General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I live in deep red rural Pa. [View all]dwayneb
(774 posts)Unfortunately you and I see what is coming very clearly, and I agree with everything you say here. Anyone that really has been paying attention could see this coming 50 years ago. It didn't begin with Trump.
There are all sorts of reasons why we got into this situation, but I would say that one element is the fact the Greatest Generation is pretty much dead and gone at this point. They had the full and immediate understanding of the danger of fascism, after all thousands of them died trying to prevent it from reaching our shores.
A second reason is technology. During the rise of Nazism in Germany, propaganda could only be spread by word of mouth and by printed media, to a lesser extent by radio. Today with the Internet and television, the power of lies and fascistic propaganda can be amplified literally millions of times compared to the old days.
Thirdly, Americans have lost their critical thinking skills. In a way we set ourselves up for this during the commercialization of the American mind, which began in earnest back in the 60's and 70's. Peddlers understood well that a thoughtful rational inquiring mind was far less likely to be swayed by their advertising. And the neo-fascists took advantage of the mush-brained populace to spread their simple minded populist swill.