There are many commonalities between the extremes of the left and the right, including excessive identity politics and a distrust of the elites. Perhaps the most depressing has been the surge in “cancel culture”, along with the cowardice in moderates unwilling to confront the extremists. This tweet caught my eye:
And yet you still find a few dishonest pundits on the left who deny the existence of cancel culture.
The same phenomenon occurs on the right, where most GOP politicians and even many conservative reporters are afraid to tell the truth about Trump. If Trump were to suddenly die of a heart attack, dozens of GOP politicians would start mumbling about how all along they privately agreed with Liz Cheney, but were afraid of the wrath of the voters.
Yeats described our world 100 years ago:
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
And here Auden nicely describes our current decade:
I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives:
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.
PS. And how about this (about the Pelosi attacker):
Ms. Jenkins, said on Twitter that Mr. DePape would be arraigned on Tuesday.
The authorities are looking into whether the suspect is the same person responsible for blog posts that espoused antisemitism and contained an array of angry and paranoid postings, including concerns about pedophilia, anti-white racism and “elite” control of the internet.
Hmmm, he sounds exactly like some of my commenters.
PPS. On a lighter note, this made me laugh out loud:
