I think a lot about how to reach people who are most comfortable in 'fuck it' mode. I spent a long time in that default mode myself, not even realizing I was there. And I might still be there, just in a different corner.
The attitude is never purely external--how people choose to relate to the world and others--you can't say "fuck it" without first ignoring a conscientious, curious, or doubting part of yourself.
In America there are so many ways to crush that part of a person. Our public school generally seems designed for that purpose. Suburban car-based culture helps: the more time one spends alone, atomized, or with a nuclear family all in the same boat, the fewer opportunities one has to question their impulsive "fuck it" default, or experience the reward of seeking novelty. Add in a dash of sheer terror--and as a suburbs-bred American woman I can tell you, that ethos thrives on inculcating in women the terror that abduction or assault lies around any unfamiliar corner--and you can start to see how people get in the habit of ignoring the part of themselves that is routinely punished, denied, neglected, ignored, and associated with danger.
It's not "stupid power". It's "trauma power". This is one of those rare cases where political correctness overlaps with real empathy. I think our way out of this default mode has to start with that empathy.
Whoa! You have truly kissed the proverbial nail on the head. And I have some theories around how we could make manifest what you are saying - evoking empathy.
If we could evoke empathy by telling the truth about what our trauma history has done to our brothers and sisters and their families for generations past, by showing the consequences of it not, as in black maternal and infant morality, the high incidence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders — from three and four generations back — on reservations, perhaps we could jar some folks enough to feel a twinge of guilt and responsibility? Maybe?
We just keep rolling over the disasters, like so many layers of asphalt (each generation) laying down on top of the next, never going back to the original earth to lay the good foundation on top of truth. Instead just having layer on layer buckling and baking in the hotter and hotter sun.
Hamilton Nolan’s readers get this. I wish we, like the Red, Wine, and Blue folks could come together and infuse this deeper cut at truth into the vernacular. Maybe that’s something we could do, if it’s not already being done: see if the RW&Blue folks would also promote Hamilton Nolan as they do Heather Cox Richardson.
Guilt and responsibility need outlets—just those negative feelings without some actionable way to do something about them is, to the “fuck it” mentality, more of the same. Much easier to ignore the reaction or channel it into more fuck-itery.
I’m not saying “let’s preserve the bubble”, but rather that the bubble doesn’t really pop until it can be sensed in the living present. Not the weight of generations of oppression, the needle of “I have a choice, right now, with real consequences that I can understand.”
Honest conversations, with no agenda beyond honesty, offer a little window into this. Because every conversational move is a choice with immediate impact, that people are intimately familiar with and accustomed to thinking about. The “no agenda” part is key. Because “agenda” triggers the well-worn “fuck it” defenses.
It’s a fine line to walk, but the people who’ve made me realize this are the people who successfully walk that line by honestly presenting themselves: “Hi. I’m a person with an agenda, just like all people have agendas. This conversation doesn’t have to be about our agendas, but our agendas are a topic on the table, among many others, none of which are off limits, and any of which we can discuss with respect for each other”. That’s the vibe I try to aim for.
When I hear people say that America was founded as a Christian Nation, my response is that I could never imagine Jesus Christ coming over here and massacring all of those native people.
Unpacking all of the myths I’ve been told about American history as a child was an eye-opener and revealing to me, and I think other people have felt that way too. But those myths are still ingrained in so many people, and confronting that as a society would be a monumental task.
Thank you a thousand times for this. I want to print it out and roll it up and smack all the smug, misguided blue-no-matter-who liberals in my various social feeds with it, then smack myself in my smug, anarchist face with it when I need to be reminded that I am certainly no exception.
To add another Biblical reference: “We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I read this essay as a skillful and contemporary commentary on the old notion of “original sin.” Since current Western culture has abandoned the more useful lessons of Christian and Jewish theology, this wisdom needs to be restated in concepts palatable to modern folks.
The old ideas contain the subtle paradoxes that can take us to deeper understanding.
On "explain Trump", I'm afraid I keep circling back to racism; I don't think almost anybody wants to look at it (conservatives out of guilt, liberals because its so depressing). I circle back to it every time the news pops up a story where the racism is so thick and obvious. Last one: I won't bother the link, just search on "bonham texas" and racism, school, police; it's just from last week.
You write that he validates and reassures "stupidity", but above all racism; "The Cruelty" is the point, no? Racism is stupidity and cruelty, of course, just a great example of both.
But I'm sure those folks in Bonham, TX, that all thought they had a right to treat a black kid terribly, indeed an obligation to public order and decency to keep him down, will vote for Trump absolutely no matter what he is accused of; some dead spies, Russian success in Europe, a few billion skimmed off the economy into silk pockets - none of these things hurt their lives as much as validation of racism and cruelty, improve their spirits.
“No matter what they call you, no matter what they say to you, no matter all the hurtful things whether its an adult or child, anybody, you just have to take it, I’m sorry son,” she said.
As painful as it is to admit, Hamiltons article is right on. And, as I read it, I saw similarities in our other American institutions. It can happen in otherwise normal faith groups, in business and, most unfortunately, in unions too. When it happens in those places it’s disappointing, even debilitating. When it happens in Congress and the White House it’s terrifying.
When I was in high school, I was sitting in a friend's basement. His friend (later one of mine as well) were talking about...something, I forget what. His friend commented after a pause - "what a shitty country."
I was stunned.
It's only as I've gotten older and seen how we treat each other and the world that I've really come to agree. I've said many times over the last few years that we live in the most viciously stupid timeline, and I find vindication in your post. Thank you.
"People came here and murdered all the natives and stole their land and got rich by using slaves and then got rich by exploiting the hell out of wage earners, a practice that continues to this day." Yes, indeed. A complimentary perspective: the nation was (basically) founded by two groups: 1) Puritans from New England and 2) Planters from Virginia. Both were exterminators of indigenous peoples; Puritans were religious fanatics; Planters were slavers; both were greedy land-speculators. And, finally, both were equally devoted to raping the natural world. And so...here we are today, proud heirs of Our Founding Fathers.
Thank you, finally time someone said this! I recall Steve Jobs being famous for his "reality distortion field". That condition seems inherent in the American psyche. Lived in the US 23y. Now back in DK.
Hamilton, this essay sums things up as well as anything I’ve read from you since your classic “Dumb Hicks are America’s Greatest Threat” at Gawker, which I would re-read periodically, at least until Gawker nuked its archive. Also, thanks for coming to Columbus! Enjoyed meeting you.
Hamilton. As usual, a clear and brave article. Who else can express how stupids are there?
"The people have the governments they deserve" = trump.
It is a very strange combination in america, stupids and bloody s.o.b. Killing, invading, promoting wars, silence assange, cia, fbi, disneyland, trump, mcdonald.
How such stupid people can be so powerful, deserves a special analysis.
Perhaps the few powerful people are just s.o.b and the followers are stupids.
Hamilton, dont forget to mention assange. America want to kill this poor guy.
I'm late to the party, but I'm hoping you still see this, HamNo.
This abuts an idea I've been toying with as an explanation for Trump's time in power, but you have expressed it much more forcefully.
Trump is not using his fanbase, rather his fanbase is using him. Trump is the flaming mace of a poor, white, rural working class who haven't had a true voice in National politics since before the Civil Rights. His most popular slogans and talking points were approved by the adoring masses at his campaign rallies in 2016 and beyond. He has said himself that he says whatever shit comes to his mind and then repeats the stuff that gets the biggest reaction. He is a ventriloquist dummy controlled by MAGA-Land.
MAGA has amassed a tremendous amount of political power, and the GOP has been led by the ear right back through the 20th Century. GOP leadership knows they can't afford to turn their backs on Trump's voter base - not because they will turn and vote Democrat, but because they won't vote at all, though the effect would be the same.
Trump, being the ventriloquist dummy, is literally too dumb to understand how he is being used. He thinks the world is applauding him, not the puppeteer with a fist up his ass. The only thing he can personally take credit for is his unique mixture of narcissism and charisma, a recipe all others have failed to replicate.
The damage this movement has done to this country is undeniable and should not be underestimated. But exactly fuck all will be attributed to the Muppet himself after the real maggots finish their buffet.
It'll never happen, but I would achieve a cosmic level of nirvana if this idea were to ever sink into his wet potato of a brain. The searing agony of the recognition of his insignificance, the understanding that he himself was the one being played, would fuel my soul for the rest of my natural life. This dream might not be much, but it is mine.
Oh, and I'm about halfway through The Hammer, and it has made ME want to run through a goddamn brick wall. I peeked ahead to the end, and I'll say that if the book does inspire someone to join the fight, it may very well be me. Thank you.
I think a lot about how to reach people who are most comfortable in 'fuck it' mode. I spent a long time in that default mode myself, not even realizing I was there. And I might still be there, just in a different corner.
The attitude is never purely external--how people choose to relate to the world and others--you can't say "fuck it" without first ignoring a conscientious, curious, or doubting part of yourself.
In America there are so many ways to crush that part of a person. Our public school generally seems designed for that purpose. Suburban car-based culture helps: the more time one spends alone, atomized, or with a nuclear family all in the same boat, the fewer opportunities one has to question their impulsive "fuck it" default, or experience the reward of seeking novelty. Add in a dash of sheer terror--and as a suburbs-bred American woman I can tell you, that ethos thrives on inculcating in women the terror that abduction or assault lies around any unfamiliar corner--and you can start to see how people get in the habit of ignoring the part of themselves that is routinely punished, denied, neglected, ignored, and associated with danger.
It's not "stupid power". It's "trauma power". This is one of those rare cases where political correctness overlaps with real empathy. I think our way out of this default mode has to start with that empathy.
Whoa! You have truly kissed the proverbial nail on the head. And I have some theories around how we could make manifest what you are saying - evoking empathy.
If we could evoke empathy by telling the truth about what our trauma history has done to our brothers and sisters and their families for generations past, by showing the consequences of it not, as in black maternal and infant morality, the high incidence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders — from three and four generations back — on reservations, perhaps we could jar some folks enough to feel a twinge of guilt and responsibility? Maybe?
We just keep rolling over the disasters, like so many layers of asphalt (each generation) laying down on top of the next, never going back to the original earth to lay the good foundation on top of truth. Instead just having layer on layer buckling and baking in the hotter and hotter sun.
Hamilton Nolan’s readers get this. I wish we, like the Red, Wine, and Blue folks could come together and infuse this deeper cut at truth into the vernacular. Maybe that’s something we could do, if it’s not already being done: see if the RW&Blue folks would also promote Hamilton Nolan as they do Heather Cox Richardson.
Thanks for your evocative response.
Hope we can continue this conversation.
Guilt and responsibility need outlets—just those negative feelings without some actionable way to do something about them is, to the “fuck it” mentality, more of the same. Much easier to ignore the reaction or channel it into more fuck-itery.
I’m not saying “let’s preserve the bubble”, but rather that the bubble doesn’t really pop until it can be sensed in the living present. Not the weight of generations of oppression, the needle of “I have a choice, right now, with real consequences that I can understand.”
Honest conversations, with no agenda beyond honesty, offer a little window into this. Because every conversational move is a choice with immediate impact, that people are intimately familiar with and accustomed to thinking about. The “no agenda” part is key. Because “agenda” triggers the well-worn “fuck it” defenses.
It’s a fine line to walk, but the people who’ve made me realize this are the people who successfully walk that line by honestly presenting themselves: “Hi. I’m a person with an agenda, just like all people have agendas. This conversation doesn’t have to be about our agendas, but our agendas are a topic on the table, among many others, none of which are off limits, and any of which we can discuss with respect for each other”. That’s the vibe I try to aim for.
When I hear people say that America was founded as a Christian Nation, my response is that I could never imagine Jesus Christ coming over here and massacring all of those native people.
Perfect. No notes.
Unpacking all of the myths I’ve been told about American history as a child was an eye-opener and revealing to me, and I think other people have felt that way too. But those myths are still ingrained in so many people, and confronting that as a society would be a monumental task.
Thank you a thousand times for this. I want to print it out and roll it up and smack all the smug, misguided blue-no-matter-who liberals in my various social feeds with it, then smack myself in my smug, anarchist face with it when I need to be reminded that I am certainly no exception.
Yes! We must keep reminding ourselves.
Hold the mirror up before pointing the finger. Get the planks out of our eyes before damning the folks with the chunks.
AND we need to move quickly.
To add another Biblical reference: “We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I read this essay as a skillful and contemporary commentary on the old notion of “original sin.” Since current Western culture has abandoned the more useful lessons of Christian and Jewish theology, this wisdom needs to be restated in concepts palatable to modern folks.
The old ideas contain the subtle paradoxes that can take us to deeper understanding.
Love the writing, must get The Hammer.
On "explain Trump", I'm afraid I keep circling back to racism; I don't think almost anybody wants to look at it (conservatives out of guilt, liberals because its so depressing). I circle back to it every time the news pops up a story where the racism is so thick and obvious. Last one: I won't bother the link, just search on "bonham texas" and racism, school, police; it's just from last week.
You write that he validates and reassures "stupidity", but above all racism; "The Cruelty" is the point, no? Racism is stupidity and cruelty, of course, just a great example of both.
But I'm sure those folks in Bonham, TX, that all thought they had a right to treat a black kid terribly, indeed an obligation to public order and decency to keep him down, will vote for Trump absolutely no matter what he is accused of; some dead spies, Russian success in Europe, a few billion skimmed off the economy into silk pockets - none of these things hurt their lives as much as validation of racism and cruelty, improve their spirits.
That's what "vibes" means.
“No matter what they call you, no matter what they say to you, no matter all the hurtful things whether its an adult or child, anybody, you just have to take it, I’m sorry son,” she said.
https://www.kxii.com/2024/02/07/complaint-was-filed-department-justice-against-bonham-isd/
Jesus fucking christ that is heartbreaking, like the kind of shit that you would expect black folks to tell their kids in the 1950s.
Spot on. Sadly.
As painful as it is to admit, Hamiltons article is right on. And, as I read it, I saw similarities in our other American institutions. It can happen in otherwise normal faith groups, in business and, most unfortunately, in unions too. When it happens in those places it’s disappointing, even debilitating. When it happens in Congress and the White House it’s terrifying.
When I was in high school, I was sitting in a friend's basement. His friend (later one of mine as well) were talking about...something, I forget what. His friend commented after a pause - "what a shitty country."
I was stunned.
It's only as I've gotten older and seen how we treat each other and the world that I've really come to agree. I've said many times over the last few years that we live in the most viciously stupid timeline, and I find vindication in your post. Thank you.
Unfortunately, that seems like a pretty accurate analysis. I'm so tired of stupid.
Thank you. The truth of truths.
"People came here and murdered all the natives and stole their land and got rich by using slaves and then got rich by exploiting the hell out of wage earners, a practice that continues to this day." Yes, indeed. A complimentary perspective: the nation was (basically) founded by two groups: 1) Puritans from New England and 2) Planters from Virginia. Both were exterminators of indigenous peoples; Puritans were religious fanatics; Planters were slavers; both were greedy land-speculators. And, finally, both were equally devoted to raping the natural world. And so...here we are today, proud heirs of Our Founding Fathers.
Thank you, finally time someone said this! I recall Steve Jobs being famous for his "reality distortion field". That condition seems inherent in the American psyche. Lived in the US 23y. Now back in DK.
Hamilton, this essay sums things up as well as anything I’ve read from you since your classic “Dumb Hicks are America’s Greatest Threat” at Gawker, which I would re-read periodically, at least until Gawker nuked its archive. Also, thanks for coming to Columbus! Enjoyed meeting you.
Shout out to Columbus, thanks for coming out.
I’d love to read the article but I can’t find it. Do you have a link?
https://web.archive.org/web/20160629100516/http://gawker.com:80/dumb-hicks-are-americas-greatest-threat-1743373893/amp
Can't we find a pleasant euphemism for "Stupid"? Something like "Stable Genius"?
Can't argue with any of that.
Hamilton. As usual, a clear and brave article. Who else can express how stupids are there?
"The people have the governments they deserve" = trump.
It is a very strange combination in america, stupids and bloody s.o.b. Killing, invading, promoting wars, silence assange, cia, fbi, disneyland, trump, mcdonald.
How such stupid people can be so powerful, deserves a special analysis.
Perhaps the few powerful people are just s.o.b and the followers are stupids.
Hamilton, dont forget to mention assange. America want to kill this poor guy.
Solidarity to him.
Keep on fighting mate.
I'm late to the party, but I'm hoping you still see this, HamNo.
This abuts an idea I've been toying with as an explanation for Trump's time in power, but you have expressed it much more forcefully.
Trump is not using his fanbase, rather his fanbase is using him. Trump is the flaming mace of a poor, white, rural working class who haven't had a true voice in National politics since before the Civil Rights. His most popular slogans and talking points were approved by the adoring masses at his campaign rallies in 2016 and beyond. He has said himself that he says whatever shit comes to his mind and then repeats the stuff that gets the biggest reaction. He is a ventriloquist dummy controlled by MAGA-Land.
MAGA has amassed a tremendous amount of political power, and the GOP has been led by the ear right back through the 20th Century. GOP leadership knows they can't afford to turn their backs on Trump's voter base - not because they will turn and vote Democrat, but because they won't vote at all, though the effect would be the same.
Trump, being the ventriloquist dummy, is literally too dumb to understand how he is being used. He thinks the world is applauding him, not the puppeteer with a fist up his ass. The only thing he can personally take credit for is his unique mixture of narcissism and charisma, a recipe all others have failed to replicate.
The damage this movement has done to this country is undeniable and should not be underestimated. But exactly fuck all will be attributed to the Muppet himself after the real maggots finish their buffet.
It'll never happen, but I would achieve a cosmic level of nirvana if this idea were to ever sink into his wet potato of a brain. The searing agony of the recognition of his insignificance, the understanding that he himself was the one being played, would fuel my soul for the rest of my natural life. This dream might not be much, but it is mine.
Oh, and I'm about halfway through The Hammer, and it has made ME want to run through a goddamn brick wall. I peeked ahead to the end, and I'll say that if the book does inspire someone to join the fight, it may very well be me. Thank you.