i don't talk about it as much in this piece but it could not be more obvious that dressing yourself up in the rhetoric of America as irredeemably evil might play well to the online crowd but wrapping the very same idea in a red white and blue flag is how you win real change
It is not an exaggeration to say that the median spoken position in lefty trans online communities is "the American flag is for burning" and meanwhile I get verklempt at reading The New Colossus lol? And I think the latter... resonates.
People want an America to believe in.
like, the way I see it, if you aim for the moon you may end among the stars, and if the moon you're aiming for is "being accepted into society and broadly treated like a regular adult person with rights and autonomy and a job" and the other is "flaming conflagration," the first has better stars
There's also a strong element of holier-than-thou defeatism about it. Of course I feel it as much as anyone, but strategically, it's really not smart.
A lot of so-called leftists believe that "praxis" consists of just shitting on anything resembling hope.
Many of the trans folks I meet online are in one camp. ALL my trans friends/fam/contacts IRL are in the other AFAICT.
What to make of it? Hmm. Sampling is hard?
Yeah absolutely. And the civic religion is a lever of power now and will continue to be.
"America is not great because we don't feed our children" is a worse argument than "America is great *because* we are going to feed our children". And then make it happen! And wave the flag!
It's also circular and self sustaining if you can hit the positive feedback loop. America is great because we can feed our children <--> America is great only if we feed our children <--> America must be great therefore we *must* feed our children. Etc.
"Socialism?
Nah, friendo, this is Super Capitalism.
Super Capitalism, where the workers own the business and make the rules. Super Capitalism, where everyone does the job according to their needs."
Yes! "This is Super Capitalism where we need the Wise Words of Our Esteemed Founder and enact strong antitrust law and price externalities into the cost of doing business!"
