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> The author indicated that the exceptional (and it was, indeed, "exceptional") generosity and sense of Duty The author took pains to assert that it wasn't exc

> The author indicated that the exceptional (and it was, indeed, "exceptional") generosity and sense of Duty The author took pains to assert that it wasn't exceptional: >> And the most unusual thing about all this is: None of this is unusual >> believe me, they happen. Every day. Every hour. Ordinary Americans will astound you with their goodwill > was ignored by the press Well, they're right in that I didn't hear anything about this specific train derailment, but heart-warming human interest stories are a pretty regular staple of even the national press. > I do feel that publicizing examples of generosity of spirit would help in healing our nation I'm not so sure. Our nation isn't breaking apart because we can't pull together in a crisis, it's breaking apart because we can't stand together outside of a crisis. Americans want very different things, and pulling together in a crisis only helps when we're in crisis mode.

phtrivier 4y ago
> Americans want very different things, and pulling together in a crisis only helps when we're in crisis mode The world _is_ in crisis mode. Unfortunately, some people have a vested interest in looking at the train crash, and not helping, and maybe even preventing people from helping. (I can't help but picture the "train-crash denier" next to the boy scout, explaning that the train did not crash, it's all a scam from you-know-who to restrict your liberties or serve the car industry, wake up sheeple, etc...)
kodah 4y ago
I mean, this is a crisis. There's a constitutional crisis in terms of two extremely divergent views of how to understand the constitution that both carry significant trajectory changes and neither of which sound very helpful. There's a political crisis going on with neo-nazi influence in and around the Republican party that's not being dealt with at all. There's a digital war on-going that's been heating up for the past two-ish decades that promises to get worse. There's a literal housing crisis. There's more, but that's a short list I think most people can agree on.
- mlyle 4y ago
  > ... extremely divergent views of how to understand the constitution... IMO, there's good in this situation, because inferring a nebulous right to privacy that didn't do very much was always a little questionable thing for the supreme court to do. It was a "good enough" measure that prevented us from doing any better. Yes, it's terrible that poor women in red states will have to pay the price. But ultimately, we're going to have to figure out how to define a right to privacy and make it into real law. And we can maybe fix other things, like security/privacy in our papers and effects and not rely upon 19th century judicial compromises on policing power and searches, too. > There's a political crisis going on with neo-nazi influence in and around the Republican party that's not being dealt with at all Honestly, the Republican party is <<slowly>> making itself less relevant. Which is kind of bad-- a relevant and not-crazy political opposition is a useful thing to a society.

phtrivier 4y ago

> Americans want very different things, and pulling together in a crisis only helps when we're in crisis mode The world _is_ in crisis mode. Unfortunately, some people have a vested interest in looking at the train crash, and not helping, and maybe even preventing people from helping. (I can't help but picture the "train-crash denier" next to the boy scout, explaning that the train did not crash, it's all a scam from you-know-who to restrict your liberties or serve the car industry, wake up sheeple, etc...)

kodah 4y ago

I mean, this is a crisis. There's a constitutional crisis in terms of two extremely divergent views of how to understand the constitution that both carry significant trajectory changes and neither of which sound very helpful. There's a political crisis going on with neo-nazi influence in and around the Republican party that's not being dealt with at all. There's a digital war on-going that's been heating up for the past two-ish decades that promises to get worse. There's a literal housing crisis. There's more, but that's a short list I think most people can agree on.

mlyle 4y ago
> ... extremely divergent views of how to understand the constitution... IMO, there's good in this situation, because inferring a nebulous right to privacy that didn't do very much was always a little questionable thing for the supreme court to do. It was a "good enough" measure that prevented us from doing any better. Yes, it's terrible that poor women in red states will have to pay the price. But ultimately, we're going to have to figure out how to define a right to privacy and make it into real law. And we can maybe fix other things, like security/privacy in our papers and effects and not rely upon 19th century judicial compromises on policing power and searches, too. > There's a political crisis going on with neo-nazi influence in and around the Republican party that's not being dealt with at all Honestly, the Republican party is <<slowly>> making itself less relevant. Which is kind of bad-- a relevant and not-crazy political opposition is a useful thing to a society.