Thread by @mariliacout

1/ I see my favorite writers on law, @SethAbramson and @Teri_Kanefield furiously working to interpret *today*'s crisis. There will be another tomorrow. My big question remains: why? Why Trump, Bolsonaro, Berlusconi? cambridge.org/core/journals/…

2/ That took me back again (a trip I have been taking too often to be comfortable with) to the millions of individuals who make the RW rise in public opinion possible. And I found this pearl here:theauthoritarians.org/Downloads/TheA…

3/ The first paragraphs of the book are a justification from the author: why did I make my book free for download on the web? His explanation helps those of us slipping fast into hopelessness hang on a bit longer:

4/ All the aspects of the present crisis help us understand the plutocracy part of the equation but how this new brand of populism was possible with such a diversity of cultural backgrounds remains in great part unanswered.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

5/ I'm obviously concerned about the future of democracy, like Bob. I'm also concerned about my own role in all this, my family and myself, including the fact that I may never see my family again.
repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewconten…

6/ A few days ago I made a comment about how we, the "thinking folks", were losing hope and losing focus. Part of this is related that we, too, function in a system regulated by norms and laws and these governments promote a complete erosion of norms.

7/ Being a Latina social scientist living in the USA as an "exceptional ability and higher degree" permanent visa holder means:
- I belong to the class of people who were demonized to empower the Trump cult (Latina)
academic.oup.com/poq/article-ab…

8)
- I belong to another class of people demonized out of resentment, to empower the Trump cult, science denial and the trivialization of Truth itself (scientists)
nature.com/articles/nnano…

9) The exact same phenomena are happening in Brazil with more ferocity. My family is at risk there. I can't visit them. They can't visit me. I see federal organisms like the CDC fabricating lies about health risks immigrants can bring into the USA and I can't speak.

10) I see candidates capitalizing on the sympathy for the Latino victimized population but unwilling to listen to us, Latino scientists observing from a "privileged" perspective all the things they talk about with much less precision than the moment requires.

11) I would like to be more Bob Altemeyer and less myself these days. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't.

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