Domestic Violence?



You won’t find Europeans who believe that climate change is a hoax or that COVID-19 was planned and implemented by some government.
In the same vein, you won’t find Europeans voting for obvious conmen like Trump. People who grow up learning three languages, reading Aristotle, studying advanced science and math, and playing classical piano are immune from the bullcrap that affects us here in the U.S.
From The New York Times:
MAGA voters are going to get 100% of what is most important to them. Sure, the price of eggs and gasoline will not come down, but there will be mass deportations, a federal ban on abortion, tax breaks for billionaires, the further ruination of American education, and oil drilling happening to an extent never seen before.
They will truly “own the libs,” and that’s essentially all that matters.

Until recently, it was very difficult to believe something that flew in the teeth of science, but now it’s a piece of cake. Just flip to your favorite TV channel and learn all about the climate change hoax, the immigrants stealing your jobs, the U.S. government sponsored “plandemic,” or whatever you like.

The question: Why didn’t we do anything about it? can only be answered as follows: The wealthiest and most powerful interests on the planet refused to give up even one thin dime of their wealth and power.

And yes, what happens from here is their responsibility, but keep in mind that the America of their dreams is embodied in Trump’s promises, as detailed in Project 2025: systemic racism, the rejection of science in policymaking, abortion bans, and so forth. It’s essentially the politics of Mississippi implemented on a national scale.

Obviously, not everyone agrees.

It’s something to contemplate as we enter the second term of Donald Trump. Some people fear the worst, as Trump is now a lame duck with no one to answer to. Zinn warns us to not let that paralyze us into rigidity.

When challenged in this regard, I borrow from what etiquette maven Emily Post said about manners, in an effort to calm an anxious lady who had been invited to a fancy dinner party and didn’t know what fork to use with a given course. “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.”
In a related way, we have this definition of “empathy,” which is used in the introduction to each episode of “The Hidden Brain,” a weekly radio show syndicated on NPR: “Empathy, at a deep level, is the understanding that someone else’s world is just as real as yours.”