On the fear of conformity

Recently A WRINKLE OF TIME was on in the background. There's a sequence in the film where the main characters end up in a cul-de-sac where every house has a child in front who are bouncing balls at the same time. We then see all the children, and all are of different races with different haircuts. At this moment the film fails because it tries to paint a portrait of multicultural assimilation, and it at once says too little and not enough. It's a hopeful portrait of terribleness that doesn't work because we've taken way too many steps forward and too many steps back from the 1950's version of the American dream for it to be inclusive.

If our culture, if America were different, there might be a case for this fear of multicultural assimilation, and hopefully things will change so much in the next thirty years that this portrait will feel right (spoiler alert: it won't). But in a post 9/11, Post-Trump American landscape, this is a patently ridiculous thing to show/fear. America is nowhere near the point where it is accepting of different cultures and races for a myriad of reasons, to cite one obvious recent example: a Jewish temple got shot up because conservatives have portrayed George Soros as a boogeyman. Republicans have so stoked the fear of the other that White Nationalism has become the bedrock of their beliefs.

Alas, the fear of suburban complacency doesn't exist any more as no one accidentally becomes a Republican. No one can fear accidentally turning into a pod person or Stepford wife in America at this point in history. The fear of complacency is non-existent because the American Dream no longer exists.

These days, going to college guarantees you nothing but debt if you are lower or middle class. On top of which the middle class is an endangered species. Many adults would sell their soul if it gave them a home, a partner, and children that they could afford to the point they wouldn't have to worry about taking care of braces or a wrecked car. I know too many people who have good jobs that are working second jobs because they have to make ends meet. Most people live in debt.We've gone from an economy that supports a single breadwinner to an economy where to have two children both parents tend to need to work, and where having a full time job is no guarantee you can afford room and board. If the previous appeal of Conservatism was that it was the party that taxed you less, that doesn't matter when taxes aren't the reason why you can barely afford things and it isn't easy to get by. Republicans have ruined selling out, because there's no one to sell out to.

But, perhaps just as importantly, the fear of becoming a pod person, the fear of falling in line with more conservative elements in our culture is gone because to be a modern Republican you have to embrace racism, sexism and the fear of the other to the extent that it's a feature, not a bug. You can't pretend that it's a cultural thing, or a belief system argument. Trump and his administration is actively pursuing policies for the benefit of no one but racists. They don't want people to be tolerant of viewpoints they don't accept while also being offended that their intolerance is not as tolerated as those minorities they look to oppress.

It's not that people are being converted - this is nothing you can fall into accidentally at this point - it's that people's truths are being revealed. We reached the end of They Live, Nada has destroyed the cloaking device, and a good chunk of the population is cool with being led by aliens who obviously don't have their best interests in mind.

I say this, but I also look at James Woods on twitter, who's been called to arms because of the California fires, and it's obvious he's a terrible person who found his humanity when he saw something that might change his life/day/people he knows. The problem with other-ing to point that modern Republicans are at these days is that it's effective only when you have no practical experiences, and can be destroyed if that person is capable of accepting truths. It's easy to hate things you don't know. It's harder when you live and work and are surrounded by people who are just like you, who want similar things as you, but maybe look a little different. To be a modern Republican is either to be rich and selfish or dumb and hateful. Racism is inherently stupid, and racism has become a core tenant of modern Republicanism, so that party is now for stupid people, by stupid people, and the feedback loop of Trump and Fox News is getting dumber and louder.

They forgot the carrot for people who are comfortable with racism as long as it's not front and center. They forgot to provide for their true Scotsmen because it's the end of this hustle so they are just pillaging what they can. The white picket fence is no longer a realistic dream, it's no longer a dream, period. Good job, Republicans, you ruined the myth that you're whole fucking ideology is based around.