There isn’t anything particular you need to know about Vox. It isn’t like the Daily Mail or Breitbart.
They are slightly left leaning, for US left (which is right/conservative in most of the world). But very neoliberal technocracy. A lot like current US Democratic party leadership. Beholden to corporate money and pushing corporate interests.
Occasionally they have something insightful. Sometimes they have complete BS like this article.
Oh, I see it now. But It reminded me of my own experience. I was a child during the military dictatorship that began in 1964 and ended in 1985. During that period, people were arbitrarily arrested, tortured, killed, exiled… We had fierce censorship, no opposition, and policies that created inflation and economic hardship, leading to a lost decade in the 1980s.
Despite all this, many people miss those times. For these people, nostalgia is like a sedative for today. Many say that things used to be safer, that there were police on the streets and that only those who misbehaved had to fear. Some young people, who didn’t lived through that time, say that their grandparents confirm these fantasies.
What these superficial analyses and daydreams do not take into account and what these people prefer not to think about is that the effort to behave, not attract the attention of the authorities and endure all kinds of injustice is very great, even suffocating. Any slip-up could cause a big problem, to say the least. The economic ruin that the military governments created, for example, was crippling, but there was no way for an ordinary person to even complain and the way was to behave and continue living. In the 1970’s an outbreak of meningitis caused many deaths, but official censorship did not let the population know for a long time, until it became impossible to hide it.
That’s why I posted this text here.
I’m not familiar with this site, I don’t really know what it’s all about. I’ll do some research before using more of their material.
yeah, that Vox article is some pollyanna bullshit saying, “oh, we’ll all get by under authoritarian rule. we’ll still go to work, eat lunch, and go home…”
to your point, yes - the out groups will suffer and die at the hands of the in group. under this type of regime, I and others I care about - or maybe don’t even know - will suffer and die.
the article makes it seem that all will be well, we just won’t be able to change things electorally. like changing laws that call for executions of LGBTQ+, or allowing the disabled, aged, and infirm to simply die. i cannot get onboard with this at all. i may be born a white male, but i do not fit the rest of the description: not “straight” or christian. as an anarcho-socialist, Buddhist-atheist, my type would not be met with favor.
fuck the king!
I’m sure that for some people living under an authoritarian regime would be boring and safe and maybe even nice. The privileged, the elite, the ones who think they are elite.
But only some few people. A lot of people would be persecuted and die. Injustice would be rampant. Everyone else would be exhausted trying to toe the line, afraid all the time, and anxious because they could at, any time, have their entire life destroyed. If not outright taken.
i’m not sure that even a constitutional lawyer could declare “ok we’ve now crossed into crisis”, and this is likely just a sop for our constant state of alarm, but this article says that the “ignored judge’s order” was delivered late and not in a written form so that the trumpies could declare they couldn’t violate a judge’s order which wasn’t …formal (?) yet? @#$!!
Edit added: The first news I saw today made me think it was game over. It looked like the Trump administration had openly defied a US District Judge. I searched until some possible clarification was published. I wanted to get this out to others who might be as upset as I was. In no way do I mean this to be a defense of the current administration. Apparently they are still wriggling around somewhat within the framework of the Constitution, and haven’t yet decided to openly ignore the judicial system.
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in order to deport alleged gang members who came to the US from Venezuela. Hours later a US District Judge issued an order blocking the deportations.
… but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. [The Judge] Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order.
That’s exactly what happened here. They use the ghost of communism, which is a very diffuse entity, basically everything that the most reactionary people don’t like, to justify atrocities.
My point is that life goes on in one way or another and this illusion of normality fools a lot of people, some who really want to be fooled. Other people crave violence against those they don’t like and a dictatorship is just the ticket.
This is where the intellectual contortionism begins, the mental gymnastics to justify arbitrariness or even deny it. Here in Brazil, they even deny the existence of the late dictatorship. Many praise former torturers, but say that no one was ever tortured, while they wait for the good times to return and their enemies, real or imaginary, to suffer all kinds of state violence.
In the current US at least, even that may not prove true. Toxic air and water, unsafe food and meds, loads of unvaccinated people, ongoing climate change, riskier air travel, and more-- those things will impinge on just about everyone.
But the liberals, trans kids, working women, immigrants and the woke scum Will pay, that’s what matter. Only these people Will pay, only them, won’t them?
“Oopsie … Too late,” Mr. Bukele wrote in a social media post on Sunday morning that was recirculated by the White House communications director, Steven Cheung.
Around the same time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in another social media post, thanked Mr. Bukele for a lengthy post detailingthe migrants’ incarceration.
My husband and I talk about this sometimes. I actually think the article misses the mark a little bit but it is actually also something Americans need to know and I see a point in trying to get the message out.
Being under an oppressive government doesn’t feel like torture and death every day just like being in an abusive family can be like totally and fun and normal all the other times etc.
Being at higher risk and having fewer options in life is something frankly a lot of people won’t even notice and if they do they may not even connect the dots anyway. Freakishly cruel and unusual punishments that one hears whispered about could just be ugly rumors and people starting trouble if it never happens to you then you might not even believe such things are real.
I’ve known old people who talk about how much better off Poland was under the Soviets. They’re delusional. But I guess they were young and happy back then and that’s what they know about it and what they believe the real truth to be.
Do you know what is funny? Some fring far right movement are starting to say that the last Dictatorship was actually a series of left-wing authoritarian governments because they were against freedom, they bloated the state and intervened in the economy. These Mises fans are the most entertaining, it’s a shame that many bad people listen to their ravings.
I was a child and I don’t remember much about the politics of the time. I grew up after the most violent period of the regime. My parents worked in downtown before they got married, and they say they saw the authorities violently repress demonstrations demanding freedom. They also say that before the coup d’état, some politicians and sectors of society called for more energetic action against communism and military intervention. The irony is that in a very short time these people became enemies of the state, had their political rights revoked, some were arrested, and others had to leave the country to avoid an even worse fate.
Not really. In our highly hierarchical society, with little social mobility, few people benefited from the dictatorship. Alienation played a very important role in maintaining the regime. Censorship, persecution of intellectuals, dismantling of public education and other measures created a generation of conformist people, in all social classes.
Nowadays, alienation also acts, mainly with the slogan “I don’t have a favorite politician” and “I’m neither left nor right wingsupporter”. Generally, those who say they don’t have a side are reactionaries and believe wholeheartedly in corrupt far-right politicians.
A phrase said by the ministers of the dictatorship was “We need to make the cake batter before sharing it.” I don’t know if I translated it correctly, but the idea behind this catchphrase is that economic policies will yield results in the future and that the needs of the poorest people are not really urgent and they have to be patient. Well, the cake sank and very few people got a slice of this indigestible treat.
Unfortunately, the promises of a bright future rarely become reality.
Obrigado. Thank you. I, myself, learn a lot here and I must confess that a lot of people here made me change my mind in a lot of topics.
That’s right. Many people who say that things were better in the past actually remember fondly the time when they were young, didn’t have many responsibilities, had energy and good health etc. They were oblivious and didn’t notice the problems around them.
Even if these people do not suffer direct and explicit violence, their lives can be turned upside down in the blink of an eye. An authoritarian government could, for example, close schools and universities, leaving thousands of workers unemployed. These educational establishment closures will have a long-term impact on a generation of young people who will not be able to study. Rights can be revoked at the whim of dictators and bureaucrats. Technocrats who are out of touch with society’s reality can implement disastrous changes and policies.
And yet many will not notice these injustices, they will remain alienated, because they have not suffered violence and no one in their restricted social circle has either. For these people, life will go on as always, because everything has always been this way.
You know what’s worse? Many times even minorities think this is a good thing, because they have the impression that the violent and simplistic responses that authoritarians give to society’s problems are an elixir against the evildoers who they believe make their lives miserable.
