How in the hell did this country get so stupid that we would elect this imbecile twice?

[usonian]

66. That's pretty thoughtful and I grew up in the 60's as well.

No room for war, nor for racism. The previous generation had been in war and rattled off racist jokes. Even educated educators. All this is taught: nationalism, fear of others who are different, hate, insecurity, projection, and so on.

They are taught by manipulators, rather than self-confidence, and equality is taught OUT of people.

The pattern repeats through history, I call it the fascist playbook.

Any other country, religion, ethnic group is the scapegoat, one's fears, weaknesses and failures projected on them.

It continues to power dictators and when they are defeated, there's a horrible mess to clean up, except that lives lost are just lost.

Daisaku Ikeda, a Buddhist leader, wrote:

While celebrating the unique characteristics of different peoples and cultures, we must create solidarity on the level of our common humanity, our common life. Without such solidarity, there will be no future for the human race. Diversity should not beget conflict in the world, but richness.

When people join together across nations and cultures, these "scapegoating" means to gain power, like the racist "Southern Strategy" promoted by Lee Atwater (1), are stopped in their tracks by the prevailing culture of acceptance and equality, rather than enabled (and think of the brutal 24 by 7 media hate propaganda) They take hold because people let them, through the projection mentioned above, rather than tuning them out. It's a definite choice.

The general culture, and I include many religions, are entirely about assigning blame rather than taking responsibility and improving oneself and others equally.

We seem to be at rock bottom, here and internationally. No time like the present to take a different tack. These fascist power fantasies are entirely destructive, as if we didn't already have an insane concentration of power and wealth.



(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater