charles_ex

charles ex Apr 20, 2023

@msgbi If you don't understand white supremacy, everything you think you know will only tend to confuse you....