"What we're actually dealing with is a very complicated, organized, well-financed, well-resourced push by oligarchical Right-wing billionaires and donors in this country and corporatists." Reading about the historical roots of this particular brand of control freak and their minions is fascinating. Thank you to you and Jared for this clear summary. I'm voting for Joe Biden and after his election victory (assuming the current political trajectory) I will continue to live the rest of my life remembering ecological and indigenous ways and passing them on. Truly free people reject authoritarianism and sectarianism. As long as we are stuck in separation ( slavery!) and human chauvinism we will consistently look for the "strongman" and their enablers to save us.
Fantastic interview -- I love seeing lines of thought traced back to their origins, as when it comes to erudition the more the better. I am going to be a devil's advocate here though, because I don't think that authoritarianism is emanating primarily from the Right. The Left, or whatever the thing is that considers itself the Left, is at least as much of a threat.
I'm an anti authoritarian to the core, and drifted away from the conservative Right at an early age (my cultural milieu was no doubt similar to Jared Yates Sexton's) but I've nonetheless kept the Left at arms length because I've always doubted that they themselves were even remotely anti-authoritarian despite their claims to be.
For example: At the domestic level the #1 most authoritarian push at a national level in recent years was Covid -- lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine mandates. Being truly an anti-authoritarian I opposed all those measures from day one (literally day one - Never followed the lockdown, and went maskless shopping on the first day of the mask mandate). The conservatives on the ground didn't put up much resistance till late in the game, but the Left . . . my goodness they were actively supporting those measures.
I know that most the people supporting the Covid authoritarianism believed in it, but that is no excuse because authoritarians usually do believe that they have the right and need for authoritarian measures -- they will always have an excuse. Authoritarianism that is supposedly justified is still authoritarianism, and it is always ostensibly justified and necessary.
I honestly don't see how the Left can wear the mantel of anti-authoritarianism, or why we politically none aligned should take the Left's professed anti-authoritarianism as sincere until the Left has reckoned with their response to Covid.
There are a lot of interesting ideas here and I will try to check out YouTube . I like the idea of YouTube .
I do find the looser weave of thought harder to follow than in essay form . Maybe because you both know what you’re talking about better than I do and I miss the connective tissue .
I’m familiar with Girard and the idea of the scapegoat and yet struggled to understand to a satisfying extent the application of this idea to our contemporary situation .
When you say , “in a way, the scapegoat or the martyr is like the necessary figure for society to reconstitute itself, kind of a scary thought, I guess” , I’m not sure whether the contemporary scapegoat in question is someone who has yet to come along …. Or …? I’d be curious to hear any elaboration on this idea .
I can’t disagree with anything said here. Fascinating about early Christianity, martyrs, and especially a powerful story people can get behind. I notice this story wasn’t spelt out in this article. I’m assuming it is white men now being the martyrs. Also the lack of a powerful left movement in the USA. Essential in any mass movement to change authoritarian rule. Do you see any hope here. Or just a bunch of nice new age types who care about minorities but seem ineffectual. What is the simple story we want to promote? In my culture it would be about fairness and inclusion, not sure that floats in the USA
Loved this! So good. I especially love the description of Democrats crushing on big-tech--hands in their chins, batting their eyes, "How did you do it?"
"What we're actually dealing with is a very complicated, organized, well-financed, well-resourced push by oligarchical Right-wing billionaires and donors in this country and corporatists." Reading about the historical roots of this particular brand of control freak and their minions is fascinating. Thank you to you and Jared for this clear summary. I'm voting for Joe Biden and after his election victory (assuming the current political trajectory) I will continue to live the rest of my life remembering ecological and indigenous ways and passing them on. Truly free people reject authoritarianism and sectarianism. As long as we are stuck in separation ( slavery!) and human chauvinism we will consistently look for the "strongman" and their enablers to save us.
Fantastic interview -- I love seeing lines of thought traced back to their origins, as when it comes to erudition the more the better. I am going to be a devil's advocate here though, because I don't think that authoritarianism is emanating primarily from the Right. The Left, or whatever the thing is that considers itself the Left, is at least as much of a threat.
I'm an anti authoritarian to the core, and drifted away from the conservative Right at an early age (my cultural milieu was no doubt similar to Jared Yates Sexton's) but I've nonetheless kept the Left at arms length because I've always doubted that they themselves were even remotely anti-authoritarian despite their claims to be.
For example: At the domestic level the #1 most authoritarian push at a national level in recent years was Covid -- lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine mandates. Being truly an anti-authoritarian I opposed all those measures from day one (literally day one - Never followed the lockdown, and went maskless shopping on the first day of the mask mandate). The conservatives on the ground didn't put up much resistance till late in the game, but the Left . . . my goodness they were actively supporting those measures.
I know that most the people supporting the Covid authoritarianism believed in it, but that is no excuse because authoritarians usually do believe that they have the right and need for authoritarian measures -- they will always have an excuse. Authoritarianism that is supposedly justified is still authoritarianism, and it is always ostensibly justified and necessary.
I honestly don't see how the Left can wear the mantel of anti-authoritarianism, or why we politically none aligned should take the Left's professed anti-authoritarianism as sincere until the Left has reckoned with their response to Covid.
(I dealt with this matter at some length in my essay ~ Science! Blessed Be Thy Name: The Vanishing value of Religious Freedom ~ Here is the URL for anyone who wants to see this line of reasoning in detail https://winteroak.org.uk/2023/01/15/science-blessed-be-thy-name-the-vanishing-value-of-religious-freedom/comment-page-1/)
There are a lot of interesting ideas here and I will try to check out YouTube . I like the idea of YouTube .
I do find the looser weave of thought harder to follow than in essay form . Maybe because you both know what you’re talking about better than I do and I miss the connective tissue .
I’m familiar with Girard and the idea of the scapegoat and yet struggled to understand to a satisfying extent the application of this idea to our contemporary situation .
When you say , “in a way, the scapegoat or the martyr is like the necessary figure for society to reconstitute itself, kind of a scary thought, I guess” , I’m not sure whether the contemporary scapegoat in question is someone who has yet to come along …. Or …? I’d be curious to hear any elaboration on this idea .
I can’t disagree with anything said here. Fascinating about early Christianity, martyrs, and especially a powerful story people can get behind. I notice this story wasn’t spelt out in this article. I’m assuming it is white men now being the martyrs. Also the lack of a powerful left movement in the USA. Essential in any mass movement to change authoritarian rule. Do you see any hope here. Or just a bunch of nice new age types who care about minorities but seem ineffectual. What is the simple story we want to promote? In my culture it would be about fairness and inclusion, not sure that floats in the USA
Loved this! So good. I especially love the description of Democrats crushing on big-tech--hands in their chins, batting their eyes, "How did you do it?"
Scary stuff, but needs to be discussed and brought out into the open. Looking forward to watching the rest of this on YouTube.