Reassuring to see your perspective on the persuasive power of memoir and fiction. Puts not a little fire in the belly of those of us who have stories aching to be told.
And in respect to stories - that story that anyone (not everyone) can make it if they work hard enough is such a pernicious lie. You are absolutely right that stories matter and we really do need to challenge the people who try to shove their puny bumper sticker mentality into every channel, billboard or conversation. We need to hear those stories 'aching to be told', so please go out and tell them!!
Animal Farm. We are living Orwell's Animal Farm, which I found myself recently re-reading. Sprang to mind with Svetlana Alexievich's quote. And speaking of the power of storytelling.
When I was little girl I remember my mother reading me the story of the little match girl one Christmas Eve. We sat in our cozy warm kitchen smelling a delicious dinner soon to be served. I immediately felt a kinship with the little girl waiting in the snowy streets for someone to buy her matches, for some comfort, some warmth to arrive to save her. When none came in spite of her hopeful soul, I was heart broken and wept bitter tears for that sweet girl, not at all comforted that she was in heaven in the loving arms of her grandmother once again. My mother gave me such an important gift that evening when she read me that heart wrenching story. I will never forget it and will always be grateful to her for reading to me. So I agree that stories absolutely help to build empathy. ♥️
Shifting the costs of running a society from public to private sources doesn’t reduce those costs. The costs are just moved from a nonprofit, publicly accountable entity to for-profit entities that lobby against regulation for their industries (usually labor and safety), so they can lower quality to increase prices to their buyers, so they can continually make higher profits. Privatization of public services is a boon for the rich and a betrayal and battering of working families who are the engine of the economy.
It has always been about privatizing (rugged individualism) because only this system of social, economic, and cultural relationships guarantees that the “weak” perish. Socially (the homeless), culturally (trans people), economically (the poor, under- and unemployable, etc.) are isolated from participation in the systems that make life worth living, pushed to the fringes. This is the point of austerity despite what the powers that be may say.
Survival of the fittest rules. As a result, the only response from We the People that will rise to a sufficient clamor to beat back this same ole grift is an insistence that we are one nation, one people, and one world. We must unite to (as the old southern church folks would say) take back what the Devil (all who seek to divide and conquer us) stole from us: our unity and humanity.
But what has enabled the American Nightmare has been the steady corrosion of voting rights, culminating in you-know-who being in the WH, a fact so deftly hidden and avoided that it has hardly ever been written about or spoken about. The Civil War never ended.
It seems to me that governments throughout history, with some exceptions in modern times, have always been, and are now reverting into autocracies in which the many have been made to suffer and do without in order to provide lavish lifestyles for a few, be these aristocrats by name, or not. The trade-off used to be that the privileged class would protect the lower classes from invaders and marauders. Which they in part did by imposing severe taxes and conscription on the already suffering general population. Question: what, if anything, have we learned from all this that we seem to be devolving toward it once again?
My observation prior to and since the election, and not just of Trump, is that the Progressives among us (notice I did not use liberals, democrats, leftists, etc) have focused far too much on the past and criticisms of what Trump and his ilk would do and are currently doing. In Gavin Newsom's first podcast he had Charlie Kirk as his first guest. Beyond all the blather you would expect he said a really powerful thing: Republicans have better ideas, that's why you lost.
I absolutely disagree with that, but perception is most often reality, and we did suck at providing solutions, our vision and ideas for the now and the future. We have to stop bitching and lamenting about what Trump is doing, that's too easy and ineffective. We need to look to 2026 and clearly, simply communicate what our better ideas are and why they are better.... especially for the 75+ million who voted for Trump and his lieutenants in Congress.
As a PhD in English literature I can confirm what you say; it’s what I’ve always believed. It it not surprising that Trump doesn’t read, and I doubt Musk does either.
The problem is, they (GOP) are liars, and Democrats have been poor messengers. Truth is, we are a capitalistic country, and both parties are in support of capitalism. However, the GOP, some libertarians, are more often purist capitalists, a party in support of deregulation, no red tape, no environmental protects, no unions to make them accountable to employees, and no oversight of any kind. They want the Wild Wild West days of business-a John Wayne capitalism. Cant you just taste the freedom?!? But, this model relies on the integrity of people...to compensate their employees, to not abuse their employees, to listen to their employees. It also assumes they will keep our environment clean of toxins that would kill us. It assumes there isn't white collar crimes or greed. It assumes there will be internal measures to keep employees safe. Anyone trust corporations enough to do this on their own? Those safeguards cost money, and in a privatized system, the profit is the bottom line, not people.
Democrats recognize (like other civilized countries), that safety nets are necessary in a stable society. As we've seen, health insurance companies will deny coverage to make $$. So the government steps in "for the people" to provide infrastructure to give people what they deserve. Won't go into it too much here...but it's an issue that health insurance is tied to work...many Americans would agree with this.
So the GOP lies about their true John Wayne vision of America...one where more profit lands in a few pockets at the EXPENSE of people, and the Democrats support capitalism too...but recognize the evils associated with it and are constantly trying to rein it in and provide safety nets for Americans in this wayward system. When I was growing up, my dad used to say, "God helps those who helps themselves." And we've heard "pull yourself up by your bootstraps." True, hard work often equates to progress and success, but it's also true, the sick, the poor, the oppressed will always will always live with us, and we will never be a civilized nation if we don't account for and care for all people, and we don't root out greed and the love of money to bring justice and equality to our nation. We need new messaging in this country-honestly, I just think people don't get it. We have liar in chief and we have elites...but we need a different kind of messaging, one laced with truth and heart.
Reassuring to see your perspective on the persuasive power of memoir and fiction. Puts not a little fire in the belly of those of us who have stories aching to be told.
And in respect to stories - that story that anyone (not everyone) can make it if they work hard enough is such a pernicious lie. You are absolutely right that stories matter and we really do need to challenge the people who try to shove their puny bumper sticker mentality into every channel, billboard or conversation. We need to hear those stories 'aching to be told', so please go out and tell them!!
Animal Farm. We are living Orwell's Animal Farm, which I found myself recently re-reading. Sprang to mind with Svetlana Alexievich's quote. And speaking of the power of storytelling.
When I was little girl I remember my mother reading me the story of the little match girl one Christmas Eve. We sat in our cozy warm kitchen smelling a delicious dinner soon to be served. I immediately felt a kinship with the little girl waiting in the snowy streets for someone to buy her matches, for some comfort, some warmth to arrive to save her. When none came in spite of her hopeful soul, I was heart broken and wept bitter tears for that sweet girl, not at all comforted that she was in heaven in the loving arms of her grandmother once again. My mother gave me such an important gift that evening when she read me that heart wrenching story. I will never forget it and will always be grateful to her for reading to me. So I agree that stories absolutely help to build empathy. ♥️
Shifting the costs of running a society from public to private sources doesn’t reduce those costs. The costs are just moved from a nonprofit, publicly accountable entity to for-profit entities that lobby against regulation for their industries (usually labor and safety), so they can lower quality to increase prices to their buyers, so they can continually make higher profits. Privatization of public services is a boon for the rich and a betrayal and battering of working families who are the engine of the economy.
It has always been about privatizing (rugged individualism) because only this system of social, economic, and cultural relationships guarantees that the “weak” perish. Socially (the homeless), culturally (trans people), economically (the poor, under- and unemployable, etc.) are isolated from participation in the systems that make life worth living, pushed to the fringes. This is the point of austerity despite what the powers that be may say.
Survival of the fittest rules. As a result, the only response from We the People that will rise to a sufficient clamor to beat back this same ole grift is an insistence that we are one nation, one people, and one world. We must unite to (as the old southern church folks would say) take back what the Devil (all who seek to divide and conquer us) stole from us: our unity and humanity.
But what has enabled the American Nightmare has been the steady corrosion of voting rights, culminating in you-know-who being in the WH, a fact so deftly hidden and avoided that it has hardly ever been written about or spoken about. The Civil War never ended.
It seems to me that governments throughout history, with some exceptions in modern times, have always been, and are now reverting into autocracies in which the many have been made to suffer and do without in order to provide lavish lifestyles for a few, be these aristocrats by name, or not. The trade-off used to be that the privileged class would protect the lower classes from invaders and marauders. Which they in part did by imposing severe taxes and conscription on the already suffering general population. Question: what, if anything, have we learned from all this that we seem to be devolving toward it once again?
My observation prior to and since the election, and not just of Trump, is that the Progressives among us (notice I did not use liberals, democrats, leftists, etc) have focused far too much on the past and criticisms of what Trump and his ilk would do and are currently doing. In Gavin Newsom's first podcast he had Charlie Kirk as his first guest. Beyond all the blather you would expect he said a really powerful thing: Republicans have better ideas, that's why you lost.
I absolutely disagree with that, but perception is most often reality, and we did suck at providing solutions, our vision and ideas for the now and the future. We have to stop bitching and lamenting about what Trump is doing, that's too easy and ineffective. We need to look to 2026 and clearly, simply communicate what our better ideas are and why they are better.... especially for the 75+ million who voted for Trump and his lieutenants in Congress.
As a PhD in English literature I can confirm what you say; it’s what I’ve always believed. It it not surprising that Trump doesn’t read, and I doubt Musk does either.
The problem is, they (GOP) are liars, and Democrats have been poor messengers. Truth is, we are a capitalistic country, and both parties are in support of capitalism. However, the GOP, some libertarians, are more often purist capitalists, a party in support of deregulation, no red tape, no environmental protects, no unions to make them accountable to employees, and no oversight of any kind. They want the Wild Wild West days of business-a John Wayne capitalism. Cant you just taste the freedom?!? But, this model relies on the integrity of people...to compensate their employees, to not abuse their employees, to listen to their employees. It also assumes they will keep our environment clean of toxins that would kill us. It assumes there isn't white collar crimes or greed. It assumes there will be internal measures to keep employees safe. Anyone trust corporations enough to do this on their own? Those safeguards cost money, and in a privatized system, the profit is the bottom line, not people.
Democrats recognize (like other civilized countries), that safety nets are necessary in a stable society. As we've seen, health insurance companies will deny coverage to make $$. So the government steps in "for the people" to provide infrastructure to give people what they deserve. Won't go into it too much here...but it's an issue that health insurance is tied to work...many Americans would agree with this.
So the GOP lies about their true John Wayne vision of America...one where more profit lands in a few pockets at the EXPENSE of people, and the Democrats support capitalism too...but recognize the evils associated with it and are constantly trying to rein it in and provide safety nets for Americans in this wayward system. When I was growing up, my dad used to say, "God helps those who helps themselves." And we've heard "pull yourself up by your bootstraps." True, hard work often equates to progress and success, but it's also true, the sick, the poor, the oppressed will always will always live with us, and we will never be a civilized nation if we don't account for and care for all people, and we don't root out greed and the love of money to bring justice and equality to our nation. We need new messaging in this country-honestly, I just think people don't get it. We have liar in chief and we have elites...but we need a different kind of messaging, one laced with truth and heart.
Adam Schiff said succinctly what the Republicans are doing, let us stop them in their tracks. Call our elected representatives.
I don’t think voting is going to do the trick of repelling the Anerican Nightmare. :). ;(