So this little virus that looks like the solar corona has taken the world by storm. I personally, as an historian, am basically loving this very retro era of quarantines and travel restrictions. Perhaps it's a bit cruel to take so much pleasure in a time that is causing so many such trouble, but I can't help it. We were already sprinting off the cliff of abject environmental collapse, so this unexpected pause seems hardly worth lamenting. The big surprise for me is how cohesive late Capitalism is when facing such an existential threat to the grand project of Globalization. I guess most are all in with this gambit and an unexpected curve ball from nature is hardly enough to concoct an alternative trajectory. The only part of the whole thing that I find at all disturbing is that this flashback to pre-vaccine life has caused conspiracy theory proponents to increase their number many times over. The war against reality has really kicked up a notch and all because people just don't seem to comprehend that science is complicated and far from infallible. I am starting to almost wish the world had stayed religious, just so those archaic con men could calm the excitable masses, channel their stupidity towards the imaginary God-head. Oh well, those days are gone and now people have the internet so an increasingly large segment of the world is heading towards the strange fan-fiction of the modern conspiracy theory; even the most complicated of which is still far easier to grasp than the slippery fish of reality.
The real storm cloud on the horizon is the impending American election in November. BLM protests becoming the biggest mass movement in the US since the Great Awakening has of course triggered the dominant white masses big time on both sides of the political spectrum. Then add to all that Trump and his followers seemingly genuine belief that he is only hope for America and that the aforementioned protests are aiming to end white supremacy, all seems to point towards a confrontation. The old is dying and the new is not yet ready to be fully born it would seem. Unless he wins outright, which is completely feasible, there is no way I can imagine the Don going quietly into that good night; he will rage, rage against the dying of his might. If the Dems had been able to put up someone respectable, or at least not a vacuous career politician like Biden, I wouldn't be too worried, but they decided to go for the ignorant old white vote, which although demographically sound electoral thinking, I believe it is a very bad choice for this situation. Trump and his supporters have a clear narrative and the ferocity of hundreds of years of white supremacy, aka the status quo, on their side. Compared to the incoherent and blatantly hypocritical propaganda that the DNC is trying to push, Trump's message is shockingly clear and extremely deeply programmed into much of the country's psyche. The rest of the world still can't challenge the US militarily, so this election will have huge ramifications around the world, especially as the dollar has soared in these uncertain times. I'm just personally grateful that Trump isn't articulate, for if he was at all a competent orator America would probably be seeing goose-stepping in the streets.
Our 8 billion strong experiment is entering into a galvanizing crucible. Will we make it or break it? Only time can answer such a question, so stay tuned.
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