I shudder when I hear that phrase.
(from the Netflix documentary, 13th)
In the good old days…
(from the Netflix documentary, 13th)
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I shudder when I hear that phrase.
The rising of the white nationalist movement is definitely one of the saddest major political developments in my lifetime. Let’s hope it dies the death it deserves.
I remember those “old days” with shame. Too bad some folks think that it is way it should be now. Hopefully Trump loses in a landslide.
I want to see this so badly, but I don’t have Netflix.
An aspect of this election that I think has gone unappreciated is the courage of black people who protested at Trump rallies. We focus on the violent authoritarianism of Trumpism, which is important, but it took real bravery for those people to go into that environment and speak out.
There are a lot of people in Europe whose parents came out of the woodwork and flew the fascist flags. Now, they’re all a bit studied/ashamed of them and their actions. The “old days” were not the “good days” they were an embarrassment.
SC@#3:
An aspect of this election that I think has gone unappreciated is the courage of black people who protested at Trump rallies.
Yes. And Trump has helped kindle a spirit of activism – hopefully it will continue to burn even after Trump is gone. One of my friends who lives in a particularly “deplorable” part of Pennsylvania has been organizing schoolbuses with her church to help get people to the polls in large, safe, groups. Once you get people on the list for that, you can do it every election.
I’m watching 13th right now. It’s chilling. Nixon, Reagan, Bush, (and, horrifyingly, Clinton) and now Trump, all constantly escalating “law and order” excuses for oppression.
It has been the rallying cry of tyrants for as long as there have been tyrants, and well known too. Here’s Sophocles’ Creon, from his Antigone of 441BC:
“He who does his duty in his own household will be found righteous in the State also. But if any one transgresses, and does violence to the laws, or thinks to dictate to his rulers, such an one can win no praise from me. No, whomsoever the city may appoint, that man must be obeyed, in little things and great, in just things and unjust; and I should feel sure that one who thus obeys would be a good ruler no less than a good subject, and in the storm of spears would stand his ground where he was set, loyal and dauntless at his comrade’s side.
But disobedience is the worst of evils. This it is that ruins cities; this makes homes desolate; by this, the ranks of allies are broken into head-long rout; but, of the lives whose course is fair, the greater part owes safety to obedience. Therefore we must support the cause of order, and in no wise suffer a woman to worst us. Better to fall from power, if we must, by a man’s hand; then we should not be called weaker than a woman. “
Unlike many others who talk about “The Good Old Days”, Trump is unusually explicit about what he wants back from them: Dissenters punished by murderous mobs and/or the police. Probably one of the very few times he’s honestly told the truth.
When quizzed about “law and order”, far too many candidates end up describing martial law.
Fascism is great until you’re on the wrong side of the stick.
Now I have to go watch kitten videos to calm down.
wzrd1@#9:
Word. yes. That is what they mean when they say “rule of law.”
I was thinking of something witty to say but I can’t think of anything. “There was no Trump in the good old days” just doesn’t work because there were so many others. Though I have the impression that since the seventies none were worse than Trump is.
But fortunately -“The times, they are a-changing”
NB! Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize in literature!
A beautiful counterweight to the regressives, even if ol’ Bob is a bit wrinkled. :-)
“Scandinavia and the World”:
The voices in America’s head http://satwcomic.com/the-little-voice-in-america-s-head
I remember Nixon very well. The 1972 election was my first. By then I had come to despise him and everything he stood for. I was a young, fervent McGovern follower. The ’72 election results hit me like a body blow. In some ways I never fully recovered from that catastrophe. I went to bed that night to the soul wrenching realization that I simply did not understand the American people. And then, less than two years later, Nixon resigned in disgrace. Within a short time after that you couldn’t find anyone who admitted to voting for him. They were too ashamed or mortified. They could not own up to their own stupidity. Let us hope we don’t have live through another, possibly much worse, period like that one with a Pres. Trump.
Silver Fox #15:
I don’t really wish for it, but sometimes I think that perhaps a good disaster is what is needed to get some people to start seeing sense again.
Is it me, or is there a sense of petty vindictiveness that runs through American politics. It’s like there’s a whole chunk of American society that wants to punish anyone who doesn’t look like them.
For those who cannot access the video, you can see it here http://www.indiewire.com/2016/10/13th-clip-donald-trump-ava-duvernay-documentary-netflix-1201736323/
The good old days were August 6 to August 10, 2010.
At least for me. I can’t speak for anyone else.
The Good Old Days, when my wife and I were married, each of our children’s birth date, assorted milestone dates…
Each and every day that we don’t wake up dead.
That said, I am old enough to remember watching JFK being shot on live TV and the civil rights movement finally making progress.
The latter, including watching a peaceful, quiet civil rights march going down 60th street in SW Philly, to be met a couple of blocks past my street by police, who promptly beat the shit out of everyone marching. After all, the birthplace of our nation obviously is a Constitution Free Zone.
Ah, the good old days, back when only white men had rights (people with dark skin and women need not apply), segregation, spousal rape was OK and date rape was boys being boys, to name a few things.
Hmm, those days don’t sound so good to me, but I remember them. Largely because the generation before me fixed a few of those things.
But then, I’m a trailing edge boomer.
So, I’m old enough to remember seeing both ends of progress. Hence, there ain’t no such thing as “the good old days”, only what one makes of today counts toward tomorrow.