What if most voters in the world want to be subjected to authoritarianism, debasement, patriarchy and racism? Forget the politicians and the press for a moment—what if this is what most voters actually want?
How do the rest of us live inside of this reality?
How do the rest of us live inside of this reality?
A good chunk of voters in many countries on multiple continents know full well that they are voting for authoritarians who will crack skulls, build walls, subjugate women/queers, and persecute minorities. They've had years to see what such strongmen say they'll do & actually do.
Usually, as a media maker, I think about the media's role in this & in politicians' roles.
As an educator, I think about our role, too (though that's on a longer trajectory).
But the reality is many electorates understand & desire debasement & authoritarianism.
What to do?
As an educator, I think about our role, too (though that's on a longer trajectory).
But the reality is many electorates understand & desire debasement & authoritarianism.
What to do?
I suppose Afropessimism isn't a bad place to look—a school of thought, to me, which accepts that anti-Blackness is a condition which persists across time & various political orientations, so we best figure out how to make life worth living inside this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-pess…
I think I have been dealing with this reality myself, as @themattmager pointed out to me, by doing work that tries to go beyond the passing football of electoral politics. The things I work on exist regardless of the party in power (US empire, colonialism, HIV/AIDS).
@themattmager I still think at some level, as @_Ash_Clark once told me, that we have to keep thinking & we have to keep others thinking & asking critical questions.
But I also believe lots of people have thought, and this is the violent, racist, sexist reality they want.
What to do, then?
But I also believe lots of people have thought, and this is the violent, racist, sexist reality they want.
What to do, then?
@themattmager @_Ash_Clark The blessing & curse of having been trained by historians (3/5 members of my PhD committee) is that you learn how to see across time.
So, I learned that hope can take generations— but also that none of reading this now may live to see what we dream of become real.
So, I learned that hope can take generations— but also that none of reading this now may live to see what we dream of become real.
@themattmager @_Ash_Clark And I feel I have to sit with—really SIT with—that the blood thirst to crack skulls of migrants, Muslims, Jews, Black ppl, the poor, ppl living with HIV is NOT just the desire of political leaders or the press leading the masses astray...
It's the desire of (m)(b)illions of ppl.
It's the desire of (m)(b)illions of ppl.
@themattmager @_Ash_Clark Hold tight to the one's you love, y'all.
Goodnight.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Goodnight.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Woke up thinking about voters who are NOT uneducated or ill-informed yet who long for authoritarianism.
Men like Andrew Sullivan—a gay, immigrant, Harvard PhD who thinks the Democrats (whose last POTUS deported more ppl than any!) want “mass immigration”
Men like Andrew Sullivan—a gay, immigrant, Harvard PhD who thinks the Democrats (whose last POTUS deported more ppl than any!) want “mass immigration”
Woke up thinking about voters who are NOT uneducated or ill-informed yet who long for authoritarianism.
Men like Andrew Sullivan—a gay, immigrant, Harvard PhD who thinks the Democrats (whose last POTUS deported more ppl than any!) want “mass immigration”
Men like Andrew Sullivan—a gay, immigrant, Harvard PhD who thinks the Democrats (whose last POTUS deported more ppl than any!) want “mass immigration”
A former student, the ever brilliant @arlaw007, reminded us to consider Foucault's intro to Delueze & Guittari's A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism & Schizophrenia in these times 
