"If we want to understand and prepare for (insofar as possible) what's coming now in the US, I think we'd be wise to study societies that have deliberately decided to step back in time by dismantling progressive breakthroughs in areas like human rights.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

If we want to understand and prepare for (insofar as possible) what's coming now in the US, I think we'd be wise to study societies that have deliberately decided to step back in time by dismantling progressive breakthroughs in areas like human rights.

This DOES happen. It has happened throughout history and right to the present.

#Trump #Republicans #Hegseth #WhiteChristianNationalism #gender #race #HumanRights
/1

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

It frequently happens when authoritarian leaders backed by economic elites seize control of a society by inflaming social fears and hatreds targeting those whose lives human rights breakthroughs had made better.

#Trump #Republicans #Hegseth #WhiteChristianNationalism #gender #race #HumanRights
/2

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

Because this is how they seize and maintain power, authoritarian rulers backed by economic elites quite frequently begin their exercise of power by deliberately and ruthlessly stripping targeted groups of citizens of long-fought-for rights. Women, LGBTQ people, racial and religious minorities, immigrants are usually in the sights of authoritarian rulers as they strip rights away and turn the clock back.

#Trump #Republicans #Hegseth #WhiteChristianNationalism #gender #race #HumanRights
/3

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

That turning back the clock is, of course, highly selective. It's a turning back of the clock for SOME citizens but not all. It frequently focuses on enhancing and broadening the rights of heterosexual males at the expense of everyone else.

#Trump #Republicans #Hegseth #WhiteChristianNationalism #gender #race #HumanRights
/4

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

And it has the support of many women and many of those who are being exploited by the very economic elites they empower politically because those women and marginal citizens assume they will never be in the sights of authoritarian leaders as they turn the clock back and strip rights away.

#Trump #Republicans #Hegseth #WhiteChristianNationalism #gender #race #HumanRights
/5

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

All this can happen much more quickly than people realize, the return to a primitive, semi-barbarous social order in which brutal men rule the roost and everyone else is expected to kowtow. Backed by a military and police force of which the authoritarian leader has seized control....

#Trump #Republicans #Hegseth #WhiteChristianNationalism #gender #race #HumanRights
/5

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

And when that backwards movement to serve the needs of economic elites that place authoritarian leaders in power is backed, bolstered, and blessed by religious groups for whom human rights advances are anathema insofar as they call into question the God-given "natural" right of heterosexual males to rule and dominate and punish….

#Trump #Republicans #Hegseth #WhiteChristianNationalism #gender #race #HumanRights
/6

[dana@social.coop]

@wdlindsy
Good thread and I was waiting to learn how you would describe religion's political influence

[zhizhu@newsie.social]

@wdlindsy

Indeed. Look at what happened in Afghanistan.

#Religion #Politics

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@ZhiZhu An excellent example.

It can happen here. Versions of this can happen elsewhere.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@dana Thank you.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

A society can in key respects find itself back in the 1600s in the twinking of an eye, when powerful men choose this.

#Trump #Republicans #Hegseth #WhiteChristianNationalism #gender #race #HumanRights
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[colmdonoghue@mastodon.ie]

@wdlindsy @ZhiZhu happened in Ireland after we got partial independence from Britain
Catholic take over of society, huge incarceration rate, especially of women

[arqtec@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

I feel sorry for the folks with most of their lives in front of them, this will not be fixed anytime soon
The years will remind you of WHAT you should have done in 2024 election
There is NO measure that says Trump is the right guy for the job ?
The Country and the world will soon see the consequences of either voting for a Sociopath or staying home because you couldn't vote for a Woman
Trump will stumble thru his vision of Dictatorship
This misery could have been avoided
GOP

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Arqtec I agree. Those who are going to have to live with this longterm are younger folks, quite a few of whom voted to set this into motion, or chose to set it into motion by sitting out the election.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@ColmDonoghue @ZhiZhu Yes, a good example — with a constitution explicitly giving enormous secular power to the church.