We shouldn’t romanticize or whitewash any aspect of American history, but I can tell you that when I was growing up there was a sense that America was *supposed* to be good. 1/4
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When and where we weren’t (racial injustice, Vietnam etc), there was a sense of healthy shame among enough of us that at least you could feel it. And it turned into political force (civil rights movement, anti-war movement, etc.) 2/4
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What is disturbing now is how the most egregious behavior has been normalized and how complacent so many have become in the face of it. People have been worn down, conscience numbed, our sense of moral outrage diminished. 3/4
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That is probably our greatest danger: the willingness of far too many people to accept things are okay that upon sober reflection are seen to be absolutely not okay. Americans are in a trance from which for the sake of our future we had best awaken. 4/4

Dec 11, 2023 · 11:42 AM UTC

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Replying to @marwilliamson
Steven Kane
 @stevenkane
11 Dec 2023
Do you *really* care about "oppression" and "racism" and "ethnic cleansing" (not just about Israel)? "Arab Enslavement and Slaughter of Black Africans Must Stop" tabletmag.com/sections/news/…
Replying to @marwilliamson
Shohei Ontani signed with Dodgers! Things are great😉😉
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Replying to @marwilliamson
People now realize that pretty much everything they were taught to believe in about the US turned out to be a lie.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
People became numb when outrage is the response to everything. Everything is racist. Everything and injustice. Everyone a victim. Everything unprecedented. The media and government have created this collective shoulder shrug.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Yeah, I grew up in that environment, too. "This is America, we're the good guys. All we do is fight for truth, justice & freedom." You know, like fucking Superman. Until you realize how fkn hypocritical it really is, right? Justice for all my ASS!
Replying to @marwilliamson
and there is always another layer of that trance.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
That's what thirty of maybe forty years of a Grand Conservative Consensus will do to a place. Conservatives espouse a thoroughly egoistic morality or amorality. They oppose thinking of others, oppose society, law. They oppose democracy in particular, the US Constitution.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Schools and churches stress obedience to authority. Both Woke and MAGA profit from this training - voila! -culture war. Add in the fiat perpetual inflation, the middle class goes. The tankers are out in deeper water. There is only democracy for the 1% and corporate "persons"1/2
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Those addicted to destruction and selfish rage have been allowed to run amok, allowed to claim without pushback that America is fundamentally BAD, and that some people are more important than others. The indifference real problems could have been avoided - but here we are.
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Replying to @marwilliamson @JohnMcC61971366
All true but you probably have demographic bias about it.
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