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Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
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24 Mar, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Think about how often gay marriage is described as a “polarizing” issue. Yes, the country was split in the middle on this question, about a decade ago; but this is not a story of #polarization - but one in which the majority of Americans is steadily coming around on major issues.
In many areas, the #polarization narrative obscures more than it illuminates. Take Americans’ changing views on LGBTQ rights, for example: Since the 1970s the percentage of people regarding homosexuality as an “acceptable lifestyle” has steadily increased.
The idea that gay Americans deserve civil rights protections at the work place reached near-consensus status long ago. So even in areas where substantive attitudes have shifted significantly, the public has not exactly been polarizing. #NotPolarization
Similarly, is America really “polarized” over guns? It’s much more adequate to say that gun extremism has become the mainstream position in an increasingly radicalized Republican Party. #NotPolarization

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More from @tzimmer_history

Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
25 Nov 20
I reviewed @ezraklein‘s “Why We’re Polarized” for @hsozkult. A few thoughts, from a historical perspective, on an important book that still left me unconvinced that "polarization" is the right lens through which to analyze America’s recent past and present. 1/
Quick disclaimer: I’m not a political scientist and not necessarily interested in policy prescriptions. My perspective on “Why We’re Polarized” is that of a historian of 20th century U.S. politics who’s working on the history of the polarization idea/narrative. 2/
First of all, everyone should read "Why We’re Polarized." I learned an awful lot from this book, and the way @ezraklein summarizes and synthesizes the conflicts that shape U.S. politics and the forces that are shaping American society is truly impressive. 3/
Read 49 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
23 Nov 20
I was asked to provide a historical perspective on #Covid19 by @UniFreiburg's Studium generale and used the opportunity to reflect on what, if anything, we can learn from the global history of pandemics. Here’s a link to the recorded lecture (in German): videoportal.uni-freiburg.de/category/video…
Since the lecture is in German and basically the culmination of eight months of reflecting on, writing about, and debating #Covid19, I thought it might be useful to pull all my previous attempts at thinking about the pandemic historically together in one thread.
So here’s a thread of threads with links to lectures, articles, interviews, discussions. Please note: I put them in chronological order; my thinking about these issues has certainly evolved since the spring. #Covid19
Read 25 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
8 Nov 20
I RTed this thread by @mattsheffield yesterday because it contains crucial observations on conservative media.

However, I strongly disagree with the idea that Trump’s supporters are being "misled" and I don’t think "love can defeat hate" is a helpful motto. A few thoughts: 1/
To begin with, there is very little empirical evidence for the assertion that Trump’s supporters are simply being deceived by conservative elites. 2/
Considering that the question of what’s animated millions of Americans to stick with Trump has received more media and academic attention than any other topic over the past few years, that’s significant. 3/
Read 19 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
1 Oct 20
I find this question, prompted by @SethCotlar’s criticism of what he rightfully calls the "naïve, American Exceptionalist idea that 'it can’t happen here'," really interesting. A few thoughts from a German perspective. 1/
I’m not necessarily an expert on this topic and have not been following the debate among German conservatives super closely (keeping up with what’s happening on the American side of the Atlantic keeps you pretty busy these days…). So these are really just a few thoughts. 2/
Interestingly, German post-war history has been shaped by almost the reverse exceptionalist idea: "It happened here, so it can always happen again, and it is our responsibility to make sure that it won’t, at least not here." 3/
Read 21 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
13 Aug 20
Conservatives claiming to be “confused” by the - honestly not all that complicated - idea that “race” is not a biological reality, but a social construct that has dramatically shaped the social, political, and cultural hierarchy in the U.S., is so very tiring and silly.
It’s always hard to discern how much of that stems from pure ignorance and how much is just bad-faith debate club nonsense. In any case, they honestly think their “confusion” is an indictment of the theories and ideas of race and racism they don’t like.
Of course, contrary to what conservatives want to pretend, this sort of “confusion” does not cast doubt on well established and empirically proven theories of - it simply reflects very poorly on those who are unable or unwilling to grasp and engage with them on an adequate level.
Read 4 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
8 Aug 20
To elaborate on this excellent point: America has always been dominated by one group - conservative white Christians. And a political system that threatened their privileged status - true democracy - has always been anathema to them.
What’s changed is that until recently, conservative white Christians were dominant in both parties, so they regarded both Republican and Democratic rule as legitimate.
That’s no longer the case though: Only one party, the GOP, has pledged to preserve and defend white conservative Christian rule by whatever means necessary, while the other is pursuing a more pluralistic, (small-d) democratic vision.
Read 4 tweets

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