Welcome to The Apprentice, Washington, DC version.
The greatest collection ever assembled of ne’er-do-wells, political opportunists, misogynists, barn-burners, moral cretins, political weather vanes, performance addicts, conspiracy theorists, scoundrels, and nut cases, all vying to be most like the mendacious, vengeful, amoral, would-be tin pot dictator, felon, and mentally challenged old man who leads the pack. We really should just wall off the Capital and sit back to watch the show as they all scratch and bite and claw to show which one is the most successful sycophant, except that its now our show, too.
If the Founders could see this lot, they’ve have left Philadelphia before they even got started to attempt to create a ‘Republic of virtue’.
Yes. Between a spotty school system and the deliberate campaign to neutralize powerful language, basic communication has suffered. A person who can’t name their Senator probably doesn’t get illiberal or small d democracy or authoritarianism. The result is that folks who aren’t necessarily “elite” come off that way to those who have missed civic education somehow. So what do we call DT?
In fact the rest of the world is preparing to operate now in an environment where Amerino longer exists. They are reworking their strategies to protect themselves from russia assuming the dissolution of NATO. They are rethinking commerce in an environment where they will no longer import American goods. They may go through the motions of convening international conferences like the G7, but will design policies in sessions closed to American delegates or absent their opinions and votes. Asia and the far east are already in conference about how to protect Taiwan w/o American help. So the world is already geared up to isolate America from meaningful involvement in global affairs just as they have isolated russia, china and n korea, the other fascist authoritarian regimes.
Cathy, I agree with much of what you wrote but think some further impetus is needed to make it happen, and have grave concerns about the implications for climate change. Perhaps the impetus for providing an effective defense against Russian and Chinese aggression will be provided by the tariffs proffered by the MAGAts. But the withdrawal of the US from the climate change fight has worldwide consequences. Only Saudi Arabia exceeds the US in greenhouse gas emissions per capita, and those will increase further as the already pitifully small measures in place are rolled back.
From a climate perspective the best thing that could happen is a collapse of the US economy, although it represents a cruel injustice for the 50% who voted Blue in 2024
The concerns about reducing US efforts to battle climate change cannot be understated for Canada. We already have non-believers and I fear that trump’s affront on the progress achieved under Biden will reverberate throughout my nation. So we’ll be back to square one, anew.
Canada's only response to the imposition of tariffs will be to erect a wall to American imports equally punishing. This will reverberate in every other relationship. You must expect and develop strong resistance to US interference in next year's federal elections to keep P and the CFC as far away from a majority as possible. Yo can expect interference from musk who will do his best to rig the election and install fascist lapdogs that will destroy Canada's democracy and turn it into a mere handmaiden to US interests.
Canada will never close the door on tariffs, either under a Liberal or Conservative government. The 🇺🇸 is 🇨🇦 major trading partner, and in 2022, it enjoyed some $357.3 B in goods and an additional 7.3B in services. That’s a huge loss for Canada, so although it might cross some minds, I can’t see it happening.
If that's what it will take to save the world from an environmental collapse, then I am willing to make the sacrifice. In his first term, TFG alienated the world. But they were able to cooperate because of the guardrails they knew checked his insanity. This time is different, no guardrails and he is backed by bona fide nazis! The only world powers that will be willing to cooperate will be other countries where their leaders are on their way to becoming authoritarians. The rest will quietly shun the US and thwart their ambitions at every turn. His administration will be proactively shunned and punished at every turn.
When the San Francisco opera announced this fall its premiere production of an operatic version of The Handmaid’s Tale, I belatedly read the novel. And decided that I wouldn’t be able to bear the opera — the story is so utterly bleak, weirdly improbable and highly possible at the same time. During the week or so that I was reading it, I took a 20 minute city bus ride, taking advantage of the good public transportation system that we have here in San Francisco. The bus was crowded that day, and it was just a single car, rather than a double car. I was really wishing for a nice long double car, because I needed a place to get away: The man sitting across from me had a Bible open on his lap. He was loudly, aggressively, angrily explicating his version of the Scripture to the woman sitting next to him. She was submissively nodding at every phrase. I had the chilling feeling that this bus ride was an extension of the novel I was reading. Professor Snyder, you remind me of that happening, and I realize that the entire nation desperately needs a place to get away, and does not have one.
I’ve heard so many White Nationalist Christians say things like, “I don’t want Shariah Law in America”, not realizing that what they want is exactly that under a different extremist religion.
Right. I’ve been calling these religious creeps the U.S. Taliban since that so called “preacher” in FL took it upon himself to set fire to the Koran. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but I certainly loathe, hate and detest those who are so hatefully vile, racist and willfully ignorant and who in some god’s name throw invective around like verbal grenades in a crowd. They are the lowest of the low.
Having only read Handmaids Tale, I’m thinking that what may possibly emerge from the smoldering rubble of what our shining city on the hill used to be, might look like a cross between Handmaids Tale and The Man in the High Castle(Prime); neither of which is good.
As to Christians themselves. Well, like the adherents of all religions, the problem comes when human beings take hold of any given faith, whoever or whatever it’s ‘founder’ may have said or done, and make of it something conceived in their own far less than divine minds.
Christianity was a faith created to benefit the rural poor in a small country largely controlled by a local Jewish hierarchy and what was then the world’s greatest empire. Once it really caught hold, of course, human beings took it over, girding it with earthly riches and temporal power far beyond anything Christ envisioned. But it was also well within the tradition begun when ‘the kingship descended from heaven’ in ancient Sumer - a political power based on the idea that some ‘higher' power dictated who should be in charge and how things should go.
This is exactly what Christian nationalists have in mind for us. It is a story as old as civilization itself.
Of course there are, just as there are good, civic minded Muslims and Jews and all the rest. In fact, the problems in all faiths will only be solved from within. But that is not being done nearly well enough.
Pre-modern historian weighing in here. (n.b. I read The Handmaid's Tale decades ago and it amuses me that it took a tv series to put it in front of people so that mansplainers can tell Margaret Atwood about her own novel. Anyone ever read Rebecca Solnit's essay "Men Explain Things to Me"? Similar situation; equally both hilarious and infuriating)
So the rhetoric surrounding the origins of Islam, which is the youngest of the world's most influential religions, is complicated by the tendentious self-description of its origins by Muslim scholars themselves. They have claimed that the animist systems of Bedouin and other nomadic groups in the late 6th century (Mohammed had his first visions at the age of 40, sometime around 610 CE) were highly restrictive of women and that Islam "liberated" women from legal statuses as non-persons. But there are problems with that narrative, even within the legendary stories of Mohammed's life--his wife, Khalifa, owned her own business, which he ran as her husband, for instance. But what Islam did indeed do was borrow heavily from Byzantine Christian traditions, themselves derived from pre-Christian so-called classical Greek culture--the society Tim loves to mention--that was just about as misogynist a culture as you could ever see. Where did the hijab and the burka come from? The Byzantine-cum-Greek requirement that "respectable" women be completely invisible and so had to be veiled from head to foot in public. Laws permitting women to divorce their husbands, but only if they can manage to escape the home and plead to the authorities for the right to be separated? That would be Hellenistic-era and Athenian laws' influence. Consideration of women as biologically deformed? Aristotle.
Margaret Atwood is a very well educated Canadian woman (yup: Canadian, in case you didn't know that) with an excellent background in classics and the history of Christianity. She knows whereof she speaks. So for all the folks who think Athens in the 5th century BCE was paradise, I can tell you that you are misinformed. It was very comfortable for about 10% of the population: those men with citizen rights who had access to the plebiscite. Yup: Athenian Democracy was not very democratic. And man oh man, did they hate women. It's one of the reasons why "Socrates" (in actuality Plato for the most part inventing Socratic philosophy) was so challenging to the powers that be. Because in every Platonic dialogue, especially the early ones (like Symposium), Socrates obliterates every man's argument by talking about being inspired by a conversation with a woman, or an experience with a woman. Hmmmmm. If you want a different view of the ancient Greco-Roman world in the age of Marcus Aurelius (another fave of white boyz) that reflects on all of these aspects of how law linked up with misogyny, I recommend Sarah Pomeroy's (a very famous historian of the ancient world) book, The Murder of Regilla. It lays it out in stark terms.
Dear Dr. Snyder. I read The Handmaid's Tale, saw the original movie, became a fan of the television series, and read the sequel The Testaments upon release. What attracted me to the story was how misguided, delusional people took control of a society and how many others tried to adapt to the idiocy, not outright supporting the power holders while not doing much in opposition. Others just fell into line.
The Morning Joe's hosts appear to fall into this third category. As most observers have witnessed, Joe and Mika made the pilgrimage to the White House south Florida to bend the knee to the President elect. During this morning's broadcast, which I habitually watch while exercising, Joe alluded to and proclaimed he is a conservative following his years of denouncing Trump. One of his guests, Donnie Deutch, stated that the major problem of the Democratic problem is they have moved too far to the left center on the political spectrum and need to move to the center right in order to attract voters. Has Morning Joe got the message?
My fear isn’t when America falls and no longer exists;!this blatant authoritarian takeover will cause rest of the western world will follow suit; and no safe haven will exist anywhere, including Canada which was the safe haven for American refugees.
Trumpism is a virus that spreads almost as fast as lie spreads around the world. Ironically, most of our allies are looking for a safe haven from America, and the only alternative is to kowtow to another, possibly less dangerous version of authoritarianism; only because we know what China stands for, and what they covet most (Taiwan, and control of the S. China Sea). With Trumpism and a MAGA mob filled with mindless sheeple; not so much..:)
The CFC Party in Canada, led by a TFG minion names Poilievre, has been spouting pure American fascist rhetoric since 2016. They have been undermining Trudeau's leadership to take down the Liberal Party in 2025. musk has stated he will throw the election to the CFC just as he has done for TFG now. I just hope to god the Canadians read the rails on this and vote the CFC into oblivion. So far, though as usual there is little interest in the upcoming election and that lays the groundwork for a fascist takeover.
At the very beginning of The Handmaid's Tale, one of the "aunts" (aunt Lydia) tells the women selected for their status as breeders: "Ordinary is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time, it will. It will become ordinary." Which is what happened to millions of Germans between 1933 and 1945. Resisting the "ordinary" - that will be the real challenge in the coming months and years, in the USA and over here in Europe also. (Leaving a copy of the graphic edition of On Tyranny casually lying about may prove useful as a reminder - also available in French :-) https://timothysnyder.org/on-tyranny
I'm no longer on X, but used to encounter such people there all the time. Just encountered the first of such people on bsky.social a few days ago. What is so irritating about them is that they don't read/understand before posting, thus making themselves look ridiculous without knowing they've done so. And their inscience can be dangerous.
Because, like so many of us, I don't know what my near future will be, I wanted to tell you that "The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus 1569-1999" is such a fine work. You were so young when you finished it, and many of the ideas in "Bloodlands" and "Black Earth" are already present in that book, but are (I think) the most fully worked out in "Black Earth." "The Reconstruction of Nations" is a dense work, but well worth the effort. The relationships between Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Belarus are exceedingly complex, and the story of Kultura and Poland's approach to the end of the Soviet Union left me nearly breathless.
Hi, SPW. I'm a word person and sometimes like to use words that have become archaic/obsolete. The modern word "science" < the Latin "scientia" < "scire," meaning "to know." The prefix "in-," in this case, attached to "science," means "not." So "inscience" means literally, "not knowing," in other words, "ignorant" or "ignorance." I pronounce it "IN-shence." The word "ignorant" has a different etymology, but the archaic "inscience" means "ignorant."
There's a video podcast on youtube in which the host and guests discuss archaic words in middle and early modern English that they wish to bring back. Because that happens to be my thing, I occasionally watch it. "Inscience" is not one of the words they discussed; I don't remember where I ran into it the first time.
This is so right-on in relationship to Prof Snyder's comment in the essay presented here,
"...he felt qualified to say what the book was about without having read it." We in America are educated without even a beginning educational effort at coming to terms with the words we use. It is extra-ordinarily useful to find reliable sources of linguistic construction of our languages.
" in·science ˈinsh(ē)ən(t)s,
ˈin(t)sēə-
: lack of knowledge "
In John Milton's works, as in Shakespeare's works, we often meet exemplary formulations of statements that use words in ways that slightly recontextualize a potent conscious alternative use, much to the useful understanding of a reader. We often also use verbal puns or verbal plays-on-words to suddenly and revealingly provide novel meaning or context
I read Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and also her sequel The Testaments. The Handmaid’s Tale was written in the 1980s. I believe Atwood used elements that are already fact or established history to construct these stories. Another series worth looking is her MaddAddam Trilogy: The Year of the Flood, Oryx and Crake, and MaddAddam.
The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake are 2 books that I heard have been banned by School Boards in various parts of the US.
In Casting the First Stone, Timothy Snyder wrote, ' I want to make the case that The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel we need to read.'
I believe that Timothy Snyder is correct. Before reading Handmaid's Tale, I read his 'The American Abyss'. I recommend that you read it as well if you have not..
'Post-truth is pre-fascism, and Trump has been our post-truth president. When we give up on truth, we concede power to those with the wealth and charisma to create spectacle in its place. Without agreement about some basic facts, citizens cannot form the civil society that would allow them to defend themselves. If we lose the institutions that produce facts that are pertinent to us, then we tend to wallow in attractive abstractions and fictions. Truth defends itself particularly poorly when there is not very much of it around, and the era of Trump — like the era of Vladimir Putin in Russia — is one of the decline of local news. Social media is no substitute: It supercharges the mental habits by which we seek emotional stimulation and comfort, which means losing the distinction between what feels true and what actually is true.'
'Post-truth wears away the rule of law and invites a regime of myth. These last four years, scholars have discussed the legitimacy and value of invoking fascism in reference to Trumpian propaganda. One comfortable position has been to label any such effort as a direct comparison and then to treat such comparisons as taboo. More productively, the philosopher Jason Stanley has treated fascism as a phenomenon, as a series of patterns that can be observed not only in interwar Europe but beyond it.'
'My own view is that greater knowledge of the past, fascist or otherwise, allows us to notice and conceptualize elements of the present that we might otherwise disregard and to think more broadly about future possibilities. It was clear to me in October that Trump’s behavior presaged a coup, and I said so in print; this is not because the present repeats the past, but because the past enlightens the present. __ From Timothy Snyder's 'The American Abyss' (NYTimes) See gifted link below.
I have read the Handmaid's Tale, The Testaments (and all of the MaddAdam trilogy, etc). What strikes me most about the difference in our reality and these books is the strength of women in the world today - particularly in the US - vs in these books. In fact, the strength of women in my every day life vs what is portrayed in media and politics is also striking. If you "just" watched national media including most social media you wouldn't understand that women are absolutely critical to the US economy and society. Step into the world of healthcare and education particularly and you will find women basically running those sectors. They may not be in charge but they are certainly critical. So this reality and the rapid move toward a Gilead type of existence don't come together for me for this reason. It's not that I don't think it can happen but I think there are a lot of societal barriers that may in fact hold up that are somewhat under the radar because they are the stuff of mundane every day reality.
Thank you! Absolutely brilliant. It is of course about authoritarian "Kristianity" and how we are challenged to respond to it, rather than casting stones or blame elsewhere. The cabinet picks seem to be designed to destroy our government as quickly as possible, and I wonder what we can do to protect it, now that the SCOTUS has caved? On a slightly less serious note, I have noticed an uptick of mansplaining since the election, and while this example is almost laughable, it is exactly the twisted logic that we're seeing so much of. Other women I have spoken with are noticing it, too. The patronizing and dismissive attitudes. In the past week alone, two men have either explained (to me!) what I meant by something I wrote, or told me what and how much I could and couldn't say. But saying this to Margaret Atwood herself? That takes the cake.
Welcome to The Apprentice, Washington, DC version.
The greatest collection ever assembled of ne’er-do-wells, political opportunists, misogynists, barn-burners, moral cretins, political weather vanes, performance addicts, conspiracy theorists, scoundrels, and nut cases, all vying to be most like the mendacious, vengeful, amoral, would-be tin pot dictator, felon, and mentally challenged old man who leads the pack. We really should just wall off the Capital and sit back to watch the show as they all scratch and bite and claw to show which one is the most successful sycophant, except that its now our show, too.
If the Founders could see this lot, they’ve have left Philadelphia before they even got started to attempt to create a ‘Republic of virtue’.
Soon we will all know how to pronounce kakistocracy.
My junior high brain insists on pronouncing it "ka-ka stocrazy"
Not only will we pronounce it, we will be living in a kakistocracy "ka ka storm"
They all drive Deplorians in Ka-ka stocrazy.
( a Deplorian is a electric truck born from an incestuous afair of two close Delorian cousins)
LOL
Oh lord, yet another one of those terms so many of us love to throw around and so few will actually understand.
Yes. Between a spotty school system and the deliberate campaign to neutralize powerful language, basic communication has suffered. A person who can’t name their Senator probably doesn’t get illiberal or small d democracy or authoritarianism. The result is that folks who aren’t necessarily “elite” come off that way to those who have missed civic education somehow. So what do we call DT?
“So what do we call DT”
Think I pretty much covered that in my initial post. ‘mendacious’ may be a problem for some, but the rest should be pretty plain.
Ginger. ( from Gilligan's Island...see a few posts back)
Twisting
Reality
Using
Malicious
Platitudes
was what I came up with in 2016, but Twisting Reality Using Mendacious Platitudes works, too.
...the American Robespierre
Still to elitist, but...
Yes, your "Republic of virtue" reference is much more effective - if one explains the importance of the reference: i.e. Robespierre
Your fellow citizens voted for them. Unfortunately. Watching from Europe what is going on in the United States is pure madness.
What borders on insanity? Mexico and Canada!
(not mine)
Unfortunately Europe is not in much better shape. This is a western phenomenon, not just here.
Thank you for the term “performance addicts”. A stern reminder how important it is to see all our kids and make sure they know that they matter.
In fact the rest of the world is preparing to operate now in an environment where Amerino longer exists. They are reworking their strategies to protect themselves from russia assuming the dissolution of NATO. They are rethinking commerce in an environment where they will no longer import American goods. They may go through the motions of convening international conferences like the G7, but will design policies in sessions closed to American delegates or absent their opinions and votes. Asia and the far east are already in conference about how to protect Taiwan w/o American help. So the world is already geared up to isolate America from meaningful involvement in global affairs just as they have isolated russia, china and n korea, the other fascist authoritarian regimes.
Cathy, I agree with much of what you wrote but think some further impetus is needed to make it happen, and have grave concerns about the implications for climate change. Perhaps the impetus for providing an effective defense against Russian and Chinese aggression will be provided by the tariffs proffered by the MAGAts. But the withdrawal of the US from the climate change fight has worldwide consequences. Only Saudi Arabia exceeds the US in greenhouse gas emissions per capita, and those will increase further as the already pitifully small measures in place are rolled back.
From a climate perspective the best thing that could happen is a collapse of the US economy, although it represents a cruel injustice for the 50% who voted Blue in 2024
The concerns about reducing US efforts to battle climate change cannot be understated for Canada. We already have non-believers and I fear that trump’s affront on the progress achieved under Biden will reverberate throughout my nation. So we’ll be back to square one, anew.
Canada's only response to the imposition of tariffs will be to erect a wall to American imports equally punishing. This will reverberate in every other relationship. You must expect and develop strong resistance to US interference in next year's federal elections to keep P and the CFC as far away from a majority as possible. Yo can expect interference from musk who will do his best to rig the election and install fascist lapdogs that will destroy Canada's democracy and turn it into a mere handmaiden to US interests.
Canada will never close the door on tariffs, either under a Liberal or Conservative government. The 🇺🇸 is 🇨🇦 major trading partner, and in 2022, it enjoyed some $357.3 B in goods and an additional 7.3B in services. That’s a huge loss for Canada, so although it might cross some minds, I can’t see it happening.
If that's what it will take to save the world from an environmental collapse, then I am willing to make the sacrifice. In his first term, TFG alienated the world. But they were able to cooperate because of the guardrails they knew checked his insanity. This time is different, no guardrails and he is backed by bona fide nazis! The only world powers that will be willing to cooperate will be other countries where their leaders are on their way to becoming authoritarians. The rest will quietly shun the US and thwart their ambitions at every turn. His administration will be proactively shunned and punished at every turn.
I wish them well.
When the San Francisco opera announced this fall its premiere production of an operatic version of The Handmaid’s Tale, I belatedly read the novel. And decided that I wouldn’t be able to bear the opera — the story is so utterly bleak, weirdly improbable and highly possible at the same time. During the week or so that I was reading it, I took a 20 minute city bus ride, taking advantage of the good public transportation system that we have here in San Francisco. The bus was crowded that day, and it was just a single car, rather than a double car. I was really wishing for a nice long double car, because I needed a place to get away: The man sitting across from me had a Bible open on his lap. He was loudly, aggressively, angrily explicating his version of the Scripture to the woman sitting next to him. She was submissively nodding at every phrase. I had the chilling feeling that this bus ride was an extension of the novel I was reading. Professor Snyder, you remind me of that happening, and I realize that the entire nation desperately needs a place to get away, and does not have one.
I’ve heard so many White Nationalist Christians say things like, “I don’t want Shariah Law in America”, not realizing that what they want is exactly that under a different extremist religion.
Right. I’ve been calling these religious creeps the U.S. Taliban since that so called “preacher” in FL took it upon himself to set fire to the Koran. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but I certainly loathe, hate and detest those who are so hatefully vile, racist and willfully ignorant and who in some god’s name throw invective around like verbal grenades in a crowd. They are the lowest of the low.
Having only read Handmaids Tale, I’m thinking that what may possibly emerge from the smoldering rubble of what our shining city on the hill used to be, might look like a cross between Handmaids Tale and The Man in the High Castle(Prime); neither of which is good.
As to Christians themselves. Well, like the adherents of all religions, the problem comes when human beings take hold of any given faith, whoever or whatever it’s ‘founder’ may have said or done, and make of it something conceived in their own far less than divine minds.
Christianity was a faith created to benefit the rural poor in a small country largely controlled by a local Jewish hierarchy and what was then the world’s greatest empire. Once it really caught hold, of course, human beings took it over, girding it with earthly riches and temporal power far beyond anything Christ envisioned. But it was also well within the tradition begun when ‘the kingship descended from heaven’ in ancient Sumer - a political power based on the idea that some ‘higher' power dictated who should be in charge and how things should go.
This is exactly what Christian nationalists have in mind for us. It is a story as old as civilization itself.
There are honorable, civic minded Christians out there, along with Rs who are hiding. I think we need to urge them to join the good fight.
Of course there are, just as there are good, civic minded Muslims and Jews and all the rest. In fact, the problems in all faiths will only be solved from within. But that is not being done nearly well enough.
Pre-modern historian weighing in here. (n.b. I read The Handmaid's Tale decades ago and it amuses me that it took a tv series to put it in front of people so that mansplainers can tell Margaret Atwood about her own novel. Anyone ever read Rebecca Solnit's essay "Men Explain Things to Me"? Similar situation; equally both hilarious and infuriating)
So the rhetoric surrounding the origins of Islam, which is the youngest of the world's most influential religions, is complicated by the tendentious self-description of its origins by Muslim scholars themselves. They have claimed that the animist systems of Bedouin and other nomadic groups in the late 6th century (Mohammed had his first visions at the age of 40, sometime around 610 CE) were highly restrictive of women and that Islam "liberated" women from legal statuses as non-persons. But there are problems with that narrative, even within the legendary stories of Mohammed's life--his wife, Khalifa, owned her own business, which he ran as her husband, for instance. But what Islam did indeed do was borrow heavily from Byzantine Christian traditions, themselves derived from pre-Christian so-called classical Greek culture--the society Tim loves to mention--that was just about as misogynist a culture as you could ever see. Where did the hijab and the burka come from? The Byzantine-cum-Greek requirement that "respectable" women be completely invisible and so had to be veiled from head to foot in public. Laws permitting women to divorce their husbands, but only if they can manage to escape the home and plead to the authorities for the right to be separated? That would be Hellenistic-era and Athenian laws' influence. Consideration of women as biologically deformed? Aristotle.
Margaret Atwood is a very well educated Canadian woman (yup: Canadian, in case you didn't know that) with an excellent background in classics and the history of Christianity. She knows whereof she speaks. So for all the folks who think Athens in the 5th century BCE was paradise, I can tell you that you are misinformed. It was very comfortable for about 10% of the population: those men with citizen rights who had access to the plebiscite. Yup: Athenian Democracy was not very democratic. And man oh man, did they hate women. It's one of the reasons why "Socrates" (in actuality Plato for the most part inventing Socratic philosophy) was so challenging to the powers that be. Because in every Platonic dialogue, especially the early ones (like Symposium), Socrates obliterates every man's argument by talking about being inspired by a conversation with a woman, or an experience with a woman. Hmmmmm. If you want a different view of the ancient Greco-Roman world in the age of Marcus Aurelius (another fave of white boyz) that reflects on all of these aspects of how law linked up with misogyny, I recommend Sarah Pomeroy's (a very famous historian of the ancient world) book, The Murder of Regilla. It lays it out in stark terms.
Dear Dr. Snyder. I read The Handmaid's Tale, saw the original movie, became a fan of the television series, and read the sequel The Testaments upon release. What attracted me to the story was how misguided, delusional people took control of a society and how many others tried to adapt to the idiocy, not outright supporting the power holders while not doing much in opposition. Others just fell into line.
The Morning Joe's hosts appear to fall into this third category. As most observers have witnessed, Joe and Mika made the pilgrimage to the White House south Florida to bend the knee to the President elect. During this morning's broadcast, which I habitually watch while exercising, Joe alluded to and proclaimed he is a conservative following his years of denouncing Trump. One of his guests, Donnie Deutch, stated that the major problem of the Democratic problem is they have moved too far to the left center on the political spectrum and need to move to the center right in order to attract voters. Has Morning Joe got the message?
Please remember in
Handmaid's Tale, there was a
Resistance.
My fear isn’t when America falls and no longer exists;!this blatant authoritarian takeover will cause rest of the western world will follow suit; and no safe haven will exist anywhere, including Canada which was the safe haven for American refugees.
Trumpism is a virus that spreads almost as fast as lie spreads around the world. Ironically, most of our allies are looking for a safe haven from America, and the only alternative is to kowtow to another, possibly less dangerous version of authoritarianism; only because we know what China stands for, and what they covet most (Taiwan, and control of the S. China Sea). With Trumpism and a MAGA mob filled with mindless sheeple; not so much..:)
The CFC Party in Canada, led by a TFG minion names Poilievre, has been spouting pure American fascist rhetoric since 2016. They have been undermining Trudeau's leadership to take down the Liberal Party in 2025. musk has stated he will throw the election to the CFC just as he has done for TFG now. I just hope to god the Canadians read the rails on this and vote the CFC into oblivion. So far, though as usual there is little interest in the upcoming election and that lays the groundwork for a fascist takeover.
I think you mean CPC, Conservative Party of Canada
At the very beginning of The Handmaid's Tale, one of the "aunts" (aunt Lydia) tells the women selected for their status as breeders: "Ordinary is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time, it will. It will become ordinary." Which is what happened to millions of Germans between 1933 and 1945. Resisting the "ordinary" - that will be the real challenge in the coming months and years, in the USA and over here in Europe also. (Leaving a copy of the graphic edition of On Tyranny casually lying about may prove useful as a reminder - also available in French :-) https://timothysnyder.org/on-tyranny
I'm no longer on X, but used to encounter such people there all the time. Just encountered the first of such people on bsky.social a few days ago. What is so irritating about them is that they don't read/understand before posting, thus making themselves look ridiculous without knowing they've done so. And their inscience can be dangerous.
Because, like so many of us, I don't know what my near future will be, I wanted to tell you that "The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus 1569-1999" is such a fine work. You were so young when you finished it, and many of the ideas in "Bloodlands" and "Black Earth" are already present in that book, but are (I think) the most fully worked out in "Black Earth." "The Reconstruction of Nations" is a dense work, but well worth the effort. The relationships between Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Belarus are exceedingly complex, and the story of Kultura and Poland's approach to the end of the Soviet Union left me nearly breathless.
Quick question; what is “inscience”? My dictionary has no such word so I’m hoping it’s just a typo.
Hi, SPW. I'm a word person and sometimes like to use words that have become archaic/obsolete. The modern word "science" < the Latin "scientia" < "scire," meaning "to know." The prefix "in-," in this case, attached to "science," means "not." So "inscience" means literally, "not knowing," in other words, "ignorant" or "ignorance." I pronounce it "IN-shence." The word "ignorant" has a different etymology, but the archaic "inscience" means "ignorant."
There's a video podcast on youtube in which the host and guests discuss archaic words in middle and early modern English that they wish to bring back. Because that happens to be my thing, I occasionally watch it. "Inscience" is not one of the words they discussed; I don't remember where I ran into it the first time.
Thank you, Rose, for this info
Thanks for this useful question, SPW.
A useful source for construction of words is, in this instance [pun intended, pun again chosen], for 'in-', at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inscient
and
again at
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in-#h1
This is so right-on in relationship to Prof Snyder's comment in the essay presented here,
"...he felt qualified to say what the book was about without having read it." We in America are educated without even a beginning educational effort at coming to terms with the words we use. It is extra-ordinarily useful to find reliable sources of linguistic construction of our languages.
" in·science ˈinsh(ē)ən(t)s,
ˈin(t)sēə-
: lack of knowledge "
In John Milton's works, as in Shakespeare's works, we often meet exemplary formulations of statements that use words in ways that slightly recontextualize a potent conscious alternative use, much to the useful understanding of a reader. We often also use verbal puns or verbal plays-on-words to suddenly and revealingly provide novel meaning or context
I read Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and also her sequel The Testaments. The Handmaid’s Tale was written in the 1980s. I believe Atwood used elements that are already fact or established history to construct these stories. Another series worth looking is her MaddAddam Trilogy: The Year of the Flood, Oryx and Crake, and MaddAddam.
The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake are 2 books that I heard have been banned by School Boards in various parts of the US.
In Casting the First Stone, Timothy Snyder wrote, ' I want to make the case that The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel we need to read.'
I believe that Timothy Snyder is correct. Before reading Handmaid's Tale, I read his 'The American Abyss'. I recommend that you read it as well if you have not..
'Post-truth is pre-fascism, and Trump has been our post-truth president. When we give up on truth, we concede power to those with the wealth and charisma to create spectacle in its place. Without agreement about some basic facts, citizens cannot form the civil society that would allow them to defend themselves. If we lose the institutions that produce facts that are pertinent to us, then we tend to wallow in attractive abstractions and fictions. Truth defends itself particularly poorly when there is not very much of it around, and the era of Trump — like the era of Vladimir Putin in Russia — is one of the decline of local news. Social media is no substitute: It supercharges the mental habits by which we seek emotional stimulation and comfort, which means losing the distinction between what feels true and what actually is true.'
'Post-truth wears away the rule of law and invites a regime of myth. These last four years, scholars have discussed the legitimacy and value of invoking fascism in reference to Trumpian propaganda. One comfortable position has been to label any such effort as a direct comparison and then to treat such comparisons as taboo. More productively, the philosopher Jason Stanley has treated fascism as a phenomenon, as a series of patterns that can be observed not only in interwar Europe but beyond it.'
'My own view is that greater knowledge of the past, fascist or otherwise, allows us to notice and conceptualize elements of the present that we might otherwise disregard and to think more broadly about future possibilities. It was clear to me in October that Trump’s behavior presaged a coup, and I said so in print; this is not because the present repeats the past, but because the past enlightens the present. __ From Timothy Snyder's 'The American Abyss' (NYTimes) See gifted link below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/magazine/trump-coup.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bk4.KOWx.rNyMHtU4HErW&smid=url-share
I have read the Handmaid's Tale, The Testaments (and all of the MaddAdam trilogy, etc). What strikes me most about the difference in our reality and these books is the strength of women in the world today - particularly in the US - vs in these books. In fact, the strength of women in my every day life vs what is portrayed in media and politics is also striking. If you "just" watched national media including most social media you wouldn't understand that women are absolutely critical to the US economy and society. Step into the world of healthcare and education particularly and you will find women basically running those sectors. They may not be in charge but they are certainly critical. So this reality and the rapid move toward a Gilead type of existence don't come together for me for this reason. It's not that I don't think it can happen but I think there are a lot of societal barriers that may in fact hold up that are somewhat under the radar because they are the stuff of mundane every day reality.
Thank you! Absolutely brilliant. It is of course about authoritarian "Kristianity" and how we are challenged to respond to it, rather than casting stones or blame elsewhere. The cabinet picks seem to be designed to destroy our government as quickly as possible, and I wonder what we can do to protect it, now that the SCOTUS has caved? On a slightly less serious note, I have noticed an uptick of mansplaining since the election, and while this example is almost laughable, it is exactly the twisted logic that we're seeing so much of. Other women I have spoken with are noticing it, too. The patronizing and dismissive attitudes. In the past week alone, two men have either explained (to me!) what I meant by something I wrote, or told me what and how much I could and couldn't say. But saying this to Margaret Atwood herself? That takes the cake.
Meanwhile, #Trump’s Lil altar boy does as told 🤓 #CoverUp