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[–] 2 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I'd argue the complacency of the 90's is how we got here. We assumed the bigots would just go away and sort of just brushed them under the rug. Well, they didn't go away and plotted their return. And here we are. I think maybe we needed a reminder that these people exist, might just always exist, and we need to fight them to make progress - it's not just some inevitable thing. It sucks to see it, to be sure though. Hopefully we can get through it. We did it before, we can do it again.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    No, your response to 9/11 fucked up your momentum.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (1 child)

    That's part of it. But only a small piece. These people have been plotting this sort of return since after WWII, at least (arguably before too, see the Business Plot). The Nazis never really went away - they just went underground. I'd trace this particular resurgence to Ronald Reagan. That's where we lost the battle against the oligarchs and when organizations like the Heritage Foundation got their start. What we're seeing now is the culmination of all that. I don't really doubt that, if we succeed in resuming progress, the people behind all this will go back in the shadows and plot their return.

    I don't view these bigots as separate from the ultra wealthy. They're all birds of a feather and they're all the same problem, just with different manifestations. I doubt we'll ever fully be rid of them. But we can bust them back down again and pick up progress again. We've done it before and we can do it again. Progress is never guaranteed - it must always be fought for. It's also not linear - sometimes regressions happen. I'd argue they're the price for showing us what we have to do, because sometimes we forget.

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