I think you're right: it's fear borne. I sat here for a few moments reflecting on your post before reaching that conclusion. The population of the USA is afraid at its deepest level. You can call it 'insecurity' if you want, but America USED to be a nation gazing at the next horizon with such a sense of hope and excitement- I was 11 years old when they walked on the moon.
In the '70's, one after another America dealt with as a nation Vietnam, Watergate and then a wounded economy of economic stagnation coupled with sharp inflation (which is a paradoxical economic event), humiliated by Iran.
Which gave rise to Regan, a more polished version of Trump. He called out the establishment and set in motion policies and events that turned the attitude of America around.
Rightly or wrongly, in his initial campaign against Carter he pointed out just how shitty Americans felt about America. I don't recall him being all that wonky regarding policy TBH; but back then my news consumption was limited to the funny pages, the sports pages and Ann Landers. I DO recall how he harnessed the sense of hopelessness in the USA: as a nation we felt like we had been getting our asses kicked since 1968. The message he gave that I recall was 'It needen't be like this. We're better than this shitshow and I'll make it so.
It was easy to vote for him, despite me voting for Carter in '76 b/c it was a shitshow. We were frustrated; not so much afraid, but frustrated.
Regan got elected and did stuff. Just what? Beats me- see funny pages-but...BUT you felt good about being an American again.
I can still recall clearly his '84 re-election campaign 'It's morning in America'. Google it- what a powerful, powerful political ad. He didn't 'win' the election- IIRC it was the biggest landslide in history.
I truly believe that the current USA mindset of fear began in the Clinton era. That was the first time I realized that the system was broken. Nixon resigned over Watergate b/c he couldn't stand the idea of being impeached. Clinton reveled in it.
He lied repeatedly to Congress, and the American people, but b/c of the media was given (and still gets) a pass. He sold American workers out worse than FDR's predecessors; and the American population was warned of this by Ross Perot around '94. And got away with it like nobody's business.
I've concluded that the current state of the US mindset- that fear- can trace it's roots directly back to Clinton's shamelessness which opened the floodgates to acceptable lying.
Americans USED to believe in their government. They USED to believe their media told them the truth. They USED to believe that they were, as a whole, good people.
They used to have faith.
Now they don't even believe in themselves anymore.
Can you blame them?
The average 30-40 year old KNOWS they'll never achieve the standard of living their parents had available to them. Let alone the 20-30 year olds. The average American's only sense of community today is their workplace (see Scott Galloway). Not their family, not their church, not their Lion's/Elk/Rotary etc clubs...
Their fucking job. Which will throw them under the bus the minute the profit and loss statement says to do so.
The society is atomized into individual dots of existence. Even Cait sees that; see how often she writes about the 'self'. Self healing. Self regard. Self care. Teensy but vocal minorities now set the agenda and the rules of conversation. Whether it's people screaming for 'trans' rights or whatever to 'content moderators' in social media, it's an iron fist that descends.
The individual has no sense of responsibility to the society, b/c the society view it them as but a cog or a resource to be exploited. And that realization percolates out.
Here's a thought experiment: ask yourself what are the names of your next door neighbors? Or the people that live across the street from you? Do you know those three entities I just described? Really?
This will get much, much worse before it gets better, man. Especially in the USA.
I think you're right: it's fear borne. I sat here for a few moments reflecting on your post before reaching that conclusion. The population of the USA is afraid at its deepest level. You can call it 'insecurity' if you want, but America USED to be a nation gazing at the next horizon with such a sense of hope and excitement- I was 11 years old when they walked on the moon.
In the '70's, one after another America dealt with as a nation Vietnam, Watergate and then a wounded economy of economic stagnation coupled with sharp inflation (which is a paradoxical economic event), humiliated by Iran.
Which gave rise to Regan, a more polished version of Trump. He called out the establishment and set in motion policies and events that turned the attitude of America around.
Rightly or wrongly, in his initial campaign against Carter he pointed out just how shitty Americans felt about America. I don't recall him being all that wonky regarding policy TBH; but back then my news consumption was limited to the funny pages, the sports pages and Ann Landers. I DO recall how he harnessed the sense of hopelessness in the USA: as a nation we felt like we had been getting our asses kicked since 1968. The message he gave that I recall was 'It needen't be like this. We're better than this shitshow and I'll make it so.
It was easy to vote for him, despite me voting for Carter in '76 b/c it was a shitshow. We were frustrated; not so much afraid, but frustrated.
Regan got elected and did stuff. Just what? Beats me- see funny pages-but...BUT you felt good about being an American again.
I can still recall clearly his '84 re-election campaign 'It's morning in America'. Google it- what a powerful, powerful political ad. He didn't 'win' the election- IIRC it was the biggest landslide in history.
I truly believe that the current USA mindset of fear began in the Clinton era. That was the first time I realized that the system was broken. Nixon resigned over Watergate b/c he couldn't stand the idea of being impeached. Clinton reveled in it.
He lied repeatedly to Congress, and the American people, but b/c of the media was given (and still gets) a pass. He sold American workers out worse than FDR's predecessors; and the American population was warned of this by Ross Perot around '94. And got away with it like nobody's business.
I've concluded that the current state of the US mindset- that fear- can trace it's roots directly back to Clinton's shamelessness which opened the floodgates to acceptable lying.
Americans USED to believe in their government. They USED to believe their media told them the truth. They USED to believe that they were, as a whole, good people.
They used to have faith.
Now they don't even believe in themselves anymore.
Can you blame them?
The average 30-40 year old KNOWS they'll never achieve the standard of living their parents had available to them. Let alone the 20-30 year olds. The average American's only sense of community today is their workplace (see Scott Galloway). Not their family, not their church, not their Lion's/Elk/Rotary etc clubs...
Their fucking job. Which will throw them under the bus the minute the profit and loss statement says to do so.
The society is atomized into individual dots of existence. Even Cait sees that; see how often she writes about the 'self'. Self healing. Self regard. Self care. Teensy but vocal minorities now set the agenda and the rules of conversation. Whether it's people screaming for 'trans' rights or whatever to 'content moderators' in social media, it's an iron fist that descends.
The individual has no sense of responsibility to the society, b/c the society view it them as but a cog or a resource to be exploited. And that realization percolates out.
Here's a thought experiment: ask yourself what are the names of your next door neighbors? Or the people that live across the street from you? Do you know those three entities I just described? Really?
This will get much, much worse before it gets better, man. Especially in the USA.