Blame Yourselves

When Bernie Sanders tried to disrupt the Democratic establishment by running to the left of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020 he could not get the support of black voters. In both instances black voters preferred the establishment candidate. Now they are being systematically shut out of power. Ooops. They listened to old leaders like James Clyburn, who said Berie was too radical. They thought neoliberalism, as represented by the Clintons and Bidens of this world, was working for them and they thought Bernie's social democracy was scary. Oops. They thought after Obama, they were in the catbird seat, that they might tag along when Whitey went to the moon, when Whitey gave us the "information economy" and deportation and an "all of the above" energy policy. Ooops. Like most Americans, blacks will keep believing the arc of history bends toward justice, that democratic capitalism can work for them, that they can be part of the middle class and that the Bill of Rights will protect them. On another note, what might some of the less-talked about aspects of Trump's legacy be? We may look back on this period as the beginning of the end for the popular support for Zionism. Ever since I can remember, the word remained unspoken or if acknowledged at all it was simply an assumed aspect of support for Israel. But the legitimacy of both the State and the ethnic project are now questioned thanks to first Biden's complicity in genocide and now Trump being played by Netanyahu. Here is why class is simply an identity with no link to conscious solidarity. From the NY Times: Here is why class is simply an identity with no link to conscious solidarity. From the NY Times: 'In a recent report, we measured class using constant, inflation-adjusted thresholds. The “core” middle class shrank, but so did the classes below the middle — the poor, the near-poor and the lower middle class." Using income as a metric for class position means you are always trying to escape your class and "move up". We all hate the rich but we all wish to be them. Black, brown, white or purple.

Feeling Safe

During the protests against Israel's assault on Gaza we often heard Jews saying that they "didn't feel safe". Now we see the justification of Israel's expanding incursion into Lebanon as the need to feel safe. But what if their fear is pathological? What if Jews can never "feel" safe, no matter objective conditions. It may be that Zionists will dominate the entire region militarily and still not "feel" safe because the feeling is the result of historical trauma for which there is no cure. This is not to minimize actual threats and an actual persistant anti-semitism, but it should be easy to see the circular aspect of this pathological violence. : Back to disavowal: An opinion piece in the Times described the effect of our newest technology on our ability to know very well but all the same act as if we don't: "You can know that the scroll is erasing the war from your consciousness in real time and keep scrolling anyway." With the algorythm quickly sending us bites of information? Knowledge? Belief? it all becomes flattened and hollowed out, finishing off what little agency we had to effect change." How about this amazing example, Tucker Carlson speaking about Trump: " I think the Venezuela operation allowed him to retreat into a kind of fantasy in which he told himself this is going to be easy. But I don’t think he believed that." The relationship between knowledge, fantasy and belief is key here. This could prove problematic: "Surging concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere, caused largely by burning fossil fuels, have produced potent changes in the way plants grow — from increasing their sugar content to depleting essential nutrients like zinc. Experts fear the degradation of Earth’s food supply will cause an epidemic of hidden hunger, in which even people who consume enough calories won’t get the nutrients they need to thrive." I'd not heard this type of analysis before. I wonder if there is a connection between nutrition, CO2 and stupidity? Speaking of, I keep seeing these interviews with people who voted for Trump but now feel betrayed. People who listened to ANY politician and believed he/she was going to do what they said and make your life better. Really? What alternate universe do they live in? Why would people refuse to learn from experience? They know perfectly well that politicians will let them down and yet...