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How Have You Been Changed by 2020?
I realize that we are only halfway through 2020, but there has been so much disruption and confusion, it seems as if six years have passed. So, I think it’s worthwhile to see if and how we are in the process of reassessing our attitudes and beliefs following this chaotic time. First, I’m curious about the impact of the Leftist disruption and violence on you. Second, COVID-19 has had an impact with the demands made on citizens, from lockdowns to masks. I’ll share some of my own thinking and I hope it will inspire you to share yours.
Regarding the civil unrest, I am far less optimistic than I once was regarding the ability and even interest in this country to “set things right.” I once thought almost everyone believed in the rule of law; I don’t know if that’s true anymore. I also thought that in spite of the incursions of Marxist thought into our public schools, I could imagine that damage being turned around at some point; I don’t know if that’s possible anymore. I have also committed to concealed carry; a year ago, I would not have considered that possibility, and to some degree I resent feeling the need to do it now.
Regarding COVID-19, I have been bewildered and distressed at the level of fear and paranoia of people in this country; keep in mind I’m in the most vulnerable population at the age of 70. I’m also frustrated at the politicization of the virus; as a pretty optimistic person, I’m angry at how much more disillusioned I’ve become about the degree to which the media, politicians and medical experts have been busy meeting their own agendas, rather than seeking and promoting the truth. That we have become pawns in their insidious plans is so disheartening.
Although these changes are discouraging, they are forcing us to find alternative ways to move forward as a country. I believe the demands to defund law enforcement will contribute to so much violence that, ironically, we will realize how important the police are to maintaining the rule of law, and we will fund and improve law enforcement to meet the societal needs. Regarding education, we will see a continued increase in homeschooling and charter schools. And citizens will continue to arm themselves to be sure they are prepared for further unrest. Regarding COVID-19, a new skepticism and realization will emerge; people will begin to learn that we just do not know what will happen. Some people will struggle with this reality, but others will learn to adjust to living with the unknown and move forward in spite of their concerns and limitations.
In spite of the apparent negative changes in outlook that I’ve experienced, there are a few positive outcomes. One, I am savvier about the world (even at 70, it’s never too late to learn) and am more motivated than ever to seek the truth, wherever I can find it. Second, I will in short order be able to protect myself when I am out and about, and that strengthens my resolve to be a free, responsible, and empowered woman. Third, I take consolation that even if I can’t always trust the rest of the world, I believe I have strengthened my trust and confidence in myself and my relationships, including those of you I’ve gotten to know on Ricochet.
So, my question to you is:
How have your outlook, your personal beliefs, attitudes, and values changed as a result of the events so far in 2020?
Published in Culture
Most of my beliefs and outlooks are the same. Jesus said,”In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
What has changed is my respect level for a number of individuals. I’ve learned that some people I’ve held in high regard aren’t actually the brightest pennies in the pond, and I’ve learned which individuals I can rely on to show some moxie when the stuff hits the fan versus which ones will cave without a fight.
I’m not sure I have changed all that much. A previous post, either at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020, asked us to comment on what we thought 2020 would be like. I commented that reality would continue to outpace my cynicism. So far 2020 has frighteningly exceeded my expectations, which means it has met my expectations.
I have to agree. We’re pretty much fearless when we get behind the wheel, or when we fly. However, it’s fear of the unknown, fear of an unseen evil (a horror movie staple) like a virus that scares a lot of people. I’m not one of them, because I know it can still get me, even with simple precautions. Radical precautions make life unbearable to the point what’s the point of being alive? I haven’t seen anything in the MSM.
Blacks fear the invisible evil of racism, and no matter what statistics you throw at them, they’re still convinced systemic racism is alive and well in the US (so much so, tons of black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean pour into this “racist” country).
Leftists feel the invisible evil of conservatism, not knowing many of them carry the virus. Theses are the ones who live their own lives conservatively (including raising their children), but espouse modern liberalism and vote for candidates who forward the cause. I see hints in the news some are rethinking their position based on the riots, looting, arson, and assaults. Good for them.
This!
I believe we are very close to a peaceful separation, with California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii forming a separate nation that New York State and the Northeastern states are likely to join.
John Hinderacker wrote about this and had a discussion about this recently with F. H. Buckley, author of “American Secession: The Looming Threat of National Breakdown.”
The predominance of stupidity and cowardice augmented by social media has scared me. Hitler needed mass demonstrations and displays to expand, deepen and enforce groupthink. Twitter et al perform that same task more effectively than anything Leni Riefenstahl produced.
The plus side is that the attack on normalcy is so overt, increasingly lacking in positive appeal and the costs manifest that I can’t help but believe the pushback will be overwhelming.
The scariest feature is the politicization of all levels of education to denigrate all things American, to demoralize and leave kids desperate for membership and meaning that the commissars are ready to provide. On the plus side, certified educators are increasingly from the stupidest demographic segment in America so they may not be all that effective. And they will make rediscovery of the Federalist Papers and actual history more exciting for having been banned.
The second scariest feature of this is the cowardice in board rooms and corporate HQs. It is one thing to sell the enemy the rope to hang you with but to overnight it for free? It took a while before CEOs started mustering the gumption to tell Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to buzz off and that ransoms will not be paid. Why not refuse to contribute to BLM and instead contribute to groups that actually do something constructive in education or rehab of ex-cons and dare BLM to condemn such efforts? Why not demand that BLM remove offensive Marxist drivel from its manifesto before affirming?
The cowardice of leaders when workers demand absurd fealty to political correctness is baffling. Newspaper employees are in a shrinking industry. The New York Times staff are the most easily replaceable workers since the Egyptians stopped assembling crews to build pyramids. That they would have power over their employers is irrational.
It was a step at a time. The early Nazi propaganda (example here) was quite anti-Semitic, but did not call for outright genocide. Nor did it call for aggressive war. But once on board, people were moved gradually in those directions.
I hope you’re right, @oldbathos. Part of the problem is that you can sound convincing, even when you’re stupid. It’s all theater, isn’t it?
Over the last few years I’ve found that my personal beliefs and values haven’t changed, but my attitudes, outlook and, more importantly, my priorities have. I came of age just before the Bush presidency and watched a good man (ignoring policy differences here) be turned into Hitler by people I lived around and worked with. I then watched those same people practically deify the next President who really did seem to dislike the country he was supposed to be leading and was bound and determined to change it into something else. When Trump was elected I couldn’t decide if Obama had succeeded or not but I could tell something had changed. As I approach my forties my outlook is that Obama didn’t change it into something else, he was a reflection of changes that had already taken place.
A portion of our countrymen don’t like the idea of America that we do, and they want to change it. Another portion, average democrats, are at least partially sympathetic to them ideologically but don’t seem to take their more dangerous rhetoric and actions seriously. To me the outlook is grim. I don’t know if it was my generation or the previous one that had this flavor of Marxism finally seep into the high school/middle school curriculum, but it looks like the results of it are reaching critical mass. Not every person my age and younger is a leftist, but not all of them have to be. Some are just go along to get along, others have good intentions but don’t see where the politics will lead, and some are true believers. I don’t know how many of them are conservative, but I worry that it’s a lot fewer than I’d hope for.
To me, 2020 has solidified the danger that I felt was coming down the pike during the Obama years. Too many people seem to be embracing the same political tactics and thought that have been used in history to usher in the tyranny’s of revolutionary France, Maoist China, and the Russian revolution. My beliefs are now, more and more, political heresy for those on the left. So much so that I feel personal pressure on a regular basis to only state them in very select company for fear of it leading to my or my wife being “cancelled” and losing our livelihoods, and I live in Charleston, South Carolina. I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but I worry that I’m not and that no matter what happens this November, we’re in for a real mess. The real fear is that we have no way to avoid it peacefully anymore.
I have been generally disappointed (with some exceptions) by the Facebook political commentary by ‘friends’ and actual friends, many of whom did not seem to have much interest in politics or political philosophy prior to the last year or so. In general, those on the ‘Left’ tend to be angery, snarky, and to resent any challenge; those on the ‘Right’ seem to have little idea how to present an argument, to share obviously-idiotic memes, and to link highly partisan sources which are not going to persuade anybody.
In general, there is more insulting than persuasion going on; this applies to both sides but I think is much worse on the Left.
They’re not just overnighting them the rope, they are tying the slipknot for them.
I remember hearing that some Silicon Valley CTO that for every qualified candidate Jesse Jackson got to fill out a job application and who was subsequently hired, he’d give Jesse 10% of that new employee’s first year salary. And the new hire didn’t even have to be black.
I must say that I’m in awe of the intelligence, thoughtfulness and sincere concern that people have shared on this OP. I’m also now inspired, alarmed and depressed. I’m thinking that I must actually do something; I’ve got an idea about what that might be, but it would mean going beyond my usual passive position.
I thought that there would be many more people who would discount my concerns; I don’t think anyone on this post did that. That’s both frightening and disturbing. What now?
The generations for whom the Depression and WW2 were living memories have just about died off by now. None of us born since then have actually experienced truly bad times. For us, it is just history, and for many not even that given the level of historical ignorance now commonplace. So I think a lot of us don’t believe anything really bad can happen here, no matter how much we undermine the rule of law and the culture. We may be about to learn a brutal lesson.
Yes, I just read that fascinating article. One problem I see with the thesis is that the Left in our nation isn’t really a function of a unified ideology – it’s a bunch of separate interest groups who temporarily band together against conservatives as a common enemy, but actually don’t like each other. For instance, blacks disapprove of homosexuality more than whites do, and blacks and hispanics don’t like each other much either. Both blacks and hispanics despise the elite white liberals who condescend to them (even if they are willing to vote for them to get government bennies.) And minorities are, for elite white liberals, really just pawns they use in battles against conservatives. Absent the conservative boogeyman, these groups would tear each other apart. I think elite white liberals ultimately understand this (although they would never admit it), and would never allow themselves to be put in a situation where they are actually at the mercy of the minorities they supposedly champion.
This. As I watch people’s reactions to those who can’t/won’t/don’t wear a mask, their acceptance of ongoing lockdowns, very little revolt about the continued restrictions placed on churches and in-person meeting together, etc. – I feel I understand it much better myself.
A peaceful separation? I can easily see a future where the U.S. dissolves into two or more countries. But peacefully? Why do you think a separation would be peaceful?
Since 2008, I’ve been aware we have been on economic borrowed time, as we never actually solved the problems exposed in 2008, but papered over them with increasingly massive amounts of money printing and debt. The COVID crisis this year merely accelerated that process into its parabolic phase and made the ultimate collapse that much more imminent.
What’s changed for me this year is that it is clear that the crisis is much more than economic: It’s social, political and cultural as well (and, ultimately I think, religious). All of our fundamental institutions are in crisis, from the police and the justice system, to education, to our ability to even have passably fair elections. And, yes, churches as well, as my Catholic Church is facing its own crisis of demoralization. For the first time in my life I am truly afraid for my country and what is happening to it.
Some have brought up Germany in the 1930’s, and it is an apt comparison. There were Germans in the early 30’s who saw clearly what was coming but couldn’t do anything to stop it, as much as they tried. There were lawyers who earnestly defended dissidents in the courts, winning their cases, then being shocked that on walking outside the courthouse, Nazis simply grabbed the dissident, threw him in a car and drove off, with no consequences from the authorities. The rules we have all lived by and taken for granted suddenly don’t matter anymore. That is how I feel: Something very bad is headed our way and there is nothing I can do about it. Basic things I took for granted in this country I can no longer take for granted.
The only thing I can do is prepare as best I can for what is coming. It is family and community that will matter in the coming years, as national institutions breakdown and life becomes much more local. I try to prepare myself physically in terms of health and even more spiritually. My return to religion decades ago was driven principally by the “finding meaning in my life” thing, but I’m not much interested in meaning now, but defenses against the regnant evil that is sweeping the land: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” The demonic has always been something of an abstraction for me, but lately I can’t avoid the sense that a truly demonic spirit is abroad. And it is ultimately, religion, real religion, whether it be Catholicism, Judaism or Evangelical Christianity, and returning to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that will provide the only sure foundation to get through this.
And you’re right. That is how you get the Holocaust – not in one giant leap, but one step at a time.
I think you are right, @jclimacus. The dangers are no longer abstract.
Our political system is completely breaking down. “passably fair elections” are a sideshow. Forget having Congress do actual legislation, they can’t even pass a stinkin’ budget anymore. When was the last “real” budget, sometime in the W Bush administration? Or do we have to go back to Clinton?
I’ve given up.
But this is a great job market for architects, with whole city blocks burning to the ground and a mass migration to suburban spaces! A golden age!
Good point. This is the fruition of Obama and his followers.
At a minimum we need Trump to get re-elected. If the left actually wins this election after this display of rioting and violence, they will never hold back again. They need to be roundly disciplined. A Trump win would do that. A Trump loss would be devastating for the country not just because we’re out of office but because it will encourage this behavior again. I would hope the NeverTrumpers could see that. But they’re blinded. They won’t.
First, I’m not an architect, and second, there’s nothing golden about modern buildings (except, maybe, the sunset reflecting off their blank, glassy facades).
Because the liberal states don’t have guns or gumption. And the conservative states are happy to see them go.
In 2015, it struck me that a lot of the things happening in the US are similar to the events described in Robert Heinlein’s Year of the Jackpot and Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros….I wrote a post titled:
Are we living at the intersection of these two stories?
Based on the events of the last few months, I’m afraid the post needs to be retitled as:
We are living at the intersection of these two stories.
It could be perceived as a win-win situation. Conservatives could run their nation the way they want to. Leftists could run their nation the way they want to.
Of course, eventually there would be divisions between the far Left and the center-Left in the Leftist nation and in the conservative nation there would be divisions between the moderate Right and the not as moderate Right. Politics would continue. But perhaps there would be less acrimony.
The real problem is that the Left would still expect all the Federal dollars they were getting before the split. No matter that they gave that up.
I’m not sure about that. All the rioting and looting that’s been going on recently shows plenty of gumption to me.