Thomas ZimmerAug 23, 2023
Moralizing Nostalgia Leads to Bad History – and Helps the Anti-Democratic Right
 
David Brooks’ “How America Got Mean” offers an ahistorical tale that obscures rather than illuminates – and provides fertile ground for a politics of reaction.
 
A thread, based on my new piece: https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/moralizing-nostalgia-leads-to-bad
Moralizing Nostalgia Leads to Bad History – and Helps the Anti-Democratic Right

David Brooks’ “How America Got Mean” offers an ahistorical tale that obscures rather than illuminates – and provides fertile ground for a politics of reaction

Democracy Americana
Show threadJill Minor
@tzimmer_history this doesn’t seem too different from Hillary’s recent Atlantic piece to me though—looking to old-fashioned institutions. Could there be something true about this? That we need *something* to bring people together in the flesh? And if we are oppressed we need each other, in person, all the more?
Aug 23, 2023 at 1:14pmIvory for iOS
Show threadThomas ZimmerAug 23, 2023
@jillrhudy Well, you can make anything sound reasonable if you put it in a very abstract way. But Brooks isn’t simply saying “Hey, maybe some old-fashioned institutions could be helpful.” You said that.
Show threadJill MinorAug 23, 2023
@tzimmer_history let me read the Brooks article in full and then comment further. I agree with you that false nostalgia can be poisonous. I just subscribed to the Atlantic, because with @TheAtlantic on here I see something I want to read every day.
Show threadJill MinorAug 23, 2023
@tzimmer_history I gotta agree with you that we can't just separate morality and politics the way he does. The New Gilded Age creates massive genuine misery. Poverty and misery go together. I had exemplary "moral training" and yet when I gave my children all the food and went to bed hungry I was miserable.