Failure of imagination - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

kairyssdal.bsky.social • 12 days ago

Failure of imagination

From interview of Lee Bollinger, 1st Amendment scholar who served as dean of @UMichLaw, president of @UMich, and president of Columbia University.
www.chronicle.com/article/were...

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monicabisha.bsky.social•12 days ago

Oh, Mr. Bollinger, I don’t know…my downward spiral has a lot of imagination informed by growing up in the 80s, deciding to major in political theory in the late 90s, and then teaching history and civics for the last couple of decades.

onionspeedos.bsky.social•12 days ago

It’s not a failure of imagination. Everyone I know knows that that is what is happening. No one in any position of authority, from politicians to journalists, is telling anyone what to do.

disappearingdreams.bsky.social•12 days ago

But, but…..”it can’t happen here!”
Scary thing is how many people are deciding it’s ’all too much’ and are tuning out. Yeah, yeah, “self care” etc, but now is not the time to tune out.

stampergr.bsky.social•12 days ago

A lot of people have imagined such a thing.

Sinclair Lewis with "It Can't Happen Here," and Phillip Roth with "The Plot Against America," come to mind.

zebulon35.bsky.social•12 days ago

Idk, I’ve had pretty fucking clear vision of it for the last twenty years.

THEY’VE BEEN TELLING US FOR YEARS. Not yelling at you Kai, but Christian Nationalists having been talking about taking over since the 80’s. Geesh.

phtevenbenvon.bsky.social•12 days ago

The problem I see is that even when we look at history and see how this works, it's always from the perspective of meathooks and self inflicted gun shot wounds in bunkers. The massive waves of suffering that the common people live through and have to pick up the pieces from are simply statistics.

jmw-vi.bsky.social•12 days ago

My reaction exactly! And I see it in my own family when we discuss what’s happening.

bluemeade7.bsky.social•12 days ago

Dictator's Playbook 101.

lakestograpes.bsky.social•12 days ago

Indeed. This has been the struggle when talking with others and believing you sound insane.

jozienty.bsky.social•12 days ago

I have imagined it. I’ve written two dystopian novels that show the aftermath. We’ve put too much trust in the idea that our government leaders will follow norms and that there will be guardrails. Maybe writers just think different. Weave the nightmares, as TSwift notes in her song Cassandra

ventifact.bsky.social•12 days ago

I do think the general lack of imagination can he traced to a poverty of art and history in the public sphere. I applaud you for fighting back

jozienty.bsky.social•12 days ago

I’ve always loved dystopian fiction because of its “it could always be worse” vibe. But now I see it as a way to show the paths of resistance and human resilience in the face of monsters.

rugnerd.bsky.social•12 days ago

Half of America now reads below the sixth grade level. Guess how they voted

karenandrews.bsky.social•12 days ago

Yes. That line caught my attention also!

jackpondit.bsky.social•12 days ago

Exactly, the people who should be alerting us the most loudly are refusing to acknowledge what is happening right in front of them. The media is normalizing it. The Democrats plan is to do nothing and then run on the price of eggs in 2026. It is completely delusional.

rugnerd.bsky.social•12 days ago

MAGA has two years to scrub the voter rolls, impose, ridiculous eligibility requirements, and create review boards to scrub election results. Anybody who thinks the 2026 election will mean anything is delusional.

73overlander.bsky.social•12 days ago

Ok, honest question - what can we do to stop it? They certainly don’t care about optics and they are itching to arrest protesters. It feels like we are on an airplane and the pilot is intentionally flying into a mountain, how do we take control and land this thing?

nwcorner65.bsky.social•12 days ago

Allow me to suggest it is a failure of education, and several generations of citizens who don't see the value of what they have had. This has been exploited by the super rich and now we see what it looks like when 2/3 of the electorate don't care. Not the fault of educators at all them be heroes.

rugnerd.bsky.social•12 days ago

education is heresy
cruelty is strength
tolerance is weakness
truth is for pussies
women are for babies
bigotry is virtue
Now shut up and get in the boxcar

nwcorner65.bsky.social•10 days ago

Yep.

laney502.bsky.social•11 days ago

It’s not those of us who’ve been calling out the Russia-Owned Republicans who fail in our imagination… Listen to THIS:

philippag.bsky.social•12 days ago

We need to all get involved. Join your local Indivisible (https://Indivisible.org to find it) or other grassroots organization. Go to town halls. Come out for protests. Come out April 5!

elam13.bsky.social•11 days ago

I believe everyone thinks it’s just going to blow over like the previous regimes. If they just agree with trump for the moment, it will be over soon and self correct. This beast is here to stay and a few get it, but we will all be boiled before we see it.

napoleon-the-pig.bsky.social•12 days ago

It's all OK. Chuck Schumer is going to be able to do his book tour.

bumpermagnets.bsky.social•11 days ago

Why worry?

Side with Russia and N. Korea over Ukraine and Europe
End cancer research
Make death an option for disloyalty
Stop aid to 75 million
Tax more on poor, Tax less on wealthy
Pardon cop beaters
Force 1.5 mil to move to build a resort
Make Climate change a hoax
Fire thousands

Why worry?

jejensen.bsky.social•12 days ago

Can’t believe the media is not calling out more about the targeting of specific networks as ‘illegal’. It should be on the evening news, front page of newspapers. Instead its mostly just in social media.

jimbeau22.bsky.social•12 days ago

The Republicans screamed and hollered over Biden’s use of executive orders to deal with an immobile Congress. Now absolute silence from Republicans over Trump’s myriad executive orders with an impotent Congress.

chasingjulian.bsky.social•12 days ago

A lot of Democrats are silent or expressing meaninglessness platitudes.

jimbeau22.bsky.social•12 days ago

Dems need to copy Trump’s use of ALL CAPS, literally and figuratively.

rugnerd.bsky.social•12 days ago

don’t forget the handwringing and sincere expressions of disappointment!

mxhrad.bsky.social•12 days ago

The worst part is that they aren’t forcing neutralization of academic institutions. They academic institutions are actively choosing to bend the knee to the fascists.

rugnerd.bsky.social•12 days ago

No imagination required!education is heresy
cruelty is strength
tolerance is weakness
truth is for pussies
women are for babies
bigotry is virtue
Now shut up and get in the boxcar

ejrfoto.bsky.social•12 days ago

My imagination is on overdrive.

taguntumi.bsky.social•12 days ago

Very typical of US politics though the ‘strong man’ is in his late 70s and has never been that strong of mind.

Honestly, how could you.

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