There’s a wave of populism sweeping the globe that appears to have made everyone feel either defiantly jubilant or ready to shit their pants, depending on which side of the ideological aisle they’re on. The most prominent example of this populist wave is Donald J. Trump’s upset win over Hillary Clinton in our recent presidential election, but this is not isolated to the United States. Much of Europe, parts of Asia, and South America, as well, have seen such crusades gain momentum, as people become increasingly frustrated with the perceived negative effects of global trade on their local way of life.
As the U.S. party primaries followed by the general election this year went on, many in academia and the media passingly puzzled over populist …show more content…
For a rather extreme and unfortunate example, see Nazi Germany. When the Nazis weren’t busy embodying every single film and TV trope we now have in modern entertainment, they were doing some truly horrifying shit to millions of people in the name of good old fashioned nationalism. I’m guessing you’ve heard of the Nazis, though, so I’ll digress and we can move on.
Nationalism caters to our fears of lost jobs due to outsourcing, our xenophobia, our fear of loss of culture and identity to an invading other.
Both populism and nationalism, at their foundation, rely on the same basic premise: Some schmuck shows up, he sees an opportunity, so he tells the people, “You’re mad, these are the people you should blame, I will save you with my great ideas.”
What is unique about what we are seeing, today, is a coalescence of these ideologies into a new form of nationalist-populism.
So, right, Nixon opened up China like a ripe melon, so our corporations, here, could engorge themselves on all the juicy unlimited forced labor insides that China had to offer. That wasn’t really what planted the seeds of the disturbing movement we’re seeing today, though. That merely set the stage. No, we can thank Reagan for the shit show we’re seeing …show more content…
See, it might be hard to believe, today, but when Bill Clinton first entered the national spotlight way back in 1992, he was something of an anomaly. Nobody had really seen a guy like that run for president since Kennedy, and this was the height of Baby Boomer optimism. Bill was the first presidential contender from that generation. I mean, fuck, he even had a picture of himself shaking Kennedy’s fucking hand. Clinton’s campaign created a perfect storm of optimism and nostalgia that essentially made that entire generation of evil snake people cream in orgasmic delight out of every available orifice.
He was going to be tough on crime, so those Republican bastards couldn’t call him a pussy, like they always do with Democratic candidates. To paraphrase him on the economy, he basically said, “Sure, man, hey, globalization sucks, right? What if I told you’d I’d make it not suck, though?” And then Bill would pause and give that thumbs up that he does and then he’d play the saxophone for a bit, the nation would look over at that other guy, what’s his name,
As the U.S. party primaries followed by the general election this year went on, many in academia and the media passingly puzzled over populist …show more content…
For a rather extreme and unfortunate example, see Nazi Germany. When the Nazis weren’t busy embodying every single film and TV trope we now have in modern entertainment, they were doing some truly horrifying shit to millions of people in the name of good old fashioned nationalism. I’m guessing you’ve heard of the Nazis, though, so I’ll digress and we can move on.
Nationalism caters to our fears of lost jobs due to outsourcing, our xenophobia, our fear of loss of culture and identity to an invading other.
Both populism and nationalism, at their foundation, rely on the same basic premise: Some schmuck shows up, he sees an opportunity, so he tells the people, “You’re mad, these are the people you should blame, I will save you with my great ideas.”
What is unique about what we are seeing, today, is a coalescence of these ideologies into a new form of nationalist-populism.
So, right, Nixon opened up China like a ripe melon, so our corporations, here, could engorge themselves on all the juicy unlimited forced labor insides that China had to offer. That wasn’t really what planted the seeds of the disturbing movement we’re seeing today, though. That merely set the stage. No, we can thank Reagan for the shit show we’re seeing …show more content…
See, it might be hard to believe, today, but when Bill Clinton first entered the national spotlight way back in 1992, he was something of an anomaly. Nobody had really seen a guy like that run for president since Kennedy, and this was the height of Baby Boomer optimism. Bill was the first presidential contender from that generation. I mean, fuck, he even had a picture of himself shaking Kennedy’s fucking hand. Clinton’s campaign created a perfect storm of optimism and nostalgia that essentially made that entire generation of evil snake people cream in orgasmic delight out of every available orifice.
He was going to be tough on crime, so those Republican bastards couldn’t call him a pussy, like they always do with Democratic candidates. To paraphrase him on the economy, he basically said, “Sure, man, hey, globalization sucks, right? What if I told you’d I’d make it not suck, though?” And then Bill would pause and give that thumbs up that he does and then he’d play the saxophone for a bit, the nation would look over at that other guy, what’s his name,