There's Something Goin On But You Don't Know What It Is

Do I Mr. Jones? (From an old Bob Dylan tune). This describes the American Right perfectly. Certainly there is pathology and plenty of racist, sexist and xenophobic resentment. But basiclly they are totally disoriented. Because they can't understand the forces at work, macro forces directing their lives, they use their political muscle to attack something called "cultural Marxism", also known as wokeness. They hope that by banning books and stopping drag shows and letting parents set curriculim for schools and stopping transgender care, they can slow the onslaught of all the things they don't, can't, begin to understand. And just as it is for most of us, that list is long. Richard King describes it as the "black box" tension; we know things work (our cell phones, computers, AI, biogenetics, etc...) but we don't know how. We sort of trust somebody knows, but it is a loss of agency. "Somebody" might not have our best interests at heart. They might even be Marxist! People "know" the national debt is 31 trillion dollars, but they can't comprehend such a number. To help balance the budget they will cut thew Green New Deal though they can't comprehend the threats to the earth system. They want the old un-woke culture with more police, with boys and girls bathrooms, with big cars and mom in the kitchen because that was a culture they understood. Before everything got so complex and wacky and weird. It is unfortunate that these people can't get past their Christian nationalist chauvinism and use an anti-capitalist framework to understand not just political -economy but culture as well. But Marx and the Evil Empire and the road to serfdom have left a lasting impression.