I started Arlie Russell Hochshild’s Strangers In Their Own Land right at the start of the new year. I read the first 50 pages or so, pondering–the whole time–why I should care at all about what I was reading. (The book is about folks in rural Louisiana, and how one sociologist from UC Berkeley came to understand them by leaving her west coast bubble and truly engaging with them, in their land.) Snapshot from the cab of a pickup – stories told from a bayou living room. Oral cajun histories, mediated into a narrative of social exploration between two poles of the American political divide. I imagine the book eventually gets to some deeper points about how much we all have in common, despite our political differences, and in some undefined way, I am certain that was why I was reading it: I wanted to be reminded that we’re all in this together, we’re all good people, E pluribus unum and such.

The breaching of the US Capitol last week placed that idea in a very different space for me though. One much more distant, frankly. I find myself less empathetic, if not wholly disinterested, in GOP culture these days or in the work needed to understand “where they’re coming from” with the nonsense of the day. There seems to me to be some honest and responsible cadre of the GOP–maybe 5%–who understand the rot and the insanity and are willing to address it in good faith, and the remainder, if not fully bought in to various conspiracy theories or cult of personality are acquiescing at best, but more likely using and amplifying these trends for their own self-interested gain. My understanding is that in a sense, Strangers In Their Own Land was the first of many narratives to follow getting at ‘the trump voter we met at the diner‘ and it’s reportage ilk from the 2016 and 2020 campaigns. I wasn’t sure I needed any more word count on the subject though; after last Wednesday, I know I do not. I’ve seen enough. Hofstadter’s Anti-Intellectualism in American Life is seeming much more suitable to this moment.

Ahead of the Inauguration of Joe Biden this Wednesday, much reporting and commentary reminds us of pending protests at all 50 State capitals. For the record, I am 100% fine with protests from people distrustful of single-party rule over the next two years — or really, anything rooted in reality. I wonder though how much of the ‘Stop the Steal’ brain cancer is fueling this though and how much of it will be on display. I also wonder how much violence will be able to be done by folks using the protests for their own ends.

I also do not think the President is done trying to thwart the legitimate transfer of power. Even at this late hour.

currently reading: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, Richard Hofstadter
currently listening: Evermore by Taylor Swift