Before I get lost reading the comments, which so much express how I feel, let me come back up here and also add my thanks to you all at the Bulwark, JVL. You are also getting me through this, and I so appreciate each one of you and the talents that you bring.
How do you join The Bulwark discord? I joined another group with an invite and Discord seems to have lost my other identity and doesn't recognize me anymore. That aside, I tried searching for The Bulwark and it only found some gamer site. Any help anyone? Thanks.
Thank you for sharing the Will Selban story, I hadn't heard it before. I am gobsmacked by the professionalism and stellar quality of every contributor to The Bulwark. It doesn't get any better.
I just became a member in November. I stopped my Spotify subscription to support The Bulwark. I listen to mostly podcasts anyway and mostly Bulwark podcasts. It was important to me to support independent media. I believe in what you all are doing here.
Hi, Gixx! I stopped my HBO subscription because now I watch all the Bulwark videos. Decided the best Premier Television out there is right here on The Bulwark!
I keep mulling over the cultural psychology studies on what holds societies together. I am increasingly worried that we may have already crossed the point of no return for our American experiment. Looking at groups that identify themselves as "us"--from sports teams to civilizations--that remain stable and cohesive over long periods of time they share a similar characteristic. There is consensus about answers to a core list of existential questions. These include the origin story--where and how did we get here? what distinguishes our way of life from their way of life"? what justifies the unequal distribution of goods, privilege and power? what qualifies someone as a member--are we naked apes, incarnated souls,have a penis? born to a particular clan? 60% wetware? or something else? There are more but these are core and universal and people must answer them to feel like they belong to "us" and life makes sense. There are gazillion forms of groups with their own sense of self and culturally agreed upon answers. We will see these processes on display on Superbowl Sunday, in the US Senate, in Gaza and anywhere where people refer to themselves and fellows as "we.". Studies also reveal that whether they live in open or closed societies disagreement inevitably surfaces so to maintain stability and social order there must be agreed upon processes for resolving dissidence. It seems obvious to me that in the last decades social consensus about the existential questions has all but collapsed. A Christian white nationalist has a very different set of answers than does a member of Black Lives Matter and both believe their answers are the right ones. We no longer develop our individual or social identities from shared answers to these questions and so we are unable to recognize the other side as "us." Empathy is a threat. This is not a political divide, it is existential and it is getting worse egged on by social manipulators who have monetized and egotized the divide. And even more menacing , we no longer respect and are willing to abide by the agreed upon established mechanisms for resolving disputes--SCOTUS, the rule of law,the institutions required in a diverse democracy like a free press, higher education, free and fair elections. When you have those in power referring to a "post-Constitutional order with no pushback from Senators there is no way back from here.We have broken the existential consensus. This is not a matter of deserving democracy. It is more a matter of facing how deep the rift goes and the fact that we are unwilling to surrender our individual vision of America and do the work on every level to arrive at a more truthful new consensus about the existential questions.
Jan K , thank you for joining me in my fog of (culture) war. In my view there is no answer yet to where the eff we are going. But I think it is the personal, relational and political work of our era. We must tell each other the truth and listen as we seek a new consensus. I am as lost as you but I live my life with faith but not certainty that we can survive the storm if we don’t abandon each other.🌹🎶
I've been asking myself this every day lately. Not in so many words. You are much more articulate. But how do we get back from here? And where in the eff are we going?
Continue with this excellent reporting . we need it now more than ever.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ THE Jonathan V. Last ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Happy and grateful to be part of The Family 💙
Before I get lost reading the comments, which so much express how I feel, let me come back up here and also add my thanks to you all at the Bulwark, JVL. You are also getting me through this, and I so appreciate each one of you and the talents that you bring.
How do you join The Bulwark discord? I joined another group with an invite and Discord seems to have lost my other identity and doesn't recognize me anymore. That aside, I tried searching for The Bulwark and it only found some gamer site. Any help anyone? Thanks.
Thank you for sharing the Will Selban story, I hadn't heard it before. I am gobsmacked by the professionalism and stellar quality of every contributor to The Bulwark. It doesn't get any better.
Terrific piece and feels and thoughts, JVL.
Thank you JVL and thank you family! You all help keep me sane in these trying times.
And now Shogan is gone - https://mydailygrindnews.substack.com/p/trump-axes-national-archivist-colleen
You Bulwark guys (and my baseball addiction) got me through Trump 1.0. I thank god every day that you guys are here and doing this work.
I just became a member in November. I stopped my Spotify subscription to support The Bulwark. I listen to mostly podcasts anyway and mostly Bulwark podcasts. It was important to me to support independent media. I believe in what you all are doing here.
Hi, Gixx! I stopped my HBO subscription because now I watch all the Bulwark videos. Decided the best Premier Television out there is right here on The Bulwark!
Thank you for pressing on! The Bulwark is exceptional and I am grateful!
(((Hugs)))
Ride or die!
Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart, JVL.
Forgive the long post. I couldn't rein myself in.
I keep mulling over the cultural psychology studies on what holds societies together. I am increasingly worried that we may have already crossed the point of no return for our American experiment. Looking at groups that identify themselves as "us"--from sports teams to civilizations--that remain stable and cohesive over long periods of time they share a similar characteristic. There is consensus about answers to a core list of existential questions. These include the origin story--where and how did we get here? what distinguishes our way of life from their way of life"? what justifies the unequal distribution of goods, privilege and power? what qualifies someone as a member--are we naked apes, incarnated souls,have a penis? born to a particular clan? 60% wetware? or something else? There are more but these are core and universal and people must answer them to feel like they belong to "us" and life makes sense. There are gazillion forms of groups with their own sense of self and culturally agreed upon answers. We will see these processes on display on Superbowl Sunday, in the US Senate, in Gaza and anywhere where people refer to themselves and fellows as "we.". Studies also reveal that whether they live in open or closed societies disagreement inevitably surfaces so to maintain stability and social order there must be agreed upon processes for resolving dissidence. It seems obvious to me that in the last decades social consensus about the existential questions has all but collapsed. A Christian white nationalist has a very different set of answers than does a member of Black Lives Matter and both believe their answers are the right ones. We no longer develop our individual or social identities from shared answers to these questions and so we are unable to recognize the other side as "us." Empathy is a threat. This is not a political divide, it is existential and it is getting worse egged on by social manipulators who have monetized and egotized the divide. And even more menacing , we no longer respect and are willing to abide by the agreed upon established mechanisms for resolving disputes--SCOTUS, the rule of law,the institutions required in a diverse democracy like a free press, higher education, free and fair elections. When you have those in power referring to a "post-Constitutional order with no pushback from Senators there is no way back from here.We have broken the existential consensus. This is not a matter of deserving democracy. It is more a matter of facing how deep the rift goes and the fact that we are unwilling to surrender our individual vision of America and do the work on every level to arrive at a more truthful new consensus about the existential questions.
Jan K , thank you for joining me in my fog of (culture) war. In my view there is no answer yet to where the eff we are going. But I think it is the personal, relational and political work of our era. We must tell each other the truth and listen as we seek a new consensus. I am as lost as you but I live my life with faith but not certainty that we can survive the storm if we don’t abandon each other.🌹🎶
I've been asking myself this every day lately. Not in so many words. You are much more articulate. But how do we get back from here? And where in the eff are we going?