I have had the hardest time trying to begin this post. So many clashing ideas it is difficult to concentrate on one angle of the topic. So here goes; you probably have listened to this nine part podcast by Robert Evans on the Second American Civil War called "It Could Happen Here" but even if you haven't yet I am sure you will want to after reading this. At least that is my hope, in dangerous times information is key to being prepared. I have studied the first Civil War, it is one of my historical interests, and after listening to this podcast I went through boxes of books to find my copy of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson that does a great job describing the country before and during the war. While rummaging in the attic I also found The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right by David Neiwert which I think was the first serious work I read on the current crisis of dehumanizing polarization and hateful rhetoric translating into politically-motivated violence. The title of this podcast is an obvious play on Sinclair Lewis' classic It Can't Happen Here. The similarities between authors is instructive, Lewis' wife lived in Fascist Italy and saw the early rumblings in Germany of national socialism and shared what she learned with him. Evans has reported on civil wars, insurrections, insurgencies, and political violence of all shapes around the world.
Since I wrote a review of It Can't Happen Here as an undergraduate and posted it to this blog 8 years ago, I felt it would be worthwhile to try and review the podcast that explores similar terrain. I have never done this before and trying to write about an audio production is difficult so all I can say is that I will do my best. First, while Evans says that his sympathies lie with the left, he tries to present the "fucked up shit that goes on every day in America" through both sides' interpretations. He does condemn the hypocritical inflammatory bullshit screeched out by that little baby Alex Jones at the 2016 DNC but strangely claims that this was the first time a monstrous demagogue exhorted the Call of Duty cosplayers to violence.
Anyways, the first episode is titled The Second American Civil War and it is concerned more with facts such as how all Americans are less trustful of the federal government and of each other. That's a fact certainly, but it is asymmetrical. As an historian, I look more to causation than reports of fact, but Evans is an investigative reporter and those facts that I take as a given are what reporters are after. He was also an editor for Cracked magazine, you know the one that doesn't have Alfred E. Newman, so he is also often quite funny despite the heavy subject matter. Reporting is what Evans excels at, providing graphic descriptions of what life in a civil war or insurrection is like from places like Ukraine and Syria. He does an excellent job of translating hardships, deprivations, and the threat of violence from those places to what they would be like in the US.
He quotes someone as saying "why do we expect that the US would be etched in stone?" That the good life that we have known, or think we know because really it can get worse, will always be there. This is what the baby boomers thought as they rebelled against the New Deal system, that they could cut taxes and stop spending money on education or infrastructure; because it will always be there, and besides I already went to school. The US was born from violence, expanded through violence, fought a bloody protracted civil war already but most people today think that nothing will ever fundamentally change. The lights will always come on when I flip the switch, the water from the faucet will always be clean enough to drink, and the cops will come when I call. One topic Evans does not cover is political entropy, governmental, social, and economic systems need continual investment and cooperation to function. The asymmetrical polarization of politics has broken down the ability of opposing factions to debate in good faith, compromise, or even agree on problems. Consequently, those systems have broken down, the economic reality has gotten much harsher for all but a tiny minority, the rural/urban divide has grown, and toxic demagoguery has twisted freedom of speech into a cudgel to attack anyone who actually wants to invest in institutions.
All of these breakdowns weaken the protections most of us take for granted. Life can get much uglier.
No comments:
Post a Comment