Thread by @sunnshiiny

This video is a must watch for the informed citizen who is feeling overwhelmed and hopeless.

There is always hope. There have been situations that were decidedly much worse that progressives have overcome. Slavery & robber barons were both much worse than current circumstances.

https://twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield/status/1416905531654950913

Knowing history provides you with perspective and the information that overwhelming circumstances can be overcome. History is hope.

But many focus on the difficulties of our immediate circumstances without the benefit of the historical context. Few of us are “big picture” focus.

This creates despair and demoralization.

But if you have a familiarity with human history and the eternal struggle for political agency, it’s easy to discern that this is a setback, but it doesn’t have to define perpetuity. We are in control of that dynamic.

However, I do disagree with @Teri_Kanefield in the assessment that urgency creates only clicks and is unnecessary.

Looking beyond the US experience, several progressive societies regressed into chaos, removing all or most progress.

Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome are 2 examples.

After the collapse of Roman civilization, a long period known as the Dark Ages created horrific circumstances for those ruled by oligarchy. Knowledge acquisition from Ancient Greece and Rome was lost. Society devolved into rigid social strata & immense wealth for the privileged.

This has happened repeatedly throughout human history.

I’d prefer if we did not hand human existence over to a corrupt global oligarchy who then impose centuries of rigid classism & profound poverty on the majority of the globe’s people. It’s not the legacy I want for my kids.

It took 1500 years of effort for those unlucky enough to be born into anything but the privileged class to gain enough power to shift the balance of power.

Christian churches, & other faith institutions, used religious belief paired with autocratic power to rule for centuries.

The level of organization, coordination and cooperation across multiple nations’ authoritarian leaders is obvious for the engaged citizen.

The autocratic surge is not limited to the US.

As usual, Americans tend to ignore everyone but themselves.

As Canadians, we’re ideally positioned to observe politics in the US, but also observe global events to inform our worldview and opinions about the level of threat.

Which is why I see the threat is much larger than Teri Kanefield describes & it’s accompanied by climate reality.

What has been happening for the last 50 years is not just another typical backlash of the right wing.

We can’t know with certainty whether past societal regression events were coordinated & planned. But we can observe the planning and coordination of the last 50 years easily.

Science has provided accurate climate predictions, in which past huge climate changes occurred without modern technology that accurately predicted the crisis 45 years in advance.

Meaning coordination of strategy was not only possible, it was used to create our current crisis.

The approaching climate crisis and expected catastrophic collapse of social order and organized civilization due to climate realities has been known since the late 1970’s, & used by strategists to create advantages to retaining power by the right.

The elite power holders on the right are more than willing to gamble with human existence to retain their grip on power and control.

Using the US as the reference point for past backlash events creating pressure to regress as a society is foolish.

Recorded history certainly predates the American experience and contains far more relevant examples much closer to our current circumstances.

Teri Kanefield provides a bigger picture description of US to create hope.

Many share the same desire to inspire hope but recognize there is a much bigger “big picture” to draw information from.

Our situation can be resolved in favour of progress. But only if we unite in purpose and effect a counter backlash to dismantle the current oligarchy.

Teri Kanefield hasn’t put the American experience in historical context yet. The US is not the epitome of global political achievements. The experiment of a democratic progressive society has been attempted before. Always with the same result:

A backlash on any progress achieved and regression to anarchy.

Anarchy provides the opportunity for those with the most resources to grab power and fill the power vacuum.

This observation is not speculation. The right has documented their intentions.

It’s all available in open source. So confident in their future success, they’ve left the long game plan open for all to witness. The fact this plan is so Machiavellian and brutal makes it difficult to process and accept as reality.

But look at the last 5000 years of history.

Repeatedly, mass death events accompany climate change and pestilence, followed by a rush to claim power and fill the vacuum left by disaster. Frequently won by the strongmen and oligarchs who control most natural resources before and after major shifts in power dynamics.

This dynamic isn’t new, innovative or unpredictable.

Which is why so many can see it occurring in real time, describe it and predict with amazing accuracy what’s happening next. @sarahkendzior, @TimothyDSnyder are two examples.

These people are not alarmists. They just have a much larger view of relevant history. And experience with tyranny and the corrosive power of oligarchs and kleptocrats.

They offer hope. Because the advantage we have as a civilization is forewarning.

They know what is coming.

Unlike civilizations of the past. Modern Western Civilization has the benefit of science based facts providing advance warning, historical evidence of previous events and the political agency to stop chaos from arriving. Before we hit the tipping point of no return.

Problem is, many continue to behave like Pompeii and Herculaneum citizens. Blissfully unaware of impending events.

We’ve been warned what’s coming. Yet most still continue to ignore it or give up hope and resign themselves to fate.

There is no saviour coming to prevent the powerful elite from destroying once again the advancements of progressive civilization. Only through collective action, solidarity, and unity in purpose can it be prevented. Unfortunately, that’s the only hope we have left. Each other.

As we descend further into chaos & anarchy, we choose to accept terrifying truth, manipulated reality or blissful ignorance.

Personally I prefer truth.

I know alternate reality & ignorance feels comforting, but truth is the only chance we have to survive.

Survival is hope.

And like FDR said about the chaos created by the far right & their Great Depression, “there’s nothing to fear but fear itself.” Face fear directly. We must face catastrophe and control our fear. Or we resign ourselves to react in terror when Mt. Vesuvius erupts.

@threadreaderapp please compile