tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post9084417928002040571..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: The Mysteries of Right-Wing PopulismJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-26891236012666494612018-10-05T06:25:33.749-04:002018-10-05T06:25:33.749-04:00Chris Hedges is always worth a listen. You may not...Chris Hedges is always worth a listen. You may not agree with everything he says but he certainly has ability to make you think .<br /><br />You can follow his latest town hall talks via Twitter. Personally I think he’s spot on most of the time, goes astray now and then.<br /><br /><br />https://mobile.twitter.com/ChrisLynnHedges/status/1047962560077746176?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet<br /><br />Ps. Your blog is a treasure Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-81535274716126998522018-10-01T11:04:31.781-04:002018-10-01T11:04:31.781-04:00@David, I think you have a point about resentment ...@David, I think you have a point about resentment directed at those "who look down at us". It's not resentment because the other ones are successful or richer or better educated, but because they are annoyingly uppish.<br /><br />At least in Poland I know a lot of people who were always deeply annoyed by the preachy tone of the elites and their assumption that they know what's better, they have "normal, european views" (an actual quote from one media celebrity) and there is no need to talk to the conservatives, because "this generation has to die out". Now, I have no real data on that and I can rely only on personal anecdotes: from talking with people who sometimes had NOT voted for PiS in the last elections, and yet had shown a distinct schadenfreude that PiS has won. <br /><br />I must admit with shame that this was also about me: I don't like PiS, they are vulgar, their policies are sometimes very hard to justify, but still on some atavistic, tribal level there was something deeply satisfying in hearing the cries from the shocked elites. Therefore, it could be just me projecting. <br /><br />Another warning: the problem is that I do not know personally a lot of PiS supporters, so I don't know whether those attitudes I talk about are really shared by the real PiS voters. Those of people I know who were not horrified by Kaczyński's success, voted for other rightwing parties or had not voted at all and merely refuse to hate PiS, which in current climate ensures they are called "symmetrists".szopenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04219188379320432806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-35103039173926893692018-10-01T08:50:13.008-04:002018-10-01T08:50:13.008-04:00Thanks for linking to those Szopen posts--very int...Thanks for linking to those Szopen posts--very interesting!<br /><br />@John, I think you're missing two key ingredients (on American populism, anyway). One is race, and the other is cultural resentment. On race, it's simply too well demonstrated that conservative political power since c. 1968 has been built on the fracturing of the old FDR democratic coalition, above all over the issue of race (often glossed as "law n' order"). Southern whites and northern workers were happy with Rooseveltian policies and a basically Rooseveltian leadership unless and until that policy and that leadership began spreading benefits to black folks. As LBJ said after he passed one of his civil rights acts, "I've just lost the South."<br /><br />Cultural resentment has to do with the populist sense that out there is an elite "they" that looks down on "us." And of course, since at least the 1920s, an important (and, above all, highly visible) part of American liberalism has been about looking down on the vulgar (and it's well to remember the vulgar in this sense would include tycoons and small-world leaders--Babbitt--as well as rednecks). This became even more visible in the 60s, for a variety of reasons, especially the way media put radical chic, acid gurus with rich patrons, Bonnie and Clyde, TV's rural purge, and so on, right in people's faces. The way the morality-based Gene McCarthy cohort began to take over the Dems between 68 and 72--humiliating the old vulgar lions like Daley--was also important. Nixon fed on the resulting commoner cultural resentment, both politically and personally.<br /><br />I think that populist sense of being slighted needs to be recognized. It's the basis for that relatively subtle but absolutely crucial distinction that right-wing populists make between a rich and successful person like Trump and one like Obama.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08993570411881726772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-68398213440492158902018-10-01T08:35:02.708-04:002018-10-01T08:35:02.708-04:00Ok, John. I only meant to call your attention to t...Ok, John. I only meant to call your attention to the danger of a Trump resignation by force (street furious crowds) leading to an opposite side populism. This sad thing you american majority (?) elected must die either by natural causes (end of time) or by decomposing and advanced rotting.<br /><br />Good luck, anyway.Mário R. Gonçalveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10663310362534590729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-20171406299785720922018-10-01T07:31:42.508-04:002018-10-01T07:31:42.508-04:00@Mário Gonçalves: Yes, absolutely, left-wing popul...@Mário Gonçalves: Yes, absolutely, left-wing populism has an equally bad record. Because I've been reading about the 60s I have lately seen many, many great example of cruel, stupid, and nonsensical left-wing rhetoric. And Venezuela is my go-to example for what happens when people get so disgusted with the status quo that they are willing to embrace any alternative no matter how awful.<br /><br />I'm just thinking a lot about right-wing populism now because it has a lot more power in my world. That could obviously change -- young people in the US at least are a lot more interested in communism than my generation. But so far they remain a harmless fringe.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-34148654302940804552018-09-30T21:08:11.727-04:002018-09-30T21:08:11.727-04:00Well, and what about left-wing populism ? In fact,...Well, and what about left-wing populism ? In fact, populism started among left movements before it reached the present day favoritism among the rightists. One easy example is enough: Maduro. You could apply most of your observations analysing Venezuela instead of the States.<br /><br />And, my friend, the ennemy there is, of course, capitalist imperialism, a paper-tiger, a non-entity, a fantasy monster of the old left populism. <br /><br />Mutatis mutandis, all populisms are the same, all extremisms are the same. I feel, though, that the tendency for authoritarian regime or dictatorship is stronger in left populism; conservatist populists are smoother and more unlikely to go tyrans. Mário R. Gonçalveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10663310362534590729noreply@blogger.com