US more like apartheid South Africa than 1940s Germany?

[Clueless Morgan]

I read this thread which was both scary in its parallels to today and scary for the implications for the US in the future, and is perhaps another model of a descent into authoritarianism that we should be paying attention to rather than focusing so completely on 1940s Germany.

I'll post the most relevant tweets, the whole thread can be read at the link below or on twitter.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/10127...19841.html

Looking at the damage that has been done in 18 months of a Trump presidency, how much worse is it going to get before it gets better?

What's going to be our version of SA's apartheid?

How long will it take for us to recover?

[Rev. Rye]

Honestly, I don't know as much as I'd like about the fucked-up-ness of the Apartheid regime, but it could very well end up being a more apt comparison than the Third Reich comparisons. I suppose that people in America are more familiar with the Third Reich than Apartheid.

Recently, I discovered this play on YouTube:






As the title suggests, it's a mash-up of Albert Jarry's Ubu Roi with several excerpts from the real-life Truth and Reconciliation Commission. And one can only wonder what a post-Trump equivalent to the Truth and Reconciliation committee will look like.

The entire playscript is on Google Books, since the bots were unusually generous that day.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

There really is some crazy shit on the internet.

[Clueless Morgan]

Honestly, I don't know as much as I'd like about the fucked-up-ness of the Apartheid regime, but it could very well end up being a more apt comparison than the Third Reich comparisons. I suppose that people in America are more familiar with the Third Reich than Apartheid.

Thinking about it overnight I do think that there's a difference between apartheid and the US circa now in that (and I don't know a whole lot about apartheid either) the twitter thread implies that people in South Africa either thought the NP would blow over and be voted out, or that the actions they were taking wouldn't actually happen, or that there was general apathy among the population, but I don't know that that aspect really parallels today.  There is definitely a vocal resistance to this administration that seems to be larger and more active than opposition to past presidents. : shrug:

There are some book recommendations in the comments on the first tweet of the thread that I was going to look into. Like I mentioned, I'm not that well versed in apartheid either - before I watch the Lawrence Fishburne showabout Nelson Mandela last year the most I knew about apartheid was what I learned watching Lethal Weapon 2...

[Mister Agenda]

We have the chance to prove we aren't on the same path this November.

[brewer]

It seems to me that we are in a political climate that will foster more and more radicalization. How the radicals ultimately choose to get their point(s) across is up for grabs.

I can still remember the 70's.

[Rev. Rye]

Well, at least the sort of party sweep required to change the US Constitution like the NP did last happened in 1965. And before that in 1933 and 1935. And the last time before that, Grant was in his second term. Also, the long stretch of time between 1865-71, and even then, several states were vacant, for Civil War-related reasons. And then, almost every Congress between 1803 and 1825 was in that position. And that is all the times in American history one party was able to reach 2/3 of both houses of Congress.

Meanwhile, we have a president who needed Russian interference to become President, won with the lowest popular vote margin since the two Corrupt Bargains of 1824 and 1876, and hasn't had a net positive approval rating since his first week of office. Those conditions are not likely to happen.

[vorlon13]

Apartheid has been openly discussed in California. Silicon valley tech giants and the Hollywood 'elite' would constitute the ruling class, and everyone else would be income redistributioned into the lower economic category but would be eligible for whatever social services the state could still afford.

I also note the discussions have not garnered much in the way of criticism, for some reason. Perhaps the nascent California model would be more palatable to the rest of the county over and above anything Trump might want to implement ??

[CapnAwesome]

What a totally rediculous, stupid, inaccurate and historically offensive accusation.

Obviously whoever said this has no idea what apartheid was like. Not to mention pre-apartheid south Africa. Not to mention what Nazi Germany was like.

This is where anti Trump people totally lose me in the conversation. I'm opposed to Trump based on reality. No need to make over the top historical comparisons.

[Minimalist]

There really is some crazy shit on the internet.

The problem is that there is some crazy shit in the White House.