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America is going to make it through this. Bloodied and bruised, maybe; but we'll make it through nonetheless. This is a personal anecdote; but it's not about me as a singular person; I think that it embodies an American Spirit that runs through the majority of us. 1/
Last night I reached out to my former Poli-Sci professor. We developed a deep and abiding friendship both during class and after it. I am who I am: a retired-vet who spent the bulk of his career deploying to Central and South America, and to the Caribbean. 2/
I've posted before that in high school, I breathed deeply of the fragrant perfume of white-supremacy. It was when I joined the military that the spell was broken; not all once, but over many years.
With that, I've kept tabs on American extremism. 3/
With that, I've kept tabs on American extremism. 3/
They've been on the internet since the beginning of the internet. They failed on Usenet; they failed on IRC; they failed in the early chatrooms (shoutout to my homies from http://Go.Com 's "Goth Cathedral"); they failed on the proto-Social Media networks; 4/
... and it wasn't until they had "Chan" boards, Reddit, Facebook, AND Twitter, that they finally hit upon a "winning" formula. The Q-Conspiracy was the spark that they were looking for all along, propped up by this infrastructure. 5/
I've watched this (and, in the early days, as a disaffected teen, participated in it) for almost 30 years.
My Poli-Sci professor is an Iranian immigrant. If your field of study is Iranian/Middle Eastern political-science, you've read his books, or at least heard of him. 6/
My Poli-Sci professor is an Iranian immigrant. If your field of study is Iranian/Middle Eastern political-science, you've read his books, or at least heard of him. 6/
Circling back to my first post: the first person I reached out to in order to try to understand the attempted-coup was my friend. His expertise is not in American politics; and mine is only nominally in uniquely-American insurrection and extremism. 7/
Despite wildly different backgrounds, as well as supposed-prejudices that ought to have separated us; we're both trying to talk through this moment and learn from each other, what each other knows about it.
8/
8/
That's the "Real" America. That's what the American Spirit means. We were both a little wary of one another at the beginning of the semester, last year; but found common-ground and an unlikely friendship. 9/
Those ideals are something that I think most Americans want; and most everyone else wants of Americans. Decency, tolerance, and acceptance.
These are the ideals upon which we will prevail.
Not the ideals exemplified by the dumbest-of-coups.
10/10
These are the ideals upon which we will prevail.
Not the ideals exemplified by the dumbest-of-coups.
10/10
