My anxiety around the election and its aftermath are at an all-time high. (Even reading this I felt my breathing become more shallow and my palms become sweaty.) It is hard for me not to worry that the US is already lost, regardless of what happens in November, but I guess it remains to be seen.
My anxiety around the election and its aftermath are at an all-time high. (Even reading this I felt my breathing become more shallow and my palms become sweaty.) It is hard for me not to worry that the US is already lost, regardless of what happens in November, but I guess it remains to be seen.
Exactly! That's why I had to disengage! I was getting that reaction, despite my Canadian immunity to American fascist displeasure.
I got a lot of peace from reading Stephen Pinker's "Better Angels" book. Pinker gives you a longer view of the entire planet slowly growing a conscience and a soul. It's not just the abolition of slavery, votes for minorities and women, there's an ongoing continuum of moral consciousness: it used to be OK to beat kids in public. Or shoot a "dog that won't hunt". A Republican just discovered even Republicans have moved to the other side of that little culture war: dogs are now pets, not farm equipment. That shooting would have been uncontroversial in 1980.
Pinker was able to show that WW2 was just a bump in that road; well, a mountain in the road, but the race climbed it and became better. Trump really is just a little bump in that same road.
On the other hand, Pinker's time-scale is also what drove me to drop NYT and WaPo subscriptions, start disengaging with American news. I realized that while I was watching progress, the speed is such that I won't see a low-racism, low-militarism, low-violence America in my lifetime. 20 years from now, another Trump, only a little less bad, will still be possible. If you feel you have to stay engaged, you'll need a lot of teeth-gritting.
So I had to give up cheering for the Good Guy American team.
Truly, if I were not a Florida voter in particular I might have disengaged more, as I have the luxury of my new Canadian citizenship. But it is still a state that could maybe go either way. Less than it used to be, but still.
My anxiety around the election and its aftermath are at an all-time high. (Even reading this I felt my breathing become more shallow and my palms become sweaty.) It is hard for me not to worry that the US is already lost, regardless of what happens in November, but I guess it remains to be seen.
Exactly! That's why I had to disengage! I was getting that reaction, despite my Canadian immunity to American fascist displeasure.
I got a lot of peace from reading Stephen Pinker's "Better Angels" book. Pinker gives you a longer view of the entire planet slowly growing a conscience and a soul. It's not just the abolition of slavery, votes for minorities and women, there's an ongoing continuum of moral consciousness: it used to be OK to beat kids in public. Or shoot a "dog that won't hunt". A Republican just discovered even Republicans have moved to the other side of that little culture war: dogs are now pets, not farm equipment. That shooting would have been uncontroversial in 1980.
Pinker was able to show that WW2 was just a bump in that road; well, a mountain in the road, but the race climbed it and became better. Trump really is just a little bump in that same road.
On the other hand, Pinker's time-scale is also what drove me to drop NYT and WaPo subscriptions, start disengaging with American news. I realized that while I was watching progress, the speed is such that I won't see a low-racism, low-militarism, low-violence America in my lifetime. 20 years from now, another Trump, only a little less bad, will still be possible. If you feel you have to stay engaged, you'll need a lot of teeth-gritting.
So I had to give up cheering for the Good Guy American team.
100%
Truly, if I were not a Florida voter in particular I might have disengaged more, as I have the luxury of my new Canadian citizenship. But it is still a state that could maybe go either way. Less than it used to be, but still.