I wanted to share with you the conclusion of Lance Morrow’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on our present national mood:
Right now, Americans are in a bad mood. They have good reason. They are divided. But for much of its career, the country has been two nations. Binaries are the real American way: North and South, slave holder and abolitionist, frontier and Ellis Island, East and West, urban and rural, labor and management, strikers and Pinkertons, gold and silver, wet and dry, hawk and dove, black and white, Indian and paleface. Trump and woke.
One big difference in 2021 is the screens. In the old America, there were far fewer versions of the country’s story available to choose from. But the 21st century’s never-sleeping screens churn forth myriad narratives. Information is democratized and weaponized. In the floating world of the internet, only the old hierarchies of myth are suspect. Special-interest “identities†come forward with urgent claims as to race and gender and social justice and equity. There are doubts as to whether America is a good country, as it once believed itself to be, or a wicked one that must be overturned and replaced—and, indeed, whether schools can be named after Abraham Lincoln any longer because he was, contrary to everything you previously believed, a “white supremacist.â€
In this environment, the country’s old master narrative is on track to be first disreputable, then forgotten: canceled. Americans can’t stand to think themselves immoral. Irreconcilable, each side claims, in a sort of theological way, to be the right and righteous one. No wonder the nation’s mood is poisonous.
In addition to “the screens” there are other differences between today and the Great Depression. For one thing at that time we had a president genuinely committed to uniting the country and who used the latest technology to do so. Maybe I’m misreading the situation but I don’t see that commitment today.
For another the percentage of immigrant population at that time was lower than it is now, was declining, and would continue to decline for 40 years. The immigrants of 80 years ago were quite different from those of today. They had left their old countries behind and by and large wanted to be seen as 100% Americans. Today technology means they reach out to family and friends in the old country on a daily basis if they care to and their ties to the U. S. are not nearly as strong.
For yet another 80 years ago we had an educational system and mass media dedicated to promoting our “old master narrative”. That is not the case to day to say the least.
“For one thing at that time we had a president genuinely committed to uniting the country and who used the latest technology to do so.”
Power seeking and corruption have always existed in politics and government. But you may be correct. However, today the power and money to be made is so huge that no such sainted chief executive can survive. And that’s why they hated Trump. Too independent; not part of the machine.
“The immigrants of 80 years ago were quite different from those of today.”
Indeed. The economics were addressed in a recent post. But attitude and motivations – the desire to assimilate – are the real issues. “We have always been a melting pot.” “Asylum seekers, etc” So much pabulum. You can’t have willy-nilly immigration in a welfare state, especially when a political party sees those immigrants only through the lens of a voting bloc to be bribed.
“That is not the case to day to say the least.”
But they have gone way past a more clear eyed view of our history. And their motives are self serving and not pure………to say the least.
I’d say the mood is restive.
We’re seeking conflicting goals in our political discourse.
Pols say this is a diverse nation, a nation of immigrants, an Islamic nation, one that celebrates women’s rights , LGBTQ rights ,
the goals of BLM, we celebrate the first woman to do play in the NFL, the first Black V.P.
Inclusiveness means devisiveness, breaking down the old structure and forcing, by Federal laws, a new system where every identity group has equal rights but no one feels at home.
There was a time when Americans thought that they knew who they were, they may have been wrong but the sense of nation has usefulness and we’ve lost that to gain entrance for those not like us who don’t even like us.
Don’t forget that the military FDR took to war and won with was segregated sexually and racially, did it with no known transgender troops and the gay ones kept it to themselves.
The band of brothers today would be filing discrimination and harassment charges against one another instead of charging the beach.
Advertising has now found Racism in using White VOICES in public service announcements:
https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/brands-can-tackle-sonic-racism/44246
If we continue down this road, every public representation of the variety of human beings available will need to be litigated.
As it stands now, it is being litigated on Twitter and Facebook. Companies and public figures are scared to death and cave instantly to accusations by BLM activists.
If we continue down the road of representation by intimidation resentment will deepen and overt acts of violence will be the result.
From 1900 to about 1970 the explicit purpose of the public education system was to inculcate the “old master narrative” in the children of immigrants and members of outgroups. That is no longer the case.
“The band of brothers today would be filing discrimination and harassment charges against one another instead of charging the beach.”
Andy was in the military more recently that I was, and I was only in for 12 years, but this was decidedly not the case when I was in. We did have people that everyone knew were gay. Not many people cared for the most part in the 90s. However, in the 70s, they would beat the crap pout of people they suspect for being gay if they thought they could get away with it.
Is there really any truth to the idea that immigrants were more willing to assimilate in the past? Mind you we have Amish in our area and in Indiana we had the Mennonites. These are groups that have kept very separate. The super Orthodox Jewish groups have not really assimilated. I agree that it is easier for them to keep in touch with their parent country but given that the large majority of immigrants come from Mexico and other Latin countries they are bringing Catholic religious beliefs, a pretty conservative cultural ethos with a strong work ethic and not much that rally seems exotic to me offhand.
Steve
Yes, it’s definitely true. The immigrants in my family (mid to late 19th century) and my wife’s family (early 20th century) considered themselves to be Americans and were eager to be seen as such. They spoke accentless English. Look at the film studios of the 20s and 30s. Frank Capra was an immigrant and you’d be hard put to find movies that were more slices of Americana than his. The Warner Brothers were immigrants. William Fox was an immigrant. Louis B. Mayer was an immigrant.
Those numbers are extremely small. Thousands vs. millions.
I see basically three differences. We have never seen such a large percentage from a single country (Mexico) including the Irish in the 1840s and 1850s. And the communications issues and lack of social pressures to assimilate previously mentioned.
The Amish and Hasidim whom you mention are outliers. 40 years ago there were fewer than 100,000 Amish in the U. S. and even fewer Hasidim. Their numbers are increasing rapidly (they don’t practice birth control and believe in large families) and they’re not assimilating.
100 of our current Fortune 500 companies were born outside of the US and another 100 or more are second generation.
Steve