Derangement
Living in Another World
Yes. TDS is a real thing.
I recently read A Day That Will Live In Infamy. It’s a pretty standard Jan. 6th outrage screed. I don’t think it’s especially accurate and it conflates the nature of the EVENT (which was uniquely shameful) with the character of the PROTESTERS (who were overwhelmingly nonviolent and obviously not invested in any insurrection). It muddies the (vast) distinction between small groups of violent criminals and a large number of people who hurt no one and destroyed no property and it calls for harsh and punitive justice for people who weren’t even there and who have only a legally tenuous connection to the acts of the participants.
If someone without any knowledge of the events read the essay I think they might think:
That this event was recent and is a huge matter for concern for most Americans
That this event killed and injured many people and is unique in terms of criminality among recent political protests.
I’m not interested in addressing the essay, though. Read it if you like. I was horrified on Jan. 6th and am still horrified by the event, but I have been inured through years of repetition. Jan. 6th was now over four years ago, and I can’t credit concern about it from people who cheered when buildings burned in 2020 or assassins made their attempts last year. I’m also full of cynicism toward and distrust of a political and media apparatus which obviously set to enthusiastic work using this (pretty tame) instance of political violence in an effort to marginalize Trump FOREVER. How did that work out?
No-I want to address the comments. If you read the essay please survey the comments. Commenters truly believe that the media is biased in favor of Trump, that “runaway climate change” is imminent, that the Democrats have just been TOO ethical and scrupulous in their operations. This is, to say the least, a vision of reality very different than mine. When I encounter such people, rather than arguing, I try to remind them that they might be wrong. Their feelings of certainty and righteous anger are only feelings, and therefore unreliable.
Look at the comments below: conspiracy theories, climate change despair, misinformation… and HATRED. Repeated calls for violence… left on an essay that is (ostensibly) outraged about violence. This is just a random selection, as you can see for yourself. There are millions of people out there who feel this way. This is a warning to everyone: violent and evil behavior in service of ideologies always flares up around kindling piles of fear (often fed by the media and political operators) and self-righteousness. We should pity these people, for they’re living in their own dark and fearful epistemic corners, and we should be kind to them. Such people obviously worry me, but no array of facts will convince them. These are emotional beliefs for them, and they are inflaming the ‘in-group’ bias urge, which is a deep and powerful part of the human brain. There’s an irresistible tendency to judge your side as righteous and obviously correct, while treating similar actions by the other side as idiocy at best and evil at worst. “Our violence is defensive and obviously ethical-theirs is depraved and indefensible.” Violence is never the answer for political problems in a political system such as ours.
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