You defend systemic police abuse of black persons consistently and justify your abhorrent beliefs because someone in rural Japan once gave you a sad, thus you are an expert on what is and isn’t discrimination.
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MAGA is essentially just another empty, evocative phrase from soundbite culture like can be heard in advertisements. Such as “your most cherished memories” and “with no obligation”.
The connotations I get from it are an appeal to nostalgia - false nostalgia for an ideal which never was. And a badge of insecurity for those whom think that the way things are doesn’t make them look very good. Why don’t people know that OUR antediluvian values are so much better than THEIR antediluvian values?
Also I like that MAGA is very close to NAGA, who are mythical Indian snake-people who fit in well with batshit Icke-style political conspiracies. It gives me slight amusement while I watch in frustration as things go to shit.
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I agree totally (well, I’m still thinking about the 
people thing. I’ll get back to you on that.). My point is that I think Trump voters shouldn’t be allowed to continue to use this rhetorical device in this way. Now that they have their guy, we need to get them on record as to what “Great” is. Who knows? I might be able to get behind some if it.
People who spout glib slogans should IMO definitely be encouraged to explain them. US political discourse in my experience tends to be so thick with token controversies and dog whistles that it can be a real chore to work out what the deeper problems even are. It’s important to understand that even reactionaries can have legitimate concerns buried somewhere in there.
Even classic fallbacks like conservation, tradition, values, the Constitution, the Bible, etc often split into many contradictory perspectives when discussed at any depth. Which is probably the reasoning why the rhetoric is made to stay so superficial. Easier to be insulated from other views and focus instead upon tribal identities and differences.
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Ok, I agree that the catchphrases used are not particularly useful. I do think that America has had some pretty great moments. Of course, there is always some imperfection of the time and place that can be found. It is the real world, not a fictional utopia.
This was a pretty good day-
The day our troops liberated Dachau was a good day
I have noticed some repetition of the idea that we have a false nostalgia for what never was. But many of us lived that life. Others did not get to. But if we are trying to bring back the best things about the past, we can leave the bad ideas behind.
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And it would have been an even better day if the Allies had actually bombed the train tracks to the death camps before then, saving who knows how many lives, instead of focusing on rescuing horses.
Focusing on the good in a nation’s history is understandable; it builds pride and a sense of communal identity and expectations. Focusing exclusively on the good to the exclusion of the bad, especially when it comes with really bad context, is just an excuse for egocentrism-by-proxy and unwarranted mythologization and beautification.
Edit:
And while you somewhat acknowledge that with “But if we are trying to bring back the best things about the past, we can leave the bad ideas behind”, your statements frequently betray an unwillingness to actually follow through with that, and are filled with that self-same false nostalgia.
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That’s what I meant by it being an evocative phrase. What you depict here are indeed great moments the like of which I prefer to see more of.
But unfortunately, space exploration and fighting Nazis don’t appear to be what Trump is offering, nor what his supporters expect. A true optimist might even say that the best days of the U.S. lie ahead of us, rather than in the past. But his is a reactionary platform, which uses the motto to say “If you feel cheated out of (fill in the blank), your Uncle Donald is going to fix it for you. Believe me!”
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Really, it does not mean just one thing. it means something different to everyone. To some people, it certainly brings things to the surface that would be abhorrent to the rest of us. I think the racist types who think that making the country great means bringing other people down are a tiny part of the population. Most people probably just think about some sort of economic security. But it is just a slogan, and not an original one. Bill Clinton used it in 1991, and I am sure it did not originate with him.
My personal view is that “great” is not to be confused with “perfect”. America was never perfect. Even the most optimistic among us do not anticipate perfection. And I don’t personally know anyone who actually expects great things from Trump. He is no great statesman. Most of those who voted for him would have preferred someone else.
But “greatness”, however you envision it, does not necessitate anyone being scapegoated or repressed. And wanting to make things better for everyone should not depend on who is president.
For my family, and me personally, any party in power is going to mean some important issues will require vigilance. My wife and I were talking last night about strategies for supporting planned parenthood. Because they will be under attack. And probably the EPA. Had HRC won, we would have had different worries. I knew before the election that either way, issues that I care about would become crises. But I am trying to be optimistic.
MB
I guess a big part of it is making you feel non-specifically good about yourself and optimistic about the future. Like “American values”. It’s just an empty box to put your ideals into, whatever they may be. And if racists interpret it to mean segregation, that’s not Trump’s fault because he didn’t say that. He just makes sure that those people also feel welcome.
While Bill Clinton and others may also have used that phrase and benefited from its general evocative nature, at least there was some substance to what they were saying. As you said, who knows what he will actually do? It’s not like Obama where a number of promises didn’t happen. You just don’t know with Trump, because it’s all sales talk. Whatever it is, don’t expect it to involve much actual work or intelligence. He’ll have great advisors that we’ve never heard of, much better than anyone we have heard of! Nope, just the predictable and the terrible. Americans are going to have lots of jobs, success, great international relations and so on. I don’t know whether he believes any of this, but I really don’t even think he cares whether he does or not.
He’s like a faith healer who will bullshit gullible people into visualising a better life. Concrete figures and roadmaps would break the spell - It needs to be mystical and enticing, definitely not anything of substance.
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is why having musuems on the national mall that represent the experiences of minorities, IN ALL THEIR COMPLEXITY AND CONTRADICTIONS (not just the bad or the good, but the realities) in the United States matter.
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A great example of this: As a leftist I think a resurgence in FDR’s economic policies would be very beneficial to the United States and the people who call it home, however I also recognize that FDR was a shit head who imprisoned virtually every person of Japanese descent on the west coast as part of an effort to dehumanize an entire group of the human species. That is Nazi-lite levels of shity.
So, do I want to go back to the 30’s and 40’s? Fuck no. Do I think some of the economic policies from that time period could be very useful today? Yes.
EDIT: @anon61221983 makes a very valid point. “Nazi” changed to “Nazi-lite”.
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I would say almost. As horrible and demeaning as internment was, it wasn’t a genocidal policy, at least. Not that the distinction makes it defensible in the least.
Totally agreed. I have to wonder if racial politics has made that impossible.
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This is the sort of thing I was talking about btw.
He comes up with 10 actual things we can measure to evaluate our greatness. The main problem is that Kevin Drum isn’t a Trump voter and I think it’s fair to ask them to come up with their own metrics.
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