this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2024
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I think it has to do more with human nature. You can see a similar mentality with the Russian and French revolutions. The biggest difference is that people aren't economically desperate here. People may be poor or feel poor but they aren't truly desperate like Germany in the depression, Russia after the debacle of ww1, France with food shortages, etc. Here it is an ideological and cult of personality issue but not enough to get the majority of people and the major powers (the military, the very wealthy, etc) involved. This feels more like the Red Scare people of the 1950s.
One of my takeaways from the whole ordeal is that people don't need to be economically desperate, just feeling so goes a long way. The US has had one of the best post covid recoveries. Objectively the US economy is in decent shape but then if you listen to Trump's hustings' you could think that the US is in a deep recession akin to the 1930s, whilst also on the brink of world war 3 and overrun by migrant crime gangs. Combine that with the massive amount of targeted misinformation on social media and you get a new situation in which people are relatively well off (on the grand scale of history) yet radicalized as if destitute.
I really didn't want to believe it, but post-election I've come to the conclusion that a significant amount of these vibes are driven by YouTube and TikTok. My FYP is filled with videos that portray only the side of the U.S. that is decaying--abandoned shopping malls, blighted neighborhoods or towns that shut down for one reason or another, presented as memes about "liminality" or uncanniness. Admittedly I have a longstanding interest in urban exploration that predates the liminal space trend and its offshoots but you have to ask yourself why these media are being pushed so hard by algorithms and I don't think it's just that they appeal to people like me. I suspect that it's part of a more concerted effort to portray the United States as a nation in decline, failing to keep up with authoritarian powers like China and Russia, leading to an obvious prescription: replace our democracy with our own authoritarian system... which will be easier for large corporations and foreign governments (even China whom Trump ostensibly opposes) to exploit and control.
still a dangerous time to be anything but white and privileged. even then, being labeled as a commie or pinko was a slow death sentence.