Fear and Loathing of a Trumpenreich (and why I scoff)
Nov 17, 2016 14:42:09 GMT -5
robeiae and Don like this
Post by Amadan on Nov 17, 2016 14:42:09 GMT -5
Warning: Long, rambly wall of text. I could make this more polished and maybe I will someday, but right now it’s just a first-draft forum post. Also, please read the accompanying linked articles in their entirety or don’t comment on them. One thing that drives me crazy on other sites (and I admit, I have occasionally been guilty of this myself, though I am trying to stop it) is people who will post a summary or excerpt from an article to start a thread, and then a bunch of people will react to that summary without actually reading the article. Hey, if that is too much reading for you, it’s cool - just skip this post.
I have a confession to make. I probably wouldn't make it anywhere more public, though I am always mindful that nowhere on the Internet is private. So I never say things, here or anywhere, that I wouldn't be prepared to defend, or at least acknowledge, if someone digs it up ten years from now and blasts it on social media when I am running for office.
Here it is: I did not vote for Trump. But I am a little bit glad he won.
The reasons for this are complicated. They have a lot to do with my own political evolution over the past few years. Five years ago, I identified very strongly as a liberal. Today, most of the reasons I so-identified have not changed. I still think racism and sexism are bad (and that they actually exist and affect people). I still think gay people should be allowed to marry. I still think we should have a social safety net so poor people don’t go without food and medical care.
My actual political and economic positions have not changed much, yet over the past few years, I’ve found myself increasingly distanced from what passes for “the Left” in the US.
For a while, a few years back, I was actually what some might call a “SJW.” As a good liberal, I bought into all the theories and memes - privilege, intersectionality, identity politics, institutional racism, etc. This was probably exacerbated by my admitted fondness for snark and drama - I have never been able to look away from a trainwreck. But I tended to side with the SJWs, who, for a time, seemed to me to be fighting the good fight, even with sometimes underhanded or disingenuous means.
It was the latter that eventually resulted in my distancing from the left, particularly the SJW end of the spectrum. Because I have always believed that truth is the highest virtue. Seeking truth - above all else - should be the highest priority. Above justice, above compassion, above anything else. My reasons for this are also complicated and probably should be reserved for an entirely different wall of text in the Philosophy subforum if I ever am inclined, but I think everything else flows from truth, and nothing positive flows from untruth. I know some people differ strongly on this, and believe that doing good sometimes requires ignoring or circumventing the truth, but I don’t agree and cannot agree.
That means, for example, dealing with uncomfortable facts. That means that ignoring or covering up facts that could work against your ideals is unacceptable to me. A lot of agitation and condemnation in social sciences, when touching the live wires of, for example, IQ, nature vs. nature, racial and gender differences, etc., seems to put a roadblock in any discussion or investigation by saying “It would be terrible and have negative social consequences if Theory X were true, or even taken seriously; therefore Theory X cannot be true and anyone who even thinks about investigating it is a bigot who must be shut down.”
So, all that is a preamble to why I now feel as much antipathy about SJWs as I do about the alt-right, even though the former is ostensibly more closely aligned to my values. SJWs want to shut you down if you disagree with them - period. It doesn’t matter whether your disagreement is principled or not, fact-based or not, nuanced or absolute, the very fact that you disagree means you’re the Enemy. Whereas while alt-righters can certainly be censorious assholes too, and some of them genuinely want to institute a Reich, I have found they are generally more willing to engage with counterarguments. Vitriolically, perhaps, but I don’t meet many right-wingers (or alt-righters) who try to end conversations with “You can’t say that! Sit down, shut up, and listen!”
Thus, I started not just disagreeing with, but despising the direction the American Left was taking. If your principles can’t withstand heated, pointed, and uncomfortable disagreement, your principles do not deserve to win.
Herein, find the first of two recent articles that sums of much of my opinion on the subject:
(Background: I have little familiarity with The Federalist, other than it is slightly skewed towards the right/libertarian end, and because of that, tends to take a gimlet-eyed view of things for which they get lambasted by the Left.)
This Election Marks The End Of America’s Racial Détente
(Summary, but read the whole damn article, it’s not that long: “Racism” used to be a serious charge, issued and taken seriously, but the increasingly broad use of the term, and reflexive, some might say spurious, accusations means it is losing its power, thus weakening the aversion most right-thinking people have to the accusation.)
So, is wanting to see salty SJW tears sufficient reason to enjoy the schadenfreude of a Trump victory? No, and that’s why I didn’t vote for him. But, I simply cannot be as distressed as I’m supposed to be that he won.
The thing that bothered me from the beginning (that is, when it became apparent that Trump was no longer a joke candidate and might actually have a chance of winning) was the histrionic outrage from opponents who literally likened him to Hitler and Mussolini, pointed out gleefully that he was endorsed by the KKK (when, let’s be honest, any KKK voters have consistently voted Republican for nearly half a century now), and claimed that his election would result in us repealing every social advance since the New Deal.
Now that he has actually been elected, they are still doing it. Much of the Left genuinely seems to believe that Trump is Nehemiah Scudder (Google it, you damn kids), and we’re about to descend into a dystopian nightmare. I see people posting threads in other forums with titles like “Get Out. Now.” Seriously likening America to Germany just before Kristallnacht.
None of this has ever seemed plausible to me.
Now let’s be clear - I think Donald Trump as a person is classless, crude, anti-intellectual, ill-informed, and narcissistic. And yeah, as sexist as any other billionaire who can afford to bed supermodels at age 70. I disagree with most (not all) of his stated policies, and I think he will probably represent a nadir in the Republic.
That said - seriously, look at his actual history for the past few decades. He’s not a right-winger.. In fact, in most respects he’s a New York liberal, except where he of course prefers economic policies that favor rich people. He adopted a lot of bullet points to win the Republican nomination, vaguely insinuating that now he’s a pro-life Christian who is against gay marriage except that he’s not. On the environment and the economy, yeah, he is pretty solidly (mainstream) Republican. And he might give lip service to opposing federal marriage equality, the same way every Republican President for the past forty years has given lip service to opposing Roe vs. Wade without ever actually doing anything about it. Basically, he said what he had to to get the rubes’ votes, same as every Republican. (Same as every candidate, really - both Clintons did the same thing.)
A small part of me wonders if I really am one of those complacent German Jews who looked around after Hitler’s ascent and said “Well, sure, he says some disturbing things, but I don’t think there’s any reason to panic.” But I really don’t think so. I don’t think Trump is going to institute apartheid, or put Muslims in concentration camps, or sanction vigilante squads who go about hanging queer people from lampposts. And the thing is, unlike Hitler, nothing in Trump’s words has ever suggested he actually contemplates doing those things! Most of the people claiming that he is “cozying up” to the alt-right and preparing a regime of terror against POC/”marginalized communities” cite things some of his supporters have said and his non-repudiation of them.
So here’s the final payload, the second article expressing my thoughts:
(Background: Scott Alexander, at Slate Star Codex, is one of my favorite bloggers. He is part of the “rationalist” community, so he and his commenters can be a little smug at times, but he does genuinely try to get at the truth, regardless of how it does or doesn’t conform to his biases, and he does a tremendous amount of research, actually reading academic papers and crunching statistics, to get at his conclusions. Of course alt-righters hate him because he is too soft and SJW, and SJWs hate him because he uses hatefacts that don’t always fit their narrative.)
You Are Still Crying Wolf
(Summary, but read the whole damn article, it’s only 8000 words: Everything I said above. Trump is not a right-wing hatemonger, he’s just a moderate Republican with the showmanship personality of an assclown.)
I have a confession to make. I probably wouldn't make it anywhere more public, though I am always mindful that nowhere on the Internet is private. So I never say things, here or anywhere, that I wouldn't be prepared to defend, or at least acknowledge, if someone digs it up ten years from now and blasts it on social media when I am running for office.
Here it is: I did not vote for Trump. But I am a little bit glad he won.
The reasons for this are complicated. They have a lot to do with my own political evolution over the past few years. Five years ago, I identified very strongly as a liberal. Today, most of the reasons I so-identified have not changed. I still think racism and sexism are bad (and that they actually exist and affect people). I still think gay people should be allowed to marry. I still think we should have a social safety net so poor people don’t go without food and medical care.
My actual political and economic positions have not changed much, yet over the past few years, I’ve found myself increasingly distanced from what passes for “the Left” in the US.
For a while, a few years back, I was actually what some might call a “SJW.” As a good liberal, I bought into all the theories and memes - privilege, intersectionality, identity politics, institutional racism, etc. This was probably exacerbated by my admitted fondness for snark and drama - I have never been able to look away from a trainwreck. But I tended to side with the SJWs, who, for a time, seemed to me to be fighting the good fight, even with sometimes underhanded or disingenuous means.
It was the latter that eventually resulted in my distancing from the left, particularly the SJW end of the spectrum. Because I have always believed that truth is the highest virtue. Seeking truth - above all else - should be the highest priority. Above justice, above compassion, above anything else. My reasons for this are also complicated and probably should be reserved for an entirely different wall of text in the Philosophy subforum if I ever am inclined, but I think everything else flows from truth, and nothing positive flows from untruth. I know some people differ strongly on this, and believe that doing good sometimes requires ignoring or circumventing the truth, but I don’t agree and cannot agree.
That means, for example, dealing with uncomfortable facts. That means that ignoring or covering up facts that could work against your ideals is unacceptable to me. A lot of agitation and condemnation in social sciences, when touching the live wires of, for example, IQ, nature vs. nature, racial and gender differences, etc., seems to put a roadblock in any discussion or investigation by saying “It would be terrible and have negative social consequences if Theory X were true, or even taken seriously; therefore Theory X cannot be true and anyone who even thinks about investigating it is a bigot who must be shut down.”
So, all that is a preamble to why I now feel as much antipathy about SJWs as I do about the alt-right, even though the former is ostensibly more closely aligned to my values. SJWs want to shut you down if you disagree with them - period. It doesn’t matter whether your disagreement is principled or not, fact-based or not, nuanced or absolute, the very fact that you disagree means you’re the Enemy. Whereas while alt-righters can certainly be censorious assholes too, and some of them genuinely want to institute a Reich, I have found they are generally more willing to engage with counterarguments. Vitriolically, perhaps, but I don’t meet many right-wingers (or alt-righters) who try to end conversations with “You can’t say that! Sit down, shut up, and listen!”
Thus, I started not just disagreeing with, but despising the direction the American Left was taking. If your principles can’t withstand heated, pointed, and uncomfortable disagreement, your principles do not deserve to win.
Herein, find the first of two recent articles that sums of much of my opinion on the subject:
(Background: I have little familiarity with The Federalist, other than it is slightly skewed towards the right/libertarian end, and because of that, tends to take a gimlet-eyed view of things for which they get lambasted by the Left.)
This Election Marks The End Of America’s Racial Détente
(Summary, but read the whole damn article, it’s not that long: “Racism” used to be a serious charge, issued and taken seriously, but the increasingly broad use of the term, and reflexive, some might say spurious, accusations means it is losing its power, thus weakening the aversion most right-thinking people have to the accusation.)
So, is wanting to see salty SJW tears sufficient reason to enjoy the schadenfreude of a Trump victory? No, and that’s why I didn’t vote for him. But, I simply cannot be as distressed as I’m supposed to be that he won.
The thing that bothered me from the beginning (that is, when it became apparent that Trump was no longer a joke candidate and might actually have a chance of winning) was the histrionic outrage from opponents who literally likened him to Hitler and Mussolini, pointed out gleefully that he was endorsed by the KKK (when, let’s be honest, any KKK voters have consistently voted Republican for nearly half a century now), and claimed that his election would result in us repealing every social advance since the New Deal.
Now that he has actually been elected, they are still doing it. Much of the Left genuinely seems to believe that Trump is Nehemiah Scudder (Google it, you damn kids), and we’re about to descend into a dystopian nightmare. I see people posting threads in other forums with titles like “Get Out. Now.” Seriously likening America to Germany just before Kristallnacht.
None of this has ever seemed plausible to me.
Now let’s be clear - I think Donald Trump as a person is classless, crude, anti-intellectual, ill-informed, and narcissistic. And yeah, as sexist as any other billionaire who can afford to bed supermodels at age 70. I disagree with most (not all) of his stated policies, and I think he will probably represent a nadir in the Republic.
That said - seriously, look at his actual history for the past few decades. He’s not a right-winger.. In fact, in most respects he’s a New York liberal, except where he of course prefers economic policies that favor rich people. He adopted a lot of bullet points to win the Republican nomination, vaguely insinuating that now he’s a pro-life Christian who is against gay marriage except that he’s not. On the environment and the economy, yeah, he is pretty solidly (mainstream) Republican. And he might give lip service to opposing federal marriage equality, the same way every Republican President for the past forty years has given lip service to opposing Roe vs. Wade without ever actually doing anything about it. Basically, he said what he had to to get the rubes’ votes, same as every Republican. (Same as every candidate, really - both Clintons did the same thing.)
A small part of me wonders if I really am one of those complacent German Jews who looked around after Hitler’s ascent and said “Well, sure, he says some disturbing things, but I don’t think there’s any reason to panic.” But I really don’t think so. I don’t think Trump is going to institute apartheid, or put Muslims in concentration camps, or sanction vigilante squads who go about hanging queer people from lampposts. And the thing is, unlike Hitler, nothing in Trump’s words has ever suggested he actually contemplates doing those things! Most of the people claiming that he is “cozying up” to the alt-right and preparing a regime of terror against POC/”marginalized communities” cite things some of his supporters have said and his non-repudiation of them.
So here’s the final payload, the second article expressing my thoughts:
(Background: Scott Alexander, at Slate Star Codex, is one of my favorite bloggers. He is part of the “rationalist” community, so he and his commenters can be a little smug at times, but he does genuinely try to get at the truth, regardless of how it does or doesn’t conform to his biases, and he does a tremendous amount of research, actually reading academic papers and crunching statistics, to get at his conclusions. Of course alt-righters hate him because he is too soft and SJW, and SJWs hate him because he uses hatefacts that don’t always fit their narrative.)
You Are Still Crying Wolf
(Summary, but read the whole damn article, it’s only 8000 words: Everything I said above. Trump is not a right-wing hatemonger, he’s just a moderate Republican with the showmanship personality of an assclown.)