The National Psyche

The combination of Covid19, Trump, and police brutality is producing a toxic mixture of fear, anger, impotence, and disgust that is afflicting the national psyche. Who knows where it will lead. Therapists stand to prosper. I myself am suffering from an acute case of America-phobia.

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4 replies
  1. jgkess@cfl.rr.com
    jgkess@cfl.rr.com says:

    Apropos Trump, at least, here’s the way I see it. Trump doesn’t love the Presidency—not as much profit in it as he might have expected;.. He’d rather be playing golf. Also, he has no particular ideological investment in any traditional Republican policy platform. So, if he loses the election in 2020, he will contest the result ofcourse—but merely out of spite. Doubt not of the degree of spitefulness of which Trump is capable, yet I don’t believe it sufficient to risk an all out tribal revolution—it wouldn’t be good for business. He will, after his loss (and after a great deal of fuss), bow out. Behold, then, the Age of Biden: much less malicious though equally incoherent

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  2. jgkess@cfl.rr.com
    jgkess@cfl.rr.com says:

    As for Covid 19, one contracts the disease by way of proximal traffic with the infected. As for America-phobia, one contracts the complaint by way of proximal traffic with the uninfected. As for massive social protesting at the risk of a second-wave of a killer pandemic: how morally galvanizing must the reason be? That’s an honest question, is it not?

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    • Colin McGinn
      Colin McGinn says:

      It’s a very honest question, and the answer is obvious: this is too serious to stay home about. My only quibble with your comment is that you assume that being an American is not itself an infection–that there is nothing disease-like about it. I wonder if the oppressed would agree. Can’t people become infected with white nationalism or bizarre conspiracy theories?

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