A thread of statements addressing the closing arguments of the Trump campaign

@wdlindsy

"Learning to Kill

It's odd the way that societies change. Time and time again historians and sociologists are taken aback in wonder and confusion at the sudden, dramatic, and often dangerous transformations of a people’s basic nature and identity.

When this occurs in individuals we call it insanity, and often look for psychological or biological illness to explain the anomaly. When it occurs in societies we call it inhumanity, and have yet to address its root cause.

There are of course the classic and well known transformations of good societies into those who embrace darkness, such as the Germans adopting the ideals of the madman Hitler, or the Italians adopting his lesser counterpart Mussolini. But there are unfortunately many lesser discussed and equally tragic examples of a societies transgressions against its own mores. From the ancient Greeks and Romans, to modern day Americans and Europeans, societies have shown a great propensity for suddenly abandoning their most cherished beliefs and morals, and in their stead, learning to kill.

To be sure, these transformations do not occur overnight, but are instead attended by a slow, steady, but ever increasing drumbeat of misinformation, dehumanization, beratement, and ultimate hysteria directed towards any perceived enemy. The voices of reason and dissent are routinely suppressed and discredited, the rule of law abandoned, and any possible sense of guilt muted by vague and overt appeals to absolute nationalism.

And so we find humanity today.

In the midst of elections where the abandonment of our most basic precepts of humanity are trialed, humanity hangs bare.

Learning to kill.

It's not as difficult as we thought."
SearingTruth

@wdlindsy

"We are one last lantern.

To light the rest.

So shine.

And drown the darkness."
SearingTruth

@wdlindsy I still remember the woman quoted during Trump's first presidency, complaining that "he isn't hurting the people he needs to be hurting."

That told me a lot about why people supported him.

Every Trump supporter has a list of enemies whom they want Trump to persecute for them.

They know Trump has an enemies list, too.

They assume it coincides with theirs.

It would be satisfying to watch them find out they're wrong, but I'd rather the issue simply not come up.

Vote Harris/Walz.

@wdlindsy

Trump is a dangerous man, and I think a Putin supporter.

I am more nervous about the USA elections than I was about the UK ones.

@lyndamerry484 I agree, and I understand your reason for being nervous about the US elections: they will have global consequences.

@NicoleJLeBoeuf Thank you for that reminder. Yes, isn't that amazing, that they'd say right out loud that they voted for him to hurt the people who "need to be hurt"? As you say, this tells us a whole lot about his supporters — and what it tells us is far from savory.

@SearingTruth Thank you. Beautiful image.

@SearingTruth Thank you for this insightful meditation.

@ERBeckman Works for me!

@Runyan50 Let's hope. As Robert Reich keeps telling us, the concentration of wealth and the power that a tiny elite of super-rich people now have are really unprecedented.

@Pagan_Activist That's a hopeful report. Thanks for it. I see very few Trump signs in my own city in the heart of the very red state of Arkansas, but Little Rock tends to vote Democratic, in contrast to much of the rest of the state. I wonder if people supporting Trump are outright ashamed to advertise that this election.

@SearingTruth Thank you.

@Runyan50 You're right. Modeling is essential to teaching, since those being taught watch the actions of the parent or teacher more than listening to the words.

@cowboyminer I agree. I keep thinking to myself, You can never underestimate the depths of racism and misogyny among many American voters.

@mj You're right. When your whole shtick is denying the rule of law, the common good, the obligation of basic decency in your dealings with others, what's a little plagiarism and stealing the work of others?

@glitzersachen @Deixis9 Perhaps strategies and stupidity can often go hand in hand, so that some strategies are stupid?

@MotherEarth Touché.

@deivudesu I am not and never have been a friend of Kristol. At the same time, I think that, given what we're up against in the rising tide of fascism, standing together even with people we find distasteful and whose worldview we do not share is imperative, as long as we do share the common goal of pushing back that tide. Politics is about the art of the possible, not the ideal and pure.

@wdlindsy @Deixis9

I somehow doubt that. Not to contradict you, but strategy requires a mind planning to win the war. Stupid stuff just happens, because it was the most simple/easy thing to go into this specific direction at the time. Basically following the minimum energy valley. The only law of evolution is "what survives, survives" and some to the most simple, selfreplicating structures (like the GOP mindset) are like this. ...

@wdlindsy @Deixis9
One doesn't need a primate brain to survive: Viruses, and prions are pretty persistent, too. But they don't have a strategy. Their way to reproduce/persist has just been shaped by natural selection, not designed/planned, The same for the GOP mindset: It perpetuates itself, but by very simply (though unfortunately efficient) means.

This was more or less the point I wanted to make.