Let's be honest

Taking stock of where we are

I generally try to find a balance between reality and hope when I post here. Right up front I’ll tell you: this one tilts heavily in the reality direction.

I don’t use this space to recount the daily and hourly happenings—traditional news outlets and writers like Heather Cox Richardson have that covered—but yesterday, things hit different.

Yes, overwhelm is the point, but it’s not the only point. The cruelty is the point. The lies. The destruction of our Constitutional order. These things are also the point.

First, the cruelty.

This video, posted by Kristi Noem, provoked in me a visceral reaction. I hesitate to post this image because as a student of Holocaust studies, I know how even gazing on images like this can further the dehumanization of prisoners subjected to these conditions. But I also know that those who have the power to do something also have the obligation not to look away.

The juxtaposition of Noem, with her hair and makeup done in the latest Republican style, with earrings dangling and sporting a (reportedly) $60,000 Rolex, against the backdrop of men seized and detained without due process reminds me of a film I saw last year, The Zone of Interest.

Having studied the Holocaust and historical memory, it’s haunting to be living through a period where cruelty and dehumanization is being normalized in real time. Each one of us needs to guard against being swept along—either through a sense of helplessness or despair or the busyness of our day-to-day lives. It’s easier to look away, I know. But the consequences are exceedingly dangerous.

Next, the lies.

You’ve no doubt followed the story about the unprecedented Signal security breach. There are so many things that are stunning about this. First, that sensitive matters of this nature were being carried out over Signal. Was this purely incompetence, or part of a larger effort to circumvent the Presidential Records Act, to carry forward a larger agenda without future accountability? Then there’s the fact that Mike Waltz inadvertently added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat, and no one noticed. There’s also the fact that Steve Witkoff, one member of the group chat, happened to be in Moscow meeting with Putin around the time of the chat. Then there’s the fact that the administration’s response has been nothing but DARVO and spin. “Gaslighting” doesn’t even begin to describe the response. Blatant lies, bullying, and denials of what is right in front of all of us.

Honestly, in recent weeks, this utter abandonment of even pretending to care about the truth has been one of the things wearing me down most. I don’t know how to engage in a space that has zero regard for truth. How do we as citizens participate in a democracy when disinformation is so prevalant, and when so many seem so willing to believe the lies and ignore the reality that is right in front of us? When so many are willing to abandon all values to choose their side, every single time?

Then, there’s the persistent attack on fundamental rights, the abandonment of due process, the punitive actions, the denial of First Amendment rights. For now, the administration is targeting those with green cards and student visas. If they get away with this (and they are), why should we expect them to stop there? Historically, we know where this goes next.

If you haven’t yet watched this video, I recommend doing so.

As with the deportation of Venezuelen detainees without due process, the administration appears to be thumbing their nose at court rulings blocking her removal from the state.

On top of everything, we learned that Timothy Snyder and Jason Stanley, leading scholars of authoritarianism, have left or are leaving the country.

Historians and other scholars of authoritarianism have been attuned to the warning signs for years now. They know what these things mean.

If you’re waiting for a word of hope in the midst of this, that will have to wait for another post. I think we need to sit with this and make sure we understand where we are.

**Also, I’ll be at Raleigh First Baptist tomorrow evening and Saturday morning, and these are the things we’ll be talking about.