Yes, I've always disliked this "right side of history" stuff, as if the progression of history can determine what is right and what is wrong rather than the application of reason.
"The gifted propagandist brings to a boil ideas and passions already simmering in the minds of its hearers. He echoes their innermost feelings. Where opinion is coerced, people can be made to believe only in what they already “know.”
This is a frustrating read. I mean, congratulations on some progress realizing how arrogant and simple minded "the right side of history" is. I hope it leads to some real thinking about how actual wealth is created such that it lifts the poor out of poverty. The "progressive" view of economics is as child-like as "the right side of history".
“We revile Andrew Jackson, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, but they applaud them.”
I stopped reading after this 👆sentence.
Yup, you are a dyed in the wool progressive and cannot help yourself from sniping and descending into calumny. I’ll never bother reading your “articles” again. So, I guess I should thank you for giving me back some of my free time.
You assign thoughts and beliefs to “they” that are convenient to demonize “them” with precious little support of fact; but lots of convenience.
How nice it must be you in an argument. You simply assign thoughts, beliefs, actions to “they” without regard for the truth. “They” don’t even need to show up because you’ve supplied everything “they” would offer.
Jackson; precious few know much about him and fewer adore him.
McCarthy; this assertion makes you look like a fool to anyone not fully committed to the demonization of “they.”
Nixon; see Jackson, only those do know about him condemn him. I’ll grant you the exception of Rodger Stone.
I love it that there are some people who hope for the end of capitalism but anoint themselves with its trappings (I’m talking to you Bernie and your many supporters with Bernie stickers on their BMWs and SUVs). I’m also waiting for one example (just one!) of a country that practices real socialism or communism and has consistently matched the economic progress of capitalistic counties. And here I must point out that socialized medicine does not constitute socialism as the basic economic system of a country. Most of our vaunted universities seem unable to get this point across to the last two generations of students. Ok, I’m waiting for your nominations!
I always think of the Devil’s comments in C S Lewis’s Screwtape Letters: “We have taught them to see the future as a land that only heroes attain - rather than something everyone approaches at the same speed, whoever they are, wherever they are.”
I see a lot of commenters taking issue with the author's opinionative statements regarding Regan and Trump and the sort of hailing of progressive ideals. While I am by no means whatsoever a progressive, I dont have an issue with that at all. I said to myself as I read it, "wow, I disagree with that completely" but the author put his cards on the table at the outset saying he is a progressive so it should be expected that he feels this way. From my perspective, its actually great to hear someone who identifies that way and has those feelings still be able to critique progressive ideology. I actually feel like his openly progressive preferences make the piece better. And, as to the actual point of the piece, I thought it was really insightful and spot on, particularly the bit towards the end about how viewing yourself as the protectors of the future leads to all kinds of bad actions in the present. I do think there is a further connection that could have been made though. By viewing oneself that way, and thus engaging in bad actions in the present, you actually end up ruining the future. Its paradoxical in that regard. For me, the foundation of morality is that the means cannot justify the ends. It doesnt matter what you're trying to accomplish, if the means you employ to get there are unjust, you have created an unjust endpoint. The only way to ensure a just or more just future is to act in a just manner in all things today. I really liked this piece a lot
Carter cracked the door of neoliberalism open, but Reagan threw it wide open, destroying a large part of the working class through globalization, off shoring, out sourcing, etc.
The people that bought into Reagan's shallow personality cult shot themselves in the foot.
See Joan Didion's "In the Realm of the Fisher King".
Reagan was a puppet, like most/all USA Presidents.
What "makes" sense is to locate both Putin and the various western puppet leaders in the context of geopolitics, globalism and neoliberalism.
The fact that you either can't, or won't do that tells me that you are either ignorant, uneducated or are a mindless cultist lost in an echo chamber (the same problem the author has, except he at least pays lip service to the fact that the "left" has mostly turned into a corrupt, dysfunctional mental sewer, you however can't/won't grasp the basic fact that the "right" is as much "controlled opposition" as the "left").
Due to the substack email notification "Return to thread" glitch I have no idea what you are replying to, but your comment sounds mostly like vapid drivel and gibberish.
glitch note: in this case the thread was not long, so the problem was solved by clicking "sort by Newest" and then scrolling down one or two screens in the web browser (Microsoft Edge browser, Windows 10, large desktop screen)
"But I have lived long enough to know that history is perfectly capable of slamming into reverse and backing up at 50 miles an hour. It happened with Ronald Reagan. It happened with Vladimir Putin. It happened with Trump.
Yet who’s to say what constitutes “reverse”? Who’s to say where history is headed, even in the long run?"
Don't care what you have to say; the last sentences contradict those preceding. You are an idiot who cannot frame a logical thought; nor commit it to print. Come back when you've learned how to think and write coherently.
... the neo-confederate propagandists/trolls like "Lynne" in these comments are plain liars, distortion artists and creeps. Probably paid by the Alex Jones troll farm or something like that.
Similarly to the "far left" (Frankfurt school, postmodern neo-marxists), much of the "far right" was created by the CIA as "controlled opposition"
William Deresiewicz’s admonishment was perfect for the first week of 2023. Honestly, I’ve felt like I was living in The Twilight Zone until this article enabled me to understand why I’ve felt untethered from the world, let alone my particular place on it.
“To say that history will judge is to make the future our sock puppet, our ventriloquist’s dummy. It is to engage in a particularly feeble form of imaginative compensation.” Actually laughed at this one (there were so many), like it was a glee-filled Christmas when I was a kid. Nobody says this stuff! Well, very few say it. Perhaps they, like I (until now) haven’t had the perspective to articulate something we’ve known in our bones for such a long time. For myself, I’ve felt an irritation to these platitudes, but never stopped to break them down, to give any thought to what the words actually mean. I’m terribly grateful to Deresiewicz this morning (and will be for many mornings to come) for his critical thinking and the laser sharp skill with which he clarifies it for those of us who don’t run with the front of the herd. I was close but I may never have gotten here.
Two months into lockdown, a publisher asked me to write a piece for a series he called “The Coronavirus Dispatches.” In my piece, I talked about the Martin Luther King arc quote. MLK, too, was inspired by those words, first said in 1871, by the Unitarian minister Theodore Parker in a speech or a sermon—as Deresiewicz’s article astutely points out, they are often used in the same way—addressing his opposition to slavery in America.
Here’s what I wrote:
“When I am lost in this upheaval, when I read about flattening the curve to slow down the spread of this new coronavirus, I think instead of bending the arc.
“’The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’
“Three years ago, my brother Harry Nicholson wrote this description of Parker’s words:
“‘That long arc of the moral universe? Doesn’t look so much like a rainbow as a series of thunderbolts, broken and bent, and soldered with mud into a rickety, dangerous bridge from perilous precipice to a leased Eden. But the continual building of it, and it’s maintenance, is what justice is and what justice does.’
“I include my brother’s description of the moral arc of justice because it gives me permission to see it for what it is, an imperfect arc. My greatest heartaches have always been predicated on the ridiculous notion of a transformation that will be perfect – one where the arc is a refraction of light – a glorious, multicolored spectrum, traversing the whole sky – requiring nothing of me but to wait for the sun on a rainy day.
“To look at it instead as what we build with the broken shards of our wreckage and hold together with band-aids and spit, continually building and patching that fragile bend toward justice, makes it seem possible. It will not be pretty. It will not give us everything we want. It will be hard work maintaining it. But it is possible. Great upheaval brings great change. It brings incredible hardships, but in my solitude (a very different thing than isolation) I have found comfort in looking to history, marking the pendulum’s continual swing back and forth between what seems to be imminent ruin and the justice of our leased Eden.”
So, I thank Mr. Deresiewicz for sharing his view from the head of the herd. For me, ignorance is never bliss.
Well, I think this author managed to offend everybody on the left AND right, which may be the point. I do have some accuracy quibbles, though. First, though I have been around conservatives for decades, I’ve never heard anyone give *unqualified* endorsement to Andrew Jackson, or Nixon, and I’ve never heard any kind of positive talk about Joe McCarthy.
In other words, it reads like he’s never actually had a serious conversation with a conservative.
Second, his characterization of Christians, and the theology of the Holy Spirit is downright rude and ignorant. Clearly, he has also very little firsthand knowledge of either genuine Christians, or Christian theology.
It is very close, in spirit, to talking about “money grubbing Jews.” Such things might be well known mischaracterizations, acceptable in certain dark circles, but that sort of thing doesn’t contribute to thoughtful exchange. It’s disappointing to find it here. It makes me feel like I have stumbled into a meeting of the progressive equivalent to “the good ol’ boys” club. Real Christians need not apply. Please leave quickly, without making a fuss.
Ms Weiss, this choice for a first post of the New Year doesn’t seem a propitious start for delivering on the recent sales pitch ( I bit) to be a publication promising a focus on incisive reporting.
The author is a self described Bernie socialist. From some point on the very far left, he feels it reasonable to include Trump and JK Rowling in the same sentence as “ bad “ folks awaiting judgement . Wow!
There is an editorial failure in not addressing Deresiewicz’s total misunderstanding of the holy spirit in both scripture ( suggest reading Paul’s letters to Corinthians and Galatians for starters )and theological writings . Hint, it’s primarily a relationship, open to anyone choosing it, , leading to a less material and more spiritual life, and similar in these respects to other religious pathways .
The essence of this article is don’t expect progressive ( and woke) policies to prevail unless you get your ass out on the political front lines.
Yes, I've always disliked this "right side of history" stuff, as if the progression of history can determine what is right and what is wrong rather than the application of reason.
"The gifted propagandist brings to a boil ideas and passions already simmering in the minds of its hearers. He echoes their innermost feelings. Where opinion is coerced, people can be made to believe only in what they already “know.”
Eric Hoffer---- True Believers
This is a frustrating read. I mean, congratulations on some progress realizing how arrogant and simple minded "the right side of history" is. I hope it leads to some real thinking about how actual wealth is created such that it lifts the poor out of poverty. The "progressive" view of economics is as child-like as "the right side of history".
“We revile Andrew Jackson, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, but they applaud them.”
I stopped reading after this 👆sentence.
Yup, you are a dyed in the wool progressive and cannot help yourself from sniping and descending into calumny. I’ll never bother reading your “articles” again. So, I guess I should thank you for giving me back some of my free time.
You assign thoughts and beliefs to “they” that are convenient to demonize “them” with precious little support of fact; but lots of convenience.
How nice it must be you in an argument. You simply assign thoughts, beliefs, actions to “they” without regard for the truth. “They” don’t even need to show up because you’ve supplied everything “they” would offer.
Jackson; precious few know much about him and fewer adore him.
McCarthy; this assertion makes you look like a fool to anyone not fully committed to the demonization of “they.”
Nixon; see Jackson, only those do know about him condemn him. I’ll grant you the exception of Rodger Stone.
I love it that there are some people who hope for the end of capitalism but anoint themselves with its trappings (I’m talking to you Bernie and your many supporters with Bernie stickers on their BMWs and SUVs). I’m also waiting for one example (just one!) of a country that practices real socialism or communism and has consistently matched the economic progress of capitalistic counties. And here I must point out that socialized medicine does not constitute socialism as the basic economic system of a country. Most of our vaunted universities seem unable to get this point across to the last two generations of students. Ok, I’m waiting for your nominations!
fyi
Similarly to the "far left" (Frankfurt school, postmodern neo-marxists), much of the "far right" was created by the CIA as "controlled opposition"
https://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/78-78/45197-im-convinced-that-the-whole-national-review-is-a-cia-operation-murray-rothbard
I always think of the Devil’s comments in C S Lewis’s Screwtape Letters: “We have taught them to see the future as a land that only heroes attain - rather than something everyone approaches at the same speed, whoever they are, wherever they are.”
I see a lot of commenters taking issue with the author's opinionative statements regarding Regan and Trump and the sort of hailing of progressive ideals. While I am by no means whatsoever a progressive, I dont have an issue with that at all. I said to myself as I read it, "wow, I disagree with that completely" but the author put his cards on the table at the outset saying he is a progressive so it should be expected that he feels this way. From my perspective, its actually great to hear someone who identifies that way and has those feelings still be able to critique progressive ideology. I actually feel like his openly progressive preferences make the piece better. And, as to the actual point of the piece, I thought it was really insightful and spot on, particularly the bit towards the end about how viewing yourself as the protectors of the future leads to all kinds of bad actions in the present. I do think there is a further connection that could have been made though. By viewing oneself that way, and thus engaging in bad actions in the present, you actually end up ruining the future. Its paradoxical in that regard. For me, the foundation of morality is that the means cannot justify the ends. It doesnt matter what you're trying to accomplish, if the means you employ to get there are unjust, you have created an unjust endpoint. The only way to ensure a just or more just future is to act in a just manner in all things today. I really liked this piece a lot
Similarly to the "far left" (Frankfurt school, postmodern neo-marxists), much of the "far right" was created by the CIA as "controlled opposition"
https://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/78-78/45197-im-convinced-that-the-whole-national-review-is-a-cia-operation-murray-rothbard
I'm not sure you understand how to escape you ideologically tribalistic echo chamber.
Carter cracked the door of neoliberalism open, but Reagan threw it wide open, destroying a large part of the working class through globalization, off shoring, out sourcing, etc.
The people that bought into Reagan's shallow personality cult shot themselves in the foot.
See Joan Didion's "In the Realm of the Fisher King".
Reagan was a puppet, like most/all USA Presidents.
Ok, I got it now, you were replying to this:
https://www.thefp.com/p/there-is-no-right-side-of-history/comment/11727608
Again, you reply is mostly gibberish, presumably some kind of absurd attempt at deflection.
Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama and Biden are all puppets that advanced globalism and neoliberalism, throwing the working class under the bus.
Simple facts.
If you escape your echo chamber, reality will be a lot more clear.
What "makes" sense is to locate both Putin and the various western puppet leaders in the context of geopolitics, globalism and neoliberalism.
The fact that you either can't, or won't do that tells me that you are either ignorant, uneducated or are a mindless cultist lost in an echo chamber (the same problem the author has, except he at least pays lip service to the fact that the "left" has mostly turned into a corrupt, dysfunctional mental sewer, you however can't/won't grasp the basic fact that the "right" is as much "controlled opposition" as the "left").
Thank you for making clear that you are a reactionary buffoon and an absurd liar.
https://www.thefp.com/p/there-is-no-right-side-of-history/comment/11747695
Due to the substack email notification "Return to thread" glitch I have no idea what you are replying to, but your comment sounds mostly like vapid drivel and gibberish.
https://www.thefp.com/p/there-is-no-right-side-of-history/comment/11736509
glitch note: in this case the thread was not long, so the problem was solved by clicking "sort by Newest" and then scrolling down one or two screens in the web browser (Microsoft Edge browser, Windows 10, large desktop screen)
"But I have lived long enough to know that history is perfectly capable of slamming into reverse and backing up at 50 miles an hour. It happened with Ronald Reagan. It happened with Vladimir Putin. It happened with Trump.
Yet who’s to say what constitutes “reverse”? Who’s to say where history is headed, even in the long run?"
Don't care what you have to say; the last sentences contradict those preceding. You are an idiot who cannot frame a logical thought; nor commit it to print. Come back when you've learned how to think and write coherently.
I was wondering about that. Sounds like you and I read many of the same authors.
(duplicate)
... the neo-confederate propagandists/trolls like "Lynne" in these comments are plain liars, distortion artists and creeps. Probably paid by the Alex Jones troll farm or something like that.
Similarly to the "far left" (Frankfurt school, postmodern neo-marxists), much of the "far right" was created by the CIA as "controlled opposition"
https://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/78-78/45197-im-convinced-that-the-whole-national-review-is-a-cia-operation-murray-rothbard
re: "woke"
A classic example of "leftist" infighting and backstabbing:
https://theintercept.com/2022/06/13/progressive-organizing-infighting-callout-culture/
William Deresiewicz’s admonishment was perfect for the first week of 2023. Honestly, I’ve felt like I was living in The Twilight Zone until this article enabled me to understand why I’ve felt untethered from the world, let alone my particular place on it.
“To say that history will judge is to make the future our sock puppet, our ventriloquist’s dummy. It is to engage in a particularly feeble form of imaginative compensation.” Actually laughed at this one (there were so many), like it was a glee-filled Christmas when I was a kid. Nobody says this stuff! Well, very few say it. Perhaps they, like I (until now) haven’t had the perspective to articulate something we’ve known in our bones for such a long time. For myself, I’ve felt an irritation to these platitudes, but never stopped to break them down, to give any thought to what the words actually mean. I’m terribly grateful to Deresiewicz this morning (and will be for many mornings to come) for his critical thinking and the laser sharp skill with which he clarifies it for those of us who don’t run with the front of the herd. I was close but I may never have gotten here.
Two months into lockdown, a publisher asked me to write a piece for a series he called “The Coronavirus Dispatches.” In my piece, I talked about the Martin Luther King arc quote. MLK, too, was inspired by those words, first said in 1871, by the Unitarian minister Theodore Parker in a speech or a sermon—as Deresiewicz’s article astutely points out, they are often used in the same way—addressing his opposition to slavery in America.
Here’s what I wrote:
“When I am lost in this upheaval, when I read about flattening the curve to slow down the spread of this new coronavirus, I think instead of bending the arc.
“’The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’
“Three years ago, my brother Harry Nicholson wrote this description of Parker’s words:
“‘That long arc of the moral universe? Doesn’t look so much like a rainbow as a series of thunderbolts, broken and bent, and soldered with mud into a rickety, dangerous bridge from perilous precipice to a leased Eden. But the continual building of it, and it’s maintenance, is what justice is and what justice does.’
“I include my brother’s description of the moral arc of justice because it gives me permission to see it for what it is, an imperfect arc. My greatest heartaches have always been predicated on the ridiculous notion of a transformation that will be perfect – one where the arc is a refraction of light – a glorious, multicolored spectrum, traversing the whole sky – requiring nothing of me but to wait for the sun on a rainy day.
“To look at it instead as what we build with the broken shards of our wreckage and hold together with band-aids and spit, continually building and patching that fragile bend toward justice, makes it seem possible. It will not be pretty. It will not give us everything we want. It will be hard work maintaining it. But it is possible. Great upheaval brings great change. It brings incredible hardships, but in my solitude (a very different thing than isolation) I have found comfort in looking to history, marking the pendulum’s continual swing back and forth between what seems to be imminent ruin and the justice of our leased Eden.”
So, I thank Mr. Deresiewicz for sharing his view from the head of the herd. For me, ignorance is never bliss.
Good article. I'll remember that good bit about suspending the rules during an emergency next time AOC declares "the world will end in 12 years."
Well, I think this author managed to offend everybody on the left AND right, which may be the point. I do have some accuracy quibbles, though. First, though I have been around conservatives for decades, I’ve never heard anyone give *unqualified* endorsement to Andrew Jackson, or Nixon, and I’ve never heard any kind of positive talk about Joe McCarthy.
In other words, it reads like he’s never actually had a serious conversation with a conservative.
Second, his characterization of Christians, and the theology of the Holy Spirit is downright rude and ignorant. Clearly, he has also very little firsthand knowledge of either genuine Christians, or Christian theology.
It is very close, in spirit, to talking about “money grubbing Jews.” Such things might be well known mischaracterizations, acceptable in certain dark circles, but that sort of thing doesn’t contribute to thoughtful exchange. It’s disappointing to find it here. It makes me feel like I have stumbled into a meeting of the progressive equivalent to “the good ol’ boys” club. Real Christians need not apply. Please leave quickly, without making a fuss.
Ms Weiss, this choice for a first post of the New Year doesn’t seem a propitious start for delivering on the recent sales pitch ( I bit) to be a publication promising a focus on incisive reporting.
The author is a self described Bernie socialist. From some point on the very far left, he feels it reasonable to include Trump and JK Rowling in the same sentence as “ bad “ folks awaiting judgement . Wow!
There is an editorial failure in not addressing Deresiewicz’s total misunderstanding of the holy spirit in both scripture ( suggest reading Paul’s letters to Corinthians and Galatians for starters )and theological writings . Hint, it’s primarily a relationship, open to anyone choosing it, , leading to a less material and more spiritual life, and similar in these respects to other religious pathways .
The essence of this article is don’t expect progressive ( and woke) policies to prevail unless you get your ass out on the political front lines.