Mastodawn

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

This week, I asked my readers for feedback and what they are looking for from political writers.

Their responses tell of a pervasive sense of exasperation with politics, the search for ways out of this mess, and the longing for optimism amidst all the dark chaos.

Some thoughts from my new piece:

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https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/81aeedda-914b-4278-9577-7c2850965471

What I am Learning from You

A reflection on what you have told me this week – about a sense of exasperation with politics, the search for ways out of this mess, and the longing for optimism

Steady

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

Over a decade into the Trump experience, how could there not be a sense of fatigue and exhaustion? American politics has been a shitshow for so long that it is hard to remember it was ever different - a draining combination of bizarre and threatening, of deranged and terrifying.

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

There is, as an aggravating factor, the media and information landscape through which we have to experience it all. The media landscape has fractured. And as a result, the way we stay informed has fractured too.

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

As much as the desire to escape, to flee, is relatable, and as much as the temptation to resort to cynicism is understandable: Democracy relies on some form of active participation. A populace that has largely checked out only helps the authoritarians.

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

There is no magic solution here, and who am I to give out advice. But I do want to tell you: I am a big believer in airplane rules. In case of emergency, you pull that oxygen mask over your own face first – because no one is helped by you passing out trying to take care of others. Find refuge.

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

Don’t allow yourself to be bombarded with “Breaking News!” alerts constantly, don’t scroll news sites all day, reading hundreds of headlines… It only simulates staying informed. But it actually has the opposite effect: We are drowning. Look instead for clarity, perspective.

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

Another recurring theme: A general sense that explorations of how we got here are less valuable now – that the focus should firmly be on the question of how we get out of here, and what comes next. I get it. But I am also alarmed by this general “We don’t need more historical takes” sense.

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

Even if you believe, quite plausibly, that the focus now needs to be on the question of how we get out of here, any project of renewal and transformation better be based on a proper understanding of what it is that ails the nation, of what we are actually living through right now.

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

Finally, a reader recalled that I used to combine explorations of why/how everything was so messed up with a reminder that the situation is not hopeless, that there is, in fact, a glass-half-full interpretation of our moment in world history. That strikes me as important.

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

The stakes in this moment are so high because of the world-historic significance of the current fight over democracy: Is it possible to establish a stable liberal democracy under conditions of gender-egalitarian, multiracial, multi-religious pluralism?

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

A truly egalitarian multiracial, pluralistic democracy in which an individual’s status was not determined to a significant degree by race, gender, religion, or wealth?

I don’t think that’s ever been achieved anywhere.

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

And here comes the glass-half-full perspective: The reason why the Right has been radicalizing so much is that they feel their backs against the wall. The anti-democratic radicalization of the Right has not been fueled by a sense of strength, but by a pervasive sense of weakness.

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

And they are reacting to something real: Our “Western” societies have indeed become more pluralistic, less white, less overwhelmingly Christian.

In that sense, it was not some perfectly stable liberal democracy that suddenly fell into crisis (because such an order never existed).

Thomas Zimmer 1d ago

What’s come under pressure is white Christian patriarchal dominance – what the Right likes to call the “natural order.” In a way, we have never been closer to finally realizing that promise of egalitarian democracy. And that is precisely why the Right is freaking out.

Dark Phoenix 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🇵🇦🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈1d ago

@tzimmer_history I find it interesting that they are so against Sharia law, while doing everything in their power to emulate it.
Women are being charged with murder, simply for losing a baby. And men want to KILL them for this. The difference between Sharia and RWNJ law is only a matter of degree. And once they can kill a woman for something that can never be applied to them, the difference will keep getting smaller and smaller.

Dan McDonald 1d ago

@Darkphoenix @tzimmer_history

It's projection... it's ALMOST ALWAYS projection.

I mean, for example, look at preachers who are public homophobes getting caught with gay porn on their computers. It's like that, but over more areas.

Dark Phoenix 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🇵🇦🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈1d ago

@danmcd @tzimmer_history or pedophiles. I would say that I am shocked by how many preachers are pedophiles but I was brought up Catholic, so I am only shocked by how many there are across pretty much all organized Monotheistic religions. (Because I thought that it was partially due to the whole celibacy thing, but it is a lot more pervasive than that)

Insecurity Princess 🌈💖🔥

@Darkphoenix
No, that's predominantly Christianity